Igor at sunset near the Natchez Trace Parkway, Mississippi.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun, Mexico on November 11th.

Friday, December 16, 2016

An unexpected hotel stay...

When we left you last, we were in Bucharest airport waiting for our flight to Munich. We're flying with Lufthansa for the first time ever, and it won't be the last. Excellent service from start to finish.

Landed in Munich right on time and found our connecting gate to Montreal. We only had an hour until the flight was expected to board, so we didn't have time to go into the city and explore, like we did in Zurich on the way over.

The plane started boarding a few minutes late, but that's no big deal. Everybody was on board and in their seats and had been for a little while. Eventually, we started to notice that we should have been moving out by now.

But we just sat there.

Another 10 minutes passed and we hadn't moved. The stewardess came down the aisle telling everyone that there was a problem with the plane's PA system, but they were working on it and hoped to be underway soon. The flight attendant on our side had said half an hour, but I overheard the one on the other side say an hour. Of course they're only guessing.

And we sat there.

Finally, the captain came on the PA system saying that part of it was fixed and they would be warming up the engines soon, hopefully within 20 minutes.

And we sat there.

We've done a fair amount of flying, and this stuff happens occasionally. I had started watching a movie (at least the seatback entertainment system was working), and Ruth was doing a puzzle book. Besides, we had a three hour wait time scheduled for our connecting flight to Ottawa so no big deal.

But the engines never started. After a two hour delay, they came around saying that they were putting us on a new plane. So we had to gather all our belongings and go back to the departure gate.

Sure enough, we got on the new plane and took off...three hours and ten minutes delayed.

Not anybody's fault, and nothing anybody could do about it. Its all part of traveling, so no point in getting upset. And most people were pretty good about it. After all, you really do want your airplane's electrical system to be working perfectly, don't you??

The Lufthansa flight attendants were really good. Never stopped smiling and making sure people were looked after.

Full bar service, including liquor. And as much wine as you wanted. The girl even said to me that if we wanted another glass, simply page her. Then, the next girl coming by had two full bottles to top up everyone's glass if they were only half full. Nice.

Dinner was good. Legroom was fine. The entertainment system is fantastic. Obviously a fairly new plane.

We arrived in Montreal at 9:13pm. Our connecting flight to Ottawa had been scheduled to take off at 9:00pm, so we obviously knew that we had missed it. But there are flights from Montreal to Ottawa all the time so we figured they would just put us on the next one.

They made an announcement saying that anybody with connecting flights needed to see the gate attendant as soon as we exit the aircraft.

Sure enough, they had somebody there handing out boarding passes for the 10:30pm flight. But there weren't enough seats for everybody and the next flight wasn't until 7:10am this morning.

Guess which one we will be on! They already had hotel coupons and meal tickets for those of us who weren't being put on the 10:30pm flight. Totally organized. We were impressed. They sent us to the shuttle bus for the Sheraton Hotel, only about five minutes away from the terminal. It took a while for the shuttle bus to show up, but eventually it did. And it was damn cold outside. It's -22 C (-7F) here in Montreal! Yikes!

We got checked in. Only one problem. It was now 10:30pm, and we had to leave to get back to the airport around 5:30am. They had given us meal tickets worth $20 each for a dinner, and $10 each for breakfast. But the restaurant didn't open until 6am!

So, we went for dinner. We explained the situation, and they let us use up all $60 worth of coupons for dinner. But wow....we're not in Moldova anymore. It doesn't take long to burn up $60 in a restaurant in Canada! Not many choices for us gluten free people. It was $26 each for a grilled chicken breast and quinoa salad. Oh, we're in Canada now, so add taxes to that as well. The bill was $59.82 with tax. We didn't have anything to drink. It was a huge meal, so we asked for a doggy bag and we'll have the rest for breakfast!

Pretty much exhausted by this point, but at least we have a comfy bed!

Our Montreal hotel room.

Hopefull everything goes well for our 7:10am flight to Ottawa. it's only a quick (less then half an hour) flight, and our daughter Lindsey and granddaughter Sadie will meet us at the airport.

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The popular Ninja blenders are on sale...


And in Canada, the new Black and Decker lithium hand vac in on deal of the day. Great for the RV...





18 comments:

  1. Welcome back to Canada. The cold is here to stay, with about 15cm of snow scheduled for overnight Friday and into Saturday. No green Christmas this year in Ottawa.

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    1. Brrr...it's definitely cold here. It is now making the cooler temperatures in Romania and Moldova seem pretty mild in comparison. The snow has started and it is coming down pretty good this morning. You're right no green Christmas here this year!

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  2. On your way to get lots of hugs and kisses!!
    B&C ;)

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  3. What a mess with the flight but like you said. You want a safe flight and it sounds like the airline were very generous and helpful to its passenger

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    1. Most definitely want a safe flight! It is all part of travel and we just take it in stride. We weren't in a panic to get to our destination and it didn't really mess things up for us. The airline really did look after us well and tried to make sure they accommodated everyone who was inconvenienced as best as they could.

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  4. Welcome home! You both have had quite the adventure! Wishing you both a very Merry Christmas! Cannot wait for your next blog in Barcelona! All the best for 2017 as well!

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    1. Thank you Brigitte, other than the snow and cold we are happy to be back visiting with our families.

      Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season.

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  5. Replies
    1. I tried lying down for about 20 minutes but that was it for me, I think Kevin actually had a quite nap. We are both pretty much feeling back to normal this morning though after a good night's sleep.

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  6. All is well that ends well! I had once a similar experience with my flight to Frankfort at the Dallas Airport with "American Airlines". We had to change the plane twice and we finally took off with the third plane.

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    1. Yes, it all ended well and thankfully we didn't have any immediate plans that the delay could have messed up.

      Wow, I think I might have started to worry after having the second plane fail as well. I can't imagine having to have gone through that ordeal three times!

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  7. Totally agree with you re flight delays. I want a safe plane no matter how long it takes! We've never flown Lufthansa either, but from you positive comments and observations it's definitely on our to-try list. Enjoy that Canadian weather! ;-)

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    1. Yep, a safe plane is important!

      We wouldn't hesitate to fly with Lufthansa again, we totally enjoyed our experience even with the delay.

      I'm not sure that "enjoy" and "Canadian weather" at this time of year, can be said in the same sentence together. ;-)

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  8. I've been lurking on your fabulous vacation. It's a place I'll not likely visit, which makes the efforts you took at the end of each busy day to bring your readers along. I certainly appreciate it! I expected old stone buildings, but a drive in wine cellar???

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    1. It's not a place the majority of people seem to visit, hopefully we have been able to change a few minds. :-) We think that many people were unaware of what Romania and Moldova can offer to the traveler. There is so much history and beauty here and lots of great wine! :-)

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  9. Welcome back to Canada! We enjoyed the journey with you for the past six weeks and frankly are a bit saddened that it ended so quickly. Can't wait for your next European adventure! Spain is wonderful and I am sure you will make lots of good memories there too.

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    1. Thank you for the welcome back greetings, sure wish they could turn up the thermostat here though!

      We enjoyed our time there but are also happy to move on to new adventures. We have also said to ourselves that we could easily return to Romania and Moldova to visit again. There is still so much that we didn't get to see this time around that we really want to see, however when we do return it will be in the late spring, summer or early fall!

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