seat38a

Over the years, I've had a hard time sorting pictures, writing trip reports and working at the same time after returning from a trip which has lead to incomplete trip reports. So this time, I decided to write one ONLY after I had all of the pictures and report sorted out. I took the old folks and myself on this trip in October, but it has taken me until two weeks ago to finish organizing everything in the few spare moments I have after work. I've broken my report into the sections listed below and I'll link each one as soon as I write each section. My goal is to write one section a day but it might take two.

United Airlines UA 660 LAX-ORD First Class
United Airlines UA 476 ORD-YYZ First Class aka Business Class
UP Express From YYZ to Toronto Union Station
Things We Did In Toronto Day 1
Things We Did In Toronto Day 2
Dinner At CN Tower
Via Rail Business Class Toronto to Quebec City via Montreal Part 1
Via Rail Business Class Toronto to Quebec City via Montreal Part 2
Fairmont Chateau Frontenac
Things We Did In Quebec City Day 1
Things We Did In Quebec City Day 2
Things We Did In Montreal Day 1
Things We Did In Montreal Day 2
Single Night In Ottawa
Niagara Falls and Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa
United Express UA3400 YYZ-ORD First Class aka Business Class
United Airlines UA 592 ORD-LAX First Class

Antonio8069

Your timing is kind of curious? Fall tour? Do you mean Fall 2018? If so, you are early! If not, you are kind of late!

seat38a

Trip time again with the old folks to Eastern Canada for little over a week. After a full day of work for myself and my dad, we took the FlyAway bus to LAX. All seemed good with traffic until we hit the 10 freeway at which point we slowed down to a crawl. The FlyAway dropped us off right in front of the entrance to the new Premier Check-in area. Since our last visit through terminal 7, United has swapped the location of Premier Check-in with coach checkin area and in between them, opened up a new much bigger consolidate security area. Check-in went painlessly and I was advised that our flight was running late. I thanked the agent and headed directly to the PreCheck security lane which while only had few people ahead of us, those few people created a traffic jam due their ignorance on how TSAPre works. The one lady who was creating the majority of the problem was finally moved aside and a physical pat down was performed by a female TSA agent.


After security, we headed directly to the new LAX United Club. This whole terminal was a mess during the construction of the now open Club so I really wanted to see what it looked like. Since we were flying international in premium cabin, the three of us were granted access after our boarding passes were scanned. The new club is bigger and brighter than the previous dump. The Club had the same fluorescent-ish lighting in the terminal inside the club. The food seems to have not changed at all even with the renovation. Same stuff as last year, just in a better location. My mom did make a comment that the two soups on offer tasted freshly made and out of a can. Staff seemed to be busy constantly refilling and clearing dirty dishes away.


I headed out to the famous patio of the new club, which after taking one look, should be called infamous patio. With all of the hype about the patio from the CC bloggers when the club opened, I was expecting something that could be the envy of every AVGeek but in reality it was small with filthy windows. The only real view you have is of whatever is parked at 70a. I mean it was SMALL.

Our flight which was already running behind was showing on the app as running further behind schedule. Our connection to YYZ was getting close to undoable. I went up to one of the customer service agents to figure things out before the caca hit the fan. The agent advised me that she could reserve my parents and I on a connecting Air Canada flight which was leaving later in the morning. She advised me that our reservation was good for our original flight to YYZ and the new one if we missed the original flight to YYZ. All we had to do was see a customer service agent in Chicago for new boarding passes if a missed connection were to occur. I thanked the customer service agent and went back to the table where why parents were at.

While waiting for very late aircraft to arrive from Chicago, my parents dozed off in the United Club. I took the opportunity to go around the club while it was not busy, taking pictures. When our aircraft finally did arrive, I was notified via the United App and we headed down to the gate. During our wait in Group 1 boarding, the app updated our flights arrival time into ORD which now would arrive after our flight to YYZ is scheduled to depart. Didn't bother me since I had already figured all this out at the club. Other passengers were trying to figure out their connecting flight issues at the gate podium but the gate agents finally made an announcement that they needed to board the flight so for everyone who has connection questions to call the 800 number or wait until they get to Chicago. Its times like this that I'm glad I am a United Club member. I told my parents that we were taking Air Canada now and we will be having breakfast on the next leg instead of a lousy muffin which United serves in the morning in first class.

Boarding for only first class passengers was called after all the pre boards had boarded due to the need for aisle wheelchair in coach. Since our aircraft is a 757-300, first class passengers would not get in the way of anything going on in coach during boarding. Unfortunately, the wheelchair jam wasn't isolated to coach as the gate agent thought and the aircraft boarding door was blocked. We must have waited in the jet bridge for a good 10 minutes waiting for whatever was going on to clear. The first class passengers ahead of me were visibly annoyed being stuck in the jet bridge. The wheelchair jam finally cleared and we were able to board the aircraft and take our seats at row 1.



