Journey from Black Forest to Québec

It was a very long trip, indeed maybe even longer than my journey to Kota Kinabalu, but now a bit more than 24 hours after arrival I can say that it was worth the trouble.

My journey started with a 15 minute drive by car and 45 minutes by train. This is the same as commuting to work, but yesterday I took one train earlier so I wouldn’t miss my connecting train in case of delay. Usually I like travelling by high-speed train ICE, but this time some very annoying Lufthansa stewardess or pilot added some sour note to the train journey. Some people just can’t behave – and in certain trains it’s highly recommended to reserve a seat, otherwise you have to accept the consequences.

Even if I often travel on business from Frankfurt Airport. It was my first inter-continental flight from there. Being used to Swiss efficiency at Zurich Airport the handling and long, complicated walkways at Frankfurt were quite bad. I made it nevertheless in time to the gate:

Flight information for AC 839 Frankfurt - Ottawa

And Air Canada’s Boeing 767-300 ER was already almost ready for boarding:

Air Canada's Boeing 767-300 ER for the AC 839 flight from Frankfurt to Ottawa

and about half an hour later:

Inside Air Canada's Boeing 767-300 ER for the AC 839 flight from Frankfurt to Ottawa

The flight was great, even if the map function of on board entertainment didn’t work I was able to identify some places I saw from my window seat:

Westkapelle, Zeeland (the Netherlands)

Caernafon Bay and the Irish Sea (Wales)

Tshiahahtunekamuk River, Québec (Canada)

Sept-Îles, Québec (Canada)

Just before landing near Ottawa Airport, Ontario (Canada)

It was really a quality flight with Air Canada. Totally three meals or snacks were served and the main dish was quite tasty – even if it didn’t look that way:

Flight meal on Air Canada flight AC 839

Immigration and border controls at Ottawa Airport took almost two hours. I really wonder why these things take never more than 15 minutes at Changi Airport in Singapore. Of course I was asked the same questions twice and had to show and explain my whole travel documents twice. Maybe they thought I’m going to turn into a Toronto G20 hooligan?

The connecting flight from Ottawa to Québec was in a small Dash 8, which remembered me somehow of my Borneo flights with MasWings. The flight offered some great views of Canada’s capital Ottawa, but I felt asleep quickly after snack and coffee were served.

Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)

Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)

Downtown Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)

It was a long, but decent journey. And I just arrived 15 minutes before my bed & breakfast in Québec Old town closed.

The final time line of my journey (in CEST):

car: 7:05 – 7:20

train: 7:30 – 8:15

train: 8:55 – 10:25

train: 10:35 – 11:05

flight: 13:40 – 21:30

flight: 01:00 – 02:00

taxi: 02:30 – 02:45