Flight from Edmonton to Vancouver

My first flight was by Air Canada from Edmonton to Vancouver. The rest of the flight was provided by Korean Air with stop in Seoul, South Korea. I wanted to check my luggage right away so I am rid off this burden and can hang out with Lisa and Britney (Lisa’s 17 year old friend). I got in Air Canada line (it doesn’t look like Korean Air has a booth in Edmonton, they probably don’t have this city in their destination schedule) and as I was checking in, I was told by the lady that my flight from Edmonton to Vancouver is delayed, but she can try to put me on an earlier flight. It made no sense to me whatsoever, but I wasn’t arguing. I was there already anyway, so I might as well try to get on an earlier flight. It would mean that I’d have to spend more time in Vancouver, but that sounded much better to me than spending more time in Edmonton.

It was 9.20am when I got a boarding pass for Air Canada flight that departs at 9.50am. I have no idea why that check in lady would tell me that my flight is delayed when it wasn’t scheduled to leave until 11.20am, but whatever.

I was very short on time so I just gave quick hugs to Lisa, gave Britney a wave, promised Lisa to stay in touch over email (I can do it, but she needs to send me her email first – she’s got mine, I’m still waiting for her to email me) and popped myself in line to undergo security check. Unfortunately for me, the line there was endless.

It took forever for me to get my turn and once I went through, the security decided that they need to closely examine my camera bag. I obliged (of course, the only other option is to turn around and leave) but have reminded the young man that my plane leaves in less than 10 minutes. Luckily for me, he understood.

Perhaps I was lucky in a fact that he was a photography enthusiast. He admired my full Canon gear and asked me about what I take pictures of, had brief look at everything and let me go fairly quickly even though I had my tiny bottle of oil of oregano with me. Fluids and gels of any kind are a big no no on aircrafts nowadays.

As he was going through my bag and doing chemical analysis of vapours to make sure I don’t have any hidden explosives there, my name was announced on the speaker system calling me to deliver my ass to the gate or miss the flight. I have reminded the man that I have got to go and luckily he let me.

He sort of cut his job short and took chances for not examining my bag thoroughly, but I’m no terrorist and they really were calling for me. To add insult to the injury, my name was being called repeatedly as I was running through the airport, prompting several people to shout at me – you must be Mark they’re calling. Embarrassing.

I have boarded the plane last minute, we took off without delay and got from Edmonton to Vancouver in about 1 hour and 14 minutes. The flight was relatively painless, except from excessively obnoxious and loud pair of girls sitting across the aisle one row back. They were literally yelling like they’re at the party. I felt tired because of no sleep last night and their shriek made it impossible to take a nap. Luckily it was a brief flight. And I got a complimentary plastic cup of tomato juice (my favourite in flight drink).

Soon enough I was in Vancouver and there was no turning back for me anymore, even if I wanted to. I would never want to. I longed for this moment for so long, going back was not an option. There are so many places to see, so many things to do, so many girls to f….. Sorry, couldn’t help :o)

Cheap Flights to Dominican Republic

I was on a look out for cheap flights to the Dominican Republic and was hoping to score a reasonably priced deal, similar to that I scored in January. Unfortunately, planning to travel in August is not the same as going in January. It reminded me of December – it’s near impossible to score a cheap plane ticket in December because many people travel during pre Christmas season and for New Year making it one of the worst month for travel deal hunters, but come January, prices drop instantly and significantly. Take Dominican Republic for instance – I wanted to go on a trip during Christmas/New Year season of 2008 but was discouraged by outrageously priced flights so I wasted 8 consecutive days off sitting at home watching TV. But then when January came and I saw the same ticket that sold out planes for $850 + taxes in December now priced at $48 + taxes, I did not hesitate and went right for it. After all, there’s little difference in weather between the end of December and beginning of January and getting the ticket for less than 1/10th of the price it cost two weeks ago was a no brainer.

It was similar with August, though. I started looking for cheap flights to the Dominican Republic in July for the departure at the end of August. But having previously gone to the country for $48 + taxes, I was finding it hard to pay $600 + taxes for the same ticket. I have quickly realized that many people travel in Summer so prices are jacked up so carriers can milk as much as possible out of Summer eager people. This was making my plans to depart at the end of August difficult. I could not bring myself to pay twelve times more than I had paid seven months ago. It just messes with your brain when you realize that.

Having had vast experience scoring the best priced flight tickets from my previous travels, I knew that booking engines of most travel agents use the same backend. Being a computer developer myself, I could see that 80% of all travel agents in Canada use SoftVoyage as their booking engine so no matter which website of which provider you go to, you will get the same results which are priced in the same, or very similar way. That’s a great thing to know as it will save you heaps of time you would otherwise waste browsing through countless websites, yet getting the same results. The websites that use SoftVoyage travel booking engine include:

  • iTravel2000.com
  • RedTag.ca
  • ExitNow.ca
  • SellOffVacations.com
  • FlightCentre.ca
  • etc.

One travel agency that doesn’t use SoftVoyage is Geo.ca which is worth checking out because results will be different, though from what I have noticed, it’s mostly more expensive. Other than the travel agencies, I also kept a close eye on flight carriers themselves. The following were a must:

  • WestJet.ca
  • AirCanada.com
  • United.ca – great, but not for flights to the Caribbean
  • SunWing.com – amazing for Caribbean destinations, often very cheap, but only works well if you live in Toronto or Montreal. Edmonton didn’t have very good departures and prices

No matter where I went, the prices were nowhere close to anything I would consider decent. August simply proved to be a tough time of year to travel on the cheap. Then there was also an issue of timing – I wanted to depart at the end of the month to use up the money I have already spent on rent and to not have to spend more by overstaying for any part of September. That was also complicating things a bit because flights to the Dominican republic departing in the middle of August or middle of September were cheaper than flights departing at the end of August, beginning of September. My initial research did not encourage me at all. Maybe had I not gone to the Dominican Republic for $48 + taxes before, I would probably find $600 + taxes normal, but after flying cheap, I found it really hard accepting the price that was so much more expensive but would give me exactly the same thing. It was discouraging, but I kept working on it.