Tito Two Strikes: OHH CAN-NADAH! (part 1)

So it's April 18th. I catch a ride to the Fort Lauderdale Airport and go to the Air Canada check in station. My passport is pretty much all that is needed. It is my first trip out of the United States as a tourist. I have traveled many places while in the military. Everything checks out okay and I am handed a small white card that needs to be filled out before I board the plane. It is asking for my name date of birth and contact info of a friend or relative. I don't have a pen so I ask someone to borrow theirs. I get a lot of stares while at the terminal. I don't know if it's the tattoos or the terrorist beard but I seem to be making these Canadians a little bit nervous. I find it kind of funny and just wait to board. I hand in my info and get on the plane. A stewardess asks about my Triumph United T-shirt. I quickly respond "It's my friend's clothing company." "It's really nice." is her response. Air Canada is pretty cool to fly with. They have touch-screen TVs in every seat. You can watch movies or television or news. They also pass out your choice of 2 Canadian newspapers. The Times and the Gazette. The Gazette is easier to read in tight quarters. Among the movies you can choose from are There Will Be Blood, I Am Legend, Juno, American Gangster and other new releases. Pretty impressive. The one downfall is the lack of snack. They try to hit you up for cash if you want to eat something. Even cashews or nuts. Non alcoholic beverages are free. After a little over 3 hour I am in Montreal.

Before you can even retrieve your baggage you are screened. I'm asked a few brief questions at one post and then am asked to go into another area. This seems to be only for non Canadian citizens. Once I get into this room I can see a few other people being questioned. One person who I instantly recognize is Eddie Bravo. I'm thinking to myself I know exactly why this guy is getting the 3rd degree. His piercings, tattoos and overall look are a red flag. They shouldn't be but like my beard and angry expression, they garner attention. So I finally make it up to the line and the female officer starts asking me a bunch of questions. They ask you the same questions a few different ways in hopes of finding a hole in your story or have you change your story. Who are you travelling with? What brings you to Canada? How long will you be staying? What do you do for a living? Do you have any of these items on you. Are you meeting anyone here? On and on and on. The key is to not get flustered. Which is hard for me because I hate answering to people. So finally I'm no longer seen as a threat and am allowed the grand privilege of entering the baggage claim area. Once my orange and black sack can be seen by everyone in the airport that isn't color blind, I grab my bag and try to find a taxi. HA! as if that were the case. We have to pass one more checkpoint and apparently a white piece of paper is needed to show that you have passed the other checkpoints. Good thing I didn't throw mine away. So I finally get through the line and have another agent check my passport and white slip. He takes one look at me and says "You! Go that way!" I follow the arrows into another examining area. Boy am I lucky. This is the area where they not only ask you the same questions yet again, but they go through every bit of your baggage. As they go through it they ask you questions about the items. Wonderful conversation starters are used, such as holding up my camera and asking "Are you photograph?" I just respond with "No I just like to take pictures."

Finally I am allowed to leave and get a taxi to my hotel. After waiting in the taxi line for about 20 minutes I get a cab and tell him the street and hotel. He says he knows where that is. He doesn't turn on the meter and I figure I'm already getting the shakedown. As it tuns out all trips to the airport are a flat rate of 35 dollars. I think it's because there's only one airport. So i cough up the money and have the guy keep the 40 dollars American. I stayed at an econo lodge in Downtown Montreal. I haven't eaten yet so I decide to just go for a walk and find something edible. A lot of people in Montreal either do not speak English or pretend not to when I ask them for help. Finally I see 2 girls walking by speaking English and ask them where can I get something to eat around here. They tell me there is a McDonald's nearby. I have to walk straight a few more blocks and make a right on "Sandanee." Okay, great. I'm close to eating a little something familiar. I walk a few blocks before asking someone where Sandanee is. they say I passed it about 2 blocks that way. I walk back and low and behold, the streets name is Saint Denis. So I go down Saint Denis to the McDonald's. These streets were packed with late teens and early twenties kids due to the college nearby. I see they have a quarter pounder meal. I ask for 2 number 4's. In case I can't find anything to eat later. I'm not in the mood to walk back down Sandanee to eat later. I take one to go and get one to eat in. It came out to 10$ and some change. I give the girl 20$ American. She in turn hands me 7 coins. I didn't know what to think but was trying to not look like a tourist by himself. So i took my 7 pieces of tin and sat and ate my food. After I ate I took my second number 4 back to my hotel and decided to get drunk. I found a liquor store on the way. The only Canadian beer I know of is Labatt Blue. So I bought a 12pack of that. The cashier rang me up for 21 dollars! That's a 1.75$ a beer for their homegrown swill. I paid by giving the man an American 20 and holding out my 7 pieces of tin and letting him have his pick. At this point i just wanted to funnel a 6 pack and go to sleep. As I walked past the firemen at the station laughing at me and headed back up the giant hill to the econo lodge. I realized that everything about this trip but the actual UFC event, just might suck!

The first room key i was given led to a room that was already occupied. It had beer cans and used linen everywhere. So I was given a room down the hall. This room's phone had no dial tone so I was given another room on the first floor. As I'm changing rooms I meet this guy at the elevator that asks if I'm in town for the fights. It seems every hotel patron at every hotel in Montreal is in town for the fights. So I say yes and that I came up from Florida. And for the 10Th time I get a jaw dropping response to the Florida reveal. He turns out to be a big MMA and GSP fan so I tell him I have a one of a kind shirt for him. A Georges St. Pierre shirt. A Justin McAllister original made just for this trip. When he gets this shirt he flips out. I gave him a few business cards to give to his friends. 3 minutes later there is a knock at my door. One of his friends comes down and wants a GSP shirt. So I hook him up. 5 minutes later their other friend and his girlfriend comes down. I hook him up but I don't have a shirt in her size. I go up to their room after i settle in and I bring my bucket of Labbatt Blue. As soon as they see it they ask me "what are you drinking? Is that Blue?" I say yes, they then make a skunky beer face. Apparently the beer is crap to them. I still drank it. I sat and drank with these people until they were ready to hit the clubs. I went back to my room and polished off another beer or two before bed. I can honestly say if I hadn't met these 4 MMA fans day one in Montreal would be a complete wash. Here are a few pics from day 1.

The giant hill leading to my hotel