MANDATORY charges on renting a car from the Montreal Airport

I just booked a car at on of my favourite rental companies at the Montreal airport.
The rate sounded great - roughly $25 per day (and my credit card covers the insurances).

Taking a closer look at the extra charges:

Location surcharge (14.61%)  = $11.52
Tire Management fee ($2.81 per day) = $8.43
Vehicle Fee ($1.90 per day) = $5.70
Canada Province Tax (7.5%) = $6.78
GST Goods Service Tax (5%) = $3.94
Customer Facility Charge ($0.70 per day) = $2.10

So the rental charge is $73.14 but t
he total estimate comes out to $111.61
(and they do add the comments Total MANDATORY charges).

Travel Clinic Locations - Are my shots up to date?

Oh yes the concern of travelling without the right immunizations, vaccines or at least awareness of them is something that often crosses my mind - right about a week before I'm ready to fly - by then all the clinics are booked or there isn't enough time to allow for secondary shots.

General Travel Advice from the Pulic Health Agency of Canada can be found here.

Here is the link to travel health clinics are across Canada and the main page of the Canadian Society for International Health in case the link above doesn't work.

The clinic that I go to in Vanocouver stamps a little yellow booklet that I keep with my passport. If I happen to get a shot elsewhere and I don't have the little yellow booklet with me I get the stamp on a piece of paper and I just tape it into my little yellow booklet later on.

I love the Vancouver airport

I love the Vancouver airport.

The taxi drops you off the door. There are FREE carts waiting for you. No fumbling for $1 or $2 in the pouring rain.

How nice is that.
Keep those nasty Toronto airport officials out of YVR is all I can say!
I don't want to be forking out money for luggage carts - especially from machines that don't give receipts and most of the time don't give your quarter back either even though you paid $2 to use them.

The best laid travel plans.....Air Canada calls to cancel

The phone message from Air Canada informed me that my 8 AM flight to Halifax was being cancelled. I was now departing at 10 AM which still allowed me plenty of time to arrive and still make my appointments.



The flight boarded right on time and then the warning signs started - a mechanical problem of sorts, might be refreshed by simply restarting the engine, no, no they need to work on it 10 - maybe 15 minutes. Fixed about 30 minutes later. Okay we are going.



The Captain comes on - we need to be de iced. My appointment was at 2:30 PM - the flight landed at 2:30 PM - the joys of winter. And they didn't even offer us a free meal.

Nov 24th JFK Airport - Plastic Wrapped Apples

Glancing at my watch I see that it is 6:01 AM. I’m at the JFK airport, terminal 7. There is a Peet’s Coffee and a McDonalds. My flight is at 7:20 AM, duty free opens at 7 AM.

Yesterday it was Black Friday (where millions of Americans pull out their wallets and add more to their ever increasing individual debt load as they run out and celebrate the buy something, buy anything day on this day immediately following the American Thanksgiving).

Yet I can’t buy a bottle of booze at duty free.

My saving grace – I have an Elite Air Canada card which gives me access to the United Red Carpet lounge. I started with a rather weak lukewarm coffee with cream in a cute coffee cup (never ever milk – always cream - yuk); that was followed up by some OJ that I poured in a plastic glass. I took the gray coloured plastic knife and tore back the lid from a 1 oz Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese spread tub and smeared that with my gray coloured plastic knife onto some Pepperidge Farm Sesame seed crackers (yeh! No hydrogenated fats in the crackers). I placed the crackers onto the clear hard plastic plate.

Decided the coffee was too weak and thought I would try the instant cappuccino machine. A tiny sign taped onto the machine informed me that all the offerings were already sweetened. Do they not realize that we have an epidemic going on with obesity?

This simple morning act means that I contributed at least 10 ounces of plastic that will most surely end up in some landfill site.

I thought of having a fresh orange or a granny smith or red delicious apple. The apples are all wrapped tight in plastic – I suppose that is for food safety reasons. I wonder if the plastic wrap leaves behind a nice plastic flavour or does it simply remove the wax off the apple?

I must say that the Red Carpet Lounge does not compare with the Air Canada lounge offerings. There are some magazines to select from, several papers and that sums up the lounge experience. If I had a t-mobile account I could get internet access but I decided to disengage my wireless on the laptop instead. And as it is I would have had to pay to access the internet.

Missed the flight

Took a little longer at the meeting and ended up calling Air Canada to cancel my executive class flight - kinda funny as I was against spending $400 for this flight and since I missed it I was actually able to get onto a later flight for almost $200 less.

I live in a great city Vancouver but when it comes to dating I have to say the odds are against a chick past her prime but not yet over the hill. Since I'm been there for the past 15 years I would say that is also true for many young gorgeous women in their 20s and 30s. Come out the Alberta and the sightings are different. A chick might actually get a date, get lucky, find a partner in this town.

Thank goodness I have access to the Maple Leaf Lounge - got some work done on the computer, enjoyed some carrot and celery sticks along with a Boddington and maybe two, used the highspeed wireless and checked out all the men in the lounge.

Yum.

Pre-Printing Boarding Passes

I love the ability to print my boarding pass from anywhere I can get access to the internet and a printer. No longer do I need to worry that I didn't make the cut off!

