I have safely arrived in Montreal for WorldCon after a really delightful train trip. The entire train was packed with folks coming up for the con so it was like TrainCon. I wound up sitting with Jim Minz which was fantastic and terrible. Fantastic, because he’s fun. Terrible because I got very little writing done.
On arrival, I discovered that I had not booked the hotel I thought I had. The one that I was in set off alarm bells in my touring brain when I walked into the lobby. At the same time, I was like, where else will I stay. The receptionist said she needed to reserve the amount of the stay PLUS a security deposit.
The hotel fee, sure. A security deposit? More alarms, so I asked if I could see the room. When I walked in it smelled like a blend of listerine and sweat, but it was also 9:00 and really, where else was I going to find a room. I expressed my dismay on Twitter and then I checked in. Hoping that someone would be able to take a roommate, I asked for just one night instead of the six I’d planned.
Went back to the room — which, to be fair, was worn and ratty but clean. But it smelled bad and I found myself not wanting to touch the bed.
Then I got a direct message from Pablo Defendi saying that I could stay in his room if need be. Grabbed my untouched suitcase, and checked out. And yes, the hotel charged me for the full night.
Anyway, it looks like I’ll be able to stay with another friend through the length of the con, but I’m deeply, deeply grateful to Pablo for rescuing me.
We hung in the bar with the usual suspects and now I’m going to sleep. Looking forward to tomorrow.
