Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[me_dennis]

Has the Zika virus outbreak really fallen off? My wife and I were hoping to do an all inclusive, but with the Zika virus affecting most of mexico/central america, it really limits our options.

[pseudoreality]

Originally Posted by me_dennis

Has the Zika virus outbreak really fallen off? My wife and I were hoping to do an all inclusive, but with the Zika virus affecting most of mexico/central america, it really limits our options.

I just went through this with my wife. If she is pregnant or planning on getting pregnant in the next two years, I would not recommend going anywhere south of California.

[malcolmk14]

Yeah, Zika's still a thing. My girlfriend and I have been invited to a wedding in Mexico in May 2018 and are debating it.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Cabo is a pretty safe bet to go if you want to avoid Zika. I've never once seen a mosquito there (Desert climate and separated from mainland Mexico). I don't think they have any reported cases of it either, but I could be wrong.

Unless you stay within Canada for all your vacations, you are going to encounter Zika or another similar type of issue. Seems like a Pretty overblown concern in most cases. Zika didn't just show up out of nowhere last year, it's been around, just blown up to mass hysteria by the media. I would only worry about it if A)My wife was pregnant or B) Was planning to be pregnant within 6 months of return.

I had a buddy cancel on my friend's wedding in Mexico because he was worried about Zika.......He lives in Miami Florida which is ripe with it.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Yeah, Zika's still a thing. My girlfriend and I have been invited to a wedding in Mexico in May 2018 and are debating it.

What's the concern? Unless your are planning on having a baby, Zika is not really an issue, and even then you just hold off on having a baby for 4-6 months when you return. I guess you are almost a year and a half out from your trip so I can kind of see it as you don't know what the future holds and you'd be out that money. Can't you just do a deposit for the wedding though?.

My wife started talking about Zika about a month before we left for Mexico and saying " Should we go?" and it damn near drove me nuts. I told her to stop talking to me about it and see her doctor if she was so worried. Got the same response I was telling her, that if she was planning on having a baby in the near future to cancel he trip, and if she wasn't, he didn't see an issue with it. My month long aggravation was caused by her goddamn sister in Ottawa who is a housewife with too much time on her hands to worry about stuff.

[Lubicon]

From what I have read about Zika men may have more to worry about than women. For females, unless they are pregnant or plan on getting pregnant in the near future Zika is really not a concern. Even if you are infected once it has ran its course then it is basically back to normal. For males it is much more uncertain as there is still no consensus on the long term effects, mainly being how long the virus remains in your system and thus can be passed along to your partner. That is what the longer term uncertainty is, at least from what I remember reading.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

From what I have read about Zika men may have more to worry about than women. For females, unless they are pregnant or plan on getting pregnant in the near future Zika is really not a concern. Even if you are infected once it has ran its course then it is basically back to normal. For males it is much more uncertain as there is still no consensus on the long term effects, mainly being how long the virus remains in your system and thus can be passed along to your partner. That is what the longer term uncertainty is, at least from what I remember reading.

On the rare chance you do get it, you definitely can transmit it to your partner. That said, they say it clears your system within 8 weeks, but to sure hold off for 6 months on having a baby.

[cmyden]

WestJet and Air Canada both have promo codes out today for 21% off base fares (all flights within Canada) for March, April, May, June travel

http://yycdeals.com/westjet-and-air-...-within-canada

Promo codes are only a good deal when the price is already historically low.

From Calgary, try looking at...

Toronto, Ontario - $358 CAD roundtrip including taxes
Montreal, Quebec - $378 CAD
St. John's, Newfoundland - $487
Halifax, Nova Scotia - $443

[Tyler]

Thanks for yesterday's Palm Springs heads-up.

Just booked a trip in April!

[cmyden]

Calgary to Quebec City - $340 CAD roundtrip including taxes | April, May, June with WestJet

It's unusual to see great prices from Calgary to Quebec City.

http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-quebe...ncluding-taxes

There's also non-stop flights from Calgary to Halifax, Nova Scotia in April, May, June for $488 CAD roundtrip.

http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-halif...ncluding-taxes

[cmyden]

Looks like Quebec City has sold out.



