Chris.Derecola

A (long) weekend of quite a few firsts.

• First time flying alone
• First time racing in Canada
• First time driving Mosport
• First time walking a city alone
• First time sleeping on a stranger’s couch

This post is meant to be mostly about Mosport, which I’d never driven before. I’d like to say I had a great race and I won all sorts of cash and prizes, but it was actually one of my worst showings to date. In most cases I was relatively far back in the field and I even skipped a few wet sessions and cut the final race short in favor of packing everything up in a timely fashion. This isn’t generally how one wins races, but there were several factors that lead to this.

The strange thing about going all the way up to Canada to race was despite a field of 30 944′s, there were only four that would earn points in my chapter. Given so many of the usual racers weren’t going to get points and it being a three point weekend, my primary focus was to start all races and bring the car back in one piece. Since my initial times put me firmly in third, all I had to do was take each green flag to get relatively high points for the chapter championship.

Probably more influential was that Mosport was not only an entirely new track to me, but it’s a track that takes some serious balls to race right. I legitimately scared myself a few times, more so than I have in a long time, and there was more desire not to put my car into a wall (which I saw happen multiple times) than go fast. This is a fairly fuddy-duddy way to run a race, but I was having fun just driving so it didn’t bother me much.

Does this mean I’ve lost a bit of the fire I once had for racing? Probably… but I decided a few years ago to use racing as an opportunity to spend time with my dad and not a way to put pressure on myself or make myself miserable. There’s a younger racer who is in the position I was in ~5 years ago and while I believe he loves it, there are times when he is so serious it seems like he isn’t having a good time. When I talked to him about lightening up and having a bit more fun, his response was something to the effect of “It’s easy for you to have fun, you don’t have to worry about winning.” At first I was insulted, but then the comment actually made me happy. He is quite right, I don’t have to worry about winning. (Some life commentary in there, obviously.)

That’s not to say I didn’t have any good racing. I most definitely did. There were several guys I was competitive with and spent a good bit of my weekend swapping positions and driving two wide through countless turns. This was all great fun and helluva way to spend a weekend. All the beer, food and great hospitality shown by the French Canadians who’d driven down from Quebec to run with us didn’t hurt either. Yeah, I said it and I’ll say it again…great hospitality shown by the French Canadians.

Regarding the actual track - I love it. It is an absolutely blast to drive and may very well by my favorite track. I highly recommend it.

After all that, I made use of the opportunity to spend 24 hours in Toronto. I didn’t do much other than walk around the city aimlessly and hang out with my CouchSurfing host, but that was enough to know I really, really like Toronto. Honorable mentions include the amazing hospitality of my host (who left keys for me to get into his place, even though we’d never met), getting five more strangers for my project and some of the most perfect June weather I’d ever experienced. I am very much looking forward to going back with Melissa and maybe even living there one day.

In the grand scheme, a $25 mistake is not a very big one. This post would probably be better titled as Why You Show Up to the Airport Early or I Am Now on Some Watch List or My First Foray Into Baggage Fees or Why the CATSA is Much Better Than the TSA but they are neither catchy nor short enough to fit in the post list at left without wrapping. This story isn’t even really all that big of a deal because everything worked out okay, but there are a few things worth noting. I also think it’s more amusing than anything considering how much I travel and how much I pride myself on being a seasoned, well prepared traveler. As it turns out, being well prepared is what got me in trouble.

Part of my “always prepared” mentality is I like to carry a multitool as much as possible. This is especially true when I travel, where you’ll never know when you’ll need a knife, pliers, screwdriver or any other myriad of tools they offer. I generally pack these things in checked luggage and if I only have carry-on, then I’ll just leave it at home. We checked one bag on our trip to Montreal, so I naturally packed it.

The problem arose on the flight back home. I’d crammed it into my Osprey Manta 20 (fantastic daypack btw) during our time in Montreal and did such a good job of stowing it, I missed it when I unpacked everything to prep for the trip home. I wouldn’t realize it was in there until the security screener at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport asked me if I had a multitool. Embarrassed, I copped to it and dug through the collapsible duffel my Manta was in to find the Manta pocket where the Leatherman was stowed. I briefly explained the honesty of my mistake, handed the item to the gloved Canadian Air Transport Security Authority agent and braced myself for what was to come next.

“We can either confiscate it or I can let you out to check it.”

What? You’re not going to search me? Not only that, but you’re just going to hand it back to me and let me go so I can check my bag and take it home? Considering the thing was like $125 new, it made the most sense to go back out and pay the fee to check my carry-on bag. We’d only checked one bag between the two of us, so checking another would be a $25 charge instead of the second bag fee of $35. The irony here is we’d never paid a bag fee before this trip and were now paying more than expected. (We’ve always upgraded our international flights with miles [bags check free] or done carry-on for domestic.)

I put the knife back in my bag, grabbed my passport, my phone and left everything else with Melissa at security. I explained the situation to the ticketing agent and arranged to check a second “first bag” for $25. After he checked my passport and entered everything in the computer, he asked how I’d like to pay the fee. Feeling my pockets, I realized I left all my money and credit cards with Melissa back on the other side of security. I asked him if there was something in my United Mileage Plus membership he could charge to and after a bit of back and forth it became clear there was no way I was checking my bag without giving him $25.

