Ottawa

When telling people about where I was going on my trip this year, I was often met with bewilderment. Ottawa, Paris, Frankfurt and Mexico City are certainly an eclectic grouping of destinations. But for me, the getting there is half the fun! Plus, it gave me an opportunity to use up lots of my Amex points on some bucket list flights.

It started with the plan for our 2026 group trip. Each year, I travel with a group of friends; we went to Portugal in 2024, Japan in 2025, and upon recommendation from Lochlin and Nadia, we were off to Mexico City this year.

Working backwards, I found a reasonably priced redemption for a Lufthansa business class flight from Frankfurt to Mexico City, which allowed me to ride on the upper deck of a 747. Having never been on one before, and with the likelihood of them going out of service before I had the chance again, I jumped at the opportunity.

But that meant I needed to get to Frankfurt. Air France had a sale on flights from Toronto to Paris, which was close enough, so I managed to snag another business class seat. I could take the TGV and do some more exploring in and around the two cities.

So, why was I heading to Ottawa first? My buddy, Adam, moved out to Petawawa for work a few years ago and I hadn’t been out to visit him. Ottawa was a convenient spot for us to meet up for a weekend.

Finally throwing clothes into my suitcase after work on Thursday, I was ready to leave. Winter was still hanging on in Edmonton, and I was eager to enjoy some warmer weather.

The 3.5 hour flight from Edmonton to Ottawa went by very quick as I used the free wifi to stream from my friend’s Plex server, and enjoyed a glass of wine (or two), served in real glassware. I am a fan of the 2-2 seating layout of the E295s despite their smaller windows.

I will certainly be flying Porter more often (if airfares go down). I arrived in Ottawa relaxed and ready to head into the city. I opted to take the O-Train downtown to my hotel. The trip took around an hour and involved (3!) transfers, but I was able to tap on with Apple Pay and found the system easy to navigate.

When I was last in Ottawa, there was no O-Train downtown or to the airport; just a single 8 km diesel line primarily serving Carleton University and the surrounding area. Now the system consists of 3 lines over 35 km, with 27 km under construction. I’ve heard there have been issues with overall reliability and system integration, but it worked great for me.

Adam arrived later that evening, and I was delighted to hear that the neighbouring Nando’s which I had thought was closed, was in fact open. We made our way over for some peri-peri chicken and caught up on all the changes since the last time we saw each other.

After dinner, we wandered along the Sparks Street mall. I love pedestrianised spaces, but this one was lacking in energy. It was 21:00 on a Friday evening and there were very few people out and about. Not that there were that many places to go, mind you. Most of the businesses there catered to the nine to five crowd.

The next morning, we started with the hotel’s complimentary breakfast. We headed over to City Hall, where Adam had parked for the weekend to check on his car, then walked along the Rideau Canal. The water was very shallow and filled with trash and other debris.

While the canal was low, the Ottawa River had flooded, prompting the closure of the waterfront trail. We went up past the Chateau Laurier, and down to the National Gallery of Canada. Adam had a free pass from his local library, and we enjoyed wandering the galleries for a few hours.

I had noticed an outdoor pub on the walk to the gallery which was now open. With some time to spare before our tour of the House of Commons, so we stopped in for a beer and hot dog.

It was then time for our tour of the House of Commons. Parliament Hill is under construction, and has been since 2019. The Centre Block, where the House of Commons and Senate normally reside, is undergoing a meticulous restoration project that’s expected to finish in 2032.

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel for a break before dinner. Adam and I both happened to have a craving for some ramen, so we made our way down Elgin Street to Kinton.

I did not have great sleeps the first two nights of the trip, so I convinced Adam to sleep in a bit and bribed him with brunch at Zak’s diner, a local chain I had seen a few times in Ottawa. While perhaps not a proper diner by Miles in Transit definition, I’m no purist, so Zak’s worked for me. Their generous portions kept us fed for the rest of the day.

Adam booked us a tour of the Senate, where we ran into our tour guide from the day before on the way in. We went through security, then took an elevator we weren’t supposed to and got lost in the basement. We had been told to take the elevator down, but ended up having to walk up a set of stairs (since the elevator would only let us out in the basement), then back down another to get to the tour.

The railway station was built in 1912 and served as such until 1966, when the new Ottawa station was built to the southeast of downtown. The Beaux-Art style building was set to be demolished, but thankfully was saved and served as a conference centre for the Government of Canada until becoming the home of the Senate in 2019.

It was time for Adam to head home, so we said goodbye, looking forward to seeing each other later in the year. But for me, it was just the beginning, so I got myself ready to head to Toronto before my flight to Paris.