Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[Amethyst]

I'm going to Cuba this spring and was wondering what the best combination of currencies / cash / credit cards is. I was once before, but many years ago.

Trip is booked through WestJet vacations, so hotels and meals are covered. Spending will mostly be for a tour or two, local souvenir purchases, and occasional drinks or meals.

I know for awhile, people were saying to bring things like toiletries to leave for the staff. Is that still a thing?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

depending on time and interests, but a few hours at the Boeing factory in Bellingham(?) might be good.

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Second the Boeing plant. It’s our favourite thing to do in the Seattle area.

Originally Posted by agulati

I don’t know if they have restarted the Boeing factory again yet though. Check on that. I know that it had been temporarily closed (which ended up being for a few years, I think)

If it isn’t, that is well worth the few hours it takes.

Timely news!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1707468602222510591

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Timely news!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1707468602222510591

Nice.

Everett was a great tour. I had the privilege of touring the 737 plant in Renton about 15 years ago. That was lights out awesome., but it's not open to the public.

[chemgear]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1708046312275325316

[MoneyGuy]

Our tour of the Boeing plant is one of the best things we’ve done in the Seattle area. In our tour group was a retired Air Canada pilot who wanted to see the plant where they made the planes he flew. He’d flown many new planes out of there but had never seen the plant up close.

[calgarygeologist]

I was working at WestJet in 2020 and we had a Boeing plant trip planned for some employees. Unfortunately Covid shut everything down and I left because of the pandemic. It would have been an awesome trip.

[MoneyGuy]

Weeks ago I came here for advice on an upcoming trip to southern Alberta and Waterton. We completed it and had a great time. Waterton was awesome and we saw some great things. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was great; we’d never stopped in before. I told my wife I could enjoy living in beautiful southern Alberta but she said there are too many red necks. True, I saw some of the convoy bumper stickers. We travel a lot internationally but I want to see more of Canada (we’ve been to every province). Next up is Elk Island National Park then the Drumheller area next year.

We purchased a GuideAlong audio tour. One of the best things ever when touring by car. I also bought the book The Scenic Geology of Alberta. I stopped at the Calgary home of author Dr. Dale Leckie. I love geology and Dale’s book was a great traveling companion.

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I was working at WestJet in 2020 and we had a Boeing plant trip planned for some employees. Unfortunately Covid shut everything down and I left because of the pandemic. It would have been an awesome trip.

Being nosy here but how does “calgarygeologist” for for WJ? I’m assuming in a non geology role.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Being nosy here but how does “calgarygeologist” for for WJ? I’m assuming in a non geology role.

The 2015 downturn forced me out of O&G and I ended up at WestJet in 2017. Spent a few years there and left because of the pandemic. I'm doing work now with an energy services company and I'm potentially jumping back into a career with an O&G producer soon.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The 2015 downturn forced me out of O&G and I ended up at WestJet in 2017. Spent a few years there and left because of the pandemic. I'm doing work now with an energy services company and I'm potentially jumping back into a career with an O&G producer soon.

Smart and resourceful to have been able to make the jump over to something totally different. It was extremely difficult to be considered for anything outside of O&G for a few years as the consensus was you’d fly the coop once a better or higher paying role came up. Even now I see people trying to move between EPCs, service companies, midstream, producers. A lot more postings now. A lot more unhappy people too trying to change their situation.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Highly recommend Portugal for anyone with young kids.
They treat you like royalty and let you skip the lines at the airport, & even at tourist sites like Sintra.
Pregnant women doing a babymoon would also get this treatment.

So much better than Canada where people won't even make space on a sidewalk for a stroller.

[calgarygeologist]

I figure I should ask this, is anyone in Vegas this week for the Microsoft Power Platform Conference? I'm hanging out down here and always up for a few beers if anyone else came down.

[Lubicon]

Anyone have thoughts on the wisdom/stupidity of booking a trans Atlantic connection via either Pearson or Montreal in late December? Alternative is going KLM via AMS which is perfectly fine too. Unfortunately AC cutting FRA from YYC has removed that option so it boils down to one of these two options in all likelihood. It's only for the outbound trip from YYC, I don't need to factor in the return. Price is about the same although Air Canada is slightly higher.

