Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Lisa is skipping Worldcon this year, because she wants to try the European rail trip that she did last year, this time without all of the drama and disruption that ruined at least a third of it until we could get her settled in. We've booked the same extended-stay hotel that we eventually found in Munich, bought another two-month first-class Eurail pass (a bargain at $800), and her airline ticket (the part she hates).

With Lisa being away during Worldcon, it doesn't make sense for me to drive to Seattle. I can get back some of the PTO days (and I was already tight for time, especially after having to take several days for the hernia surgery) and then fly up and back. Today I sat down to book the flight. After booking the flight initially, it asked if I wanted to upgrade to first class for about $270 round trip. I got to thinking about this. For various reasons (mostly things I'm doing for Kayla's sake; I'm not complaining), there is a very good chance that I'm going to need two checked bags, which would cost $160 in baggage charges. There even is apparently a meal for first-class passengers (coach gets pretzels for the relatively short flight RNO-SEA). Along with the bigger seat, I decided that the net $110 (after accounting for the bag charges) was worth it and paid for the upgrade.

I made it to Montreal. The start and end of the trip were stressful, but the middle, i.e. the actual flights themselves, were not.

I only got four hours of sleep last night thanks in part to having to run back to Fernley to get my jacket. Then, technical issues with the work I need to do for Day Jobbe while I'm on vacation meant I checked out about 30 minutes later than I planned. It's a good thing it's only about a five minute drive from the hotel to the airport, and that there were no more than normal delays going through Terrorization. I got to the gate just before final call.

The money I spent on upgrades to Economy Plus on United and the Air Canada equivalent were very well spent: in both cases I ended up with a group of three seats to myself, which made both flights much more comfortable. My Bose headphones worked, and on Air Canada, I was actually able to make the in-flight entertainment system work, which is something I could not say about United.

The long layover in Denver was a blessing. I didn't have to rush at all. I could find one of the restaurants (a sit-down place on the upper level of Concourse A) that wasn't crowded, could get a table away from other people, and could eat breakfast without trying to inhale it instead of chew it. I was at the Air Canada gate long before it opened, meaning I was the first person at the desk to get my boarding pass after showing my various bits of documentation.

( Immigration: Zipping to a Screeching Halt )

The 747 Express bus is the least-expensive way to get from YUL to downtown Montreal, but it apparently has two destinations. The driver of the first bus told me to take the second one, which I did. But the second bus seems to have gone to the same destination as the first bus, and I found myself not at all where I expected to be. It took a while, but I eventually figured out that I needed to get on the Metro (fortunately, the same transit pass I bought for the 747 works on the Metro) and ride it three stops to Bonaventure, where the hotel (the former Delta, for those of you who were at Anticipation) is located.

Update, November 4, 2021, 7 AM: It turns out that I was misreading the map, and the route I took was the correct one. I thought it went to the main train station across from the Bonaventure, but it actually goes to the Lionel-Groulx Metro stop, but that is only three stops down the line to Bonaventure, and the Metro day pass works on both the Metro and the bus. (It is also around 1.6 km if I wanted to walk it.) This should make things less stressful going back next Wednesday.

I had forgotten how much of Montreal seems to be full of steps. My hotel room is up a flight of stairs with no elevator. I was able to haul my luggage up those stairs, but it was annoying.

My personal telephone doesn't have roaming in Canada, but fortunately my work phone does; unfortunately, the connection in the hotel room is poor. I was able to raise a phone signal in the lobby and called Lisa to reassure her that I was okay and had not been jammed into a hold with a bunch of Covidiots. Even though there were a handful of people who seem to think that wearing a mask around their chin is sufficient, I kept reminding myself that at least in theory, every one of them had to prove they were vaccinated and had tested negative before the airline would even let them onto the plane, and I was mostly able to stay away from them, and I was wearing my N95 mask faithfully (except for pulling it down to drink my coffee or such, but I pulled it back up after each drink).

I still have to be up early in the morning to do Day Jobbe stuff, and thankfully the internet connection here at the Bonaventure (unlike the SureStay in Reno) is pretty solid. Still, I'm very tired. I may well take a nap mid-day tomorrow if there's nothing pressing needing my attention during the first day of World Fantasy Con.

Today we drove from Tucson AZ to Tempe AZ, covering merely 128 miles. But that's because it was Museum Day.

( Planes, Trains, and Space Capsules )

Having had our fill of museums and knowing that we still had miles to cover, we hit the road for Tempe. This drive had more excitement than I wanted. First a minivan and then a big-rig almost sideswiped us. Then, as we were getting ready to leave a rest stop, my phone went off with the emergency alert signal warning of dust storms in the area. Fortunately, those weren't as bad as feared. There was intermittent and sometimes heavy rain coming in to Tempe, but not too awful.

After moving in to the hotel and getting some stuff done, we headed to downtown to eat at the restaurant we enjoyed so much during the last Phoenix-area Westercon, My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. Their menu appears to have changed a bit since we were last here, but we were able to get what we wanted and we liked it. This is the sort of long-term economic impact that is impossible to measure when a convention comes to town: long-term repeat business, even from people who aren't local to the convention.

I have more I'd like to write and more photos I'd like to post, but I'm very tired and need more sleep. We're off to Las Vegas tomorrow for two nights at the Venetian before we head home. Unfortunately, I have at least four hours of Day Jobbery to get done while I'm in Las Vegas so that it is on the desired desk by Monday morning, and that means the stay might not be as restful as I would like.