I’m heading south this week to spend Christmas with my cousin’s family in the south of England. Because I flat out refuse to drive in the dark in the UK, this means more than one night in a hotel, as it’s over 15 hours door-to-door without rest stops (it’s the same distance as the crow flies as Kitchener to Quebec City, which would take about 8 hours to drive non-stop – gotta love straight lines).
Scout & I are travelling alone, no car companions, no one to meet up with along the way, so I want to make the most of this trip. So I started planning. I was working with a number of different criteria: I wanted to dine at a Michelin-praised restaurant (Michelin will also give commendations to restaurants the didn’t quite make their 1,2,3-star cut which is good enough for me); the restaurant had to be within walking distance of my hotel so I could have wine with dinner; the hotel had to accept dogs; neither could be in a major city with complex traffic; and they had to be located roughly halfway between Carluke & Kent on the way south, and Kent & Aberdeen on the return trip, with no driving-after-dark involved.
Below is the set up to get this trip booked. I had Google Maps open on one screen, a wonderful website called Leading Restaurants on another, Expedia.com on another, along with Outlook Calendar, Northlink Ferries, and the WeatherNetwork. It took a few hours and several phone calls, but I think we’re good to go.
I betcha Jacques Cartier didn’t put this much effort into going up the St. Lawrence.
