Eastern Canada - September 2025
Porter Airlines is a refreshing change to the other domestic carriers flying from Vancouver. From start to finish, it was a pleasure to travel on Porter. We booked in the Reserve section of the plane, the first four rows, with more legroom, full service including a meal, two checked bags per person and a separate check-in area.
The first thing to know when travelling Porter is that the check-in counter is currently located in the International Departures area. This is between the USA check-in and the Domestic check-in at the Vancouver Airport (YVR). The other important thing to know when travelling Porter there are no middle seats, everyone has a window or aisle. The flight staff were friendly and helpful. Once we were in the air we were given a menu with our meal options. The meals are made from local ingredients and were very tasty. You get free drinks on board, including some fun craft cocktails when sitting in the Reserve section, for purchase on the rest of the plane. They also offered a snack service where they use Canadian companies from shortbread cookies to roasted fava beans. On the return, we experience the same great service, from check-in to landing!
Tip- join the Porter Mileage program and download the app to have access to free WiFi for the full flight.
Once we arrived in Montreal we got our bags and proceeded to the Budget Car Rental location in the parking garage adjacent to the airport. We prepaid our car with Travelbrands and were pleasantly surprised with how quickly and efficiently the whole transaction was. Lucky us! We got a brand new VW Tiguan with just 250 miles on it, we were the first renters.
Tip - book a prepaid car to save time.
Heading to Kingston – roughly 300km from Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport (YUL), taking us around three hours on the Highway 401 heading west. The drive was pretty smooth, as anyone who has driven in the Montréal Area knows it’s a maze to get in, out and around the city. Once we found the 401 it was a straight drive west to Kingston.
When we arrived in Kingston, we headed to the Marriott Kingston, recently opened in December 2024. This hotel is situated on the site of the historic Royce Inn Hotel that was originally established in 1791! The Marriott is new and modern the rooms are beautiful with wood laminate floors, high ceiling and very comfortable beds. This hotel is within walking distance of the waterfront, city hall and many great shops and restaurants.
Tip- Join Marriott’s Bonvoy programme to get free WiFi during your stay.
Kingston is such a sweet town, with located on Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River. We enjoyed three days of exploring the area. Including driving Highway 2 to Gananoque, the beginning of the 1000 Islands.
Gananoque is cottage country at its finest. There are a lot of motels, certainly the most motels I have seen in one place in a very long time. You have the option to rent cottages on one of the many islands as well. The motels look simple and clean if you are looking for something a bit fancy I would suggest the following boutique hotel.
The Woodview Inn - this boutique accommodation in a Stately Mansion built in 1877 and was many things before becoming an Inn in 1946. With 13 suites and a stunning restaurant called Graydon’s, this be lovely getaway in the heart of Gananoque.
From Kingston we drove back to Montreal, again three hours on the 401 heading east this time.
Once in Montréal we headed to our accommodation. This being my first time to Montreal, I really wanted to feel like a local so we choose to stay in a Sonder Apartment by Marriott in Old Town Montreal.
Editor’s note – sadly, since the time of writing, Sonder has ceased operations, having declared bankruptcy in November 2025.
Montreal’s Old Town is full of so many great restaurant, bars, historical sites and stores. It’s very easy to walk around Montreal, they also have bike rentals, scooters, Uber’s, and transit. I would say that it’s easier to navigate the area by foot than by car, you seem to go in a lot of circles to get to where you want to go!
We also explored by car we went to the St Lambert area, where my partner and travelling companion Mark grew up. I am a huge fan of mid-century architecture and was blown away by many of the homes. We went to the Expo 1967 site, where you can still see some of the different countries’ pavilions.
We also hit the usual spots most people go to - Schwartz's Deli for the smoked meat sandwich, this place has been around over 92 years! Then the next day for bagels at St. Viateur, they have a couple locations we went to the one in Mount Royal, the best bagels I have ever eaten, again over 70 years in Business.
I the weather was amazing, highs of 31 degrees! This was amazing, given our travel was in September, autumn is fast approaching, and the trees were changing colours.
One of my favorite sites was Habitat 67. This modern accommodation was designed by Moshe Safdie for Expo 67 - what was supposed to be 1200 units ended up at 148 because of the high costs. I read that each unit ended up costing around $140,000, and over $22,000,000 for the 148 units. This was around 10 times what you would have paid for a nice house in 1967 in Montreal in a nice neighborhood. The architect’s vision was for it to be affordable housing! If one comes up for sale now it sells very quickly and it is over $1,000,000. There are some rentals occasionally, I saw a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom unit with a terrace for $3,300 per month. This masterpiece is located on an artificial peninsula with views of the river, downtown and the old port.
All in all, I loved this getaway to a wonderful part of our great country!
