After making it into Canada we still had to get to Ottawa. We’d landed in Montreal.
Etienne had purchased some data to help with directions. I’d been a bit more retro and had printed an array of maps. (Sorry planet, I was nervous but know this was wasteful & unnecessary.)
We’d booked a basic room in a hostel for our first night. It was central & cheap for Montreal which is all we needed. I consulted my maps and confirmed we needed bus 747. Etienne checked his phone which said the same thing. We found the stop and lugged our suitcases onto the bus once it arrived. They were soooooooo heavy, what the hell had we packed?! We tried to shove them on the shelves but Etienne’s was HUGE and the shelves were high, so couldn’t manage. Luckily a GIANT Canadian man came to help us. (I say “we” as if I helped, I basically watched Etienne & the other man struggle. I guess you could say I supervised.)
The bus was running behind my printed map schedule so we were going to miss the metro I’d planned. OH NO! Fortunately, the real, 4G powered Google maps on Etienne’s phone could handle this. So we got off at a different stop & took an alternative line. Crisis averted.
What felt like eternity later we arrived at Square Victoria-OACI Metro station . Our hostel was a short walk away (c.9 minutes).
It was freeeeeeeeezing. Super windy. (Just checked with Etienne & he says this isn’t true, it wasn’t that cold.)
Anyway, it was a temperature, I was super tired and had a bag full of concrete. 9 minutes is not ‘short’ in these circumstances. To top it off, the hostel didn’t have a lift and we were on the 1,000,000th floor, or maybe the 3rd.
The hostel was clean, quiet & comfy. Would recommend it as a cheap one night stop-over if you are ever there. Just be mentally prepared for the stairs. (Link here: Auberge Alternative)
The next morning we lugged our suitcases back down the stairs and went to book our bus to Ottawa. I’d printed a map so we knew where we were going. As I went to turn right out of the door, Etienne checked his phone & we turned left. The map went back in the bag.
We dropped our bags at the bus station & went to explore Montreal a bit. Etienne had lived here 5 years before, so he knew some areas. It was earlier though, so not much was open. We found a little spot for breakfast then walked through the Park Lafontaine and ‘Le Plateau’. It was cool, we saw a neat fire truck and the breakfast was banging. I took one picture.
We then headed back the station & hopped on the bus to Ottawa.
4+ hours and a Pokémon or two later we arrived in Ottawa. (I didn’t catch many as I was on the St. Anne. My Pikachu levelled up a fair bit though & my Bulbasaur evolved.)
We took another metro from the station into the center, then another bus down ‘bank street’ and finally another not-so-short 10 minute walk to our new Ottawa ‘home’. (We later learned that our Airbnb was super close to the station & a Lyft would have been cheaper, quicker AND easier. Here’s a little map comparison I’ve made demonstrating this)
And that’s it! Just 36+ hours, 3 buses, 2 metros, 1 flight & 23 Pokémon later and we’d successfully reached out first destination.