En route to Croatia

Our long planned trip is finally here starting with an early 5am wake up call on flight day. Our journey to Croatia is a lengthy one with several stops before arriving in our final destination of Zagreb. Our first leg took us to Toronto and from there to Montreal where we overnighted before flying to Croatia with a stopover in Zurich. 

Our excitement for this trip was quickly shattered when we arrived in Montreal and waited for our luggage. Not sure why this happens with most of our big trips, but another incompetency story of Air Canada unfolds.  Because we were overnighting in Montreal we needed to pick up our luggage in Montreal. We were excited when one of our bags came out rather quickly but that excitement soon turned to concern when the other bag did not appear. After waiting for about 45 minutes a sinking feeling set in that somehow between Vancouver through Toronto to Montreal this bag went missing. How can a bag get lost on a domestic flight? This really dampened my spirits but it was Z’s bag that went missing and he handled this with calmness despite knowing that everything he needed for our trip was in that bag. What’s worse is that two days later Air Canada still does not know where this bag is. 

So our layover in Montreal turned into a shopping trip instead of site seeing.  We arrived Saturday evening and found out that the Just for Laughs festival was on and there was

plenty of free entertainment just a couple blocks from our hotel. We wandered over to grab some dinner at one of the many food trucks before walking over to the waterfront to watch the fireworks show by the Phillpines as part of the L’International des Feux Loto-Québec (Montreal International Fireworks Competition). It was a great show themed as Of Games and Thrones with music from popular video games and movies. Z found the radio station playing the music so while we watched from a distance we were able to have full experience as a result. The fireworks display was quite impressive and well suited to the music selection.  

The following morning we enjoyed a very tasty breakfast at Eggspectatins. I enjoyed a

Belgium waffle with a healthy helping of fresh fruit and with Québec maple syrup while Z had an veggie omelette along with a good portion of fresh avocado. The coffee was just what was needed to get us ready for a morning of shopping. One of the other frustrating things about our situation is that Air Canada’s compensation allowance really doesn’t provide much to cover replacing items that they lost.  We managed to buy the bare necessities and also managed to find a couple deals. The best deal was the new suitcase we bought at the Bay for $33...the deal was so good the cashier was surprised and checked the price by ringing in a couple other suitcases of the same size and make. 

We made our way back to the airport to check in for our next flight to Zurich on Swiss Airlines. We even had some time to check back about the lost bag and still got a response of we haven’t tracked it down yet and don’t know where it is. I felt very disheartened leaving on our next flight without this bag and had the feeling it was lost forever. Our flight to Zurich was an overnight flight and we were in business class with layflat seats. During dinner we watched the movie The Post. It was quite a good movie though slow to get to the climax of the story. A very important message to get out in this movie and of particular importance given all the attacks of the media these days. After dinner we both tried to get some sleep and I think I managed to get a few hours because I felt relatively fine in the morning. The crew was great, friendly and very efficient with their service. Upon landing in Zurich we made our way over to the Swiss Senator lounge where we spent our 5 hour stopover. This lounge is brand new, only built a year ago and quite large. It’s very modern with some very skucomb features. It has a whiskey bar much to the delight of Z. There are plenty of places to sit and relax. There is even a nice long outdoor patio which is a fantastic feature because

it allows you to go outside without leaving the secured area. We were there over breakfast and the food options were quite many and were quite good. We could have pastries, fresh fruit, yoghurts, cold cuts and cheese. There as even a chef cooking egg dishes to order. The coffee station had almost any type of coffee you may want along with a vast selection of

teas. There was beer, wine, and fresh squeeezed fruit juices. There was even a freezer with Movënpick ice cream. The floor to ceiling windows on either side of the lounge allowed for plenty of plane watching. All in all this was by far the best lounge we have visited. 

Our last flight was on Croatian Airlines on a propeller plane. It was a smooth 1.5 hour flight. Upon landing in Croatia, we got through immigration quickly and got a new stamp for the old passport. We picked up our rental car which was a compact Mercedes Smart. It was a cute, but gutless car that didn’t have much spunk to it and as we quickly noticed, Croatians like to drive fast. We bought ourselves a SIM card for the equivalent of $11CAD so that we had access to GPS so we could find our way around. 

We arrived at our hotel. The Westin Zagreb about a half hour later. We were fortunate to be upgraded to a lovely well appointed one bedroom corner suite. As we were checking in we noticed some unusual activity in the lobby. There were a couple plain clothes officers with some officers in suits standing around a luggage cart sigh a big plastic bin on it. Shortly after a dog unit arrived followed be a second dog unit. Both dogs were commanded to sniff the bin, and not finding anything were then able to relax. Thinking back this was probably a test because we discovered later that day that the Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin, was also staying at this hotel as he was in town to visit with the Croatian President. Through our entire stay the Israeli delegation was here. There was a heavy suits presence and watching the operations was rather interesting. The process to get the President out of the hotel involved numerous local police officers and the suits. The police escort for his motorcade involved several police motorcycles and cars. They shut the roads down to traffic, causing lengthy traffic jams. We even noticed two military surveillance officers on the roof of the building next door at one point as the Prsident was set to leave for dinner. Our closest brush in was at breakfast one morning at the hotel restaurant. We were sitting eating when several suits came in followed by the President and a small entourage. They kept to themselves but you could feel that you were being watched. The best part was sweeping the suits in the lobby. When they were very alert and watching everyone closely, you knew  the President was in the hotel. When they were relaxed and sloughed on the lobby couches you knew he was out. 

The start of our Croatian vacation was damped by the incompetence of Air Canada. But we tried our best to enjoy our first few days despite knowing that if the bag didn’t turn up we’d be having to still shop for a few more things along the way.