Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[getbak]

Originally Posted by cmyden

I've heard some people say the flights to Australia on United aren't great.

Mine were horrible.

We were 2 hours late leaving SFO as they tried to fix a problem with the in-flight entertainment system, then, about 2 hours into the flight, the system crapped out anyway and we had nothing for the rest of the flight. I had a connection booked through to Melbourne from Sydney and luckily they held that plane for us, but you could tell the people who were waiting for us in Sydney were annoyed (as I understand it, they have flights leave LAX and SFO at roughly the same time for SYD, then the LAX flight picks up people from the SFO flight and continues on to MEL).

On the flight back from SYD to SFO, the entertainment system didn't work at all. This was 5 weeks later, so I don't know if it was busted completely for the entire time, or if it was just horrible luck on my part.

It's bad enough that they don't have personal entertainment systems on those planes yet, but it's really bad when what they do have doesn't work on a 14+ hour flight.


Personally, I'd try to fly on Air Canada via Vancouver if I was going back down there, even if it costs a little more. The seats are wider and have more leg room; you get your own video screen, and you don't have to go through US Customs.

[Radio]

Hi Chris,

I am flying to DC on the 19th for business, but was thinking of going early and taking the family for the weekend. What is the best website for deals or do you have the best price for around the 16th readily available?

[zarrell]

I'll throw out a request for my brother. He's looking at going to Europe for August (no dates in mind). Just needs to be back before University starts and leaving sometime after July 24th. Just looking for the cheapest way there and back. Almost anywhere would do.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Radio

Hi Chris,

I am flying to DC on the 19th for business, but was thinking of going early and taking the family for the weekend. What is the best website for deals or do you have the best price for around the 16th readily available?

Hi Radio,

The cheapest you'll find at the moment are around $970 roundtrip after tax using Continental. July 16-20 for example. Well, maybe a little bit cheaper using Alaska there and Air Canada back, but not much.

Hopefully you were able to find something a little cheaper than that, prices are just inflated because it's so close to departure date. Most of summer is around $700 roundtrip with Air Canada being the cheapest.

cM

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by zarrell

I'll throw out a request for my brother. He's looking at going to Europe for August (no dates in mind). Just needs to be back before University starts and leaving sometime after July 24th. Just looking for the cheapest way there and back. Almost anywhere would do.

Hi zarrell,

Air Transat to London is generally the cheapest and has been the only reasonably priced way of getting to Europe this year. August 7 to 28 for example is $1080 roundtrip after tax. The next cheapest is nearly $600 more!

Or if he can do Aug 19 to Sep 9, Air Transat is $977. Aug 26 to Sep 16 is $926.

cM

[Draug]

Originally Posted by zarrell

I'll throw out a request for my brother. He's looking at going to Europe for August (no dates in mind). Just needs to be back before University starts and leaving sometime after July 24th. Just looking for the cheapest way there and back. Almost anywhere would do.

I was looking for a similar trip for July 28 to August 12...

I can tell you that Wednesday/Thursday travel with AirTransat/ThomasCook is generally the cheapest days they fly. You can find the same flights through AirTransat, ThomasCook, or the CanadianAffair.

Also, for my trip, it hovered at about $1050 from May until this weekend. Then, this weekend, three weeks before departure, it jumped up about $100. There was one point where you could fly the first two weeks in July for about $600 round trip, but not for my dates.

Since May, AirTransat has been the cheapest of all the airlines for my designated dates.

[cmyden]

PROMO CODE: 10-20% off flights to Asia on Air Canada

Save up to 20% off Tango Plus and Latitude fares for travel from Canada to Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai between November 1 and December 15, 2010.

2 passengers travelling together will receive 10% off - code: C4QR8UV1

3 passengers travelling together will receive 15% off - code: CQBBGF41

4 passengers travelling together will receive 20% off - code: QCREGKJ1

Full details at: http://www.aircanada.com/en/offers/a...all_offer.html

[Boblobla]

Any smoking deals on hotels in Paris for 2 people around July 26?

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Any smoking deals on hotels in Paris for 2 people around July 26?

It depends on what level of luxury you need, and exactly how central you want to be in Paris but maybe have a look at this one...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html

Can see it here for under $100/night

http://tinyurl.com/3388k7b

Any time you can get a decent hotel in Paris for under $100 in summer you're doing pretty well.

Am I the only one on CP who has issues with the text turning to bold when posting a link ? Seems to happen whenever I do a quoted reply. Highlighting the text and trying to unbold it with the icon doesn't work.

[BaldyAuldy]

Going from Calgary to Tokyo direct for 3 weeks anytime in October.
When is best to book flights? Where to find the best deal?

Wanted to maybe hit a lesser traveled island, get amongst the Japanese instead of tourist, any suggestions?

[Boblobla]

Thanks, that one seems pretty good, direct buses to anything I might want to see.

I would be willing to go up a price point as well, tripadvisor is a good reference?

I like to leave things until the last minute...

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by BaldyAuldy

Going from Calgary to Tokyo direct for 3 weeks anytime in October.
When is best to book flights? Where to find the best deal?

Wanted to maybe hit a lesser traveled island, get amongst the Japanese instead of tourist, any suggestions?

Hi Auldy,

The cheapest flights at the moment are around $1250 roundtrip after tax using Delta. Oct 6-28 for example.

