‘The Empress’ in Victoria, BC is a Fairmont hotel.

I could not book an harbour view room, but they said I would have a city view room. This was the view from my room and it didn’t look like the city. However, I didn’t complain. I used a free night certificate after all.

This would be the view from a room overlooking the harbour.

In the bathroom there was a ‘Le Labo’ (first time I have heard of such a brand) ‘Rose 31’ shampoo. The label said among other things: “And make you look beautiful.” I asked my wife and she said it didn’t. I wanted to ask the hotel personnel also but being Platinum I could have not had an honest answer, for sure they would have said “I am beautiful”.
I sent an e-mail to the founders (yes, on the company’s website there is an e-mail if you want to say something directly to the founders, however I doubt it they read the e-mails) asking to remove that sentence or at least add something along the line: “Results will vary.” 

The Adidas T-shirt was made in Canada! I could not believe it, a big apparel corporation producing something in North America. However the label showed ‘Fairmont’ so it must be a limited edition.

They made a mistake with the labels: the label for wash instruction showed “100% Cotton”, and the main label “65%Polyester, 35% Cotton”.  I wonder which one was correct not that it matters too much.

I checked where the shorts and sport shoes were made and it was Vietnam respectively China (just to make sure, a shift in world economy has not happened without me noticing it).

A barge with scrap, yes we are out of recession (I was impressed when I read sometime in 2008 that scrap could not be collected as no-one wanted to buy it).

British Columbia Parliament

Other photos

I went to the ‘Deep Purple’ concert and I was dissapointed they didn’t play one of their most famous songs “Child in Time”,

so I’ll embed it here. It is one of the longest songs I know.

It was supposed to be an austerity budget and it is except this part that will reduce the federal budget by $13 million in 2012–13 and by $17 million in 2013–14 but they say: “This measure will facilitate cross-border travel by streamlining the processing of returning Canadian travellers who have made purchases while outside Canada.”

The budget proposes that the travellers’ exemption limits will increase to $200 for an absence of more than 24 hours (current limit: $50), $800 for an absence of more than 48 hours (current limit: $400) and $800 for an absence of more than 7 days (current limit: $750).

Once when my wife and I returned to Canada from the U.S. after a 3 day trip the customs officers were so surprised that we didn’t declare anything that they took us aside to check our baggage and of course they did not find anything. We had not bought any shoes, clothes, etc. that apparently are cheaper in the U.S.; my wife couldn’t find anything that would have cost less than what she would have found (she is a bargain hunter) back home in Canada (however we did not go to the famous outlets as we had neither the inclination nor the time to do so).

We are sorry to inform you that, as a result of the lottery process, your ticket application for the UEFA Champions League Final 2012 has not been successful.

I have received the ‘terrible’ news this morning. And I still don’t know how the algorithm worked, not that it matters now.

I asked Customer Service: “I marked the checkbox: If the price category that I have applied for is not available anymore, I accept to receive tickets in another price category. The amount due will be adapted accordingly.
What does it mean? Is there any order of preferrence? If I chose Category 3 will the system try to allocate first Category 4 or Category 2? How does it work?”

And they told me to read the FAQ. I had read it before and it didn’t say. However I read it again and it explained the position of the seats (the website didn’t). And then I decided to cancel my previous application and apply for the most expensive ticket. I would still pay lots of money to get there so why not have the best seat. And it is maybe once in a lifetime opportunity.

Also, I figured I stand better chances to get other ticket and I do not know why but I had thought I would win one. I was almost certain so I have already planned my vacation around the day of the final. I will try again next year but I would have liked to visit Munich.

The contest is to nominate a national hero to be painted on the airplanes’ tail fins and it is currently being led Euronymous a.k.a. Øystein Aarseth, a murdered musician of the black metal band Mayhem (I knew about ‘heavy metal’ but I didn’t know there was such a thing as ‘black metal’).

Some of Mayhem’s songs: ‘Voice Of A Tortured Skull’, ‘Necrolust’, ‘Pure F… Armageddon’, ‘Impious Devious Leper Lord’, etc.

You can see the current heroes here and there are a few names I heard of: Henrik Ibsen (writer), Roald Amundson (polar explorer), Sonja Henie (figure skater and movie star) and Thor Heyerdahl (explorer).

I wonder whether Aarseth will be nominated and also whether the company will agree to consider him a hero and put him in the prestigious company of the real heroes.

It is amazing but in this Google dominated era I could not find a link to the contest. I wanted to see myself the number of votes for each nomination.

