Mum’s Gone to Canada – Day 14 – No credit in Montebello

Montebello on the North shore of the Ottawa River.

Our final destination, Montebello, should be an easy drive from Montreal. It’s our last stop, for one night only, and we feel confident we know where we are going, particularly as we passed the resort some days ago when we took the scenic route to Quebec. Surely our GPS will have no problems, it’s only just over an hour away and mostly motorway.Well it’s all going tickety-boo until we hit some roadworks. Now do you think our satnav actually knows there are roadworks? Has anyone given her instructions overnight to tell her a few bollards are in place on Route 15? The screen is telling us that the turn off to Route 50 is a kilometre away when I notice a big yellow sign, weighed down with sandbags, indicating the junction is 100 metres ahead. Does my lovely husband believe me when I tell him to turn off? No, of course not!

“No, it can’t be 100 metres away, the satnav says one kilometre. You mustn’t have read it right!”

So we carry on and I just know we’re doomed. Ten seconds later we’re in a huge traffic jam and we crawl along miserably and in absolute silence. Then our oblivious GPS woman says,”In 250 metres, turn right”.Funnily enough, in 250 metres, there is no right turn, just more bollards which we pass extremely slowly. However, the irritation of being in the traffic jam is more than compensated for by the satisfaction of knowing I was right. God that feels good!

At last our final hotel, the Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello: a bit of a mouthful but an absolute cracker of a place; like a huge log cabin. Must be fabulous in the winter as it has a massive fireplace in the middle of the reception area. As usual, the desk clerk asks for a credit card for a deposit. Dougie hands over his card but the machine won’t accept it. A bit odd, as have had no problems elsewhere. So we try my card, which is a different number but uses the same account. Same problem; no can do! Thankfully I have a second credit card I don’t use much so we try that, I somehow remember the pin number, and it works. However this is all very disconcerting and we realise we can’t just wait til we get home to sort out the problem. Twenty minutes and a hell-of-a-lot-of-dollars later, we are told that by our credit card company in the UK that my card has been cloned, hence the block on both cards. Apparently someone back in the UK has tried to book into a British Hotel using my name and details but changing the name from Patricia to Patrick! The chap on the phone is very reassuring and tells us we can sort it all out when we get home, but the whole experience is very unsettling and affects the rest of the day as we try and work out where I’d been using my card before the holidays!!! Hmm, where shall I start?
August 2008