Shortly after taking our seats, PDB were offered by the FA. I took a gin and tonic but my parents passed. My seat and the cabin really was showing its age and making lots of noises if one moved a bit. The bottom practically had no cushion. I'm not sure if this was by design or if it has been flattened and worn away over the years. After the usual pre departure stuff, we pushed back and after a short time taxing, we were rolling down the runway to ORD. Due to the lateness of our aircraft, two flights tow ORD were departing simultaneously tonight. As soon as the FA's were released from the seats, they made their usual announcements regarding the inflight service on the flight. Without fail, the pilots kept the seat belt sign on until we reached cruising level forcing passengers to get up and go to the lav anyways.


When the FA for first class came through the cabin taking drink orders, I ordered another gin and tonic. The infamous redeye snack basket followed closely behind. The FA illuminated the snack basket with a flashlight so we could at least see what we were grabbing. Once my drink and trash were collected, I reclined my seat and tried to get some sleep but it was no use. The seat was so uncomfortable that my sciatica on my left side was starting to flair up. I wished I had packed my muscle relaxer for this trip, but since I've not had a sciatica flair up in a while I didn't think I would need it, but all it took was couple of hours in this terrible seat to flair it up again.

Since I couldn't sleep, I played around with the BYOD system on my iPhone trying to kill time. I was mostly interested in the progress map to see how long I had until I could get up and out of this terrible seat. Every time I moved a bit the seat creaked and cracked. I tried to stay still as much as possible to not wake up the other passengers who seemed to be trying to get some sleep. The rest of the flight was uneventful. I did ask the FA if there was any stroopwafel available but she said no without even looking. Once on the ground we parked at gate C21. The united app also showed that our original flight to YYZ had been delayed as well and has not departed yet. As soon as the aircraft doors opened, the gate agent made announcements regarding connections and also said "Toronto passengers please go to your gate. Your flight has been delayed." At this point, we rushed off the plane and made a mad dash for the B concourse from the C concourse where we were parked.

More Pictures of the LAX United Club And United Airlines UA 660

seat38a

I think I already explained it all in the first post. What in that paragraph is hard for you to understand?

seat38a

After disembarking from flight UA 660, we RAN from the C concourse to the B concourse via the underground connector. The airport was busy with lots of people rushing or running like ourselves trying to catch their connecting flight. We made it to our gate for UA flight 476, just as group 1 was finishing boarding. I handed my boarding pass to the agent to scan it and it made one of those "something is wrong" sound instead of the ping. We were directed to the podium where two agents were working. They were NOT in a good mood and while helping us, were talking sh*& about someone while typing away on the computer. It turned out that our reservation had already gone over to Air Canada and the agent had to bring it back to United. Our boarding passes were returned to us and before leaving the podium, I enquired if our luggage was going to make it on the flight. The agent who fixed our boarding passes curtly replied: "You will find out once your board." Not knowing what that meant and not wanting to push my luck with the two agents already in a foul mood, we joined the back of Group 2 to board.


The scanner still make the "Uh Oh" noise but this time we were allowed to board. The first class cabin was already boarded and only our three seats were empty. We took our seats and we waited but at no point was PDB offered to us. I'm guessing we boarded too late for the FA to be bothered to offer us any. Flight 476 was a Boeing 737-800 with DirecTV and individual video screens at each seat. The first class seats on this aircraft was A LOT more comfortable than on the 757-300 seats that we endured for 4+ hours not so long ago. I think I would have been fine if we had these seats from LAX to ORD and may even gotten some sleep. I saw the gate agent who told me "You will find out once your board" when I asked about our bags earlier, walk down the aisle to hand over the passenger manifest to one of the FA's. I briefly considered stopping her to ask about the bags now since "we were onboard", but I decided to let it go and not rock the boat. Safety demo on this flight was via pre recorded video on the individual monitors. Since I've already seen this one on YouTube many many times, I just looked out the window and the things going on out on the apron.


We pushed back shortly after the pre departure routines and after a quick taxi to the runway, we were off to Toronto. ORD being the hub of two major US carriers, I was expecting some lengthy taxi times but we only had one other aircraft ahead of us in line for takeoff. Once we reached 10,000 ft, the female FA with the accent that I've never heard of before, made the inflight service announcements. She then went through the cabin hading out immigration forms for Canada. This was followed shortly later with a lot of opening and closing of every compartment in the first class gallery. If I had not known that this was a muffin flight, I would have thought that the FA was preparing a three course meal with all the ruckus coming from the galley. After the ruckus in the gallery, the FA working the first class cabin came through taking drink orders. My mom ordered water and I ordered orange juice sans the vodka or champagne since I was feeling a bit hungover from the drinks at the LAX United Club and inflight on UA 660.


