We weren’t entirely sure what we wanted to do today, we just knew it would start with Saint John, New Brunswick. We got up and out of our Airbnb by 10am, and got on the road south. It’s not a long drive to Saint John, only about an hour and a half, and other than a little bit of rain it wasn’t too bad. The city even has a small letter-sign on a hill like the Hollywood sign, just a little less epic.
Our goal was to try some really good Atlantic fish and chips, so we found a highly rated place downtown, parked nearby, and walked to it. It was raining a bit more now, and while my rain jacket is great and super water resistant, Claire’s still isn’t obviously, and so she was struggling a bit, but we successfully made it. The restaurant of choice was Gahan House Port City, which was very pretty inside and out, but surprisingly quiet for a Saturday afternoon, and because the music wasn’t very loud it felt a bit awkward to be some of the only people talking inside.
I ordered, of course, the fish and chips, while Claire got a clam chowder with a piece of fish on the side, along with a blueberry beer. While waiting for our food, we discussed our options and decided we did in fact want to go all the way out to PEI, something we were debating up until now since we didn’t know if we’d have enough time. From here, it was only about three and a half hours directly, or four and a half if we detoured via the scenic route along the Bay of Fundy.
Once our food arrived we promptly gobbled it down, with the fish being amazing, and basically melting in my mouth. Claire also enjoyed her clam chowder, up until the point where she remembered she’s lactose intolerant. Uh oh. We didn’t bring the medication to combat it with us to the restaurant. We decided not to hang around too much longer and try to get back to the car pretty soon if possible.
While eating, we found a place just outside Charlottetown to stay for the night, a highly rated motel (noted for its cleanliness, which is always important) whose cheapest rooms still offered two beds. Even though we’re getting accommodations every night, we still wanted to at least camp once, so we planned to camp on the way back from PEI the next day, on the way to Montreal. Where to camp, we weren’t sure yet, but that’s a problem for tomorrow.
Once finished, we settled the bill and walked back up the hill to the car, where the rain was starting to get worse as we put in our navigation to the scenic route on the bay and got back on the road. As we drove, it quickly started to get really, really rainy, to the point where everyone was going about half the speed limit. I’ve noticed that drivers in New Brunswick are much more respectful of the rain than drivers in BC, which is interesting since you’d think BC drivers would know how to drive in the rain, but they don’t.
Because of how heavy the rain was, we decided to pull over at a gas station and wait for it to clear up a bit before continuing. While there, we looked at the forecast and realized this rain wasn’t going away for the next 8 hours, and was actually following us towards PEI. Now knowing this, we looked up the scenic drive a bit more to see if it would be worth it, and found out that it has an $11 fee to enter. Given the fee, the rain, and the fact we likely wouldn’t be able to see much, we decided to cut our losses and just stay on the highway to PEI.
Back on the road again, we maintained our half-the-speed-limit speeds with everyone else for the next while until the rain mostly cleared up, when we got a short respite and were able to drive the speed limit of 110km/h for about 30 minutes. After that, the heavy rain came and went repeatedly, at one point slowing us down to 40km/h because the highway was basically a lake. Don’t worry, we didn’t drive through any flooded roads, I know the dangers and don’t plan on contributing to the drowning statistics any time soon.
After a while, we finally made it to the Confederation Bridge, an 11km long bridge from New Brunswick to PEI, a faster and cheaper alternative to the ferry. The ferry is $85 round trip, while the bridge is $50 round trip. We initially thought the bridge was $50 each way, but upon arriving we found out that you only have to pay when you leave the island. The federal government is responsible for the bridge toll, and it’s actually largely unpopular with islanders, with their MP’s (Members of Parliament) trying to convince the government to reduce or remove the toll, as it raises the price of their goods and day to day life when travelling between the provinces. The liberal government has apparently promised to reduce the toll by half, but we’ll see what happens there. For now, we still have to pay the full $50 toll when we leave the island tomorrow.
Once on the island, it was less than an hour to Charlottetown, a surprisingly short amount of time until you realize the island is only about 170km tip to tip, which is smaller than Vancouver Island’s 450km or so. It makes you think if PEI is smaller and is its own province, should Vancouver Island join some of this separatist attitude we’ve been seeing in Quebec and Alberta? Hmm… yeah maybe not, I quite like my Canadian passport thank you.
We didn’t go all the way to Charlottetown today, that’s an exploration task for tomorrow, and instead went to our motel. Upon checking in, they needed to write my credit card number down on a piece of paper for the damage deposit, which was a little sketchy but I agreed, under the condition that in the morning I can take the paper with me and destroy it myself. I’m not worried about them stealing my card information, but rather that piece of paper not being securely destroyed after it’s no longer needed.
We got to our room and at first I was a little confused, because I only saw one bed, but that’s when I realized the second bed was in it’s own room in the back, which is pretty neat. The whole room is very well equipped, with a full size fridge and freezer, a full size stove and oven, a microwave, and a full array of pots and pans, along with dishes and cutlery. The bathroom seems to have been recently renovated, with a brand new looking vanity and all. The internet also clocks in at 100mbps down and up, more than enough for anything we need to do. It’s definitely one of the best motels I’ve stayed in for this price, about $110 total including taxes. If you’re ever in PEI, I highly recommend the Fair Isle Motel (as long as my card information doesn’t get stolen).
We hung out for a bit, before Claire retired to her room in the back to have a call with David while I worked on these posts in my bed up front. It’s now just past 11 and my laptop is about to die, but I’ve caught up with my posts and I’m ready for a hopefully good nights sleep.