All You Need To Know for Your Interview *CHEER*

[Missa 0]

maybe its just backwards in this part of french ontario lol who knows. i;ve been writting dates like this forever.

[ashenflowers 5]

french people do it backwards

yes, but wouldn't 11/06 be June 11 in that case?

Is anyone else a wee bit hesitant to book anything until they actually have the paper in hand that confirms the interview date? lol orrrr is it just me.

My fiancé and I are looking into hotels right now, to get an idea, but we're not sure we should book TONIGHT. ya know? I dunno... I'm SO untrusting of this... haha

[Peachey 10]

french people do it backwards

yes, but wouldn't 11/06 be June 11 in that case?

Is anyone else a wee bit hesitant to book anything until they actually have the paper in hand that confirms the interview date? lol orrrr is it just me.

My fiancé and I are looking into hotels right now, to get an idea, but we're not sure we should book TONIGHT. ya know? I dunno... I'm SO untrusting of this... haha

I am extremely hesitant because of what happened to Varba and I last week. I am not booking a hotel until I get that piece of paper.

/tinfoil hat

[Rhiannercakes 14]

I was going to book today, but I'm still iffy about Hotwire.

Do I get to pick a hotel at the end or do they give me a random hotel?

I dont want to be stuck with anything with bedbugs.

[Peachey 10]

Yeah, you don't get to pick your hotel.

[KnJ 0]

The nice hotels can also have bedbugs too. It's a problem in NY, from my understanding. I went for close and not the cheapest. Keep a set of clothes packed or hanging in the closet. Inspect the bed, if you know what to look for. Shower in the morning (I know it's already damn early), and wash all clothing when you get home. I'm sure if I spent the time I could've saved 20 bucks, but I just wanted to book it.

And I did book the hotel, despite that risk of somehow this being another phantom round of interviews.

I really think peachey and varba had a stupid service person who thought "on the list to be scheduled" meant that they have a date, and gave the wrong info. Assuming you guys kept records of when you talked (hopefully to whom, but even if not, the actual time you called), they do say they record all calls for quality assurance purposes. That's so a big clusterfvck but I really doubt that because they gave so many of us dates on Monday that somehow all of those dates are bogus. So I went ahead.

Oh, so much to do and think about.

[Rhiannercakes 14]

Yeah, you don't get to pick your hotel.

Tsk, that sucks.

I wonder if I can find something as cheap on another website... or at least hopefully get something decent picked for me.

[KnJ 0]

Yeah, you don't get to pick your hotel.

Tsk, that sucks.

I wonder if I can find something as cheap on another website... or at least hopefully get something decent picked for me.

The thing I didn't like, at least with PL was that the area to bid on is so large.. and with no control over the hotel, that risk was too great. So I look at it as I paid a premium to control my location.

I do this with flights too -- go to the consolidated sites like kayak or expedia (generally expedia sucks), search a few and get a sense of what the cheapest flights are on their sites. For example, BUF to BOS is usually JetBlue, 8/10 times. I see what price they offer, then I go to jetblue's site, and lo and behold, it's sometimes cheaper. I did this with the hotel, and it was only a dollar cheaper. So I bought directly from the hotel's website.

[KnJ 0]

VIA Rail is a good idea, just make sure to get an express train. Otherwise you stop at sooooo many small towns on the way there. If you are worried about hotel costs, I would suggest Hotel LaTour Centre-Ville. It's not too bad, and reasonably priced (around $80 per night) and is right across the street from the embassy.

did you get bedbugs? I'm teasingly asking. I stayed in Sherbrooke in a sort of fleabag motel in between two strip joints. I don't need a fancy one.

But no, I won't sleep in my car. BOO to whoever suggested that!

[Sam and Ben 2]

The only thing I've booked thusfar is my medical (called asap) and told Ben to take the latter half of that week off.

I don't think I'll feel comfortable booking his tickets or our hotel until the paper's in hand. It all seems too surreal at this point, still.

[darkchilde794 5]

KnJ -- it was me who said sleep in car so you can be RIGHT BEFORE ANYONE WHO LINES UP!!! YAY!

I too am hesitant to book hotels, train ticket and air ticket. My hunny is coming and Im squealing like a piglet lost in a market in happiness. However, we both want to make sure that we get the paper before we give our money away

The only thing we're doing is for him to see if he can take days off and for me to reschedule the air ticket I booked just to visit him early in Nov just on Monday I moved my flight to late Nov, hopefully it would be for good!!!

Things Im considering include:

1. Booking somewhere further even in Laval -- in our last Montreal trip, we stayed in the Sandman hotel which was half a block from the subway and was really cheap -- and clean. Im not sure if thats what we want to do now but the Montreal transit is pretty awesome though a train delay can happen. (I definitely wont do this if I were on my own, but with someone, it doesnt seem too horrible)

2. Taking a chance in the cheaper hotels near the embassy, provided that it has a PRIVATE bath I might just bring extra sheets or something... hahahahaha. Sorry I trained in microbiology

I think Im definitely taking the train though my one bus experience was relatively smooth. But the train is faster.

AND my POE will be in Pearson. Im going to check in all my ####### since I dont have any big item that I cant part with

My plan is to spend the rest of the week going through all the paperwork. The hunny and I completed all the paperwork requirements WAAAY back in July... so I think we need to write a new letter, get more pay stubs, etc.

I am soooo excited!!!!

[Missa 0]

good morning guys

i was wondering, now forgive me if this was asked before; about the payment of the K1 i know that we pay at the interview but what forms of payment do they accept and also is it in american currency( i imagine it is)?

i could probably look this up somehow but i'm going crazy with midterms and this interview date

[Sam and Ben 2]

Not going to lie, I'm a little frightened with all of this bedbug talk...

[SapphireDreams 71]

We booked our hotel through Hotwire and I would strongly recommend it. We got the Hyatt, which was only a 5 minute walk to the Consulate and it was a decent hotel for the price. There was even a pool and we went swimming the night before! They also held our bags before we checked it and the next morning.

Even though the area looks big, Montreal is really not that expansive so anything within the downtown area wouldn't be that far from the Consulate. Also if you go to Betterbidding.com here: http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showtopic=92& you can get an idea of the hotels that you will get. They are all brand name and good hotels.

We always book our hotels through Hotwire when we travel and have never had any problems so far. We've booked hotels in Toronto, Miami and Montreal and always got a really nice room and rate.

One of the reasons we didn't want to stay in La Tour is because of the bed bugs issue we read on Trip Advisor, no thanks!!

[ScooterMac 2]

Not going to lie, I'm a little frightened with all of this bedbug talk...

Be glad it's Canada and not Guatemala! Before we go to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala every few years, we soak our sheets in bug-killing chemicals, and then put *those* on the bed once we get there - take 'em off in the morning, put 'em back on at night. Because the chemicals stay active for up to 6 or so washes, I use them during the off-years for "questionable" hotels, camping, and as a blanket for outdoor events. No bugs for me!