Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[Fuzz]

Going to Vietnam/Cambodia. Does anyone know the best way to handle Visas? Get them ahead of time, or when we get there? We will also be entering Vietnam twice, will we need 2 Visas?

Airline choice...Cathay Pacific, China Air, or China Southern? Prices are similar.

[nik-]

Vietnam you need to apply for a visa ahead of time. I mailed them my passport, but you can also get a letter version sent to you. Cambodia you can get visa on arrival for $30 US in the airport at Phnom Penh or Siem Reap.

Cathay if the prices are the same. Especially if it means you connect through Hong Kong instead of China. Chinese airports are annoying.

[Amethyst]

Don't know anything about the others but Cathay Pacific is awesome. I took them to Vietnam and the only problem was the final, Hong Kong to Vietnam portion was an Air Vietnam flight which wasn't the best.

[Wormius]

My attempts to find any decent airfares around next spring break have been kind of fruitless. When flying 4 people somewhere, is there a point where I should be caring more about hotel and food costs than airfare? I am wondering if my concern over airfare is too much and maybe I should think more about other aspects of the family vacation - so are there places where flying is kind of expensive, but everything else is pretty cheap? Just thinking of random options to getaway between Mar 22-Apr 3.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by Wormius

My attempts to find any decent airfares around next spring break have been kind of fruitless. When flying 4 people somewhere, is there a point where I should be caring more about hotel and food costs than airfare? I am wondering if my concern over airfare is too much and maybe I should think more about other aspects of the family vacation - so are there places where flying is kind of expensive, but everything else is pretty cheap? Just thinking of random options to getaway between Mar 22-Apr 3.

You'll never get a deal at spring break that compares to other times of year (except Christmas-New Years which will make spring break look cheap). If you're flexible about where you're willing to go, you can find some places are better than others. The best deal I got was an all inclusive in Mexico that I booked only a month or two before travel. I think sales were slow that year. I've tried looking at that place again and it's about double what I paid.

Of the places I've travelled for spring break, I would say Mexico or Cuba is cheapest, Barbados or Grenada is mid-range, and Hawaii is most expensive.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Going to Vietnam/Cambodia. Does anyone know the best way to handle Visas? Get them ahead of time, or when we get there? We will also be entering Vietnam twice, will we need 2 Visas?

Airline choice...Cathay Pacific, China Air, or China Southern? Prices are similar.

Cathay is an awesome airline. Have fun down there!

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by Wormius

My attempts to find any decent airfares around next spring break have been kind of fruitless. When flying 4 people somewhere, is there a point where I should be caring more about hotel and food costs than airfare? I am wondering if my concern over airfare is too much and maybe I should think more about other aspects of the family vacation - so are there places where flying is kind of expensive, but everything else is pretty cheap? Just thinking of random options to getaway between Mar 22-Apr 3.

Also, the last couple years, I've found it to be much cheaper coming home on the Friday rather than Saturday.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

You'll never get a deal at spring break that compares to other times of year (except Christmas-New Years which will make spring break look cheap). If you're flexible about where you're willing to go, you can find some places are better than others. The best deal I got was an all inclusive in Mexico that I booked only a month or two before travel. I think sales were slow that year. I've tried looking at that place again and it's about double what I paid.

Of the places I've travelled for spring break, I would say Mexico or Cuba is cheapest, Barbados or Grenada is mid-range, and Hawaii is most expensive.

Thanks. I remember getting some cheaper tickets ($600-ish) last Spring Break to Chengdu at Christmas time, so hopefully something else comes up again this year. We were hoping for a Europe or an Asian destination, but I guess I am still wondering if airfare is the cost factor I should be most worried about for trip planning, or should I put it secondary to hotel / food / entertainment costs.

[Amethyst]

I haven't travelled to those destinations during spring break. I usually go in the summer when I have more time. When I went I found Europe a lot more than Asia, but my only travel to Asia was Vietnam and Mongolia, so those may be cheaper destinations.

[driveway]

Oh my god, just made it through security in the US portion of the new international terminal. What a horrific gong show. Far and away the slowest security clearing experience I’ve ever had at any airport ever. Get your #### together YYC.

Conversely US customs was fantastically easy and fast. Probably because they only had to deal with a tiny trickle of people due to the absurd back up at security.

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

Don't know anything about the others but Cathay Pacific is awesome. I took them to Vietnam and the only problem was the final, Hong Kong to Vietnam portion was an Air Vietnam flight which wasn't the best.

I've flown Cathay business class for an international flight and it was the best flight I've ever taken

[cmyden]

There are some pretty crazy prices from Calgary to Thailand at the moment.

You can also visit both Thailand and Japan on the same trip for an extra $100.

Calgary to Bangkok, Thailand - $525 to $564 CAD roundtrip including taxes | ANA flights (new record!), add Japan for $100



Availability for travel:
April, May, June 2018

link: http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-bangk...-japan-for-100

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[Wormius]

Ugh. It's deals like these that make me wish our vacations weren't tied to the CBE vacation calendar.

[MstrRoboto]

Anyone have any tips for Japan? Going the first 2 weeks of May, any tips would be much appreciated. 4 of us going (wife and I, 2 boys 14 & 7)

[Muta]

Originally Posted by MstrRoboto

Anyone have any tips for Japan? Going the first 2 weeks of May, any tips would be much appreciated. 4 of us going (wife and I, 2 boys 14 & 7)

Get your bullet (Shinkansen) train pass here in Calgary at Nippon Travel. I believe these passes are also good for unlimited subway use on the JR lines, which are the prominent train lines in each major city.

Get this sorted out here, you'll thank yourself when you're there.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by MstrRoboto

Anyone have any tips for Japan? Going the first 2 weeks of May, any tips would be much appreciated. 4 of us going (wife and I, 2 boys 14 & 7)

Remember that Domo Arigato means thanks a lot

[lazypucker]

Chris, in your opinion which search engine gives the best prices for flights? Or are they all the same?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Muta

Get your bullet (Shinkansen) train pass here in Calgary at Nippon Travel. I believe these passes are also good for unlimited subway use on the JR lines, which are the prominent train lines in each major city.

Get this sorted out here, you'll thank yourself when you're there.

Can you get passes for the train to Tokyo from the airports? I'll be there for a 12 hour layover, would be nice to have that part figured out.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Can you get passes for the train to Tokyo from the airports? I'll be there for a 12 hour layover, would be nice to have that part figured out.

Not going to explore the Narita gardens again?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Not going to explore the Narita gardens again?

Not this time...actually funny thing happened, I checked our flights and realized we are flying into Tokyo airport and flying out of Narita. I'm not sure how I missed that when I booked, and a little surprised it wasn't flagged as an item of note. Not a huge deal as we are happy to have a few hours to see the city, and would need to take the train twice anyway to do that. Plus it was $400 cheaper per person to do the longer layover. Still, glad I noticed it before it was disaster panic!