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Earlier this month I travelled to Montreal for a business meeting. My trip was perfectly timed to catch the new Air Canada nonstop service from Singapore to Vancouver, operated by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
I flew AC20 SIN-YVR in business class on 6 April, just 2 days after the inaugural on 4 April, and returned on AC19 YVR-SIN in premium economy a week later. I also did domestic sectors YVR-YUL-VVR in AC premium economy, on an A330 and 77W respectively.
In between, I spent a week in Montreal, exploring this city for the first time. Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec by population, and the 2nd largest in Canada. French is the first language here. Folks greeted you "Bonjour!" rather than "Hello!" or "Good morning!".
Montreal was lovely: a modern city with an old town at its heart. There were beautiful running routes along the St Lawrence River, and superb dining, including a memorable dinner at Au Pied de Cochon.
It was also serendipitous that a total eclipse of the sun was taking place 2 days after I arrived, visible over parts of the Mexico, USA and Canada, and that Montreal was one of a handful of citiies in the world that was in the so-called "path of totality", where the effects of the eclipse would be the most dramatic.
I had experienced a solar eclipse before, in Singapore in 2019, but that was an annular eclipse, and to be frank it was underwhelming. Would I be underwhelmed again? Read on to find out!
I flew AC20 SIN-YVR in business class on 6 April, just 2 days after the inaugural on 4 April, and returned on AC19 YVR-SIN in premium economy a week later. I also did domestic sectors YVR-YUL-VVR in AC premium economy, on an A330 and 77W respectively.
In between, I spent a week in Montreal, exploring this city for the first time. Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec by population, and the 2nd largest in Canada. French is the first language here. Folks greeted you "Bonjour!" rather than "Hello!" or "Good morning!".
Montreal was lovely: a modern city with an old town at its heart. There were beautiful running routes along the St Lawrence River, and superb dining, including a memorable dinner at Au Pied de Cochon.
It was also serendipitous that a total eclipse of the sun was taking place 2 days after I arrived, visible over parts of the Mexico, USA and Canada, and that Montreal was one of a handful of citiies in the world that was in the so-called "path of totality", where the effects of the eclipse would be the most dramatic.
I had experienced a solar eclipse before, in Singapore in 2019, but that was an annular eclipse, and to be frank it was underwhelming. Would I be underwhelmed again? Read on to find out!
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