Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[Wormius]

Yeah, you’ll need to use something for translating because English is not very common from our experience. Google worked well enough most of the time.

Is it worth learning a few phrases? I don’t know. I tried ordering coffee and milk a few times in some Japanese Starbucks and it really didn’t go well. My pronunciation was terrible, I presume.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Thoughts on Napa or Sonoma?
Looking to potentially go in November.

Heard Napa is crazy expensive and Sonoma is a little more chill, better pricing.
Also wondering if this time of year would still be ok for wine tasting; read that Cabernet season starts in November.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

I found Japan relatively easy to get around. As mentioned, Google translate helped a lot. If you can, learn Katakana at the very least. Words written in Katakana are often English loan words and that can help at times. It helped me to not get Rum and Raisin ice cream at one point.

It took me about 2 weeks to learn Hiragana and Katakana. Here's some great resources: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/best...ing-resources/

Korea is a lot harder to get around, I found. Largely because Google doesn't really work there due to the ongoing war with the North.

[icarus]

Yeah Google Maps is limited in Korea, you can look things up but you won't get directions to get there. However the Citymapper app works perfectly well there and is useful to have for most major cities around the world. I always use it.

I've made many friends in Korea and Japan just by using Google Translate. I had a spare ticket to a concert in Osaka, and so I invited a nice girl I had met in Tokyo down, we had a great time even though 95% of our conversations were through Google Translate. I have no idea how people travelled in Japan prior to translation apps!

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Thoughts on Napa or Sonoma?
Looking to potentially go in November.

Heard Napa is crazy expensive and Sonoma is a little more chill, better pricing.
Also wondering if this time of year would still be ok for wine tasting; read that Cabernet season starts in November.

Stayed in Healdsburg for a few days a couple years ago. Beautiful small town with some great hotels and vineyards near by (as well as about 50 tasting rooms in the city itself).

We drove through NAPA and it definitely felt more crowded and more tourists. Prices were much more expensive too.

Healdsburg is close to Jordan, one of my favourite california wines. We then looped back through St Helena and Napa on the way back to SF stopping at Caymus and a few of our favourite Napa vineyards.

The thing that gets me is the cost of tastings there. I believe our tasting at Jordan was 120 USD. A far cry from the "bottleshock" era

[chemgear]

Bank of Japan raises rates and reduced bond purchases. Canadian dollar weakens versus yen, no more discount. Roughly back to 2023 exchange.

[Wormius]

Not sure what to make of this. Booked internet flight through Air Canada. Confirmation email from AC says checked bags for a fee, but it’s a codeshare through Discover / Lufthansa and they say checked bags are free. Who’s right here?

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Not sure what to make of this. Booked internet flight through Air Canada. Confirmation email from AC says checked bags for a fee, but it’s a codeshare through Discover / Lufthansa and they say checked bags are free. Who’s right here?

Usually it's whatever airline you're actually checking your bag with (which is also the airline that you'd check in online at). i've had situations where the opposite was true -- recently with WestJet and Delta -- and when asking nicely at the desk, they've waived the fee for me. I feel like I have about an 80% success rate with that method.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Not sure what to make of this. Booked internet flight through Air Canada. Confirmation email from AC says checked bags for a fee, but it’s a codeshare through Discover / Lufthansa and they say checked bags are free. Who’s right here?

I had this happen recently with WestJet. I took a screenshot of my points purchase just in case but when I got to the self check-in the checked bags were included.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Bank of Japan raises rates and reduced bond purchases. Canadian dollar weakens versus yen, no more discount. Roughly back to 2023 exchange.

Noooooooooo. And I just put off buying yen this week.

[btimbit]

WestJet thinking about possibly bussing people between the terminal and remote stands while the C and B terminals are closed at YYC

Their IROP people sure putting in some work the last few weeks

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by photon

Hm seems Amex specifically excludes sites like Turo, so would need to buy Turo's insurance if I went through them. Would credit card insurance still be good for booking through Costco though?

I haven't looked into Turo specifically, but most auto insurance policies will cover whatever car you are driving. For example, if I borrow my friend's car and crash it, my insurance would cover the damage. Same deal for rental cars with any policy I've ever held.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by btimbit

WestJet thinking about possibly bussing people between the terminal and remote stands while the C and B terminals are closed at YYC

Their IROP people sure putting in some work the last few weeks

Do you mean kind of like a lot of European airports do where people get bussed from the terminal to the airplane?

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Do you mean kind of like a lot of European airports do where people get bussed from the terminal to the airplane?

Yeah exactly like that

[BigNumbers]

Any idea why this WJ flight took off from Calgary with a destination of Calgary, and just flew around for an hour? Assume a test flight for some repairs?

https://www.flightaware.com/live/fli...430Z/CYYC/CYYC

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Any idea why this WJ flight took off from Calgary with a destination of Calgary, and just flew around for an hour? Assume a test flight for some repairs?

https://www.flightaware.com/live/fli...430Z/CYYC/CYYC

Testing out the new speedholes from the hail damage!

[BigNumbers]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Testing out the new speedholes from the hail damage!

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I haven't looked into Turo specifically, but most auto insurance policies will cover whatever car you are driving. For example, if I borrow my friend's car and crash it, my insurance would cover the damage. Same deal for rental cars with any policy I've ever held.

I don't think that's accurate. If you borrow a friends car, their insurance covers it.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I haven't looked into Turo specifically, but most auto insurance policies will cover whatever car you are driving. For example, if I borrow my friend's car and crash it, my insurance would cover the damage. Same deal for rental cars with any policy I've ever held.

As mentioned that seems very weird. I’d be looking at that. Rental car riders are different.

[Ryan Coke]

You need to make sure you have the specific sef endorsement for coverage to non-owned autos. My policies haven’t normally come with it, but I always request it now.