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Like all of our vacations, our plans were fluid almost right up to
the moment of boarding the plane. It was very late in the planning
phase the I finally conceded and surrendered a visit to Newfoundland
('postponed' for our 'next trip to the Maritimes'), and worked and
reworked the schedule to get in a visit to Ottawa. The final plan was
to go to Montreal first for a couple of days without a car (stay
downtown and use the subway and taxis). I would return to the airport
to pick up the car on Sunday, drive back to the hotel for Lyn, Jesse
and luggage, and we would drive west to Ottawa for a couple days. We
would then turn right around and drive right back to Montreal,
passing through it west to east this time on our way to Quebec City
and the Maritimes. While this little 'lasso' on our route map seemed
odd, it actually worked out for the best. All in all, it was a good plan.
The only hitch was when I returned to the Montreal airport Sunday
morning to fetch the van after our three days on foot and subway. It
turns out that in Canada each branch office of the big car rental
chains is independently owned and operated as a franchise. For Budget
Canada (and I think Avis and Hertz as well) the offices in Montreal,
Ottawa, Halifax, etc are all separate business entities with no
reciprocity regarding one-way rentals. The national organization is
just to support billing and credit and advertising and all that kind
of stuff. When I returned to the airport around noon, I was informed
(literally at the rental counter) that my rental agreement for $600
US was misprinted and should include and additional
$600 drop off fee. I was livid.  Lyn
got on the phone from the hotel to Budget in Toronto, and I sat at
the airport, like a Mexican standoff, while the arrangements
were worked out. The poor guy at the counter in Montreal was simply
not authorized to 'give' me $600 dollars no matter what web printout
I produced. The final solution, after three plus hours of waiting and
negotiating, was that the Budget 'headquarters' would simply eat our
drop off fee. Since it was 'their' web page, they agreed to provide
the car as quoted. The local (Montreal) office would receive their
rental and fee, and headquarters (whoever that is) would eat the
extra charge. Wow! That was a great offer, and I have only the
highest praise for Budget rental of Canada for making it. They were
more than fair, I felt, since we never actually specifically inquired
about a drop off fee (being spoiled from all of our US travels). I
was prepared to somehow 'split the difference' with them or somesuch
but they did not require me to do so.
Of course, the point I made was that if I had been informed of such a
huge drop-off fee during the planning phase, I would have bit the
bullet and arranged the overall trip as a circle tour in and out of
the same city (disregarding the extra distance). While backtracking
was not preferred, $600 US would have been a lot of encouragement to
make that decision. Once the frequent flyer tickets were issued, I
could not alter the city pairs, only issue entirely new tickets. But
the very fine people at Budget Car Rental of Canada made it so we
didn't have to worry. I thank them profusely for their assistance,
and strongly encourage you to use Budget Rent-a-Car any time you need
a car when visiting Canada. Lyn, to this day, is still sore
about the nearly four lost hours and unnecessary stress on the
telephone, but I am more understanding of the difficulties in
web-based transactions. Besides I was on my way, back to the
Marriott and packed, and once around the city on wheels. Our first
stop was A&W (of course) and to Wal-Mart for snacks and souvenir T-Shirts.
We circled Montreal on car for a couple hours, driving by areas that
were difficult to visit on foot. The Sunday traffic was heavy enough
to make driving tiring, so we eventually pointed the car west and
headed to Ottawa. We stopped for dinner, and arrived in Ottawa around
9pm, well after dark. We circled the city once or twice, while I
found landmarks from my 1995 business trip, and we checked into the Ottawa
Courtyard by Marriott. The Courtyard was newly opened, being
remodeled and renovated from a rather run down Holiday Inn. It had
been open only a few days, still smelled like fresh paint, and was a
block from the Byward Market and four blocks from Parliament. We
crashed in bed after a pointlessly grueling day. |
Montreal / Get the Car and Drive to Ottawa