KLM Pros:
Convenience from YYC
Reliability
AMS is a very good airport for connecting.
Weather less likely to be a factor

KLM Cons:
Journey time slightly longer
Arrival time at destination is later in the day

Air Canada YYZ/YUL Pros:
Shorter overall travel time
Arrival time earlier in the day

Air Canada YYZ/YUL Cons:
Christmas time at the airport (late December) but it will be an evening departure
Weather a factor (look at last year)
It's Pearson, which I generally try to avoid at almost any cost.
Slight higher price

As a second question, Transat/Porter offer a combination for the same route which I never really considered. I'm not sold on the reliability of booking this, in terms of delays/cancellations but I was also not aware the two airlines had some sort of partnership/codeshare. Has anyone done something like this? YYC-YYZ would be on Porter and then transatlantic on Transat.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Anyone have thoughts on the wisdom/stupidity of booking a trans Atlantic connection via either Pearson or Montreal in late December? Alternative is going KLM via AMS which is perfectly fine too. Unfortunately AC cutting FRA from YYC has removed that option so it boils down to one of these two options in all likelihood. It's only for the outbound trip from YYC, I don't need to factor in the return. Price is about the same although Air Canada is slightly higher.

KLM Pros:
Convenience from YYC
Reliability
AMS is a very good airport for connecting.
Weather less likely to be a factor

KLM Cons:
Journey time slightly longer
Arrival time at destination is later in the day

Air Canada YYZ/YUL Pros:
Shorter overall travel time
Arrival time earlier in the day

I

Air Canada YYZ/YUL Cons:
Christmas time at the airport (late December) but it will be an evening departure
Weather a factor (look at last year)
It's Pearson, which I generally try to avoid at almost any cost.
Slight higher price

As a second question, Transat/Porter offer a combination for the same route which I never really considered. I'm not sold on the reliability of booking this, in terms of delays/cancellations but I was also not aware the two airlines had some sort of partnership/codeshare. Has anyone done something like this? YYC-YYZ would be on Porter and then transatlantic on Transat.

I would book the AMS. Delays at Pearson on AC in late Dec are basically a given. Plus, having your connection be late in the day means you are more likely to be affected by rolling delays from earlier that day.

[Bigtime]

I'd pick KLM as well, I prefer to do the big hop overseas right from YYC whenever possible.

Edit: Did you look at any options for FRA on Eurowings? They will be operating over the winter into YYC.

[Fuzz]

KLM. Nothing good comes out of flying through Toronto on the best of days.

An evening departure in YYZ/YYL is more likely to be delayed/canceled than morning.

After years of going to Europe I have prioritized getting there, because they have so many more connections to get to your final vs the few daily overseas flights you can transfer to in Canada.

[undercoverbrother]

I have a free ticket to use with Westjet.

Want to do a get away with my wife.

Am coming up stumped on ideas.

Anyone got any good ideas of where to go?

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I have a free ticket to use with Westjet.

Want to do a get away with my wife.

Am coming up stumped on ideas.

Anyone got any good ideas of where to go?

I’d rent a place in Arizona in January. This assumes they’re not in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I would book the AMS. Delays at Pearson on AC in late Dec are basically a given.

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I'd pick KLM as well, I prefer to do the big hop overseas right from YYC whenever possible.

Edit: Did you look at any options for FRA on Eurowings? They will be operating over the winter into YYC.

Originally Posted by Fuzz

KLM. Nothing good comes out of flying through Toronto on the best of days.

After years of going to Europe I have prioritized getting there, because they have so many more connections to get to your final vs the few daily overseas flights you can transfer to in Canada.

Those are my thoughts too. Pearson is a crap show at the best of times. Only appealing thing about it was the arrival time into the final destination. We did KLM for the same trip a month ago and it worked great. Only thing this time around is they are only showing a transfer to Transavia (KLM's LCC, like Swoop was) rather than to mainline KLM and I'm not 100% certain that can be done without claiming bags and rechecking in in AMS.

I looked are Eurowings with a transfer to LH but it's a 9.5 hour layover in Frankfurt.

I'd be all over WestJet if they offered any connection opportunities but the only one is through CDG and it's less than 90 minutes.

It's looking more like KLM.

[billybob123]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I have a free ticket to use with Westjet.

Want to do a get away with my wife.

Am coming up stumped on ideas.

Anyone got any good ideas of where to go?

If she likes Broadway and shopping it's hard to beat their nonstop to JFK in New York.