UPDATE: The site is http://www.halehelter.no/, no wonder I could not find it, it is in Norwegian.
Thank you commenter Burzum!

And some very good music from Norway:

Edvard Grieg, In the Hall of the Mountain King from “Peer Gynt”

A-ha – Hunting High And Low

I was in the airport and a book drew my attention, ‘Cruising Attitude’  by Heather Poole.

There isn’t a better place to sell such a book but in an airport . On top of the books there was a plastic ‘thing’ (I don’t know how to call it) with five travel tips from the book. They seemed interesting but the photo wasn’t to clear and I looked for them on Internet too.

And instead of five I found twenty, courtesy of ‘The Savvy Reader’

1. Always bring a sweater / hoodie on the plane.  Airplanes are like movie theaters. They’re freezing!
2. Airplane mode is not off! Bring a magazine to read during takeoff and landing! I’m talking to you Kindle people!
3. Wear running shoes in case you have to run from the airport bar to the gate. Flips flops and heels will only slow you down
4.  Remember you can bring food through security. Bring leftovers! Share with the crew! More water / wine for you!
5.  The airplane is the perfect place to let kids watch movies & play video games THE ENTIRE flight. Just bring headphones
6.  Ladies: leave the jewelry in your carry-on bag. Put it on AFTER you go through security. Do the same with your belt
7.  Let it go! You can’t control delays and getting all stressed out about it will only ruin your trip.
8.  Buy water! We never have enough on board for everyone. You’ll be glad you have it if your flight diverts. IT HAPPENS!
9.  Eat something! Even if you’re not hungry. Calories don’t count at the airport. Plus you never know when you’re going to eat again.
10.  A long line of frequent fliers (think single passengers holding computers) will go 10 X’s faster than a line with a family with a new baby in it!
11.  Airlines do NOT hold planes for connecting passengers. Unless there are 20 of you going to same place. Get to know your neighbors
12.  Record the sound of the overhead bins being shut. You never know when you might need to prove you’re on a plane
13.  A real frequent flier knows to check the inbound flight when checking to see if their flight is delayed.
14.  Always check the monitors even if you know your gate number. Sometimes gates change!
15.  FYI: Anything under $500 roundtrip is cheap! Especially during the holidays.
16.  Offer to buy passengers a drink in flight if they switch seats with you. It’s just a nice thing to do. Only half will take you up on it.
17.  Book trips the first week of January! Everyone is broke after the holidays. Empty flights = cheap flights.
18.  Traveling ANYWHERE in September is great.  Kids are back in school, tickets are cheap & weather is still nice.
19.  Last flight out always has empty seats because everyone tries to get on earlier flights. More aisle seats / upgrades available!
20.  Use your time wisely.  Delays are the perfect time to call your mother.  She’ll be glad you did.
– Heather Poole

More about the book

Flying the not-so-friendly skies…
In her more than fifteen years as an airline flight attendant, Heather Poole has seen it all. She’s witnessed all manner of bad behavior at 35,000 feet and knows what it takes for a traveler to become the most hated passenger onboard. She’s slept in flight attendant crashpads in “Crew Gardens,” Queens—sharing small bedrooms crammed with bunk beds with a parade of attractive women who come and go at all hours, prompting suspicious neighbors to jump to the very worst conclusions. She’s watched passengers and coworkers alike escorted off the planes by police. She can tell you why it’s a bad idea to fall for a pilot but can be a very good one (in her case) to date a business-class passenger. Heather knows everything about flying in a post-9/11 world—and she knows what goes on behind the scenes, things the passengers would never dream.
Heather’s true stories in Cruising Attitude are surprising, hilarious, sometimes outrageously incredible—the very juiciest of “galley gossip” delightfully intermingled with the eye-opening, unforgettable chronicle of her fascinating life in the sky.

I was excited before checking in for the first time at a Radisson hotel with ‘Sleep Number’ beds. Usually I don’t sleep well and travelling every week just compounds the problem. However, a bed that you can adjust the bed’s firmness to your liking seemed to be the answer to the nights I toss and turn on my bed (and these nights unfortunately make up the majority of the nights I travel).

I knew I would have to find my number – soft or hard – but I was willing to test. And I tested with different settings and it didn’t make any difference. They don’t seem to be the ‘miracle’ bed and I realize if they were everyone would have them. Men spend around one third of their life in bed so a ‘Sleep Number’ bed would be purchased by (almost) everyone irrespectively of the price of such a bed.

This contest started last month but only today did I find out about it (I received an e-mail from Fairmont).

