Posted by Seth on March 7, 2011 under frequent flyer, points | 
Some folks love the challenge of earning frequent flyer points. To me, that’s just business. I do it and I accrue and I move on to the next flight. But when the time comes for redeeming those points, that’s where the fun begins. Part of it is because the airlines really do make it difficult to book awards. Part of it is because there are quirks and tricks and nuances in every program and understanding the rules of your specific program makes a huge difference. And part of it is that I generally feel triumphant when I can beat the airlines at their own game.
I won HUGE last week.
First up, our annual anniversary trip. Now in its 5th iteration, my wife and I have gone somewhere out of town for our anniversary each year. Ecuador, Philadelphia/Washington, DC Norway and Scotland were the previous four. This year’s goal was the Canadian maritime provinces. Turns out they’re a bit too spread out for us to hit as much as we wanted in the long weekend so we scaled back to just Nova Scotia. Not too disappointed about that at all.
With non-stop flights from New York to both Moncton and Halifax it was actually surprisingly easy to find award seats into the region. Our outbound requires a connection in Toronto but we’re waitlisted for the non-stop flight (shown in red on the map) and I’m betting that it clears. Either way, we get where we want to be on the day we want to get there and at roughly the times we want to fly. No complaints there. Coming back we picked Sydney as the departing airport. No, not that Sydney. There’s another one up in Nova Scotia. Being a tiny town with a tiny airport the prices on revenue tickets can be pretty ridiculous. So even though we’re only going a few hundred miles the cash version of these flights was pretty ridiculous. But award inventory wasn’t a problem at all. Connecting in Halifax and then back into Newark at good times and with no real issues.
As an added bonus, there are flights from Sydney to France (in the form of Saint Pierre & Miquelon, shown in purple on the map) that we just might have to try. If the flight schedules work that is definitely on my radar.
Did I mention that these were a pretty good deal in terms of valuation for the points redeemed? I like that the Continental booking engine gives you the offer to pay cash instead of redeeming miles for the trip. But I couldn’t help but laugh when this was the option it presented me:
Purchase this Reservation in Economy for $4,452.46 without redeeming miles
Instead I cashed in 50,000 points and about $100 in taxes for the two seats. I’d say that’s a damn good deal.
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Tags: Air Canada, award, Continental, Ecuador, France, frequent flyer, Norway, Nova Scotia, Philadelphia, points, Scotland, Sydney, Toronto, Washington DC
Posted by Seth on September 8, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Three of my four days in Guyana were spent in the capital city of Georgetown. There were a couple specific touristy things I wanted to do – see the market and the sea wall mainly – but those were not nearly involved enough to really consume my entire stay. Lacking much of any other guidance or any real semblance of a reasonable tourist infrastructure I found myself doing one of the things I do best: wandering around.
I walked several miles, criss-crossing the northwestern part of the city pretty well and getting to explore some of the less commonly seen parts of the town. Hiding out in a cafe while a storm rolled through or grabbing a healthy dose of curry at one of the scores of local shops, I managed to keep myself busy and mostly out of trouble. I shopped with a couple of the local merchants and generally had a blast.
That said, the city did present itself of multiple personalities throughout my visit. There were the moments where the market seemed like any other I’ve visited around the world – just a bunch of merchants going about their day. And there were times it seemed ready to swallow me up and spit me out, a few pounds (or dollars) lighter. There were definitely times I knew I needed to cross the street but the trouble never really followed.
There were moments that the canals which traverse Georgetown seemed serene and beautiful, nearly akin to those in cities famous for their waterways. But then the stark reality would come creeping back in. The canals in Georgetown are not there for transportation nor are the there for beauty. They are there because the city sits several feet below sea level and receives a ton of rain annually. The canals are a lifeline, allowing the city to collect the huge rainfalls and drain them out to sea at low tide. Unfortunately, however, it isn’t just the rainfall that the canals collect. They become refuse points, gathering waste of both the commercial and human varieties. They are bathing facilities as I witnessed more than once. In many cases the water stagnates, becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes (hooray, Malarone!) and for scents that I’m quite happy I don’t commonly experience. Indeed, the canals, like everything else in town, can be both beautiful and disgusting all at once.