After the drinks were delivered, a tray of muffins were brought out. I though I heard the FA give a choice between blueberry and cranberry, but he said it was one choice mixed berries. Judging from the conversation behind me, other passengers also thought the FA was giving them a choice between blueberry and cranberry. Unlike on my last breakfast snack flight which served mini muffins, today we received full sized muffins. I was offered a refill on my orange juice but I asked for a glass of water instead. For the rest of the flight, I tried playing around with the DirecTV system. On the ground or in the air, there is nothing to watch on TV.


Our one hour flight time flew by quickly and it was soon time for landing. The female FA with the unfamiliar accent came back to the front jump seat and the two FA's started talking while strapped in for landing. I overheard the male FA ask where the female FA was from and she said Arkansas. Her accent didn't sound like Bill Clinton's but what do I know about accents of Arkansas. We landed in YYZ and after leaving the runway, we made a straight shot to the F gates where we disembarked. Immigration was quick and there were no lines when we entered the immigration hall. After having our immigration slips and passports checked, we headed to the baggage claim carrousel. Now it was just a matter of waiting to see our bags made it with us after our reservation got transferred to Air Canada and then back to United at the last minute. Well as soon as the belt started, our bags were the first the to come out onto the carousel. My parents and I grabbed our bags, and headed to customs while laughing.

More pictures from United Airlines UA 476

roadwarrier

Nothing like a bit of stress at the start of a trip. Glad that your luggage made it. Looking forward forward to the rest of your TR.

seat38a

Thanks roadwarrier! The fact that ours was the first three on the belt was even more impressive!

seat38a

After handing over our immigration and customs slips from the automated kiosks to the customs agent, we followed the signs out to the main arrivals hall. I lead the way following the posted signs for the UP Express train. When we arrived at the UP Express platform, I purchased tickets for the three of us which came out to $24.75 CAD. My adult ticket cost the most at $12.35CAD and my parents senior tickets cost $6.20CAD each. The next UP Express train was already sitting on the platform and boarding passengers, so we jumped on and stowed our luggage in one of the luggage racks closest to where we were sitting. Inside of our UP Express train looked immaculately clean but also had some lingering aroma of hospital style disinfectant in the air.


I didn't check the time but after what I am assuming to be 15 minutes at the YYZ station, based on the information that I read, the doors closed and the train pulled out of the platform. There was a conductor aboard who came by to check everyones tickets after departure from each station. One group of passengers boarded the train without a ticket and had to purchase them from the conductor via her handheld device. I'm not sure if the group boarded with the wrong type of ticket or no ticket at all but all I saw from my seat was a member of the group handing over a bank card and the conductor processing the card on her device. Our train made two intermediate stops at Weston and Bloor before finally arriving into Toronto's Union Station. The whole journey look about 30 minutes from YYZ to downtown Toronto.

The UP Express train itself was really quiet for a Diesel Multi Unit train. For those of you who live in the SF Bay area, SMART uses a similar train set that UP Express does but with some modifications.


The platforms for UP Express does not share platforms with GO Transit or Via Rail, but are connected to the rest of Union Station and other downtown Toronto attractions via the SkyWalk. We could have walked to our hotel via the SkyWalk but having had no sleep on the flight from LAX, I really didn't want to navigate the SkyWalk maze, and instead headed out onto Front St W and walked the half a mile to our hotel. Again with the lack of sleep, what should have been a easy .5 mile walk to our hotel felt more like a 3 mile walk to our hotel, the Residence Inn Toronto Downtown/Entertainment District. I was worried that we would have to drop our luggage at the hotel and figure out how to kill time until check-in time but during the train ride from the airport, I received a message via my Marriott App that our room was ready around 9:00AM-ish local time. While free early checkin is not a guaranteed or listed benefit of Marriott Rewards Gold, I've been granted early check-in every time I've requested it so far. I have noticed though that the rooms I'm given for early check-in are not always the best, but I'll gladly trade an upgrade at normal check-in time for a less than stellar room at 9:00AM in the morning, especially after a sleepless flight.

More pictures from the UP Express

Romanianflyer

Looking forward to the entire trip report, as I'm planning next year to visit some friends in Quebec during Autumn and make an extended trip across Canada.

Keep the posts and pics coming, nice read so far!