I called Melissa and despite a ban on cell phone use in security, she was able to take my call. I explained the situation and told her to do whatever she could to get my credit card to me. As it turns out, they would not let her make the hand off, but they were willing to do it for her. Several phone calls and missed connections/meeting places later, I finally found the CATSA agent with my credit card.

I paid the fee with the ticketing agent, he put a luggage tag on it and I was on my way. The thing about Montreal’s airport, and maybe Canada in general, is you hand carry your checked luggage from the ticket counter to another agent at the start of a conveyor belt. You place your luggage on the belt, they scan the tag and then scan your boarding pass to make sure everything matches. This is where I ran into the next problem.

“Are you traveling alone?”

“No, I’m traveling with my wife but she’s on the other side of security. I had to come back out to check this bag because I forgot I had a prohibited item in my carry-on.”

“This luggage has her name on it. I cannot accept it without scanning her boarding pass.”

“Security will not let her back out here and I can’t put my name on it because our original bag was checked under it. If I switch it, I will have to pay an extra $10 as the second bag fee is $35, not $25.”

We went back and forth a few times with me trying to explain that the baggage could not be in my name and her trying to explain the ticketing agent shouldn’t charge me because it’s two bags total for two people. I completely understood her point, I mean safety first and all, but I wasn’t sure what else to do. She finally convinced me to go back to the ticketing agent and explain the situation to see what he could do.

Back at the counter, I informed the United employee of the baggage-acceptor-lady’s reservations… after which he promptly sighed. As he banged away at his keyboard, I stood there thinking there was no way I wasn’t paying the extra $10. Just as I’d resigned myself to my fate, he hopped up from the desk, grabbed my bag and asked for me to follow him. At the baggage drop, he handed a piece of paper over to the woman and informed her it was a copy of Melissa’s boarding pass because she was already through security. She scanned it, thanked him, he dropped my bag on the conveyor and then shook my hand while wishing me a “nice flight home.”

After getting my boarding pass scanned by four different CATSA employees going back through security, and subsequently explaining why I was doing this twice, it occurred to me – the entire experience was about as pleasurable as it could have been. Yeah, it took over an hour but there was no interrogation, no pat down, no body cavity search and every obstacle along the way was a direct result of my poor decision making ability. Not only that, but all the United and CATSA employees I encountered along the way were pleasant and helpful. No chance ANY of this holds true for the US, so bravo Canada. Bravo.

The picture? That’s the liter of Molson Export I had after finally making it to the gate. The $20 bill is there for size reference; looking at it now I wish I’d put $5 in coins down as well. As a side note, I do not recommend crushing one of those in 15 minutes to catch a plane… if for no other reason than you’re going to have to take a serious piss before the pilot turns off the seatbelt sign.

Hard to believe it’s been six months since we got back from Europe. It’s even harder to believe I’ve had this journal sitting on my desk for that long, waiting to finish up my posts about it. The length of time it’s taken me to write this probably had something to do with my overall feeling about it. There was nothing wrong or disappointing per se, but not only did it rain quite a bit, it was also the point in the trip where I was really starting to wear down. I mostly just wanted to drink beer and eat moules and frites, so the rest of our time there was somewhat secondary.

Looking back through my notes, I get the feeling that I was really, really tired during our time in Brussels. There is much talk of walking everywhere, not getting enough sleep, wanting to rest more, being sick of spending several hours eating dinner out every night and rain, rain, rain. I don’t blame the city, but I do think the city was so… common… that it couldn’t overcome the hurdles. What exactly do I mean by common? Well, if I had to pick any city that Brussels reminded me of, it would be DC. I can’t really explain it, but there’s something very governmental about Brussels that is a lot like our national’s capital. I’m sure it being the center of the European Union has a lot to do with it, although it’s a lot more about the “feel” of the city than any specific branding.

I think there are a few things people should know if they’re gonna visit, so here’s my short list.

• Most things are in English and Dutch, but there is quite a bit of English being spoken. Waitstaff know quite a bit of English but they’re still surprised to meet American tourists.
• The french fries are everything they’re supposed to be and more. They are truly the best fries I’ve ever had; things like curry ketchup and mayo as toppings doesn’t hurt. I personally think the waffles are overrated, but I’m not a huge sweet person. I mean they’re good, but I can’t say I feel the need to have another.
• Brussels is a very walkable city. The streets are clean, well marked and the layout is conducive to exploring. Public transportation is efficient and easy to use, although some areas of the city are more prone to riding with questionable characters.
• Beer, beer, beer. The beer is great, there are a ton of places to drink it and I didn’t drink nearly enough of it.
• Skip Atomium and Mini Europe. They’d probably be cool if I was 25 years younger, but as is they’re a wee bit run down and lot bit kitschy.
• The Belgians are extremely friendly and helpful. They often went out of their way to make conversation or help a stranger, which was inspiring. I’ve tried to help more people in DC who are obviously tourists as a way to pay it forward.

So, would I recommend Brussels? I mean it’s worth seeing as much as any other international city, but I’m convinced somewhere like Bruges would be a better use of one’s time in Belgium. All the beer and beer houses are certainly worth seeing, but there isn’t a ton to do while you’re trying to sober up. If anything, I’d say Brussels is best for a business trip. Do all your business-type things during the day and go out to party at night with coworkers. Actually, for your coworkers… just find some randomly friendly Belgians to drink with. Cheers!