Calgary to Nashville, Tennessee - $280 CAD roundtrip including taxes

United Airlines has dropped the price of their April and early May flights from Calgary to Nashville, Tennessee down to $280 CAD roundtrip including taxes.

WestJet starts their new non-stop flights from Calgary to Nashville in May, and they are currently priced at $386 CAD roundtrip.

But if you want or need a flight to Nashville before May, this is definitely an unusually low price.

http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-nashv...ncluding-taxes

[cmyden]

Calgary to Montreal - $366 CAD roundtrip including taxes | non-stop flights

Calgary to New York City - $324 CAD roundtrip including taxes | 1-stop flights

WestJet has a promo code out today for 25% off base fares to various places that they fly, which is making these prices possible. The code is valid for today only.

Here is the link to the promo code page: https://goo.gl/Cebk86

Some info...

Calgary to Montreal: http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-montr...n-stop-flights

Calgary to New York City: http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-new-y...april-may-june

--

[agulati]

Ended up booking the Calgary to Montreal for May long weekend (20th to 24th) for 366 including taxes.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Hello all. But especially Chris.

Flying with my family to Naples Florida from Calgary in November.

Any suggestions on flights? Best time to book? I've been told United sometimes has smoking deals on flights with a single stop in Houston with about a 2 hour layover which sounds ideal.

It is my understanding we would fly into Ft Myers, which is about 45 mins from Naples.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Hello all. But especially Chris.

Flying with my family to Naples Florida from Calgary in November.

Any suggestions on flights? Best time to book? I've been told United sometimes has smoking deals on flights with a single stop in Houston with about a 2 hour layover which sounds ideal.

It is my understanding we would fly into Ft Myers, which is about 45 mins from Naples.

United does indeed sometimes drop the price of YYC to Ft Myers (RSW) down to pretty good prices. Anything in the high $300s CAD roundtrip is typically as low as it goes.

For example, there are currently flights in June for $388 CAD roundtrip...

https://www.google.ca/flights/#searc...-15;s=1;md=660

It's always tough to say when United might drop their prices. Most often, they drop them to Florida a few months before departure. For example, in April, they started offering the cheaper May/June prices. So somewhere around September would be a prime suspect for October/November drops.

But, sometimes, United will just drop their prices across the board, on dates far into the future.

Overall, it's been pretty common for generous price drops to occur from Canadian cities to cities in Florida over the past year or so.

[cmyden]

Calgary to Madrid, Spain - $667 to $680 CAD roundtrip including taxes

British Airways is showing some cheaper flights to Madrid in the fall. Around 40% below the typical best roundtrip prices.

The flights have 1 stop each way. The stopover city is London Heathrow on the way there, and Dallas on the way home (or vice versa).

http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-madri...ncluding-taxes

[Flamenspiel]

Hello cmyden,

Looks like Alitalia has gone bankrupt again, how risky is it to use your credit card with a bankrupt airline? Can you get the money credited back based on non-delivery?

The route and time i am looking at is Alitalia only so I am considering a purchase. Apparently the Italian government has provide a bridge loan for the next 6 months so it should continue to operate.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

Hello cmyden,

Looks like Alitalia has gone bankrupt again, how risky is it to use your credit card with a bankrupt airline? Can you get the money credited back based on non-delivery?

The route and time i am looking at is Alitalia only so I am considering a purchase. Apparently the Italian government has provide a bridge loan for the next 6 months so it should continue to operate.

A good blog post about this:

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...t-of-business/

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Calgary to Madrid, Spain - $667 to $680 CAD roundtrip including taxes

British Airways is showing some cheaper flights to Madrid in the fall. Around 40% below the typical best roundtrip prices.

The flights have 1 stop each way. The stopover city is London Heathrow on the way there, and Dallas on the way home (or vice versa).

http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-madri...ncluding-taxes

Dang, has it been almost 8 years since cmyden sent dozens of Calgarians to Menorca, Spain for next to nothing? Because of a flight change we ended up spending a night in Madrid; man how time flies...

[FFR]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Dang, has it been almost 8 years since cmyden sent dozens of Calgarians to Menorca, Spain for next to nothing? Because of a flight change we ended up spending a night in Madrid; man how time flies...

Those were good times! Surprise visit to Madrid that we weren't expecting. Best deal ever.