Maritimes in the Fall

Who doesn't want to travel to the Annapolis Valley in the Fall? It's rumoured to be one of the most lovely, scenic, serene trips you can take. I lived in the Maritimes and have been back to Newfoundland, but I haven't seen Halifax in decades. Halifax in September sounds spectacular. I would love to go sometime.

So, just for fun (don't worry hubby, if you actually read my blog) I priced out the flights on this trip. And this was a huge shock for me. It is cheaper to drive to the USA and then take a Delta or a United flight to Halifax, or Moncton or St. John's than it is to take a CANADIAN Airline. Even with 10 or 15% off discount codes, it is still about $200 cheaper to fly one of the American airlines.

This was a shock to me. And sometimes I think I'm pretty smart. Huh.

For example, fly from Fargo North Dakota, on a United Airlines flight, Saturday September 15th and return the following Saturday for $514 all taxes in. To do the same on Westjet out of YWG is $734 and Air Canada $880 ($760 with a discount code).  Fly out of MOT of GFK for roughly $20 more and take either United or Delta.  That's $200 more per person you could be spending on lobster.

I learn something new every day.

Olympic Travel Bargains

During the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, Air Canada posted new outrageous deals whenever a Canadian athlete won gold.  The deal would start at midnight and often be all snapped up by dawn.

I remember one night seeing YWG to YUL for $49 each way. Or YYZ to YUL for $29. That's crazy! Crazy good! But, having just stumbled upon the deal late at night, and not having ever discussed taking a weekend in Montreal with my husband, I didn't jump at it. The next day when he said "you should have just booked it" I felt a little down. Like coming 4th place in the Olympics. I hesitated and lost out.

So after that, each day I'd cheer more for our Canadian athletes and if/when they won, bubble over with excitement waiting for the deal to pop up.  Then when Jon Montgomery won (remember the athlete who grabbed & downed the pitcher of beer in a post-victory celebration!) gold, I got MY deal.  At midnight, flights to NAS (Nassau, Bahamas) went on sale from across Canada. I grabbed tickets for $99 each way and in April, hubby and I went to the Bahamas for a 3 day weekend. It was crazy and spontaneous and the best quick trip bargain EVER! The Bahamas are my happy place. No place on earth I'd rather visit. Even if it was just for 2 nights. (Sounds crazy. But probably one of, if not my absolute favourite trip ever.

So, the point of this little jaunt down memory lane is to say that AIR CANADA IS DOING IT AGAIN!!! It's a little different this time, but still good and worth looking into. Each day they are offering a different Olympic special. July 30-August 12. There is a new special each day. The first one was a deal on flights to London. The second one was 10% off Executive Class.  I hope there will be some really special deals in there like last time. I'll be watching.

Simply go to Aircanada.com to see their deal of the day. Who knows, you might just strike gold! This, my friends, is the Olympics of travel bargain hunting. Typically you have a day or two to decide when a bargain price pops up, this time, if it's truly good, it will be a few hours at most to decide. Time to put your credit card and you desk calendar in their ready positions. On your mark... get set....

Phoenix/Scottsdale for Thanksgiving?

Air, hotel, car and taxes for under $500 per person for a holiday long weekend. Amazing!  Perhaps I should mention it's not really a hotel.... it's an AMAZING world class resort.  It's the Arizona Biltmore. Do follow the link to observe the luxury! Do check out Trip Advisor to see all the glowing recommendations.

There are some other fabulous resorts in the area, but none quite as good a deal this time around.
Do check out Allegiantair.com  for some great deals on September travel from your local US border city.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I would rather have a cheeseburger in paradise that a filet mignon at home. Or at least that is the basic philosophy that I employ when travelling. Don't get me wrong, I'm not meaning a literal "CHEESEBURGER" because as many of you know, I live on and with cheeseburgers, but what I am trying to say in my own cutesy - Jimmy Buffet-style, is that I will cut costs on meals while on vacation, just as long as I still get to travel.

I love going to the Caribbean, but lets face it, the Caribbean is kind of expensive. So I wait and wait, and save, and when the air and hotel prices come within range, I jump at the chance to go to the Caribbean. And since many of the resorts are NOT all-inclusive, and I choose not to go all-inclusive with my children in tow, food is the single most costly budget line on the vacation. (After air and hotel.)

