TCM's First Flight, February 2015

One of the problems with flying is that depending on where you are starting, you cannot get anywhere direct. You also have to start out early as you have to get to a major hub to connect with anywhere else. For this reason, the day started out early, 4 am to be precise Had to be at the airport by 5 am or so and get checked in (online wouldn't cooperate) and then through security and to the gate.

By the time TCM and I got through security, we had probably half an hour before our flight. Grabbed a quick Tim Horton's tea and headed to the gate. TCM was yawning by this point but I told him he had to stay awake at least until we boarded. While he wanted some tea, I thought he was maybe a bit too young for such a drink.

We finally got boarded and TCM wanted to sit in the seat beside me. I buckled him in and tightened the belt as tight as possible considering that TCM doesn't actually have any hips or body shape to speak of. Once I told him he was secure, he proceeded to fall asleep.   Unfortunately, he doesn't have eyelids so you can't actually tell he was sleeping but he snores quite loudly so it was not a problem to tell!

Buckled in

Nap time!

Three hours later we landed in Toronto.   Did the security thing as we were headed to the States and then went to our gate. We still had a few hours to kill before our flight.   We wandered around the airport. In the one area, there were iPods attached to tables and there was no fee to use them. You could order from the restaurants in that part of the terminal or just browse the Internet on them.   But, nothing on the menu appealed so we left and went elsewhere.

Pondering some lunch

Eventually we went back to our gate and were relaxing when we found out that our flight was delayed by several more hours out of Toronto. Thankfully, there was free Wi-Fi, and some other travelers in the same situation, so we sat around, chatted and just waited.

Hanging out at the airport

We arrived at our destination airport just after midnight, only close to five hours late. Then an hour drive after that and bed. TCM and I were both exhausted at this point!

airport delays, traveling, traveling canuck's minion, waiting in airports

Introducing Traveling Canuck’s Minion aka TCM!

I’ve been having a hard time getting posts written on here so I decided to change things up a bit. I had recently ordered some Minion dolls via eBay but didn’t really need three of them hanging out around my house. I decided that one of them should become like a mascot for this blog and go on some adventures and post about them.

I took a quick poll of my friends and we decided on the little guy you see below

Hello TCM!

Naming him was a little bit more difficult. I thought of calling him Canuck, Jr as he was going to be the mascot for this blog. But my wonderful friend Amanda came up with Traveling Canuck’s Minion (TCM) which was perfect! The abbreviation is obvious as to what it stands for but it is a bit cooler than Jr, in my opinion.

With that said, TCM went for his inaugural trip in Feb/March 2015 to Ohio. There will be a separate post about his experiences and pictures. He has also setup an account at Instagram if you are there, “travelingcanuck” for you to follow. He is not the most tech savvy, especially when you consider he has no fingers, so you may not see a lot of posts. He has asked me to post for him but I have to admit that I tend to forget about the account.

TCM told me that he found the trip to Ohio fun but he did get a bit tired. He wanted to watch the "Lord of the Ring" movies with us but only ended up watching the first one. It was a bit long and scary for him. With that said, he is looking forward to more adventures.   The weather has finally improved here so he wants to go exploring in the near future as well.

Travelling Alone – Advantages and Disadvantages

When I refer to travelling alone in this article, I am referring to when you go on a trip by yourself. Whether you meet up with other people or not does not matter. For instance, a few years ago I went on a trip by myself but I went on two tours when I arrived. While I was technically not on my own, I was not with others who had come from home with me

Advantages

<a href="https://pixabay.com/users/omourya/">omourya</a> / Pixabay

Typically, if you are travelling alone, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. These are the main advantages that I see to travelling alone.

Freedom to do what you want – If you want to see something in particular, you can do it and not have to worry about the people you are travelling with. If you want to leave after five minutes or stay there for five hours, you have that ability and you do not have to rush for their happiness.

Learning – When you travel alone, you are more likely to talk to the people you meet and find out about them and where they are from. I have many fond memories of hostel kitchens and people talking the evening away talking about home and asking questions about others. In New Zealand, a gentleman made a crawfish and gave everyone in the kitchen a bit so we could taste it.

Schedule – If you are on your own, and not on a tour, one advantage is that you can set your schedule how you want. If you do not want to get up until noon but stay out partying until 2 am, it is not an issue. Keep in mind though, if you are staying in a hostel, that there is a good chance your roommates will be sleeping when you come in.

