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WORLDCON, 2009 -- Where No Loon Has Gone Before....
07-19-2009, 04:15 AM
Well, I have to take a week off unpaid before the end of the year anyway, so... why not?
But the train fair is... oy! If I choose Business class for the Toronto-Montreal leg (the Sarnia-Toronto leg only has Economy available), the price jumps to
between $400 and $600 -- I could fly for roughly the same amount. I dunno.... hey, Rob, what's Economy like on ViaRail for ~12hrs for a *big* guy?
With a whole week, I figure I'll have three days or so to bum around Montreal and soak up the local color. Anyone familiar with town who can list some
"don't miss" items? I'm *still* kicking myself for not allowing extra time to hang out around Denver *last* year....
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Quote:If I choose Business class for the Toronto-Montreal leg (the Sarnia-Toronto leg only has Economy available), the price jumps to between $400 and $600
Check the http://www.viarail.ca/ultimate/en_index.html]discount page - if you book at least a week early, that drops to $260 for the Toronto-Montréal leg. (And you arrive a dozen blocks from the Palais de Congres, saving you a huge chunk of the taxi fare from the airport as well.)
Quote:hey, Rob, what's Economy like on ViaRail for ~12hrs for a *big* guy?
Let me put it this way: I'm 6'1", and I refuse to travel VIA economy. But that's because of some miserable experiences trying to fit into Economy a decade ago. Thnigs may have changed since then.
Quote:With a whole week, I figure I'll have three days or so to bum around Montreal and soak up the local color. Anyone familiar with town who can list some "don't miss" items?
Alas, the Just For Laughs festival is this month, and Festiblues (the city's blues festival) doesn't start until August 13, so I can only recommend permanent attractions...
If you have any interest in nature at all, the http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/biodome/]Biodome is not to be missed. There are, of course, http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page ... ema=PORTAL]other museums in Montréal as well, including the Just For Laughs Museum.
The view from Mount Royal is worth the trip. (You'll need http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page ... ema=PORTAL]a map of the city to find your way around, though.)
Speaking of maps, http://servicesenligne2.ville.montreal ... =Serv_corp]here's a PDF map to the city's tourist attractions. It's in French.
(And if for some reason you decide to detour to Ottawa on the way back, I can take a half-day off work and show you some of the sights here...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Quote: robkelk wrote:
Let me put it this way: I'm 6'1", and I refuse to travel VIA economy. But that's because of some miserable experiences trying to fit into
Economy a decade ago. Things may have changed since then.
Things have changed, that's for sure... I had to fly back East to "Take Care of Something", if you know what I mean... anyhow,
I'm 6'6", and the boarding attendant took one look at me and ordered me to surrender my boarding pass. A little flummoxed, I did, and she went
over to the computer and upgraded me to a different seat - the one with the Emergency Exit. Pros: More leg room. Cons: Expected to assist in the evacuation of
the plane if it goes down.
_____
DEATH is Certain. The hour, Uncertain...
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Warning, VIA may be going on strike as of noon, friday. They are still in negotiations at the moment. Read it in today's paper and remembered this thread.
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You beat me to the warning by four minutes...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Isn't social networking awesome in that respect?
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Yeah...
And we can change "may go on strike" to "probably will go on strike" - talks between the union and the employer have broken down.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Well, that'll teach me....
07-25-2009, 04:07 AM
...to go to the railroad's website to buy tickets before checking in here first. 
Make that *did* go on strike. The headline banner at VIA-Rail is "All services suspended as of July 24th (aka, today)."
Guess I'm flying. Oh, well. Two hours crammed into a CRJ vs ~12hrs on the train. I've done short hauls in CRJs before -- they're not great for
me, but I can take it (pity the poor person sitting next to me, though....)
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VIA will be back in operation by Monday morning. Both sides have agreed to binding arbitration.
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And save 60% if you book before Wednesday. Details http://www.viarail.ca/en/all-aboard]here.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Whew....
08-01-2009, 03:45 PM
Well, I ended up flying. I ended up getting pretty sick and having my car die (not too badly, though) while VIA was on strike, and between that and other
things, I just got irritated enough to say "forget it!". The real clincher was the 12 HOURS length of trip, which I suspect my back couldn't
take, and the fact that I could get the flight really cheap from much nearer home by using my frequent-flyer miles.
