Somebody's Got To Do It

My husband Gene has become quite the renaissance man. First and foremost, police officer. Over the years, aspiring chef, landscape artist, stained glass craftsman. The latest, world traveler? While I sit at my kitchen counter, morning coffee by my side and sleeping dogs by my feet, my husband is jet-setting around Montreal, Canada, with the rich and famous.

Here's the story: my mother-in-law Joan works for (actually runs it all, in my humble opinion) a limousine service in New York state. One of her duties is to plan and execute driving arrangements for her corporate clients. This corporate client will have conventions, meetings and events in many areas of the country. So she will hire drivers in those locales, then travel there to assure the transportation schedule is executed properly. My husband, who as you all know, loves to volunteer to help. So this past year he began going on these adventures with his mother, and being one of the "concierges". He is the man in the suit you see at the airport holding the sign up with someone's name. Then, he introduces himself as being with the limo service, shows the executive to his car and introduces him to his driver, then his job is done. He can do this 7 times a day (or night usually) or 27 times. It depends on the event.

The perks on these trips can vary for Gene and his mom. Sometimes they stay in the same hotel as the executives, sometimes they are relegated to a Days Inn by the airport. It's hit or miss. This time - he hit the jackpot. Hotel Quintessence in Tremblant has 30 luxury suites ranging from 700 to 1200 square feet. It was named "Most Excellent Small Hotel in North America" by Conde Nast. The suite Gene and mom got - The Presidential! He tells me it's an incredible place, with a pedestrian village across the street built into the side of a mountain. He said it looks like the Swiss Alps. He told me it's the most incredible place he's ever seen - even more so than his favorite place, Lake Tahoe. 

As more luck would have it, it's a small group, and on his first day he only had to greet seven people. This trip is for the yuckety-yuks to attend the nearby Ferrari Driving Experience (which by the way costs $8,900). Since there aren't many, Gene has had much more free time than usual. Of which he bragged about eating the best smoked salmon bagel in his life to me the other morning, then working out, soaking in their personal jacuzzi, napping and going to the shops on the mountain. Rough life, but "somebody's got to do it" he tells me. What happened to my simple man, who has always claimed he only needs to live in a shack and be with me to be happy? I'm thinking we've created a monster!

I'm sure I will have more posts about Hotel Quintessence upon his return, as I made him promise to buy a disposable camera and take pictures for my blog - the photos here I pulled from their website. One last thing, I checked the rates on the Prez suite, $1,500 a night. This one may be tough to get to on my bucket list!