Thanks for stopping by! Welcome To My Blog!

It’s taken me best part of about ten days to finally get this thing up and running but we are finally there I hope!

Sooo I arrive in Montreal after a 7-8 hour flight five hours behind UK time and my obvious first worry is getting through the dreaded Passport Control which to queue up for took me about forty five minutes! The guy who quizzed me was stern and had a very not to be messed with approach about him but after some deep conversation of what my desires to begin my journey here were, he hits my passport with the mega stamp and it’s “Welcome To Canada my friend!” Let’s get this party started!

The humidity hits me as soon as I set foot outside, it’s good to get away from the rain and cold of England! So I jump into a cab to hit the hostel which was at the cheap set price of around $40 (£20) which I didn’t mind at all! Montreal is beautiful at night, so many big buildings and very lively. Could see myself coming back here again already! After a long ass flight I was not in the mood for that much drinking and partying, I got enough free booze in on my British Airways flight in!

I arrive at the hostel and to be honest it didn’t look from the outside how it did on the website but I was comforted once walking through the door. I had to be wise and pick a hostel near everything as I’m not one who likes to get lost so I stayed at the ‘HI Auberge de Jeunesse Montreal’, cheap an cheerful but worth it for sure! An eight bed dorm? What better way to start things off, surely nothing could go wrong, could it 😉 ?.

First person to greet me upon entry to the room is an Englishman from Coventry who follows his local football team also! We immediately talk football and get on like a house on fire, it’s global man language afterall! The other roomies are all out so I unpack and try to make myself feel right at home. Martin had been based in Montreal a while and was keen to show me round the city for the short stay I was there. I got myself a free travel guide instantly but we needed to set things off slowly I think with the English FA Cup Final in a local sports bar for the next day! #SoEnglish! This then followed by a long stroll around the city in blistering heat, why I chose to wear jeans is beyond me but we eventually found a beer market on our way round and thought it’d be rude not to pop in for a bit surely!?

During my time in Montreal I got to understand that French is spoken here more then Canadian American so it was refreshing that most French Canadians speak a bit of English too and are so soooooo dam helpful. Never been to a country as welcoming as this before!

I made some great friends instantly at the hostel and found out that the Grand Prix was due on the upcoming weekend, motor racing isn’t my thing but I’m known to follow a trend or two on many things haha…

The third night was an interesting one as this was end of the week and hostels normally empty out on a Monday morning so I had the whole eight bed dorm to myself which was nice for the time being. I met an American guy who was based in my room from the new arrivals. Americans just love that English humour don’t they!

We had a few drinks with the other newbies and did the quiz night, we came up with the team name of ‘Sausage Fest’ as our mixed dorm was very ‘cock heavy’! We were hopeless and at the ending of a big drink sesh we hit the hay but this gave me the biggest wake up call I’ve ever experienced! The American guy was the loudest snorer I have ever heard on earth and I had to record some of it as it was that bad to listen to. I simply had to send mini vid clips to friends back home so they knew what I was dealing with! To say I was a little ratty the next day would be an understatement and a serious wake up call, excuse the pun!

Throughout my time in Montreal I began to get a feel of the independence you need to travel alone but I got to see some fantastic sites, try the local dish which is known as poutine (chips and gravy with a added twist) for first time and achieving the small climb of getting to ‘Mont Royal’ which was a small achievement in itself for me personally. Most of my pictures from my time there are on my Facebook/Instagram so if you want to see them I suggest you get adding right away (Will Hamersley Jnr Facebook) and (Instagram is Billz_H_Jnr1982) but here’s a few now to keep you all interested although they don’t do the other pics I took any justice on my other phone! Just check out Facebook/Instagram and have that trust in me 🙂

Thanks for the memories Montreal!
Next stop…. Quebec in an Airbnb 🙂