Day One: Oh Canada: Pepsi, Pesto, and Passports

Today has flown by, forgive the pun!  I woke up around 5am and puttered around the house before getting ready. I spoiled myself by hiring someone to clean (she visits every month or so) and I planned on having her visit while I was away.  Nothing better than coming home to a clean house! Anyways, I had to clean up for her, lol.  Mr. Sepulveda was scheduled to arrive at 11 and our driver, an Uber driver that I met leaving Fenway last week, was scheduled thereabouts too.  Around 1045, I brought my bag outside and as I hid my EV Charger, Mr. S pulled up.  And, then the driver did too.  I quickly gathered the rest of my things and we took off.

This trip had us taking Air Canada through Montreal on the way to Athens, but even though Canada is a foreign country, we departed through Terminal B. The Air Canada ticket counter was open and we checked in and gave up our suitcases.  After chatting for a bit, the first students started to arrive. We had planned on meeting at 12:30, but everyone was early.  Thanks All!!!  We posed for a quick group photo and headed towards security.  I have TSA Pre-Check, so we made sure everyone got in line and then I scurried through pre-check and met everyone on the other side.  We walked to our gate, acclimated ourselves with the surroundings, and then broke into smaller groups for snacks, drinks, or lunch.  There was another school waiting at the gate, a group from Haverhill also going to Greece...they are on our overnight flight with us too. I wasn't feeling too hungry so I took a walk around the terminal, bought a diet coke and some Combos, and chilled by the gate. Our group had a lot of room while waiting for the flight so everyone was able to relax a bit and then our flight was called.

I always try to be the last of us on any flight and today was no exception.  But, something magical happened while waiting in line.

My phone vibrated with a text message from Air Canada that I had been upgraded to Business Class.  I was so pleasantly surprised.  While I am not positive, I think it is because I joined the airlines' frequent flyer program last night. AI told me I could get discounted internet if I was a member.  That said, our plane was kind of small and with the two school groups on board, I don't think there were a lot of frequent flyers on board. I didn't request the upgrade (and there is at least one other group leader on board), but I did join their membership. Who knew!!!

The perk for my Business Class foray was a complimentary cheese plate and beverage.  I love trying different airline foods and was psyched to get some bonus bites to blog about.  You can look at the picture to see what I had because I am not posh enough to know everything, but I think I had half of a fig newton, two slices of cheese, dehydrated mangos, a date, and a wedge of soft cheese. There were two brown crackers there that reminded me more of brown bread in a can than anything that might crack...oh, and I discovered some jam after I had finished everything else (except the soft cheese).  It was a nice little meal and I knew it would hold off my appetite when we landed in Montreal.  I also got my last Diet Coke (most likely) for the next 8 days.  

Boston Harbor, Saugus is far in the distance.

Montreal. The Olympic Stadium is in the foreground

It is a short 45 minute long flight from Boston to Montreal.  Just enough time to really enjoy the extra leg room and cheese plate. The flight attendant chatted with me for a bit and told me how common it is for kids to accidently leave their belongings behind (especially their passports).  I told her about one of our kids in 2013 who did that and almost got stuck in JFK.  She said she'd make a special announcement reminding both groups to check thoroughly.

We eventually landed and exited the plane. We gathered and I asked to see everyone's passport.  I checked and was satisfied and we headed towards our connection when one of the kids told me that someone's passport was still on the plane. A huge dope-slap myself. I thought I saw a passport, but it was just a blueish wallet or something.  Fortunately, they realized it was on the flight and was able to retrieve it. My flight attendant friend laughed, good naturedly, at me when she saw me scurrying to the student. All was well and we moved on.

The connecting terminal was quite easy, but also kind of busy. We just needed to scan our boarding passes twice and then enter into Terminal A. There were lots of people...it was much busier than I thought it would be. Our gate changed shortly after landing, so we walked to Gate 65 and dispersed for an hour or so until our next flight boarded. I am used to longer connections where I would grab some additional photos, but I didn't even think of it. My apologies!