Today it is now mandatory that ALL airline passengers must carry a passport. How much longer till they ask Canadians for the finger and eye prints as well?

I am AC Elite so I get 3 bags - I swear that when I pack my luggage the contents are like bunnies - they just keep multiplying. I zipped into Thrifty's auto rental in Terminal 2 (closing Jan 20, 2007 so the small pleasure of crossing the road to get your rental disappears) so that I could run in and print off my boarding pass.

Who on earth designed Terminal 1 at the Pearson Airport and the mess of roads that goes with it??? I'd give them a failing grade! (That deserves its own rant on this blog in the near future).

Gave up my 1 litre bottle of water to security - why, if I'm willing to drink whatever is in my container am I not allowed to bring my reusable FULL water bottle on board? (Considering that I had already sucked back 32 ounces when I returned the car I wasn't sure that my kidneys could handle 1/2 litre more), ignored the plastic bags offered by those people, put up with the attitude of those people as I laid my computer in the grey tray, handed over my boarding pass, made sure that only I pushed my bags towards the x-ray machine (dear goodness we certainly would not want those people doing anything extra like helping to push items), walked through the metal detector and collected all my stuff.

Another bonus of AC Elite - access to the Maple Leaf Lounge. Complimentary serve yourself beverages from a full bar line up to decent beer (Alexander Keiths and Sleemans are both on tap), wines, liquors and liqueurs - enough to make one very liquorish, internet and computer access, printing, snacks, massage chairs, local free calls - how great all of it is.

(Did I mention I got a new laptop to replace the one that was robbed from my sister's house - the nasty, low life horrible people who think they have the right to kick someone's door in and take what they want - the nerve to wear gloves and to cut alarm/phone wires - and why did ADT not notice that there was a problem with the power - what does one pay a monthly fee of $25 or so since 1999 if they can't even catch that? - but I digress - this little Mac has a great built in dictionary which I just discovered).

Back to the Maple Leaf Lounge - picked up the current issue of Food & Wine and copies of the National, G&M and the Montreal Gazette. Helped myself to a plate of broccoli, carrots, bread & butter gerkins (the ones the serve in the Montreal airport are better as they are not the bread & butter variety), Just how do you spell gerkin? Skipped the cookies (the sign warned they contained nuts and most likely that nasty hydrogenated stuff that I try to avoid). Skipped the soups, the bread, the apples (granny smiths and red delicious) and the oranges. Poured myself a glass of white wine once I chilled the glass with the supplied ice-cubes. Then found myself a comfy chair, powered up the Mac, logged onto Data Valet and pulled up messages. Wonderful.

13A - ugh - I really need to look at the seat configurations - I would rather has centre ailse seat with no one next to me than the 2 seats by the window with someone next to me.

The sound system today was bad especially during the feature film AC doesn't charge you for the headphone sets like US Airways ($5US) but the bad thing is that they toss them after each flight. Sure they encourage you to keep them (right like the lazy sloths known as human beings would actually take that responsibility on). That means that on each flight anywhere from 100 to 650 headphone sets are tossed - that makes thousands and thousands of these are chucked each and very day. How wasteful. Heck they charge $2 for a pillow and blanket so I bet if they charged $2 per headphone set more of us would not toss them.

One More Costa Rican Sleep

After a 5 hour journey I'm back in San Jose - along with the 1.5 other million that live in this city. I'm not sure I could handle the smell on a daily basis - the black diesel spot fuming out of so many tailpipes makes it tough to breath. Give me the coast anyday!

Enroute I picked up two hitchhikers - first a young guy with what looked like a bad case of pink eye (and he did seem to be in some pain) and a second middle-aged gentleman about twenty minutes later. They were both heading in my direction and the jeep was empty so why not? Car pooling is better than using all that energy of a vehicle for just one person.

The drive from Uvita through San Isidro to San Jose was through what used to be called "Mountain of Death" - it is a steep, fog-shrouded highway but luckily for me the dry season gave me many, many amazing vistas of the valleys, mountains and clouds. The speed limit is 40 km/hr so that certainly made me practice calm driving - just as well as the scenery was so wonderful to take in - what diverse landscaping - oak trees, evergreens, laurels and lots of undergrowth and hanging things and plants growing on plants. Those scraggy plants that grow up the trunks of larger trees are knows as epiphytes. Along route I passed many Sodas, fruit and vegetable stands and handicraft shacks - no time to stop since the car had to be returned by early afternoon.

I gave a call to Kaps Hotel this morning and I'm back in for my final night. My $25 US room in the main house is not a brilliant as the first room I had (which funny enough was cheaper becasue it is so close to reception - I think they should charge the same price - the double bed and extra space and room decor is much nicer). At Kaps, I like the security, the cleaniness, the light, the common kitchen and the warmth of the people that work here. It is no hassle. I wish the backyard had some chairs or hammocks to sit in. It is rather stark out there - quite the contrast when you look at the rest of the building which has interesting touches that are funky and artistic but not frilly or flowery. But it is central, I actually was able to drive here and I was able to find the Wild Rider, the jeep rental agency, by relying on landmarks - in this case the Scotia Bank. Not bad given the winding nature of the roads, the one ways, the curves, and the number of vehicles.