A quick side note here, it's not that I don't think all-inclusive packages are great for adult travellers, I just choose not to expose my kids to the over-indulgence of alcohol that plagues many adults on vacation. And secondly, as a person with a wealth of restaurant experience, I choose NOT to eat at buffets. I especially choose not to eat at buffets where food quality issues and mass crowds intersect. I much much much prefer single-serving, made to order meals, where food is not made in mass quantity and stored on a table for hours in tropical heat.

I digress. Sorry. But as a restauranteur, I do carry my strong feelings about food quality with me 24/7.

So, my point is even on vacation, we try to make some of our own meals, pack snacks and choose carefully. Whether it's at Disneyworld, or Alaska or anywhere in between, it also makes economic sense to pack a few snacks from home. I take Sunrype 100% fruit strips. They are very compact, a box of 48 takes up 2 inches, by 5 inches by 5 inches. Easily packed in a suitcase or carry on. I also bring granola bars. They are great "stomach fillers' when the kids' tummies are growling. A granola bar, high in protein, fibre and nutrition can definitely fill the in-between meal gaps. I like Kashi bars.

You can't pack anything liquid in your carry on bag, but you can certainly bring pre-packaged trail mix, granola bars or the like. There have been many occasions where the snacks in my purse have saved the day on a long flight, a delay, a cab ride or in the moment when someone is all of a sudden "starving" and there is no store in sight.

I also pack a big ziploc bag with dry soup packets (Knorr or Lipton Chicken Noodle), instant oatmeal packages, instant hot chocolate and of course, instant VIA packets by Starbucks.  Now of course none of the above mention snacks are glamourous, but they are popular with my kids and sometimes I have found myself in situations where there is absolutely nothing on the menu the kids will eat or even try. That's when Lipton Chicken Noodle saves the day back in the hotel room.

Little kids especially can get "homesick" on vacation, even right next to their parents. I think they get overwhelmed by the new things and the different culture and surroundings and just cry out for anything that they know as "normal." Hot chocolate can be very comforting on a cool evening and you aren't always able to leave the hotel room or find a coffee shop or WANT to spend $5 on a hot chocolate.

So I am absolutely content to pick up some grocery store sushi, or eat instant oatmeal for breakfast on my  vacation as long as I get to go on vacation!  If fact, I know my kids think it's fantastic when they get to eat those little tiny boxes of cereal on vacation. It's a highlight. At home, we don't buy those tiny boxes and I never buy fruitloops - so they consider it their vacation treat. Use the bar fridge in the hotel room! Buy a litre of milk (even at hotel gift shop prices!) and use the plastic spoons you brought from home. My kids don't see this as mom being cheap. They see it as mom (finally) being awesome and buying those tiny boxes of cereal they always want.

What I DO budget for, and always insist upon is (at least one) lunch and one dinner at a local restaurant during our week. We skip the chain, franchise-type places and go somewhere recommended by the locals or the fabulous people of Trip Advisor. I have never been screwed over by Trip Advisor recommendations.

So, if my food budget is $400 for the week, we probably spend $250 of it on eating out and the rest on "eating in." Less money on food equals more money for the next vacation. I do have a one track mind, don't I?

Our Caribbean Province?

The beautiful Turks and Caicos islands have for decades entertained the possibilities of an alignment with Canada. Over the last four decades, the Canadian House of Commons has heard discussions and had varying levels of support for a political union between Canada and the Turks and Caicos. There has been talk of the islands joining Nova Scotia, or becoming their own 11th Canadian Province.

In 2009, the Member of Parliament for Edmonton East, Peter Goldring sent correspondence in an effort to re-open dialogue with the government of the Turks and Caicos. It is certainly an interesting read and does indeed show there is still interest in pursuing discussions. Link to the letter from the House of Commons.

The Canadian influence can certainly be seen across the Caribbean with three of our banks being the largest operators of banking institutions in the English speaking Caribbean. I can't say for certain which Canadian banks those are, but I CAN say absolutely, without a doubt, we drove past a CIBC location and an RBC location in the Turks and Caicos. Later, I used an instant teller at the airport that was Scotiabank. And, the grocery store in Provo was located right next to a beautiful, modern Scotiabank building. So, without better research, I state those three as my best guess.