Read more of this article »
Posted by Seth on March 30, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Casco Viejo, also known as the old city or the ancient city (Casco Ancien) is the bit of Panama City that exists out on a small peninsula at the western edge. It is the remnants of bits built 300-400 years ago, as well as the site of important buildings like the president’s residence and offices. It is also, as was recently relayed to me in a story, home to many of the “glue sniffers and prostitutes” that the city has. Yeah, it isn’t particularly glorious as far as places to visit, but if you’re in Panama City and don’t stop by you’ve done yourself a disservice. It is a combination of old and renewed, destitute and restored, degenerate and upscale. It is everything all at once. And it is a bit scary, but that is a good thing.
As you head into the area there are a few things to consider. One of them is that many of the buildings surrounding you are derelict and appear as though they might collapse at any given moment. Even the restored buildings look a bit suspect in many cases. And then there is the fact that you are out on a peninsula. That makes it easy to defend in the good old days when the attacks would only come from the sea. These days, with the maze of one way streets and dead ends it just increases the risks of getting lost, turned around and otherwise confused in a slightly sketchy part of town.
Lest my introduction to the area seem less than ideal, let me be very clear. I wouldn’t at all be intimidated into skipping it. The area itself is completely safe (lots of cops around) and has a certain sense of beauty to it, even amongst the run down buildings that make up large parts of the area.
We arrived in the area somewhere around 10am and still hadn’t had breakfast. As we drove around, hoping to find a building that resembled something historic rather than something derelict, we passed a reasonably nice looking cafe. We found a parking space around the corner, in the shadows of the Cathedral, and wandered back to grab a quick bite to eat. The Gourmet Cafe actually produced pretty good food. The menu was all in English and the contents of the store were all up-scale. Plus, they have free WiFi. It was clear that they were catering to the tourist population, not the locals. And I am only a bit saddened to admit that as we ate our breakfast I looked across the street into a local place with a very different target market, wondering if the food would be better there. That’s not to say that either of our sandwiches (bacon, egg and cheese on an english muffin and a “cajun” shrimp on ciabatta were bad – quite the opposite – but the slightly dirtier places often appeal to me and it is hard to pass them up. I did briefly consider ordering a second breakfast but passed on the opportunity as we had limited time and sights to see.
After breakfast we wandered about the neighborhood a bit. We found the president’s residence and offices (when the guard barks at you just open your bag so they can look inside) and some phenomenal views of the new Panama City off to the east. We also took in the Cathedral (impressive, but not amazing, I’d say) and a few other buildings in the area. There are nice sights to be seen and a visit is imperative on any Panama City visit itinerary lasting more that 36 hours, but do not go in expecting to see a beautifully restored old city like in many European locales else you discover great disappointment.
There is also quite a bit of construction going on these days in Casco Viejo; they are working very hard to clean up the area and rebuild the various buildings into structures that are beautiful (and inhabitable). Given a couple years I think that they can truly accomplish that and greatly regentrify the area. In the interim, I’d be a tiny bit worried about wandering around there at night. Yes, there are several hotels and restaurants and bars and a lot of armed cops in the area, too, but you do need to be VERY careful in the area. Much like the old town of Quito, Ecuador surrounding the Plaza de Independencia, there are many questionable characters that you need to be on alert for, even with the increased patrols by the local police who are trying desperately to secure the area for the tourists.
Oh, and there was that one “bum” on the streets of Casco Viejo that remembered us from two days prior on Calle Central. That was intriguing, surprising, interesting and scary, all at once. Just like the Casco Viejo area of Panama City.
Posted by Seth on February 5, 2009 under Uncategorized |
For those of you who read the WSJ, there’s an article in the Weekend Journal section of tomorrow’s print edition that talks about the changing dynamic of vacations. Specifically, it seems that vacations are becoming shorter for many, and travel companies are altering their offerings to accommodate that pattern. This means hotels are waiving minimum stay requirements and tour operators are doing more in less time, all in hopes of wooing the ever thinning ranks of leisure travelers.
A three-night China tour will kick off in July with a 5 a.m. wake-up call. Travelers will take in a solar eclipse (astronomer provided) on Mount Emei, followed by visits to a Giant Buddha statue, an embroidery workshop, an opera (performer interviews included) and meetings with families, students and baby pandas. Seventy-two hours later, it will be time to head home.
