Monday, August 26, 2013

Final Day of Training + Porter Lounge

Morning call was for 7am. My coworker, Glenn Coco aka GC, and I had no idea there was one set. I woke up so confused. I definitely got up and then crawled back into my pillow fort. We eventually got up and ready. We checked out of the hotel and then went back to headquarters for breakfast and our last day of training. You can read about the first day of training here.

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There was a platter of pastries (cinnamon rolls, bear paws, and a variety of scones), bagels, muffins, yogurt, and fruits.

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The chocolate croissants were a popular item the previous day, so I checked it out for myself. It was dense in the middle and wasn't light and messy -- which is what makes a great croissant.

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I didn't mention it in the previous post, but we did have a little snack when we arrived at headquarters from the airport. I was really surprised at how good one of the scones were. So when I saw that there were more scones, I definitely grabbed one. This was a different flavour than the one I had the previous day. It reminded me of a fruity cereal. I told Glenn Coco about it. She was curious and took a taste. "Trix. It tastes like Trix!" she exclaimed. Whatever cereal it tasted like, it was really good with the strong cup of coffee I had.

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After breakfast, we picked off where we left off from the previous day. We practiced how to make green smoothies and ice cream in the Blendtec blenders. We went through a lot more information and then broke for lunch.

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There was a variety of sandwiches and wraps again. In addition to the side salad, there were two types of pasta salad as well. They were both good, but I liked the one with the sun dried tomato one because it was slightly spicy. The wrap was a tasty chicken ranch wrap. It reminded me of the days I went through a ranch craze; ranch dressing to dip pizza crusts, ranch salad, ranch wraps, pasta salad with ranch, etc.

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We reviewed everything we learned again once lunch was done. We broke up into groups one last time to practice. This was my super green smoothie. I was proud of how the colour and taste turned out. It's too bad I deviated from the recipe and just threw in what I thought looked like it was enough.

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Our two day intensive training ended and we headed to the Billy Bishop Airport. Here's Glenn Coco unintentionally modeling. When we arrived at the airport, it was still warm and bright outside. And since we had just spent the last two days inside, I needed some air. Plus, I wanted to take a photo of the giant abandoned factory outside. GC said she'd join me.

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I took a few photos but I want to share this one. This is just a small fraction of the abandoned Canada Malting Company plant against the blue sky. We then crossed the street to watch a softball game in the shade for a bit and then walked back to meet up with two other ladies in Porter's lounge.

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On our way back, we saw a squirrel climbing down a fence. It then proceeded to strut away from us when we walked close. We were both amazed because any other squirrel would've sprinted away. This squirrel was different. It actually sat up and started nibbling on the nut when I picked up my phone to take a photo. And when it was on the grass or road, it was actually walking with attitude. Even when there were taxis trying to pull up into the taxi line. One of the attendants working there told us that sometimes they sit in the booth and hand-feed the squirrel, who doesn't have a name. If you do go in and out of the Billy Bishop Airport, do you know the squirrel I'm talking about? Did you give it a name?

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We got onto the ferry and, after going through security, we went down the escalator and into the large lounge. Can I say how awesome it was to be surrounded by suits?

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I've been told that they offer free non-alcoholic beverages and do have snacks available, so I wandered over. There was a computer lab full of Macs in one corner. I also spied, with my little eyes: free Starbucks coffee, Tazo tea, salted almonds, shortbread cookies with milk chocolate, soft drinks, juice, and water. There was even a fancy cappuccino machine that made espressos and latté as well.

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Cappuccino and shortbread cookies made a nice snack. It seems like the milk chocolate has a hard coating on the outside, because it gives a nice crunch. The cookies were very crumbly and tasty.

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Before we boarded the flight, I washed that all down with some water and salted almonds. The almonds were slightly roasted too.

The flight back to Ottawa was fine. I couldn't wait to get home and sleep.

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The next morning, I cleaned out my purse and found all of these from Porter. Awesome.

Porter's service and lounges are very welcoming. Since they do fly out of the island airport, I'm sure majority of their target market is the business men and women. But still, the services are very welcoming and it's too bad other airline companies don't follow in their footsteps. Porter brings the joy back in flying. If they had Hello Kitty airplanes, CA would love it even more -- but that's just too much. It would be hilarious to see all the suits getting onto a Hello Kitty airplane though. Just picture it. Hahaa!

Over the two days of training, we learned boatloads about the Blendtec blenders. It was already hammered into our heads by the time we left headquarters. I don't know about my fellow PWD coworkers who were at the training sessions, but I couldn't stop thinking about all the training. When I woke up the following morning, the first thought in my head was about the patented wing-tipped blades. The Blendtec reps did a great job training us. I'm very thankful to both PWD and Blendtec for giving us the opportunity to go.


Full disclosure:
I did not receive any payments or compensation to write this post. These thoughts and opinions do not represent PWD, Porter Airlines, or Blendtec.

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