Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by cmyden

A dream trip of mine is to visit the Gorillas in Rwanda.

Also possible in Uganda (or DRC if you like taking risks with your life). Either way, I highly recommend it. You normally only spend an hour watching them but it's pretty incredible. Nothing like getting charged at by a silverback to show you your place in the world.


Kiiza

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Arsenal14

Also possible in Uganda (or DRC if you like taking risks with your life). Either way, I highly recommend it. You normally only spend an hour watching them but it's pretty incredible. Nothing like getting charged at by a silverback to show you your place in the world.


Kiiza

Great shot, I love the name of the gorilla's home in Uganda, The Impenetrable National Park.

[Nyah]

This may already be posted in this thread, but my boyfriend and I were looking into Tahiti & the French Polynesian islands for our anneversary. I know it's a really expensive trip to make, but we both think it'll be worth it. We're looking at doing a 2 week trip so we can explore a couple of the islands. Any tips?

[bizaro86]

So I'm back, and have a couple of comments. We went to Kenya and Tanzania, so I can't comment on anything South Africa specific. We went a variety of places (Samburu, Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, etc), and they were all different. Depending on how long you were going for, I'd try to go to at least a couple of different ecosystems so you see different things. A number of people told us not to go to the Masai Mara and the Serengeti since they're adjacent, but I think that's bad advice. In August (and September) the Wildebeast are in the Masai Mara, so you can try to see them cross the Mara river, which is spectacular. So the mara has millions of wildebeast, but many of the other animals are out of view during that time, whereas in the Serengeti we saw all of the Big 5 in a single day.

I'd be a bit cautious about doing a Safari as a honeymoon, unless you're both really excited about it. We stayed in high end tented camps/lodges, and the beds were uniformly not very good, and it was always up early (~6:00 AM) to get a dawn game drive. Plus we were eating with the group we took the tour in (max 6, in our case) which isn't super romantic.

If you (or anyone else) has any other specific questions feel free to post them here.

[kipperfan]

I just got an email stating United Airlines is offering round trips, Calgary to Beijing and back for $752 after tax! Flights are throughout October and November - one example is Oct 24-31st - $752 all in. The flights can allegedly be booked through fly.com, but I've been too busy to try it yet. Really good price though!

[rubecube]

^^ Yeah, from YVR as well.

[tvp2003]

Just wanted to say thanks to cmyden for his excellent post on http://www.yycdeals.com regarding Canadian flight deals (or lack thereof). It's a good read IMO.

Although I do remember seeing (and booking) the occasional trip from Calgary to Vancouver/Abbotsford for less than $50 plus tax one way (I think the lowest was $10 + tax back in 2007; there were others as recent as 2009 that were in the $40 to $50 range). Still waiting for those prices to come back

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Just wanted to say thanks to cmyden for his excellent post on http://www.yycdeals.com regarding Canadian flight deals (or lack thereof). It's a good read IMO.

Although I do remember seeing (and booking) the occasional trip from Calgary to Vancouver/Abbotsford for less than $50 plus tax one way (I think the lowest was $10 + tax back in 2007; there were others as recent as 2009 that were in the $40 to $50 range). Still waiting for those prices to come back

Thanks! I basically wrote that blog post so I could send people to it whenever they ask me about domestic flights or complain about how expensive it is to fly within our own borders. Hopefully it helps people understand why.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Wow thanks for bringing that to my attention. Fantastic read. Good job cmyden.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Thanks! I basically wrote that blog post so I could send people to it whenever they ask me about domestic flights or complain about how expensive it is to fly within our own borders. Hopefully it helps people understand why.

It's unfortunate, especially when you consider the good old days when airlines like Jetsgo offered $1 flights.

For Christmas travel as you mentioned in the blog, there can be the odd good deal to the U.S. but never within Canada. I wish that the Canadian airlines did what the U.S. ones sometimes do where they drop airfares between destinations across the board including holidays (why do they do that, anyway?). Edmonton to Philly for $239 was my favourite one that I took advantage of.