Tour operator Remote Lands, whose shortest China tours used to be five or six days, is one of many vacation companies putting its trips on fast-forward. This year, travelers can book a one-night Caribbean spring break trip, or a two-day African safari. Hotels and resorts are throwing out the minimum-stay requirements that used to widen their profit margins, and admitting guests who only want to stay a night or two
And I managed to be one of the examples cited in the article. I’m actually the very last example, but still, I’m there. Apparently my 36 hour trip to Trinidad and Tobago was just crazy enough to get me a column inch at the very end of an article in the WSJ.
Seth Miller started taking short trips a year or two ago, to save money and fit his travel within limited vacation time restraints. Last week, the 31-year-old IT consultant from New York went to Trinidad and Tobago, leaving on Saturday and returning Monday morning. "It basically left me on the ground for about 36 hours, then you figure, scratch 12 hours for sleeping," he says.
Mr. Miller spent Sunday morning on Tobago, snorkeling and wandering around the island, and then flew to Trinidad. He hoped to catch some pre-Carnival parties, but his timing didn’t coincide with any, so he ended up watching the Super Bowl at a local bar. "You roll with what happens and take it in stride," he says. Next morning, he returned to New York.
There is also discussion of a three day trip to Costa Rica or a seven day Ecuador trip, including some time in the Galapagos (we could fit them in on our five day trip two years ago). Those trips don’t really seem that short to me, but I know I’m not the norm in that sense.
Looking forward, I’ve got a few more similar trips planned already for this year, including Rome for four days, Belize for six days, Panama for three days and an overnight to Florida. There’s also a yet to be scheduled weekend in Germany in November that may include a hop-scotch tour of Scandinavian airports, too. Of course, I’ve also got a normal two week vacation planned for the summer, so all the trips aren’t this way. It is good to have balance in that sense.
I’ve now been covered by the NY Times and the WSJ. I wonder if I can get myself into the Post or Daily News somehow other than the police blotter…
Posted by Seth on August 23, 2008 under Uncategorized |
The ad bar atop my Gmail account this morning had a link to an article about the busses in Ecuador. It got me thinking about our trip there two years ago and just how interesting the bus ride we took was, so I thought I’d share both that story and ours.
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| Bus stop in Ecuador |
We took a bus from Otavalo to Quito. It was about a 2.5 hour ride and I believe it cost us $4 for both of us. There is a bus station – really just a parking lot, but what else is a bus station – in Otavalo, and there might actually be a schedule in operation but we never saw it. On arrival at the bus station we started wandering around until we heard someone yelling “Quito! Quito! Quito!” over and over again. We waved at him and he came running towards us to grab our bags and toss them on the bus. Lacking the language skills to effectively communicate we just went along with the situation and climbed on board. The bus was surprisingly comfortable and reasonably clean, pretty similar to a charter tour bus that you’d find in the USA, though it seemed older and just well kept, not new. We settled in for the ride and the bus pulled out of town and headed towards Quito. We stopped a few times on the roadside leading out of town to pick up more passengers, with the same “Quito! Quito! Quito!” shout repeated over and over. There were also stops at various places along the highway where passengers got on and off, and merchants plied their wares. Most were selling food of one sort or another. In retrospect, I should’ve had some of the food, even though I don’t remember any of it looking particularly great. Still, street food is fun and often delicious, and I missed that on this trip.
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| Self-portrait on the bus ride |
The bus ride also included a movie shown on screens mounted to the ceilings. I can’t remember if there was audio or not, but I absolutely remember the movie. It was Jeepers Creepers II, and it was horrible. But there was free entertainment. And, much like every other form of travel, there was always the option of looking out the window, which I did. A lot. The views were pretty amazing, and I even managed to grab a self-portrait shot.
For the price, convenience and entertainment the busses in Ecuador present a great option and are certainly not to be missed. Just make sure you find a seat near someone you know or who looks reasonable to sit next to. Otherwise you might end up in a slightly strange situation.
Posted by Seth on April 13, 2008 under News |
Travel + Leisure magazine has an article in this month’s issue (and online) about some of the scariest runways in the world, including pictures and why they are considered to be so scary. Looking at the list, I’m actually surprised by a few of the included sites, and completely in agreement with others. Matekane air strip in Lesotho (pic in the link), for instance, is very short and drops off into a ravine at the end. Pilots report that airplanes aren’t always actually flying when they hit the end of the runway, and they have to continue to gain speed during their drop off the edge of the cliff. Others on the list, like Washington’s National airport and JFK in New York City are on the list simply because the approach procedures require some “difficult” navigation. In the case of those two, however, the difficulty is regulatory, not real. If a plane on approach to National is a bit off they veer into restricted airspace, not a mountain. And LaGuardia has water at the end of two shorter runways than what JFK presents.