Canadian banks can be seen and used readily in the Bahamas as well.

Canadian tourists are welcomed and should feel comfortable in the British West Indies. We have long since invited and supported trade and development in these areas and in 2009 added the Caribbean on our government's list of preferred foreign aid recipients.

Every year tourism continues to grow as an industry. The people of the Turks and Caicos welcome over 200,000 tourists to their islands annually. If you are interested in learning more about what the islands have to offer, visit their official tourism website.

How do you do it?

I think that it is perceived that I travel a lot. And I think, by most standards I probably do. But here's the thing, I don't travel for work. My work is restricted to an 8 foot stretch of kitchen at the restaurant I own. If, for example, I put 12 hours in on the job I genuinely spend 8 hours of that pacing back and forth in the little kitchen area preparing 150 or more meals. The other four hours a day on the job are split between cleaning a dining room, organizing staff and rushing around town picking up supplies.  My work world is truly VERY narrow. And in order to work 10-12 hour days, I have to restrict any outside or personal activities.

I don't shop for leisure. I do not go out for lunch. I don't go to movies or concerts, except for maybe once or twice a year. I don't circulate in a typical manner. I don't go for drinks after work and it's extremely rare that I would go out for a sit down meal. Quite literally, I might eat dinner out with my family once every 2-3 months. (That's not to say that they don't do these things without me.)

I do my shopping on-line, or at 11pm at night. I am a regular at Shoppers' Drug Mart as they are open to midnight in my area. As far as I'm concerned, you can buy just about everything you need at SDM!

The other thing I have come to know as gospel, after owning a restaurant for several years, is that you can try to take a day off, or an evening off, but something typically comes up. Equipment or staff issues require immediate attention when you are open 7 days a week, 11 hours a day to the public. Your customer expects consistency, prompt service and reliability regardless of what issues are going on behind the scenes. Therefore, a "day off" is kind of like a four leaf clover.... you know they exist and you have seen them, but they are not always easy to find.

If I am within cell range, the work world of advertising reps, suppliers, regular customers, staff and people looking for sponsorship will find me. So, I have myself convinced that the only true way to get a holiday or a breather, is to leave town. So that's what I do whenever possible. That in reality is 2-4 times a year.

I have very capable staff and a support team of suppliers and repair folks. They can survive a few days without me. They make good decisions and I trust them. They key is to just "walk away" and tune out work for a few days at a time. I love my 3 day getaways!

If you can imagine spending $150 a week on leisure activities like movies or dining, or events and another $50 on liquor or treats, I simply take that and put it towards my jet-away getaways. Plus, the real "trick" or my key to travel, is my points. I'm talking about credit card miles, Aeroplan points and the like. They are like chocolate to me.... I crave them, stash them and devour them regularly.   I would rather use $200 worth of points for a discount weekend away, rather than try saving for 2 years and take a bigger vacation for free.

Plus, I hunt for travel bargains like a hyena on the range. I don't care if I pounce on a zebra or an antelope, or slow warthog. I just want a tasty little vacation. I keep my eye on a few destinations and when the right one hits the right price, I pounce. For goodness sake, I waited 5 years for the Turks and Caicos!! But I do know that if I'm really hungry for a break, I can always find Vegas or Phoenix at a bargain and that will tide me over until I can grab a feast.

That's just restaurant life. You miss out on some of the regular, ordinary (wonderful) things, but you do have other fantastic opportunities. I suppose for people who travel all the time for work purposes, they would equally value a quiet day at home or in their hometown. For me, in my pressure cooker of a windowless environment, I escape through travel. I love it. I love everything about it. I love the restaurant, the people, the independence, the self-reliance and I love the chance to jet-away and recharge. It's all good!

October - November travel

If you have anywhere in Canada to travel this fall, the time is NOW to book your flights. Westjet has a sale on for one more day that is quite good.  Most round trip fares are discounted at least $$75-150 off the tax included price. So rather than pay $488 to Vancouver, you can grab the flight for $379 or the like. Calgary/Edmonton/London (ontario) are down $360.   Anytime you can save 20% or more on a domestic flight is a good deal. In this case, it pays to plan ahead.