Some of us on the big plane

We boarded the flight quicker than I expected and I was really happy with the leg room and comfortability of the seats. It is a 9 hour flight and I am able to stretch my legs a little bit. I've had some sardine cans for planes before but this one was pretty new and pretty good. One of the kids told me they didn't think they should make planes this big, lol, and I told her it isn't that big compared to others. I was really hoping we'd have one of those new planes where the bathrooms are down stairs in a little room, but this is quite traditional.

Dinner service started about an hour and a half into the flight and I was very pleased that the choices included chicken or pasta.  Frequent readers of this blog know that I really enjoy airplane food and I heard one of the flight attendants really talking up the pasta to kids in the other group. It was a Pesto Pasta.  I figured if it was good enough for that guy, it would be good enough for me.  The chicken, I think, was served with potatoes and corn.  I also think it had a mustard based sauce on it. It sounded pretty good.

A Cold Corn Salad

Pesto Pasta

My dessert. Chocolate Cake

My meal consisted of three courses.  The first course was a cold corn salad. It was dressed perfectly with a delicious olive oil and blended with bits of peppers and tomato (I think).  It was delightfully refreshing and complimented my earlier cheese plate. The second course was my Pesto Pasta. It disappointed, sadly. First, most of the pasta was cold.  It wasn't supposed to be cold, but it was. Even after mixing it all up, it was still only luke warm.  The pesto wasn't very pestoey either. You could taste it, but it didn't hit like I wanted it to hit.

To add insult to injury, this Air Canada flight didn't carry Coke products. The whole airport seemed to have Pepsi and so I opted for Ginger Ale. It is probably better that I didn't have any more caffeine anyways. For those wondering, the EU basically banned Diet Coke around the same time as Covid. Europeans much prefer Coke Zero, but I don't.  I am fairly confident I had the last Roman Diet Coke in 2022.  It is very difficult to find.  One of these days, I will shift the blogs focus from travel to my takes on issues like this, but not today.  It's almost 11 at home and Greece is quickly approaching.  I don't need to get on my soap box tonight.

Back to my meal, lol. The chocolate cake was perhaps the star of the night. I initially thought it was a brownie, but it was so spongey.  It had a thicker frosting on it that resembled the top of a brownie, but was soft and rich and melted in my mouth.  It sadly disappeared after two bites! I didn't dare ask for seconds.  

After dinner concluded, I felt a kind of pain in my foot. I think it swelled up because of the pressure. My shoes are relatively new and my left foot felt uncomfortable. I decided to take my shoes off and I am so glad I did. It probably grosses some readers out, but I have socks on and it is sooooo much more comfy than if I kept the shoes on. I should have worn my sandals with socks anyways.  Live and learn!

I am still not 100% sure what tomorrow will bring. Our Tour Director, Laertis informed me that we'd be met at the airport by a colleague of his and that they'd be bringing us directly to the airport. He said the other group gets in earlier than us and will be in the city for a bit, but that we land too late for that. He said we'd just go to the hotel.  That all sounds great to me. A nice relaxing day at the hotel pool or the Sea...a chance to freshen up and brush my teeth...and to change into new clothes!  Sign me up, but we land at 11 and I am kind of wondering if he accidently got the two groups mixed up.  They are traveling much further than us and I thought I heard they were coming in later than us.  Either way, the weather looks great (last time I checked) and we will roll with whatever comes our way.  

I promise that we will have a lot more pictures tomorrow and I am hopeful that we will start getting some authentic Greek foods too.  Until then, I think I will be shutting down the computer for the night and trying to get some sleep.  Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed my Pesto Pasta more than I did!!!

Mr. Lavoie, currently sitting in row 38, at roughly 38000 ft above the Atlantic, patiently waiting for the seatbelt sign to turn off so he can turn off his mind.