Still my favourite currency site for Travel

 

After years and years of travel, I still love the Oanda cheater charts for traveling. Check it out here: https://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/ Scroll down the page until you see the title "Traveler's Cheatsheet" and then you can customize and print out the chart. The other feature I really like is that you can select a rate that includes the typical credit card rate or ATM rate.  It gives you wiggle room and reminds you to factor in those extra costs.

I'm sure you are wondering why, when everyone has their own smartphone, one would need this?

Oh let me count the ways:

• it is printed on paper meaning that I can tuck it anywhere
• it is easy to read in bright sunlight
• it never requires a battery recharge
• I can easily share it with others 
• it is light-weight and no one is ever going to steal it

Red Eye Flights- what to pack

If you must grab a red-eye - one of those overnight flights that you always wonder the day after, "Why or why did I take that flight?" then here are a few items I suggest you pack.

Eyemask: trust me, most people don't shut off the screens of their TV sets (on Air Canada each seat comes with its own screen) so you feel like you are in a bad horror movie.

Lightweight blanket, shawl or extra sweater: unless you want to pay a couple of bucks bring one with you. They always come in handy to shut protech against any chills; to creater a lower lumbar support system or to wrap about your neck if you don't have a neck pillow.

Baseball cap: stops chills, protects your head from the person behind you, allows you to hide your face when you are sleeping and drooling.

Ear plugs or headphone sets: Again save a few $$ and bring your own headsets. Blocks out noise or at least allows you to select a audio station you want to listen to as you try to rest.

A wide mouthed water bottle (empty): I use my reusable coffee cup for water. Even on a small flight of a few hundred people, over 500 cups must be tossed on EACH flight. If you noticed on most flights the don't bother to recycle anything. I usually fill it before I board from a fountain.

Neck Pillow: Just recently I picked one up and I actually discovered that I loved it.

Slip on/Slip off shoes or slippers: Just to make those treks to the washroom easier.

Air Canada's quick and easy on-line city guides plus Enroutes Best Restaurants

I always like concise guides esp. when I'm in hurry (like the night before and I'm wondering why I didn't do a bit more research on my upcoming 3 day getaway). Air Canada has a collection of city guides that I will be checking out at: AC City Guides


The Vancouver City Guide have tabs on getting around, food and drink, activities and more. As of Nov 2017 it seems they have added more guides and details. The guides gives you a solid quick understanding of the basics of where you are heading. 

I think the one thinh I would have liked on the restaurant guide would have been stars to indicate if they had been past enRoute magazine restaurant award winners but fast forward to 2017 and I discovered that you can get that info right here for 2017 or https://canadasbestnewrestaurants.com/en/ - but it seems that they have links back to previous years like this one:  Best for 2015

Queen Noor and Jordan

This evening after kick boxing (or as I often say box kicking) I stopped in at Chapters at Granville and Broadway.  "Leap of Faith - Queen Noor" caught my eye and so for just under $8 I picked it up.  I'm only a few pages in but decided to google Jordan, one thing leads to another and I stumbled upon a very simply, informative, well written web called Backpacking: Budget Indepen....anyhow check it out.

I'm most likely over my backpacking stage - but never say never - but this would have been (and still is) such a useful site for anyone thinking of heading out to the wild.  Don't wait.  Just go and do it.

Those bits and pieces of paper - Vilcabamba

After any trip I always end up with bits and pieces of paper. What to do with them? is the question that haunts me. Simple answer if you are like one of my friends - just toss them. But no......that would be too easy. What happens if I go back to Ecuador or someone asks me to make recommendations?

There is Vilcabamba Cabanas Rio Yambala - an ecological center that was established 20 years ago. Their flyer is a simple black and white one that I picked up and you can click here for their website

What appealed to me:
- riverside sauna - relax for free in our Finnish style sauce
- free use of bicycles
- book exchange (need to add this to my tips on Ecuador)
- English spoken (trust me if you haven't taken time to learn a bit of Spanish you will want some English speakers around you). One of the intriguing and free places to learn Spanish is at BBC Languages.
- tree canopy tour
- in the midst of typical Andean community
- homemade granola and whole wheat bread
- local guies

Photocopy your wallet contents

My wallet is a nightmare of small plastic cards from loyalty programs to essential pieces of ID. Should it go missing it would be a huge nuisance to remember everything I have in there.

So do yourself a favour: Find a photocopier, place all your cards down and press the copy key twice. Write down any of the numbers that didn't come out clear onto the page. Jot down the toll free numbers that you can call to report missing cards.

Tuck it away - actually make an extra copy and leave it with someone you trust. That way when you are far away from home you can make one call and have someone help you stop any further damage, identity thief or misuse of your information.

Smart Security Saves Time

Got home from Maui a few days ago. Got around to unpacking my bags - this alone can be a loitering process as it can take days and days before I finally empty my suitcases.

Tucked in the bottom: Notice of baggage inspection. To protect you and your fellow passengers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is required by law* to inspect all checked baggage. As part of this process, some bags are opened and physically inspected. Your bag was among those selected for physical inspection.

During the inspection, your bag and its contents may have been searched for prohitibed items. Upon the completion of the inspection, the contents were returned to your bag.

.....unable to open...because it was locked....may have been forced to break the locks on your bag. TSA regrets doing this. Oops, typo, sincerely regrets having to do this. ...but we're not liable. Visit www.tsa.gov on how you can secure your bag the next time around.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation (as a traveller I actually did not choice so this type of double speak drives me mindly crazy) .

In English and in Spanish.

Welcome to Smart Security Saves Time.

Useful Sites for Travelling

JourneyWoman

This is a great Canadian travel resource site for woman - lots of pratical hints, easy to find info and not a lot of advertising. Clean and simple. Use the link or www.journeywoman.com

World plugs

What I like about this site is that it actually shows you a photo of the type of plug you are going to need in each country you visit. For example, I clicked on F for Finland and was told it used plug type A - I then just viewed the visuals on the left and voila - there it is. Use the link or http://www.interpower.com/ic/guide.htm

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.

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.

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.