2hrs in a CRJ vs 12 on a train? Yeah, I'll take that trade. Dunno *how* I'm going to make it to Melbourne for WorldCon 2010 (or even if I *can*),
though.
So! First thing Sunday morning, I'll be winging my way to exotic, distant Montreal, to kill the week before the con slumming around (or, more likely, just
de-stressing from work and catching up on my sleep). Hopefully the local wildlife will be friendly.
Which reminds me -- I still don't know how I'm getting from the airport to the hotel. Google maps kept telling me the airport was located inside a
building downtown(!?!?). But I'll have plenty of time to wing it. I remember my first trip to Mexico (on business) -- got dumped in Mexico City with no
idea how to get where I needed to go. Fortunately, there were taxis everywhere, and the hotel names were the same in Spanish or English. That and a little
creative pantomime were enough to get me by.
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Quote:Which reminds me -- I still don't know how I'm getting from the airport to the hotel. Google maps kept telling me the airport was located inside a building downtown(!?!?).
Oh, gods, no. http://www.admtl.com/passager/Home.aspx]Montréal's airport is sufficiently far from Montréal that the Ottawa-Montréal VIA train has a stop there. (Not that you can buy a ticket for that leg of the trip, mind you - that would be too easy.) The train station is downtown; that might be what's throwing off Google Maps.
http://www.admtl.com/passager/acces_et_ ... sines.aspx]This page says you can get a taxi from the airport to downtown for $38. No guarantees you can get a taxi from downtown to the airport for the same price, mind you. There are http://www.admtl.com/passager/acces_et_ ... /home.aspx]other options to get to your hotel, as well - check to see whether your hotel has a shuttle service.
Edit: And once you're downtown, walk or take the Metro (French for "subway"). The city proper is on an island, so it's not spread out the way many other large cities are - it's easy to get around without a car.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Made it
08-03-2009, 12:23 AM
Well, I'm here. Where is everybody?
Kidding. I'm hoping to spend the days before Worldcon kicks off seeing sights and getting the lay of the land.
Nice trip so far. This part of Montreal looks oddly like Detroit, but I'm sure it must be nicer. I mean, *Detroit*....
Doing my usual hermit-crab thing for my first day in a new city, holing up in the hotel until I've got my stuff arranged and my nerves settle. Did go
out&about into the Center Desjardins which the Hyatt is attached to, though -- nice big food court, so I won't lack for fast food if I need it.
Apparently, the Modern Art museum is right next door. Just past the... big outdoor music festival that's RIGHT UNDER MY WINDOW (Francophone Follies?)
Obligatory hotel-internet rant: $70 for a week of internet access?!? At what I'm paying for this room? I've had *free* broadband as good or better
from hotels that cost me 1/3 this.
But it seems to be a regular thing for major hotels in convention cities.
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That's because con-goers have a nasty tendency to drive your bandwidth usage through the roof.
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Yeah, but this isn't a con rate, it's their standard rate. And the
smaller, less-fancy hotels I've been to in the same sort of cities don't pull these kinds of tricks.
And if they're going to charge this kind of extra money on top of the big room rate, shouldn't you be getting better internet? Instead, the connection is flakey and unreliable, and the speed isn't anything special. Maybe I'm
biased, but from where I'm sitting, it feels like "any excuse to gouge the customer some more."
Oh, and their tech support? Totally outsourced. Typical, yes. But when they connected me through to the 3rd party who handles all their internet problems
(and no-one is kept on staff to cover any such issues), the phone number was no longer valid! Bleah.
Okay, dangit, enough whining about the internet. I'm here to have fun, I'll just have to do it with the cloud portion of my brain lobotomized.
Hm... I can see Mont-Royal from the lobby windows. Have to check a map, see how far a walk it is.
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I believe I mentioned this earlier, but just in case...
If folks meet up at Worldcon, and if folks decide to have a DWForum dinner while at Worldcon, please let me know at least a day before and I'll probably be
there. Ottawa's only a couple of hours drive from Montréal, and I've got plenty of leave time saved up. (My gmail account is the same as my board
handle; e-mail me a phone number and I'll work out the logistics with whoever I talk to.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Blog
08-04-2009, 04:06 AM
Rather than spam the board any further (and to avoid re-typing all that stuff), I'm just going to post a link to my blog post covering the past two days
here.
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Updates
08-04-2009, 11:31 PM
Updates here
as possible.
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