I'm a little out of sorts right now - what will I do from 16:49 to 3:45 PM tomorrow when my flight leaves. The 5 hours in the car was a long trip even though the mileage wasn't that much but it was all up and down mountains, through wind and rain, sunshine and heat. I did find a guy to wash my car for c 1000 (around $2.00 US) and I tipped c 1000 as well. This was in San Isidro de El General - 136 km south of San Jose with a population of 45,000. I spotted the banner handmade sign and did a sharp turn left off the Interamericana highway. The steep driveway was a bit of a concern but it seems that my handling of standards has improved since I've had the car.

Even Rafael at Discount told me that the jeep wasn't the one he sent out with me. www.rentacardiscount.com Rafael Mora cell: (506) 880-7336. When you are calling a cell phone in CR it seems that you always need to add the 506 in front.

Perhaps I will learn more about blogging, repack my bags, decide on an agenda for tomorrow morning, book a vehicle for the airport (www.interbusonline.com) - I could do the city bus that runs right by the airport but my brain doesn't want to handle the details and while the taxi is a $10 - 12 US flat rate I think I'll try the $5US shuttle this time, think some more and start easing back into the working world.

Airport Taxi Drivers - why I no longer tip

For the past 7 years I have taken a taxi back and forth from YVR. Twenty, maybe 30 times a year. Mostly they are non-events.

Today the skies had opened and it was swooshing down rain. Now whoever designed the International Arrivals taxi pick-up area never stood outside during one of the more common Vancouver seasons - the Rain Season. Why would someone design a roof covering with a huge gap that ensured that as one went to get a taxi or wait in line for a cab, one would not be protected?

With my help, the driver loads my bags. I get into my non-event City Taxi. He's on his cell phone immediately as I give him the address and we head off. For the full journey, over the bridge, down Granville and a right turn onto 16th he's yabbering, mumbling, speaking gibbish. The personality level of ZERO.

Aside from the fact that he's hitting most red lights, driving with one hand only and paying half attention to the road, the driving is fine.

We pull up in front of my place. I tell him I need a receipt and instead of adding my normal $2.00 tip I just round it up to the nearest amount. I pay in cash. The thought of using my credit card crossed my mind.

I get the receipt. He opens the truck. He pulls out my bags and does what every other cab driver, except for one, does. He places the three bags on the roadway (sometimes I get lucky and they actually put it on the sidewalk). He closes the truck. Gets back into his cab and drives off. Not a goodnight, not a thank-you, not even a backwards glance.

The three bags are wheeled along the sidewalk, over the short paved strip leading home and I drag them up the 7 or 8 cement stairs to my front door. I fumble for my keys in the dark. I let myself in and then get those three bags inside from the rain.

I now know why I must have tipped for the past many years - so that when the taxi driver departs he will actually say good-bye. It would be way too much to expect him to ask if he should wait so that he can see if I get in okay. And goodness forbid that he would help wheel the bags over to the bottom of the staircase.

That is why I have decided to tip on service instead of the sub-standard level that the majority of airport taxi drivers provide.

Another Day - Another Zone

When did all this start? Have I actually been a road warrior for such a long time that I can' remember when it started. Oh my!

That is a worry.

Today I land in Phoenix, Arizona via Denver from Toronto, ON.
Of course before I got there I had to deal with the ever escalating ridiculous over the top rules that have started to infilter the system. I practice zen meditation when I travel otherwise I swear I might want to take my shoes off, and instead of politely putting them into the grey lifeless tray they offer (does one company make all the bins that go through security) I might be tempted to fling them across the room in some sort of sheer madness.

A slightly weary traveller

Oh yes I am a slightly weary traveller. I always knew that the glamour of travel would wear off but it was just a matter of when. And then ......every now and then I get re-energized.

Today I'm on a Harmony air flight. It's been a nice experience because my carry on luggage actually fits the "does your bag" fit metal structures they have at boarding gates.

If you don't travel often follow these rules for a quicker check in when heading stateside:

The check in desk commented on my readiness.

Yes my passport was out (so pull your passport out before you get to the counter)
Yes I had the zip code to the address I was staying in the USA. (They have actually relaxed this but you still need the name and city location)
Yes my tickets were in order. (pull out your reference number or any other paperwork you might have BEFORE you get to the counter)
No my luggage wasn't overweight. (Take less than what you need)
Yes the custom forms were all filled in. (Fill these out before you get to the check in desk)

The seats were generous given that my knees weren't touching the front (I stand 5' 6 1/2 inches) They actually have me a breakfast wrapped burritto with no meat . A coffee. A water. And said hi. Friendliness goes a long way!

And they try to weasel $2.00 our of me for my blanket. I had my dual purpose cozy poncho with me in case it did get chilly.The head/loo/toilet/washroom/rest didn't smell of overused chemicals. A real person did the safety display versus relying on a video presentation. And everyone I had contact with was pleasant. Plus I booked the flight just 2 days ago and managed to get to Oakland California for a squeak over $300.00 including all taxes. Nice.