Ottawa in 24 hours

Managing events around the world always sounds so glamorous, heading off to exciting new destinations, staying in top quality hotels and dining out every night. Those in the event management industry know that is not always the case but when you are on site for an event, you do at least get a few days to say, view the Acropolis from afar!

Site visits however, are a different beast altogether! After weeks of venue finding you only need to see your chosen venue, maybe a couple of local sights for research, it could just take a couple of hours. The only problem is your chosen destination is halfway across the world!

This is the situation I found myself in last week when I popped over to Ottawa for 24hrs! Courtesy of the wonderful team at Ottawa Tourism I found myself on an Air Canada flight for a whistle stop trip to Canada’s capital city.

Staying at the impressive Hilton Lac Leamy for one night and driven around by our lovely driver John seeing local drinks reception venues, I incredibly managed to get a real feel for the city and the wonderful people who live there.

My first impressions were not overwhelming as we drove into the city (admittedly the weather was terrible which didn’t help!), however that soon changed.

The Hilton is an impressive conference hotel situated on the Quebec side of Ottawa and is the perfect fit for our client’s 2019 event. We were well looked after by the lovely Maryse and are looking forward to working with her and the team.

Ottawa has something special about it. The people are genuine and welcoming, the history is interesting and they have some beautiful buildings which John made sure we saw en route. The parliament building is beautiful and I loved strolling around the gardens full of historical statues (I had a couple of hours to fill before my return flight!). This was one of my favourites! #womenarepersons

I can’t wait to get back to Canada next year and hopefully see a little bit more next time!