1. Vancouver to Montreal via Air Canada economy class with a short stay in Montreal

As mentioned in my last trip report, Air Canada remains my least favorite airline. We have boycotted them due to their numerous atrocities. However, as we needed to catch a flight to Montreal for our flight to Amsterdam, their times were superior to Westjet’s and allowed us to enjoy the day in Montreal before flying the next afternoon. Air Canada is also trying to rebrand themselves and have advertised a lot regarding their improved efficiency, on-board food and seating. With this is mind, we put our values on hold cautiously and booked two economy tickets to Montreal.

In all the flight was actually pretty good, and disappointingly I found nothing to complain about. I love it when I can reinforce my prejudices against Air Canada but we had friendly staff and they have definitely tried to improve things. We’ve decided to upgrade them from nuclear to potentially toxic, and hopefully they can improve even further and we can use them routinely.

Our flight today was on a beautiful 777-300, which is always a treat for a regional flights. It’s planned of course, we’re not about to let the airline decide what type of aircraft we’ll be traveling on. As always, it’s difficult to take pictures through a dirty window but this remains a regular challenge to us travel enthusiasts.



The flight was very full and the flight attendant told us to board as quickly as possible as we had ‘almost 400 people on board today’. Once we reached a higher altitude the drinks cart came by and I settled on a mundane coke zero to get the vacation started. While Air Canada does provide an in-flight meal for this 4h flight, one of its newer innovations is an delicatessen that allows one to purchase a multitude of food and drinks. You can even purchase business class meals, which I find pretty nifty.









Eventually I settled on a pizza which was pretty good - nothing amazing but definitely not bad. As we flew over Alberta I was saddened to see it covered in smoke. Alberta is experiencing terrible wildfires that have blanketed a lot of Canada in smoke. We get it in British Columbia too, but luckily not this year yet.



After landing in Montreal we made our way to the Montreal Sheraton Airport hotel where we checked in for the night. I’d made us a reservation at Le Serpent in downtown Montreal so we Uber’d there for our late dinner. The place had good reviews and was in some sort of gentrified industrial building. The restaurant was busy but the service was excellent and we had exceptional food there. A great start to the vacation!


Oysters and Maple Mignonette


Trio of Sashimi


Bucatini with pork flank confit, black garlic and soy - sensational



Tiramisu

Some views of downtown Montreal before we headed home…