MY TRIP TO MONTREAL & BOSTON

8th February 2012

Am now at Gate C37, KLIA waiting for an announcement to board flight MH002 to Montreal, Canada via Heathrow.

It has been a long time since I travelled long hours, the last was probably when I was serving Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council (that time was too frequent).

The flight to Montreal will take 20 hours and 50 minutes to reach and that's not included the 8 hours transit that i would be spending in Heathrow Airport - in short I will arrive in Montreal on 9th February at 1550 hours - Montreal local time (Malaysian time would probably be 10th February @ 0350 hours).

I will try my best to update my daily experiances of my travel as and when I get the opportunity or if there are wifi's easily available and even more important I hope it's free.

.....Journey begins.......

Heathrow Airport, London

Arrived at Heathrow Airport, London on 9th February 2012 @ 530am. London was already awake but the sun is so where to be seen.

The weather outside I was informed was at -1 degree C.

The good thing is I don't need to get out of the airport, but, having said that, I have to spend nearly 7 hours here before my connecting flight to Montreal take-off.

Since I did not have to clear immigrations, the clearance from terminal 4 to terminal 3 was rather easy, although there was a few security check, but all went on fine and nothing to worry about. In Malaysia we are so relaxed at the immigration and we normally don't put our guest into so much of screening, but, I guess it's only fair that each country has her own regulations and as visitors we need to adhere by it.

Glanced at the newspapers; it's all about Capello's (England's soccer team Manager) resignation and the other story was about Prince Harry who wants to return to the front line in Afghanistan serving as a helicopter co-pilot. Also in the news was Redknapp's chances of taking over Fabio Capello.

As I was walking to collect my boarding pass for the next flight, suddenly I see an adult in his mid 40s running holding his pair of shoes in his right hand and just with his socks and I wonder what trouble he has got himself into or did he forget something important somewhere, anyway, I hope he does no get into any kind of trouble.

Ah here, I saw a shop that sells Olympic 2012 gift shop - expensive!!!!!

What else, Harrods - we have it in Kuala Lumpur, Starbucks - many outlets in Kuala Lumpur as well.

While I look for my place to rest, you have a good time resting and having fun where ever you may be.

If anything interesting happens before I depart to Montreal, I shall share. Until then, I need to look for a place for a shower.

Signing off from Heathrow, London.

enjoy reading and the journey is only about to begin...

9th February 2012 @ 350pm - Montreal Time

Arrived in Montreal as scheduled which was 350pm. The weather outside was 0 degree celcius.

While the walk from the aircraft to the immigration checking was not that far, but I was shocked to see the long queue it took me 45 minutes before I could even show my passport to the immigration officers, while all my colleagues had no problems at the immigration, I had to go and show my passport to another counter, anyway, after a few more questions, I was allowed into Montreal.

I was shocked to see Montreal now - full of snow eveywhere - the snow fall in Montreal has turned into ice everywhere, it's my first experience seeing such situation - the weather was very cold, i can't imagine how it would have been if the weather was -20 degree celcius.

We reached the hotel at about 6pm - after nearly 30 hours of travel.

First thing first, needed to freshen up, as dinner was at 7pm - It was a good decision to have dinner early as this would enable me to be awake and not sleep earlier - one way to get adapted to the time change is to make sure to sleep at the same time the locals sleep.

We had dinner at a Tandoori Restaurant - good Indian/Pakistani food and indeed it was satisfying.

Back in the hotel by 930pm - perfect timing to rest and get ready for the next day. Another important thing - by 6pm it's dark in Montreal (it's like 8pm back home).

I was worried if I could sleep as this would be important for me to get adjusted to the local time, but, I was just to tired and I slept of by about 1030pm and as usual, we were told to be ready by 7am to start our official meetings.

10th February 2012 @ Montreal

Although I woke up a few times in between 1030pm till 630am, but, I had no problems sleeping and that was indeed a good news for me as I guess I'm able to adjust my sleeping time.

We left the hotel by 730am to Becancour (a 2 hours drive from Montreal) the weather outside was in between 0 & 1 degree celcius, but, it was windy and as such, it was very cold and throughout the journey, we could see so much of snow setting as far as the eyes can go and all rivers have turned into big skating arena's.

We arrived at Becancour, the destination for our first briefing - fellow Malaysian's briefed us nearly about 3 hours which included a visit to the plant to see for ourselves what they have done so far - and in one word AMAZING and if only all Malaysian companies have put in effort of this nature, we would be one very successful nation.

After the tour of the factory, we adjourned for lunch at a very small and colonial looking hotel called Manior Becancour and the entire hotel was covered with snow.

We were done by 2pm as we were planning to head back to Montreal, there was a suggestion that we take a drive to Quebec City which was 1 hour drive from Becancour. After a few minutes,we decided to head to Quebec City for a short trip.

Covered by snow it was - Quebec City. But, it was a beautiful sight, especially the river - St. Lawrence River, transforming itself from fully iced into a normal river - that sight was simply awesome, but, I could just not handle the weather, with the wind - always waiting to get back into the car.

We were done with the visit in Quebec City by 530pm and we departed back to Montreal - tired as well as cold I was by that time, just can't wait to get back to the hotel.

We stopped by a Thai Fast Food Restaurant to have our dinner and by about 930pm we reached the hotel as we were getting out of our car, it began to snow - yes for the first time I saw snow falling from the sky, and then the bad news, tomorrow the weather would be -10 degree celcius.

Can't wait to depart Montreal to Boston tomorrow and for now, I shall rest for a while and I do hope I get to sleep....

the journey continues.......

11th February 2012 @ Trudeau International Airport, Montreal, Canada

Its 1125 hours in Montreal = +13 hours in Malaysia.

As expected there was a heavy snow storm last night in Montreal from the room of my window I could see how strong the wind and the snow that came along with it, as much as I would have loved to take a picture of me and the snow falling on top of me, I guess I did not dare - afraid of the consequences - health concerns mainly.

Woke up early today and got ready to leave the hotel to the airport and we were informed earlier to be in the airport earlier as the security check could take some time.

Departed the hotel at 920am and was in the airport in 25 minutes - it was still drizzling with snow here in Montreal and by the way the weather outside is -14 degree celcius and with the wind it feels like -19 degree celcius.

as expected the security check was thorough and I expected it to be like that, but, I must say all the officers in charge did their responsibility very well and they were very kind and friendly throughout the process. All this did take place about 1 hour.

We are now ready to board the flight in a while will be reaching Boston, USA at 1330 hours on 11th February 2012 which is 0230 hours 12th February back in Kuala Lumpur.

will update later once I have reached Boston, USA.

and the journey continues........