One of the things I love about where we live is how easy it is to get to the airport for trips like these. And by the way, straight-up Public Service Announcement - Trudeau airport in Montreal is a DREAM compared to Pearson airport in Toronto.
No offense. But I’ve timed it. I’ve gone from curb-to-gate in 12 minutes, which INCLUDED a stop at Starbucks. Granted, I had checked in online, and I only had carry-on luggage.
Still.
Curb-to-gate: twelve minutes.
“Dorval”
But yesterday (Sunday), a “weather statement” pinged into my phone. Gonna snow in Montreal. Starting Monday afternoon, and heavier into the evening. Note: my flight was scheduled for 6 PM, Monday. Tuesday morning commute would be awful, the weather statement said. I didn’t care about the Tuesday morning commute, because I would already be in Toronto by then.
Unless ... unless we were still sitting on the tarmac, de-icing for the 103rd time. It happens.
“Brockville”
So I thought, hey, maybe I can change flights. But no. I had purchased the cheapest flight available, and there were no options. You have to pay ahead of time for options.
Oh, it will be fine.
How bad can it be?
I bit off a fingernail and started worrying.
To pass the time, I popped in on Twitter, where I saw another weather statement - this one for Toronto. Starting Monday morning. Snow. Gonna be awful.
“Kingston”
Well that can’t be good. Because now even IF my flight takes off on time from Montreal ... will it land in Toronto? Personne ne sait.
More nailbiting.
Long story short, I got up early this morning, packed really fast, and hopped on a train.
Because as it turns out, it’s not only super easy to get to the airport from where we live. It’s ALSO super easy to get to the train station. And I know trains might get delayed by snow, but it seems to me that’s less frequent than planes. And ... there’s more legroom on a train. And free wifi.
Which means that instead of spending the day obsessing and worrying over weather developments and flight possibilities, I’m just riding along, with a giant window beside me, catching up on emails, blogging and working on some other stuff while happily munching on goldfish crackers and beef jerky (I’m not buying train food, y’all, brought my own, thank you very much). Watching the various stops go by.
“Oshawa”
And you know what? I mean, it’s all pretty amazing. I live in a place with unpredictable weather, and even in that circumstance, my biggest question is literally which direction to go on the metro ... towards the airport or the train station.
So ... no complaints here.