Usually around $1000 is a fairly decent price. It's dipped to $750-$900 on occasion though. You could probably watch until at least end of August or so without too much risk. Maybe there will be some sort of fall sale that comes out.

Air Canada has a promo code out at the moment, but likely only useful if 2 or more of you are going. Their cheapest flights are around $1300.

I just noticed you mentioned wanting to fly direct. Air Canada launched non stop to Tokyo not too long ago. But it's strange, I don't see any for October that are non stop. Maybe it's seasonal. I see that All Nippon has direct flights, operated by Air Canada, but they're over 7 grand!

I remember the direct flights on AC being a pretty good price when they came out.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Thanks, that one seems pretty good, direct buses to anything I might want to see.

I would be willing to go up a price point as well, tripadvisor is a good reference?

I like to leave things until the last minute...

TripAdvisor has never steered me wrong and I think every hotel or B&B I've stayed at in the last 5 years has been one that I researched on TripAdvisor first.

There will always be a few people that complain about *something* but I always aim for hotels with at least 4 circles on the TA scale and it's always worked out.

It's always possible to find a place in a great location, with great reviews, for a good price. Usually the sacrifice is that the hotel is just basic, nothing fancy, a place to sleep. Location, clean, and a good price are usually the 3 things I look for.

Regarding last minute, well that's your choice of course, but when it comes to a hotel in Paris in summer that could reduce your options.

Last year we stayed at the Hotel Brittany:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html

It was in between the Opera and the Montmartre district. Basically between 18 and 9 on this map.



From there we were able to walk to the Arc de Triomphe (west side of the map above), but I guess it depends on how much you like to walk.

Bought some cheese at a street market, walked over to the Eiffel tower. Took the train to the Catacombs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris

^^ pretty interesting. Basically miles of underground walls built out of human skulls.



Headed towards Luxembourg Garden. Ran into a gay pride parade. I can still hear the whistles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jardin_du_Luxembourg

Finished up the afternoon near Notre Dame eating Berthillon ice cream, perhaps the best ice cream in the world. There will be a line, but it's worth the wait.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthillon

Go for dinner and cap off the night with a ride up the Eiffel tower at night, it looks pretty neat with all the lights.

[cmyden]

Calgary to Fiji - $979 roundtrip after tax

Qantas Airways just dropped their price from Vancouver to Fiji (NAN airport) down to $730 roundtrip after tax on select dates.

December 7 to 14 for example. Or Dec 2 to 9.

From Calgary, it's an extra $250 roundtrip, or you could always drive to Vancouver of course.

This is a pretty insane price for Fiji, the next cheapest is $1600 after tax!

You can see it right on Orbitz.

Plenty of availability in February 2011 as well. Look for flights on Sundays/Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the month.

Same goes for all of March 2011, and April.

As for 2010, July 15-22 is available. Sep 23-30. Most of October, (Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursday). Same with November.

[FFR]

Wow that's a good deal! We were thinking Hawaii for February but with prices that good maybe we should look at Fiji.

Is there any indication how long the price will be up for?

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by FFR

Wow that's a good deal! We were thinking Hawaii for February but with prices that good maybe we should look at Fiji.

Is there any indication how long the price will be up for?

Hi FFR,

With unadvertised deals like this I usually go under the assumption that they could be gone any minute. There really is just no way to tell, unless there's a Qantas promotion somewhere with a specified date that I haven't seen.

At first I thought it must be the LAX to Fiji route that is on sale (seen it before on Qantas) but it looks like prices are even more from LAX than from Vancouver.

People are reporting flight and hotel packages to Fiji from Calgary for under $1000/person on Expedia.ca which is unheard of. It's usually $1500/person or more for flights alone.

The Bedarra Beach Inn for $1044/person after tax looks like perhaps the best deal. That's for flight and hotel. It gets great reviews...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...Viti_Levu.html

That's for Dec 2-9, I haven't checked the other dates.

From Vancouver, flight and hotel can be had for almost the same price as the flight alone ($750ish/person)

[fundmark19]

Chris is there all inclusive hotels in fiji? This would be a great follow up to last years spain trip

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Chris is there all inclusive hotels in fiji? This would be a great follow up to last years spain trip

There are likely a few, but nothing like Mexico/Cuba/Dominican. They are likely to be *really* expensive.

Here's a relevant thread on TripAdvisor...

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-...Viti_Levu.html

To my mind, I only know of 3 resorts on the mainland (Viti Levu) that has an All Inclusive Package to cover all your meals & drinks:
1. Rydges Hideaway Resort - www.hideawayfiji.com/
2. Naviti Resort - http://warwicknaviti.com/
3. Warwick Fiji Resort & Spa - http://www.warwickfijihotel.com/
Hope this helps & happy planning!!!!

and I think a lot of the resorts allow you to add a 'meal plan'.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by FFR

Wow that's a good deal! We were thinking Hawaii for February but with prices that good maybe we should look at Fiji.

Is there any indication how long the price will be up for?

Checking the Vancouver route myself, it looks like most of them are already gone. There's still a few July dates available though. Too bad I've already booked my trip!

[drewboy12]

Hey cmyden,

Could you let me know the best deals available to New Zealand in October. Departing from Toronto or Ottawa. Thanks!