Antonio8069

Patronizing or what?? FYI, Dec is not the fall in Canada - or anywhere for that matter!

ps I look forward to seeing the fall colours and other highlights which eastern Canada is famous for!

transportprof

In my experience, when connecting bags are first off the belt at the arriving airport, that means they were the last on the plane at the connection point. In other words, your bags had a close call at ORD.

seat38a

What was surprising was that with the system tossing us from United to Air Canada and then back to United, the system worked!

seat38a

Oh Mon Ami,
Hence why I wrote that the trip was from October Sorry, but got to work to be able to afford my travel addictions and can't post everything in realtime. I'd love to be a full time travel writer but its programming and writing code not full time credit card peddling that is paying for my trips. But yes the autumn foliages are coming and yes it is one of the main reasons we went to Canada in mid October when the fall colors are at its peek.

But here is a disclaimer going forward in big print and shout to satisfy you:
THIS TRIP WAS TAKEN IN MID OCTOBER OF 2017. NOW IT IS DECEMBER WHICH MAKES IT TWO MONTHS OLD AS OF THIS WRITING. PLEASE IGNORE IF THAT BOTHERS YOU.
Pour Mon Ami Canadien:
CE VOYAGE A ÉTÉ PRIS EN MI-OCTOBRE DE 2017. MAINTENANT C'EST DECEMBRE QUI FAIT DEUX MOIS DE CETTE ÉCRITURE. S'IL VOUS PLAÎT IGNORER SI CELA VOUS DÉRANGE.

But now since I've been unequivocally clear that I took the trip in mid October of this year, I do hope you and everyone else sticks around for the rest of the report.

seat38a

Will do and I hope my info becomes helpful to planning your trip!

seat38a

After checking in to the Residence Inn Entertainment District in the morning, my parents and I pretty much crashed and slept for the next couple of hours. By the time I'd gotten up, it was already late afternoon. My mom, was itching to go out and about so I decided we would go down Spadina Ave to Chinatown and Kensington Market Neighborhood. We headed out of our hotel and walked down Wellington towards Spadina Ave which was busy with people heading home after work. After further walking up Spadina Ave towards Toronto University, we walked right into the heart of Toronto's Chinatown. This was the first Chinatown that we did not see the ubiquitous Chinatown Gate. Along the way, I did go into a Scotiabank to get some Canadian Dollars just in case. Later on during this trip, I learned how important it is have cash with you in Canada. In May when we visited Copenhagen, for our Northern Europe Cruise, EVERYONE accepted bank cards, but during my little over a week in Eastern Canada, I had to withdrew cash 3 times at an ATM $200 CAD at a time because of many businesses that are CASH ONLY. Even back home I probably maybe withdraw cash twice a month and its usually $40 USD at the most.


After visiting the bank, we continued into Kensington Market which I was expecting a "market" but in reality it was neighborhood with many indie stores and restaurants. Walking through the neighborhood, the air smelled of a mixture of incense and marijuana. Many of the storefronts were old and or covered in graffiti which they call "art" in this part of town but it wasn't for us. We headed back out onto Spadina Ave and tried to figure out what to do for dinner.

After dinner, we headed back towards the Lake Ontario on Spadina. Along the way, we stopped at a LCBO store, which is owned by the Ontario Government. Correct me if I wrong but, all alcohol in the Province of Ontario is sold by the government. I've never seen a government controlled alcohol vendor so I was curious to see how it looked inside. When I think of "government controlled" the DMV immediately comes to mind, but the LCBO store was clean and reminded be of BevMo back home. The LCBO was BUSY when we visited with what looked like office workers picking up some alcoholic beverage before going home.



On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at a Petro-Canada gas station and bought a case of bottled water, which we dropped off at the hotel before continuing our walk to Lake Ontario. We changed course and instead took the shortcut between CN Tower and Rodgers Stadium to reach Bremner Street. We eventually ended up at the small park at the end of Harbour Square where we had a different view of the CN Tower and the rest of the lights of Downtown Toronto.




It was windy at the lake and after I had finished with picture taking, we walked back towards our hotel, the Residence Inn Downtown Toronto, but we stopped at the Boston Pizza on the corner of Front and John St at my moms suggestion. We were on vacation so we figured what the hell. My dad and I ordered ourselves a Molson Canadian along with a order of wings and one of their specialty pizzas. I've heard the joke about how Coors and Molson, two terrible beer companies from both the US and Canada merging to create one sh&*y beer but I thought the Molson Canadian was really GOOD. We took the leftover pizza back to the hotel since our room has a kitchenette. We figured one of us would eat it before we left Toronto.

More pictures from Toronto Trip Report