Travel Advisory… ish
I just realized that Sunday is Mommy’s day.
“Cool”, I think smarmily, “On my way home from Ottawa, I’ll just get off the bus in Kingston and do a little layover for the weekend with mom. Rack up some bonus mom-points by showing up for mother’s day, then jump back on and head home Monday morning. I’m so smart”
So today, after my morning meeting, I amble down to the Ottawa bus terminal to ask about what’s involve in upgrading my ticket to do a stop over.
I play the I-just-realized-it’s-mother’s-day-this-weekend card early, which I figure will trump any “official” restrictions that might be in my way, and ask “What would we have to do to fix this ticket so I can stop in Kingston to see my mother on my way to Toronto?”.
“You can’t.”
I tilt my head to one side and say “you mean I’d have to buy an entirely new ticket to Toronto that lets me do a stop over?”
“No. You can’t get to Toronto through Kingston.”
I tilt my head to the other side and say intelligently “uhhh, what?”
He explained, “The bus to Toronto doesn’t go through Kingston. If you want to travel to Toronto from Kingston, you have to come to Ottawa first.”
I tilt my head to yet another side and repeat even more intelligently “Seriously? But I’ve taken the bus through Kingston before.”
That, as it turns out, was the other bus company. Not Coach Canada. Or as I now think of them – Counter-Intuitive Coachlines of Canada.
So I’m now the proud possessor of:
- 1 ticket to Toronto from Ottawa
- 1 ticket to Kingston from Ottawa
- Zero-ways to get to Toronto from Kingston without forking out more cash and/or coming back to Ottawa
- and an equal number of ways to get to Ottawa from Kingston without forking out more cash.
- oh… and a headache, cause my 3rd year math class in Advanced Basic Complex Analysis was easier to comprehend.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, do you know anyone driving from:
- Kingston to Toronto on Sunday or Monday? or
- Kingston to Ottawa on Sunday night or Monday morning?What is with Kingston and all these travel issues? No Thrifty Rent A Car. No buses to Toronto. No teleportation. No wonder we usually ignore Mother’s Day, once you get to Kingston no one knows how the hell to get out.
You could try taking the train from Kingston to Toronto.
Whoops – did I miss the “without forking out more cash” part of the K’ton->Toronto dilemma?
Train is an excellent idea, firequall, thanks!
I love the train it’s comfortable, relaxing and so very Canadian. Of course it’s also completely out of my budget for this trip.
I remember a tale of you biking from Kingston to Ottawa once…
So how about completing the journey – Kingston to Toronto?
That would rock… are you willing to lend me your bike?
Because mine’s in Toronto and I don’t think Gerry put it in my care package.