Based on the metrics that they use I’d consider adding Queenstown, New Zealand and Quito, Ecuador to the list. Both have mountainous approaches and some serious banking involved. And both are fun destinations to visit!
Posted by Seth on March 27, 2008 under News |
A slightly surreal experience yesterday evening reminded me just how important it is to remember that we are really all in a global community now, not insular and isolated. And I didn’t even have to leave the island of Manhattan for this “trip.”
Standing in a deli on 68th & Broadway, waiting for my sandwich to be heated up, I overheard an older woman (typical stereotype – hunched over on the cane, barely able to speak loud enough to be heard, etc.) try to order a bit of provolone cheese to go. She didn’t want a sandwich or anything, just some cheese. The guy behind the counter wasn’t sure how much to charge, so he asked another guy, who asked another. None of them knew. Eventually one of them called out to the boss to ask what the price should be. The boss answered and all was well, or so I thought. See, the entirety of that conversation happened in Spanish, and the woman ordering her salad at the station between the boss and me was NOT happy about it.
This woman starts to lecture the boss about how he needed to speak English because the employees needed to learn English and how no one ever spoke to her immigrant parents in Croatian when they came over. She carried on for a couple minutes, while the boss was rather amused and kept brushing her off. He finished the conversation with a comment about freedom of speech and walked away from her, back behind the counter. I was still waiting on my sandwich and he saw me standing there and asked if I needed anything. I replied that I was all set and that I appreciated the free entertainment while I was waiting, to which we shared a calming smile.
All of the guys working there speak English. They all clearly knew what was going on, and they were rather shocked that this lady was so arrogant about the issue. I, too, was shocked that she was so caught up in the issue. I was tempted to offer to hail a cab for her to get her back to the airport to go somewhere she’d be more comfortable, but for some reason discretion seemed more appropriate at that point (which is strange for me) and I just let it go.
Looking back on it, I think of the various trips I’ve taken where language was an issue. There was the driver in Ecuador who spoke almost no English, and I speak almost no Spanish (at least not correctly) and yet we still managed to get by for an hour or so talking about his family and mine and our vacation and the things we’d seen and the plans for the rest of the trip. There was my trip to Hong Kong where there was plenty of English spoken, but this guy at the butcher shop didn’t speak any and I have no Mandarin or Cantonese (and couldn’t begin to guess which one he was speaking), but we managed to negotiate an arrangement that had me pay for taking some pictures of him and him not attack me with his large knife.
Moral of the story is that there are a lot of people out there who aren’t the same as you. And they probably don’t want to be the same as you. That’s what makes travelling to experience their cultures so enjoyable. Remember that when you’re on the road, and life will flow much more smoothly. Or you can be the obnoxious woman in the deli that no one wants to deal with.
Posted by Seth on July 23, 2007 under Trip Reports |
I run a photo blog of sorts, too, with pictures of some of my travel escapades, among other things. We had a great time in Ecuador, and I’ve got the pictures to prove it. Head on over to http://www.millerworks.net/picdb/ if you want to see the photos.
Posted by Seth on July 23, 2007 under Trip Reports |
I speak English pretty well. And after a few glasses of wine, I speak a pretty passable French. Pretty much every other language is a black hole for me. I’m not particularly good picking up new languages, and I don’t use them that often, so the idea of learning Italian for my once every 5 years trip to Italy or learning Thai for my three day visit in Bangkok was not particularly appealing. Yet I seem to manage pretty well in my travels. I’ve made it back to the airport or train station every time, and some of those times I probably couldn’t find my way around even in English.
The key to traveling without subtitles is to know going in to the situation that everything will not be perfect. Actually it will likely be far from perfect in some situations. But that’s just part of the adventure. Our recent trip to Ecuador highlighted this in a few ways.
Upon landing at Quito’s Sucre International Airport we were met by a driver with our name on a placard. This is the first major suggestion I have. Assuming that the price is reasonable, have the hotel you’re staying at arrange for the initial transportation. I know that I could have negotiated the cab line (and we did successfully later in the trip), but getting to the hotel to start off the trip takes that initial shock out of the arrival. Plus, even though most cabbies around the world are reasonable it does help protect you against the not so reasonable ones. Back to our driver – he spoke about 3 words of English. I speak about 50 words of Spanish, and I can’t conjugate verbs to save my life, but we managed to get by. We established that it was our first trip to Ecuador, that we were married, and that the waterfalls and flowers on the scenic ride were beautiful. Not too shabby.
