It is our first trip in a long time without the Deuter, a toilet topper, a sleeping tent, and diapers. Our children are becoming self-reliant! And that is convenient, because we have to bring a lot of thick sweaters. It all fits easily into one large checked suitcase, a small carry-on suitcase, and some smaller (camera) bags.
Olga closes her laptop at 15, we fill up the tank (now 1.89 per liter in Belgium too) and pick up the kids from school. It is a three-hour drive to our apartment in Paris.
The traffic is busy; we arrive at 19:30 and only needed one pit stop. We arrive at a small but cosy apartment, and the children clearly still need to burn off some energy, so they don’t fall asleep until around 21:00h. Olga sneaks into bed with them, and Tim sleeps on the sofa bed.
We wake up at 6:30; Tim is a bit stiff. We make sandwiches and leave for the airport at 7:45. The priority check-in we got because of the children turns out to be slower than self check-in, but we are in no rush. Security and customs go smoothly, and we get to kill two hours at the gate. Olga gets a coffee, and the children go through all the games in the arcade. Cleo discovers hopscotch, and naturally, we go to the toilet often.
Our flight departs at 11 o’clock. We are seated somewhat awkwardly, spread out behind each other. Tim and Cleo are sitting to the left of the aisle, Zeno and Olga to the right. But no one is upset, because the plane’s entertainment system offers Spider-Man, Tom & Jerry, and many Disney films. The selection for adults is a bit meager, but Tim and Olga are just happy to be able to quietly read a book while the children stare at the screen, frozen in place.
We were served pasta, played a bit with clay and puzzle books, and mostly watched a lot of movies. We arrived at 1:00 PM local time. It was the first time we had a long flight during the day, and we really enjoyed it.
It is quiet at Montreal airport; we pick up our suitcase, clear customs, and are outside. There, we realize that Zeno must have taken off his jacket somewhere along the way, because he is only wearing a cardigan now. There is no turning back, so we take the shuttle to the car rental without jacket.
Here, we try not to take out extra insurance or accept other extras, which doesn’t quite work, and 200 Canadian dollars poorer, we get into our Toyota Corrola. We brought inflatable car seats, so for a change, we don’t have to look for a megastore as a first stop.
It is raining and there are still piles of snow along the road. The roads are busy. But it’s warm inside the car and the kids continue their entertainment journey with podcasts. We try to follow the strange French we hear on the radio. Our navigation sends us thourgh Montréal city center, one big traffic jam. We recognise the giant trucs from last year’s holiday in Mexico.
It’s more quiet when we leave Montreal behind us. Here we see the the sparsely populated land Canada is known for. Olga and the kids start feeling their jet lag. Zeno is the first one to fall asleep at 15 (21 CEST). Cleo follows at 17. Tim feels totaly fine and is busy spotting dozens of Karibous in the snowy fields.
We arrive at our apartment at 18.00. Quebec is still covered under meters of snow so driving and parking is a bit tricky. But we manage in the end. We dress Zeno in three cardigans and go out for an Iranian dinner, the smell of safron is clearly present and the rice and lentil soup taste like they do in our memories of our Iran trip. We go to bed to adjust to our new scheduele.
