Dobrindts Dot Com

I recently had a short business trip to Montreal. The only time I'vve been to Canada was in 2000 for training when I went to Toronto, and now I will be in Montreal and Toronto in a span of 10 days. Strange. Anyway, I flew from Boston, about a 45 minute trip, Sunday night and came back Monday night. It was the first time I have been out of the country since that 2000 trip. Living in the Boston area, Canadian travel is pretty common. I think it only takes about 6 or 8 hours to actually drive to Toronto or Montreal. I know Quebec is a big spot as well for people in New England. But for me, I never had a reason to head there. Couple of thoughts

- Whenever you travel out of the country there is a risk. If something happened, ala 9/11, you can get stuck. Out of all the countries in the world the risk is probably the lowest with Canada, but it's there. It dawned on me as I approached the Air Canada counter at Logan and the ticket agent asked for my passport. I need a passport to head to Canada. I think one can use a birth certificate but it's still "international" travel.

- I forgot about two things - customs and currency. There is a customs process when you enter another country. They ask you questions that seem, at the surface, invasive. Like they are trying to catch me doing something bad. I was even flustered. The officer in Montreal asked me where I flew in from. I said the US. I think he wanted me to be more specific because he looked at me funny. So I said Massachusetts. I don't think he cared what state I live in. He said "Did you fly in from Boston?" Ah, he wanted the airport. Of course, I was still in the Montreal airport so he wanted to know what airport I came in from. Stupid me. Just relax Dave, you are not carrying contraband. Even when I was on the flight a woman sitting next to me asked me if the flight attendant handed out the custom forms. I had no idea what she was talking about. I forgot you had to declare livestock and diseases you were bringing onto foreign soil. And then it dawned on me that in another country they might not take US dollars. I know I can use my credit card but that's a pain in the a** when all I want is a cup of coffee or to tip someone. So I exchanged some money at the airport where I handed over paper that was very familiar to me as government official currency and was handed back what looked like money my kids would play with. It wasn't that it looked funny, it just was different than what I hold in my pocket every day of the year.

- Montreal is a beautiful city. I never really gave it much thought but while driving in and out of the city it reminded me of NY and Boston. NY City in that it had large office buildings over a large space. And Boston in that it had a Newberry Street feel. It had a very European feel to it with sidewalk cafes and non-standard store fronts.

- People speak French. Signs are in French. I can neither read or speak French so it threw me off. And this is after taking freakin French classes for 7 years. But almost everyone speaks English and I didn't have to get around on my own, I was with Montreal-ites. Or how ever you say people who live there. The one thing that was kind of cool is how people, I would say 80%, speak both languages fluently. They go in and out of both languages during a conversation with very little, at least that I could tell, reason for switching. My business meeting was started in French and then cut back and forth with about 75% of the time being in English. I found the combination of French and English to be...I don't know...impressive. I have to compliment everyone, from the senior level clients I met with to the hourly clerks, customs agents and taxi drivers who were able to do it. I even noticed the dispatch over the cab's radio cutting in and out. And common names, like Marie, Robert and Daniel are spoken with a French accent even when speaking in English. Robert is roe-bear, Marie is mah-dee and so forth. I kind of wish they would call me Dah-veed.

- The people even look European. They have a funky, down to earth carefree look about them. They speak openly and with little pretension. They act comfortable and informal with each other and seem like they enjoy whatever it is they do. Boston can be a little uptight with the Yankee way and it was kind of cool to be in another element, even if for only a day.

- I it really close to Boston. The flight is about as long as a flight from Boston to NJ. I need to look up how far it is in kilometers but it can't be much more than heading to New York or NJ.

- I would never take my kids there, any kind of sight-seeing vacation with little kids is about as much fun as a car accident, but I am definitely going for a long weekend with Patti. No immediate time frame but one of these days I am going to do it.

So there it is. I hope to be back but with my job it's never clear where I will go. Our Canadian offices tend to focus on Canadian companies and same with our US offices, but I happened to get involved in two Canadian clients so maybe there is hope for more travel.