[DownhillGoat]

Also posted in the quick question thread, but thought I may have more luck in this thread:

Question for you travelers out there:

Regarding personal items/carry-on luggage. The airline policy states that personal articles must follow the size restriction of:

Maximum size:
16 cm x 33 cm x 43 cm
(6 in x 13 in x 17 in)

Which of those numbers is width and which is depth? Or does it matter?

The camera bag I have is 7.3 x 5.3 x 13.8. Will this be allowed as a personal article?

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

Also posted in the quick question thread, but thought I may have more luck in this thread:

Question for you travelers out there:

Regarding personal items/carry-on luggage. The airline policy states that personal articles must follow the size restriction of:

Maximum size:
16 cm x 33 cm x 43 cm
(6 in x 13 in x 17 in)

Which of those numbers is width and which is depth? Or does it matter?

The camera bag I have is 7.3 x 5.3 x 13.8. Will this be allowed as a personal article?

Not sure if serious?

A) u can turn the bag right? Think about it :-)

B) l x w x h is the standard.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by DementedReality

Not sure if serious?

I may have been over-thinking it.

[getbak]

I have never had an airline measure my carry-on luggage. As long as you can make it fit, that's all you have to worry about.

Presumably, it's for the space under the seat in front of you, which would be 17 inches wide, 13 inches deep, and 6 inches high.

If you had a bag that was 15x15x3, it would be fine in two dimensions, but it would stick out from under the seat by about 2 inches. It's unlikely that the flight attendants would say anything in that situation. On the other hand, if your bag was 19x18x3, it simply won't fit under the seat, so you won't be able to fit it no matter what you do.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

Also posted in the quick question thread, but thought I may have more luck in this thread:

Question for you travelers out there:

Regarding personal items/carry-on luggage. The airline policy states that personal articles must follow the size restriction of:

Maximum size:
16 cm x 33 cm x 43 cm
(6 in x 13 in x 17 in)

Which of those numbers is width and which is depth? Or does it matter?

The camera bag I have is 7.3 x 5.3 x 13.8. Will this be allowed as a personal article?

As long as it fits in the over head bin or under your seat the airlines won't raise a fuss.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Thanks! I basically wrote that blog post so I could send people to it whenever they ask me about domestic flights or complain about how expensive it is to fly within our own borders. Hopefully it helps people understand why.

Just wanted to let you know that the Calgary Herald (online version) has a link to your article/blog entry:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/index.html

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Just wanted to let you know that the Calgary Herald (online version) has a link to your article/blog entry:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/index.html

Cool, thanks! I had no idea. They automatically syndicate my RSS feed through their 'Calgary Bloggers' section but I didn't realize they were going to be linking to blog posts from their Travel section as well.

[Cactus Jack]

Cmyden, please, I'm looking for the best deal $, 2 people, leaving Gru on the evening of December 21 to Calgary, and arriving from Calgary to Gru late on December 25th or before 9 am on December 26. Those times and dates unfortunately aren't flexible.

Besides price, given the great distance and few days I'll be in yyc, I'm looking for the Fastest total time in both directions possible. Thanks!

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Cactus Jack

Cmyden, please, I'm looking for the best deal $, 2 people, leaving Gru on the evening of December 21 to Calgary, and arriving from Calgary to Gru late on December 25th or before 9 am on December 26. Those times and dates unfortunately aren't flexible.

Besides price, given the great distance and few days I'll be in yyc, I'm looking for the Fastest total time in both directions possible. Thanks!

Just do a search on Kayak, it will cover all the airfares on that route. First filter by departure time(s) on outbound and return, and then sort by Duration to see the fastest total time including stopovers.

[cmyden]

Some really amazing last minute prices on all inclusive packages through Nolitours and Transat Holidays at the moment...

http://ydeals.com/share/wxpnh/

All 3 are into ridiculous price territory.

Gran Bahia Coba - $641
Royal Decameron - $481