Thierry F., a family friend, earned himself the naming of a family travel principle by coining the phrase: "You are only stressed until you remember what it is you have forgotten." As I walked to board Via Rail trail number 63 to Toronto, I realized that I have forgotten to pack my lightweight polar fleece jacket! Given the weather, a polar fleece will be a necessity. Fortunately, there is an easy solution: MEC. I have several hour stopovers in not only one but two cities with MEC stores in easy walking distances of train stations: Toronto and Winnipeg. Now to fire up my MEC app to find out what is stock.
I rode to Central Station with a duffle bag over my shoulder. At the station, I successfully got Leonardo into his box and properly labelled. Unsurprisingly, the man in charge of luggage didn't have a pre-printed label for Clearwater. He wrote one out by hand. As we sealed up the box, he was impressed when I produced a pre-printed sticky label with my name, contact information and Alice's address in Clearwater on it. "You've done this before" was his bemused comment and appreciative comment.
So far, the only other hiccup has been that my seat was on the North side of the train. From the many times I have taken the train between Toronto and Montreal, I have come to prefer being on the South side as the view is more interesting. Fortunately, I was able to get one of the attendants to switch my assigned seat.
Just about to leave Dorval. I am really a little giddy!
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