Saturday 14 July 2012

World Traveller

It's always funny how a break from routine can creep up on you.  For the last few weeks Jasmine has been off school and it has been really nice not having to rush and panic in the morning 4 days a week to get her off on time.  It's mostly on me the rushing and the hurrying as I am a terrible morning person, one who just can't seem to get moving until I have no choice but to be late.  This leads me to our family vacation that starts for real Tuesday at 445 pm est when we arrive in Montreal.  It's hard to believe it is finally happening.  My sister moved to Montreal for the first time in 2004 and since then a visit to see her and the beautiful city that she chose to live in has been on my mind.  When Sheila and I first got together money was really tight, but we have gotten our shit together, improved ourselves and are doing better financially.  We don't make amazing money, but we have been smart enough to put money aside in savings as much as we can.  We do the RRSP thing (Sheila through work, I am on the Municipal Pension Plan), we have RESPs set up for the kids and we have our TFSA that I started about 18 months ago.  The monthly contributions have fluctuated, but we have been able to build up a small nest egg in there.  We started talking about visiting Montreal with our funds around Christmas time when Erin and Adam came to visit us and the rest of the family in Prince George.  I have monitored the flight prices relentlessly, and come April I was beginning to feel that we wouldn't get to go, no sales to be found on the seats.  Eventually I found a small price drop and decided to go for it.  I was tired of thinking about it, wanting to go, but wanting to be financially responsible.  Once I finally sacked up and paid for the tickets, we could move on to thinking about the fun we will have!

Tuesday morning at 6 AM we board the small prop plane bound for Vancouver, and for Jasmine the flight itself should be a highlight of the trip.  She has never flown before and has been excitied about a plane trip of any kind for a few years.  The in-flight movies in the back of the seats seemed to overwhelm her when I described them, so she should be well amped up come Tuesday, despite the 330 AM wake up time.  We stop in Vancouver, then we have a 5+ hour flight to Montreal.  Our fingers are crossed that Asher will be well behaved, but who knows?  He is generally not a whiny toddler, and he really only cries to communicate, so we are hoping that keeping him placated with plenty of snacks and drinks will help.  If he gets locked in on the little tvs as well, I won't complain.  I mentioned to Sheila earlier in the week, our best chance at avoiding the hate of the other passengers is to have at least one more baby on the flight, then we won't be the only target for the anti-toddler crowd. 

The small concern over the flights is drastically overshadowed by the activities planned.  We are timing our visit well, as the Just For Laughs festival will be going on, and Sheila and I both love comedy.  There are plans for a dinner and a show date for the 4 adults, should be great whoever we see.  On Wednesday of the first week, I'm treating the ladies and my sports loving son to a Montreal Impact game, the first pro sports event for my family.  I have seen a number of soccer games live, but have yet to attend an MLS game, can't wait to check it out.  Erin has many other cool ideas for the kids to do, and I am looking forward to checking out one of the oldest cities in North America, and by far the most architecturally beautiful city I have ever visited. 

I am glad Sheila and I were able to make this trip happen.  Both of us have done very little travelling ourselves (Sheila's only flight was our trip to Vegas a few years ago), and it will be great to see Erin and Adam and the city they call home.  I am glad Jasmine is going to experience something like this, as it's important for kids to see the world outside of their little bubble.  She rattled off the places she has been the other day, and she was quite proud of herself.  When she realized how far away Montreal is compared to her other visits to place like Kamloops, Edmonton, Kitimat, Chetwynd, and the most exotic Vancouver, she got a little more excited if that is even possible.  I'll update my little space when we return, I need to return to my jumping up and down as I anticipate our little jaunt.  See you on the other side!

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