X-Mas

Photo by Guillaume Bourdages on Unsplash

In the fall of 2011, when Colin was 3 years old, we were exploring the New England States. I read about Santa's Village in Jefferson, NH.

Sounded perfect. It wasn't open every day though, so upon consulting the published days, we planned our road trip accordingly. (Graphic below shows most current situation, just for illustration purposes)

When we arrived, the parking lot was almost empty, which felt unusual for a place like this. It was fairly early in the day, and the weather wasn't super nice, so we didn't worry about it further.

As we appraoched the entrance gate we were shocked to notice it was closed.

What?

Why?

We were scratching our heads. 

Just across the street there was a miniature golf course. It was closed, too, but there were some fun "decoration items" for Colin to enjoy.

So what was the solution to the puzzle? Why was the fun park closed?

Most countries in Europe consider Monday to be the first day of the week, however in the United States, Sunday is considered the first day of the week, while Monday is the first day of the working week.

It's all very confusing.

So when I checked the dates, it said it was open the first day of the week, which, to me, was Monday. Well, I was wrong.

A similar difference in format mistake happened when we were in Canada. It was during the same trip. We visited the Centre Bell, the Montreal Canadiens' hockey arena, and we thought it'd be fun to see a game. Upon googling, we found out that in fact in two days, they were going to play the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Perfect!

I had the hardest time looking for tickets though. 

Was it because it was pre-season? Maybe they didn't sell tickets for exhibition games?

Haha, dream on.

What did I do wrong this time?

I didn't know that in North America the guest team comes first.

If the game is Montreal Canadians vs Toronto Maple Leafs, then the game takes place in Toronto. Just the opposite of how it works in Europe. We quickly discussed if it made sense to drive to Toronto, but we ended up watching the game in the hotel lobby in Montreal since the TV in our room didn't have the sports channel. Which I find very unnatural. After all we were in Canada, the motherland of hockey?

So that's how you learn something new every time you travel. 

PS: About 18 months later, Colin got his American all year round Christmas experience. We came across a town called Santa Claus, Indiana. It was June, it was about 90°, but it was somehow magical.

Have you experienced mistakes like this?