Yesterday I flew to Canada from California. Fortunately it was a (rare for me) nonstop flight, because we sat on the runway for nearly an hour, due to drizzle and the weight of the plane and the fact that San Diego has only one runway (it’s actually the busiest one-runway airport in the world).
After landing only about 30 minutes late, there was the usual long walk to passport control, which went pretty quickly, and my bags came pretty quickly too. The rental cars at Montreal Airpot (YUL) are located across the street from the arrival terminal…no bus ride necessary! That too went quickly.
There always seems to be a “but” and this time it was communication with the company that manages the condominium I rented via booking.com, and the fact that the internet was very spotty when I finally found the condominium. I spent about 30 minutes figuring out what the door code and unit number were (their emails had gone into spam) before leaving the airport. I stopped for groceries and by the time I reached Mont Tremblant, where my tournament is being held, it was near dark. The numbers on the doors (remember it was dark with limited exterior illumination) were stenciled in black high up on the windows above and/or to the right of the doors. I finally found the unit…then the door code didn’t work and no one was available to help on a Friday night. Finally Stephanie came and rescued me…the code was the numbers already given to me followed by pressing another key, about which there was nary a mention.
Once in the unit it is comfortable and quiet. It was late, after 10pm when I got in but otherwise all was ok, other than the fact that bugs bit the back of my head while I was wandering around and now it’s swollen…I’m apparently allergic to all Mont Tremblant biting insects. My insect repellant with DEET though is in my tennis bag for future rambles.
Today, Saturday, I was to meet Vicki Buholz at 10, or so I thought. I thought incorrectly, it was 9, but she called me before 8 so I made it just on time. The GPS signal decided to go down just as I was leaving, but fortunately I guessed correctly which direction to turn leaving the complex and arrived just about on time. Interestingly, the complex has both red and green courts…I play may first match on red clay, Vicki on green.
We had a good hit, albeit a pretty quick one, just an hour, and were rained out of our afternoon hit. After we hit we paid for our court and watched some of a “Friendship Cup” match between men and women from USTA New England and players from Quebec province. I saw the #3 seed from my division playing and also MJ Pachl, who is a dual Canadian/American citizen playing for Canada (she’s not a USTA New England member).
After a quick trip first to the third venue to show Vicki the way, and then to the grocery store for paper goods (GPS was working in the afternoon), I had lunch, did some exercises and now that the sun has come out may take a walk (after lathering with insect repellant!