The staff at our hotel spoke English, so that eased the trouble there, but the drive to the next location was basically a repeat of the first driver. This one spoke a few more words of English, plus he had some pictures on his cell phone, so we were able to talk about his kids and various other topics. Note: I recommend not having the driver playing with their cell phone and trying to show you pictures, but that was one that I had trouble relating to him due to my limited Spanish.
Our second stop in Ecuador was in Otavalo. While still a very tourist-focused section of the country, this is where my skills were truly tested, and we survived (relatively) intact. The Otavalo market is pretty famous, and though I am not a fan, we still had to experience it to figure that out. One of the common phrases in all the travel guides is something to the effect that the merchants expect to bargain with the customers. That is very, very difficult when not speaking the language. I know that one friend used a calculator to negotiate numbers back and forth in China, and that worked pretty well for him. The other option is to just not negotiate. With the prices that we were faced with the numbers were well within our budget range for souvenirs. We paid too much, but I’m OK with that. I consider it part of the cost of not speaking the language, and it was only a couple dollars.
In Quito we were faced with the taxi situation that I alluded to above. After arriving in the bus station coming in from Otavolo (which is a whole different story), we hopped in the cab at the front of the taxi line and I stated the name of our hotel (a pretty up-scale hotel in the old city). The driver just said no and looked at me quizzically. I tried the name of the road that the hotel is on and got the same response. At this point I reverted to Plan C: a local landmark that can’t be missed. Our hotel happened to be a block off the Plaza de la Independencia. Surely the driver had to know how to get us there, right? And he did. Conveniently the route from the bus station to the Plaza passed in front of our hotel, so we managed to get where we were going anyway.
As a last resort, point (at menus or translations in books, not at people), or just nod your head and smile. What’s the worst that could happen?
Posted by Seth on July 4, 2007 under Trip Reports |
The Saturday Market at Otavalo has a long and storied history. The locals began trading their wares hundreds of years ago, and their woven goods are actually rather well known by folks who are in to that sort of thing. Indeed, the market is so successful that it has actually expanded beyond just Saturdays, with Wednesday as a very popular day and market activities every day of the week. But it is the success of the market that has brought about its doom.
The market is bad. It exists not as a true trading post for the locals, but by selling random stuff to tourists passing through. The wares are not all junk – some of the stuff actually looks pretty good, and much of it appears to be made locally. But in an area known for its weavings and yarns, it is depressing to see stalls full of yarns that are “synthetico” rather than alpaca or any of the other animals that are raised locally. I’m sure that the bed spreads and tablecloths are nice enough, but I am not entirely sure that the stuff isn’t “hecho en China.” I’m pretty sure that the folks selling sunglasses and cell phone cases get their supplies from the same people that provide for the street vendors in New York City. Actually, the more I think about it, the more the whole scene felt like another NYC street fair: the same ten stalls, repeated ad infinitum until they get to whatever block traffic starts up on again.
We were actually sitting in a café, having a beer this afternoon when a young woman approached us asking for directions to the bus station. She had been in town for all of three hours, one of which she spent at the café, and already knew that the best thing to do was to get out of town on the next bus she could find. If we didn’t have plans to head out to see some of the surrounding countryside tomorrow, we’d probably be following her on the next bus we could get to.
There were three rows of stalls that appeared to be reasonably authentic. They were a few food vendors (chicken soups, fried fish and a whole roast pig being carved up and served), each with seats for about 5 people, a few fresh produce vendors, a few women selling breads and several meat suppliers, mostly chicken. Beyond these few stalls, the market was a waste of time. I’ve seen some great markets, including the China-Town market in Ho Chi Minh City, street markets in Bangkok and farmers’ markets in the south of France. And I can’t help but walk away from today’s visit with a strong sense of disappointment. If the vendors weren’t all dressed up in native garb, I wouldn’t have known where we were, because there was nothing distinctive about it. Chalk up another score for the tourists ruining the tourist attraction. And yes, I’m guilty here since I’m one of the tourists who showed up today to see it. In my defense, we ate at one of the stalls and purchased real alpaca yarn, and otherwise didn’t do business with any of the vendors, so we’re not entirely culpable.
