Finally Flying Porter!

We live right down town and minutes away from the Island Airport (our house is the red star, below), so flying someplace with Porter Airlines has been on our list of things to do for quite some time. We’ve only ever heard great reviews of the service (even a friend who lost his skis said it was an awesome flight!), and the more popular the airline becomes, the more flights they have available. We weighed our options between renting a car and driving to Tremblant for a ski weekend (which we did two years ago when we had a car), but when we thought about the seven hour drive there and back (at least), the cost of renting the car, not to mention the cost of gas, flying became more and more appealing. We finally decided to go ahead and book our trip with Porter, and the closer the date got, the more excited we became.

Well, the weekend came quicker than we thought, and before we knew it, we were packed and ready to fly. Porter has expanded the number of flights they offer, so we were able to catch a departing flight at 7:45 Thursday night, arriving at 9:00 pm in Tremblant. And how many can say that they have ever walked to the airport?! Well, we practically did. We walked to the streetcar stop on Lakeshore and took it the few stops to Bathurst, and then just hoofed the rest of the short distance to the ferry waiting. The ferry ride…Ha. That lasted a whole of 2 minutes once we left the dock. Matt said there had been talk of building a bridge at one point, and we also hear murmurs from other travellers of an underground pedestrian walk way, both of which would make a lot of sense.

Check in was easy; no line-ups, and since we weren’t flying out of the country, the security check was fairly painless (yet we still had to remove our belts….). The lounge area is nicely arranged and offers complimentary tea and coffee, snacks, along with wi-fi and newspapers. Plus, you only have to arrive a minimum of 30 minutes before your flight, so you aren’t even there a long time, unlike international departures. The plane is a twin-propeller and seats 70 people (we learned from the on-flight magazine), and shortly after take-off, we’re again offered complimentary beverages and snacks, this time including beer and wine. We had just enough time to enjoy a glass before we started our decent not an hour later.

Arriving at the Tremblant Airport held a nice surprise of its own – it looks like a ski chalet! It was small and so very quaint and even had a fireplace to boot. It was just so welcoming that it really didn’t have the feel of any other airport we’d been to. The only line up was for those people looking to catch a shuttle to the mountain. Luckily we didn’t have to wait in that line. We were staying with relatives for the weekend at their chalet, and they were gracious enough to meet us at the airport. The ironic thing is, the drive for them to and from the airport was probably longer than our flight! Our hosts met us on the other side of the dividing glass wall (with a hand-written welcome sign for us – you rock, Megan and Doug!), and there was only a brief wait for our luggage as they unloaded it from the plane. We were then told to fetch it ourselves from the trolley, so even then we didn’t have wait at the baggage claim. It wasn’t long at all before we were on the road to settle in at the chalet for the weekend. After a beer or two and few Cheetos, we were ready to call it a night.

The next day, the four of us set out early for a full day of skiing at Mount Tremblant. Crowds were a bit lighter since it was a Friday, and it was a beautiful day for cruising the slopes. It had been two years since both Matt and I had been skiing, but we picked it up again rather quickly. The views from the top of the mountain were amazing! And if the wind wasn’t so blustery, I might have snapped a few photos, but I guess now you’ll just have to go and see for yourselves. On one of runs down, actually, there was an artist bundled up with his easel painting the landscape; that was a sight I wasn’t prepared to see. We stopped for a coffee after a few runs down the mountain, then back again. We finished up around one (we were a little sore a bit tired) and drove back to the chalet for lunch and a nap, both much needed. For lunch, Megan prepared a beef brisket that was very delicious (not quite Schwartz’s, but for making at home, very tasty!). I’ll be asking for the recipe, naturally. We then headed into town to pick up some groceries for the weekend and returned to relax, do some reading, more eating, play some euchre, and a simple pasta dinner. We were also awaiting the arrival of Erin and Brad and their girls; they were joining us for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday was much the same, only this time Megan stayed back with Erin and the girls and instead Brad joined us with his snowboard for a day on the slopes. Surprisingly, the crowds were not that terrible (we expected it to be busy on a Saturday), and the weather again was a great for skiing. We tried a few different runs that day, and instead of heading into the village for a coffee, we stopped at the “Refuge”, a cabin on one of the hills that serves warm and cold drinks, along with snacks. The cool thing is it has no electricity, so it’s very cozy with the fireplace. Doug was even kind enough to share his secret stash of Grand Marnier to add to our drinks. Yum! And after a few more runs, we met the rest of the gang for lunch in the village. A few more runs and we were done for the day, satisfied with the two days of skiing we had gotten in.

The rest of the weekend was spent mainly indoors playing cards, reading, or playing with the girls, and, of course, eating. Sunday afternoon we said our good-byes and departed for the airport for our journey back home. After check in and a small delay, we were back in Toronto, ready to head back out to a small Super Bowl Party. What a weekend!