Disadvantages
Like anything, there are downsides to travelling by yourself beyond having no one to watch yoru luggage at the airport. But are they enough to keep you at home?

No one to share with – Travelling on your own means you have no one to share the experience with. While you may have travelling companions, it is not the same as a friend/partner/family member.

Lonely – One problem with travelling alone is that you can get lonely. This is especially true if you are shy but like having other people around you. Depending on your personality, this may end up causing you to make friends and get to know others though. Be careful of getting in a trap of calling home/emailing too much, as it can make it worse.

Costs – Depending on how you are travelling and where you are travelling, it can be more expensive if you are on your own. Thankfully, many places have hostels you can stay in that are a fraction of what a hotel room costs, but you will likely end up sharing a room for the price. The more you pay, the fewer roommates you will have. If you are joining a tour, many give you the option of having a room to yourself or if you want to save some money, you can opt to share with someone of the same gender. You won’t meet them until you arrive.

Undecided
There are some items that could be advantages to being on your own or could be disadvantages, depending on how you look at things. For this reason, I created a separate category.

Decisions – All the decisions are up to you. This isn’t always bad but sometimes it can be tiring to decide everything yourself. If you are travelling with a group, some decisions may be made for you though which can help.

Accumulating Points to Pay for Travel

When it comes to traveling, it can be expensive. Between accommodations for the night, food while you are on the road and transportation it can be overwhelming. But, it is possible to earn part, or all, of your trip for “free” with rewards plans and point rewards.   That said, is it worth it? Only you can figure that out.

<a href="https://pixabay.com/users/geralt/">geralt</a> / Pixabay

Cost of the Plan
One of the first things to consider is much the reward plan is going to cost you. Is it a premium credit card that has a yearly fee attached to it or is it something free that you just sign up for? That said, how fast do the points accumulate? I have a free MasterCard that gives me AirMiles™ for every $40 I spend, although, it may be $20 now; I do not use this card a lot so have not paid much attention to it. I also have a premium Visa card that gives me their points and I earn one for every dollar.   But, this one I pay a yearly fee for.

Cost of the Reward
Just based on the above, the Visa card sounds like the better deal with a point per dollar spent. But when it comes to what I want to spend my points on, it becomes much more difficult to figure out.
Let’s say I want to visit my friend in Ohio, how many points will each program cost me?

• Airmiles™   - 3400 low season, 4600 high season; additional discount if you have a BMO Airmiles World Mastercard (additional fee)
• Visa – 35,000 points

Neither of these includes fees or taxes which have to be paid in cash although my Visa will let me use more points to pay those costs.

Cost to Accumulate
Another consideration is how much it is going to cost you to accumulate the points. If you have a reward card that you do not use that often, or one that costs you yearly but you do not charge a lot each month, it may not be worth it to have that particular card.

Types of Rewards
These days, there are so many different options out there that you should be able to find one that works for you and your lifestyle. For instance, I have a friend who does not travel very much so a card that she can redeem for flights and hotels is not worth it for her. But, her and her husband tend to buy a new vehicle every few years so they chose to have a credit card that got them points which they could convert to funds towards a new car. Many cards allow you to redeem your points for a wide variety of merchandise including gift cards if that is your preference.

With all that said, there are a lot of options and decisions to make. The card that you have today may not be the card you use tomorrow. For instance, Airmiles ™ changed their rules a few years ago so that their points expire after five years.   I know of a few people who have quit using them, or changed their plans on how they were going to use their points for that reason. I am re-thinking my card choice due to the yearly fee versus how much the flight I want to redeem them for costs. Overall, my flight will cost less in yearly fees than paying cash outright, but not by a lot.

Save Money by Planning Ahead

Going on any kind of holiday can be expensive. But, if you plan ahead and watch for deals, you can make your travel budget stretch a bit further.

Back to School
Back to school sales may sound like a strange thing to use for buying travel supplies but there are several things you may want to consider. Notebooks and pens are the first thing that you should be taking with

<a href="https://pixabay.com/users/OpenClipartVectors/"> OpenClipartVectors </a> / Pixabay

 you, to make notes or write a journal while on your journey. You could use a pencil case to store your toiletries or carry them to the washroom if you are in shared accommodations.