To commemorate the April 4 release of TITANIC in 3D in theaters, as well as the centennial anniversaries of Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa and The Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston (which opened the same year as the Titanic set sail), Fairmont is inviting you to share your own love story for the chance to win fabulous prizes!

Simply send in a photo that best captures your romance. Contest receive the opportunity to continue writing their own love stories at magnificent Fairmont hotels and resorts around the globe.

There is no limit to love, so be creative, be sincere, be passionate – and show us a glimpse of your greatest love story.

Entries accepted until April 27, 2012

Everyone’s an Original members will choose 20 finalists, and the Everyone’s an Original community will then vote online for 3 winning photographs that will be rewarded with 3 fantastic Fairmont prizes.

Full details of the contest here

However, everyone in the world should be eligible, not only:

1. Eligibility: Greatest Love Story Photo Contest (the “Contest”) is open only to legal residents of Canada, the United Kingdom or the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia who are at least eighteen (18) years old …….

but I suppose too many legal challenges for the contest to be open world wide.

I still get the daily newspaper.

Long time again I stayed at a Marriott and every morning a newspaper was delivered. The articles were very good – too good unfortunately as I would try to read all of them – but I would never get the time to finish or even start reading the newspaper from the respective day. I kept saying I’d read them during the week-end but again I’d never have the time to do this and the newspapers kept piling up. It was depressing so at some point I asked no newspaper to be delivered. I even got the bill reduced by the cost of the daily newspaper not that I cared much about it as anyway I was reimbursed by the company but I considered it a waste not to mention the depressing factor.

I stay now at a Fairfield by Marriott and initially I thought I could fast read the daily newspaper. It turned out I couldn’t.  So tried to cancel my newspaper ‘subscription’ also, especially after I learned the paper is not recycled, it is just dumped in the garbage bin and this is the reason I won’t reveal the location of this Fairfield not to ‘shame’ them, after all they are nice to me; I suppose my Platinum status contributes to this too .

And it worked for a few days (i.e. no newspaper), then it didn’t so it is very unpredictable, I suppose it depends on who delivers the newspapers. When I inquired at the front desk they told me their system is different from Marriott’s and that’s the way it is and they can’t do much about it. As a matter of fact they were surprised by my request as the bill won’t be reduced anyway. For a time I thought of taking all newspapers back home plus other things that they don’t recycle at the hotel but it would be too inconvenient. However, I try to take with me the business section, and read them after a few months to see what happened with the companies the author recommended you should buy shares of, like this company I lost some 90% after I bought it following an investment recommendation from this very newspaper.

Simply fly with Air Canada while earning Aeroplan Miles between April 1^st and May 31, 2012 for the chance to win one of these prizes:

The Contest is open to all Canadian residents having reached the legal age of majority in their province or territory of residence at the time of entry and must be an Aeroplan member.

No registration is required (this is very good as I don’t like registering at all and whatever requires registering it is to be avoided unless it is really necessary, and a contest is not on my list of ‘really necessary’)

Each eligible flight segment completed during the Contest Period will automatically entitle Eligible Participants to one entry in the Grand Prize draw. No registration is required.

You don’t even need to fly

Participants may also enter by hand writing an essay of up to 50 words on “How would you celebrate your 75 birthday?”, and send it in an envelope with sufficient postage to: …. see here the complete rules and regulations.

I wonder how many people bother to send written submissions. This seems to be the law (i.e. you don’t have to buy anything to enter a contest) as the Star Alliance promotion I wrote about in the previous post said also:

• For Canada and Canadian Residents only No Purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter this Promotion or to win. A purchase of any kind will not increase your chance of winning…. . Eligible Canadian residents may also enter the Promotion by submitting a hand-written essay of up to 50 words maximum for each Weekly Challenge. The subject of the essay is: “Travel”. Only one hand-written essay is allowed per address for each Weekly Challenge and will qualify as a single entry into each of the seven Weekly Challenges.

Yes there is such a law (different from Murphy’s law) and a post of one my fellow bloggers BLOG ADMIN: A message to the grammar checkers out there ‘inspired’ me to write this post.

Muphry’s Law: ”…. if a mistake is as plain as the nose on your face, everyone can see it but you. Your readers will always notice errors in a title, in headings, in the first paragraph of anything, and in the top lines of a new page. These are the very places where authors, editors and proofreaders are most likely to make mistakes“.

Conclusion: I welcome grammar and spelling corrections and I will do my best to make the corrections as soon as possible, even if it is for an old post that very few will get to read it.