9/26/16,
“The Return Journey”
Quebec City
Jean Lesage Internation Airport, Quebec (YQB)
It is only
six hours since I was writing from outside my hotel last night, and I will be
back at my office in less than five hours.
This has been a short trip by any stretch, but it was well-designed and
perfectly executed. It was a steep price
to pay to do 20 hours of driving in two days, but it was well worth it, and I
am quite glad to have finally made it to Miguasha National Park.
This trip has been called Full Circle for
reasons described last night, but I also put in a lot of effort into designing
the trip to further fit into that theme.
When I went to Canada with my friend’s for NYE in 2012, we drove from
Westchester to Toronto, across from Toronto to Quebec, and back down from
Quebec to Westchester. We did it in
seven days. This time, I flew to Toronto
and back from Quebec, but the Canadian portion of the drive was much the
same. When I did my two provincial
capitals trips (October 2014 and July 2016), I stayed at Delta Hotels. Since I was in Toronto to see the provincial
legislative assembly there, I made sure to stay at a Delta hotel. When I did my National Park trip in July
2013, I stayed at a Days Inn on the way back to Edmonton. On the way to Miguasha National Park, I
stayed at the Days Inn in Edmundston (sic).
Then, of course, I stayed at the L’Intendant last night, where it all
began.
My adventure in Quebec was a repeat of things I have done multiple times. All in all, this trip allowed me to relive a
lot of great memories of my 9 previous trips to Canada over the past four
years, and I was very glad to have come full circle in this manner. I reflected on my time in Canada during last
night’s entry, and I do not have much more to say. Anything I might write further would preempt
the things I intend to say when I do my “Canada Complete” trip to Newfoundland
and Labrador next summer, so I will leave it at this. We will soon be boarding, so I need to close
anyway, but I wanted to get this airport entry in before I left. As is my tradition, I will treat the return journey
in its entirety once I get back to New York.
En route,
NYC Taxi 7J94
12 hours
ago, I was getting gas as I entered the city of Quebec. Now, I am in a taxi on the way back to my
apartment. I left LGA 60 hours ago, and
the trip itself is now coming full circle.
The return journey was almost entirely unadventurous, and I have a fun
fact. Reader, recall how I had to go
back to my apartment to pick up my computer charger. Well, I have not charged my laptop once this
trip yet, and the remaining charge will be more than sufficient to write and
publish this entry. In other words, I
didn’t even need the charger.
Okay, so,
the return journey. After I closed, I
headed up to my room and did everything I needed to do to get ready for the
morning. I set two alarms and fell
asleep. I don’t even think I got my 2
full REM cycles. I got ready and headed
out. I was surprised to see so many cars
on the road at 3:30 AM, but I was soon at the airport, which, too, was
surprisingly crowded for that hour. I
had half of my Toscano and went to security.
I was surprised that they didn’t do border control at the airport here,
which is the typical process for when I fly home from Canada. Instead, I would clear border control at
Kennedy. There were flights from this
airport to US Destinations, domestic destinations, and even a flight to
Cancun.
I headed to the duty-free shop
and, in a first, saw Cubans for sale at a Canadian airport. Was I allowed to buy them? She told me that I was allowed to bring a
certain dollar amount of Cubans back to the US from Canada. Was that true? I had never heard of that before. I bought a pack of five cigars, Cohiba Siglo
II, my favorite, and it was slightly under that dollar amount, actually about
half of the price of what it would have cost in the city of Toronto. I also got some maple syrup goods, which I’m
sure I’ll regret by the end of the week.
I got a bagel sandwich for breakfast, along with hash browns and
coffee. I scarfed it down and headed the
gate. We were not yet boarding, so I
proceeded to write my airport entry. I
was the first one on the plane, and I ordered my usual beverage for when I am
taking a first-class flight at this hour: coffee and whiskey. I finished it before we took off. It would be a short flight, only an hour in
the air, and I fell asleep about halfway through.
I woke up as were landing. Then it was the usual process for any
international flight. I headed to border
control, scanned my passport at the kiosk, and went to the customs checkpoint. He asked a few questions, including if I was
bringing anything back. I pointed to the
bag of maple products. That was
that. I waited on line for the taxi and,
once we were on the road, I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now
close so that I can publish, along with closing at this trip. Next stop: Texas with my mother to see the
Alamo and other sites in the area.
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