Holidays
In December, there are a lot of deals to be had. But, you want to make sure you shop and get an idea of what prices are like before all the holiday sales start. Some stores will just promote their regular price as a good deal or they will drop off a few cents and call it their best price yet. Keep in mind that the holidays may not be the best time to get a good deal on what you are looking for. Some stores will let you negotiate for a better deal as well, especially if you are paying cash so they have no fees to pay.

EBay
You can get all sorts of items on eBay for a fraction of what you can get them for locally. Need spare charger cords? You can find all kinds on eBay and for less than one or two bucks. But, you need to be patient as these tend to come from Asia and take a month or so to arrive in North America. I have bought several cords, a power adapter, spare camera battery and many other items for my travels through eBay. As with anything online, make sure you watch the cost of shipping as it may make the item cheaper to purchase locally.

Clothing
If you are going to a warm spot in the middle of your winter, you may be able to purchase clothing in advance for a good price. When the local stores have their summer clear out, you can purchase things on clearance and set them aside for your trip. This may not be a good idea if you are in the middle of a weight change plan or are pregnant/planning to be pregnant.

Gift Cards
Whether you are travelling or someone else in your life is, gift cards are always a great idea. If you watch social buying sites like Groupon, sometimes you can find gift cards for national or international companies. This may buy you a supper that your aunt is paying for or allow you to buy those new hiking boots that you want to use when you are hiking.

Tourist Deals
Depending on where you are going, there may be deals for only those people with a foreign passport, provided it was bought in advance. For instance, when I went to Australia, I was able to buy a tourist pass to use the train all the way up the east coast. It had to be bought before I arrived in Australia and it saved me time and money, in that I didn’t have to carry as much cash around and I just had to call a number and book my travel whenever I wanted.

Fiji!

I took an 8 day tour in Fiji which visited 4 islands.  Here are just a few of the highlights

This is the first Island we stopped at.  It was owned by the tour company and quite comfortable.

This group came over from another island to dance for us.

Pineapples, yummy!  This island grew their own.

You could take a day trip with a guide and climb this.  I decided to just spend the day relaxing instead.

One of many gorgeous sunsets

This is the island where "Castaway" was filmed.  The water was soooo warm for swimming.

The view from "Castaway Island"

Preparing for an Extended Holiday

Sometimes we get the chance or able to make arrangements in our life to go an extended holiday. I’m not talking about a week going somewhere but a holiday where you are gone for two or more weeks. For myself, I recently went away for a month to Thailand on holiday. While this sounds great (which it was) but there was a lot I had to organize before I left. And even then, some things were ignored while I was gone.

Destination (Photo credit: _Pixelmaniac_)

House Sitting

If you own a home, or even rent a house, you need to worry about who will take care of it in your absence. If you rent, you may be able to work out something with your landlord while you are gone. If you own, there is a bit more involved with making sure that your home is safe while you are gone. Such as someone who comes in to make sure the furnace is still working or there is no water leak. Check into how often someone needs to come by for insurance purposes before you leave.

Banking

While you may not think your banking is something you need to worry about while you are gone, that may not be the truth, especially depending on how long you are gone. Years ago I was gone for three months and I thought I had set up my credit card to auto withdraw the payment but something happened and it did not work. Before I left, I had added my dad to my bank account so a quick call home to him and he was able to deal with it for me.

Don’t forget to let your bank and credit card companies know you are going and what time frame you are gone. The last thing you want to happen while you are gone is to have everything frozen as they think the transactions are suspicious!

Mail and Bills

For many of us, a lot of what we get in the mail is bills. Unless you have your bills all set up to email to you and pay themselves, you need to get someone to take care of them while you are gone. One option would be to overpay them before you go so that you have some room and do not need to worry about it. You can also leave post-dated cheques or see what types of arrangements your utility companies would prefer. If you don’t think you can make arrangements for payment while you are gone, definitely tell your utility company so that they do not shut down your services.

Pets

One of the biggest challenges I had on my most recent trip was my pets. I live with two cats and I knew there was no way I could leave them that long. Even though cats could care less about humans sometimes, they still keep us around for food and litter box duty. My preference was to have someone stay at my house to take care of them but at the same time, I didn’t just want some stranger living in my home. Thankfully, there was a friend of my family who was temporarily homeless so it worked out well that he was able to stay at my home and keep my cats company.

There are likely other things that you may need to consider when you are gone for a while. Maybe you need to deal with a vehicle while you are gone, maybe there are some other financial issues that need to be considered or it could be something related to your job.