18 – 19 November 2010
While in Ottawa staying with Dave and his family I’d been deliberating over what to do next, I wanted to go west it was just a question of how. I wanted to hitchhike but winter was fast approaching and I didn’t know if I was adequately equipped, there was also a Greyhound bus which did the trip but I’d heard it was horrendous, on the other hand flights were horrendously expensive. It was a dilemma.
In the end I decided that to attempt to hitchhike with winter approaching would be irresponsible – Greyhound it was. I was just about to book for the following day when I considered checking for rideshares and to my surprise I found a couple of Australians making the trip in a few days leaving from Toronto. After emailing them we arranged to meet in Montreal in a couple of days time and set out from there. So I was going to Montreal again and as a token effort for not hitchhiking across Canada I was definitely going to hitch the couple hundred kilometers to Montreal.
Dave very kindly offered to drop me off at a good location, we drove for over half an hour to get me across town and past the dreaded suburbs. Dave dropped me off on the 417 motorway in an excellent location and within ten minutes Diane picked me up, she was heading to Montreal for a business meeting. I was surprised to be picked up by a female driver, another stereotype smashed, she had children my age and no doubt believed that if she offered me a lift she would be decreasing the odds of someone with dubious intentions doing so. Diane took me to the outskirts of Montreal but as she wasn’t going into the centre we agreed that it may be best to drop me off where I had a good chance of getting another lift. Again I was picked up within ten minutes, this time by French Quebec’n Christian in his rough and tumble work van. We had something of a language barrier and it turned out not to be the best lift as he wasn’t going far into Montreal either, but he dropped me off at a bus stop which provided an easy route into town – it had all worked out well, I was in Montreal before midday.
Post featured image from ProjectHitchhiker.com
