Canada's vacation politics
#197
Re: Canada's vacation politics
I do agree that moving to one city and then traveling to other cities there isn't much point as they are pretty much the same. However arriving new to Canada I'd like to visit few other places, but I guess this could be included in a trip before settling down for work etc.
We travelled from NY to Washington DC, to New Orleans and then on (with a few stops) to LA.
I can't recommend any better way to enlighten a UK newbie to North America about the gobsmacking vastness of the place (and this from someone who had hitchhiked all over Europe and even in parts of North Africa in the previous 7 years or so).
#198
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2013
Location: BC, Canada
Posts: 3,874
Re: Canada's vacation politics
But the Victorian semi had stood for a century and is likely still there now. Even if you patch up the NS house every ten years or so when the shingles crack and blow off it's only good for fifty years or so. It seems to me that, when comparing houses that last for hundreds of years with those that last less than a lifetime, it's perverse to claim better quality for the throwaway ones.
our little house is built of wood, with vinyl siding, warm in winter and cool in summer (without air conditioning .......... and it is already over 70 years old
There are many houses all over Canada built of wood and well over 100 years old.
Another fallacy exploded!
Just like brick houses, a wood houses will last for many generations as long as it is well looked after!
#199
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2013
Location: BC, Canada
Posts: 3,874
Re: Canada's vacation politics
Novocastrian reminds me .................
crossing Canada by train takes 6 days, only 1 night of which is spent in a hotel .... and is a fantastic way to understand the vastness of this country, and how small is the population.
I agree that crossing either the US or Canada by train is a great way to see either country.
crossing Canada by train takes 6 days, only 1 night of which is spent in a hotel .... and is a fantastic way to understand the vastness of this country, and how small is the population.
I agree that crossing either the US or Canada by train is a great way to see either country.
#200
Re: Canada's vacation politics
our little house is built of wood, with vinyl siding, warm in winter and cool in summer (without air conditioning .......... and it is already over 70 years old
There are many houses all over Canada built of wood and well over 100 years old.
Another fallacy exploded!
Just like brick houses, a wood houses will last for many generations as long as it is well looked after!
There are many houses all over Canada built of wood and well over 100 years old.
Another fallacy exploded!
Just like brick houses, a wood houses will last for many generations as long as it is well looked after!
#201
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: Hamilton, ON
Posts: 185
Re: Canada's vacation politics
America has loads of different places to visit but it's expensive to fly there from Canada so, if exploring is the aim, I'd choose to live in Canada as close as possible to a US airport so as to be able to take a bus to it and fly from there. In this context living in Hamilton or Windsor suddenly makes sense.
The thing about the dead cheap flights out of BUF/ROC is that they are the very early ones - but you can work this in your favour by driving down the night before, airport hotel (get them to match the cheapest parking rate you can find if there aren't any park'n'fly deals - but these usually aren't cost-effective for weekend/week-long trips). It also means more time at your destination, so you can make the most of a long weekend trip.
Airport hotels around BUF are a very good way to use hotel points (and a good reason to churn hotel credit cards in particular).
This approach isn't for everyone (which is why there's such a premium on direct flights with nice timings), but if you can make it work for you it's a great way to do trips on the cheap and make the most of your time at your destination.
Weirdly, sometimes it can be cheaper to fly to/from the US in and out of YYZ - not always, but depending on your location and circumstances (i.e. if you have a Nexus card - YYZ transborder can be brutal otherwise) prices can be pretty close to make the schlep across the border not worth the additional expense.
The nice thing about Hamilton in this instance is that you can get the YYZ in 45 mins, and BUF 60-75 mins depending on what side of the city you're starting from (assuming you have Nexus and the line isn't going across the Peace Bridge - Whirlpool is a safe bet for lines, but longer drive time).
The other way to maximize exploring US cities is to play with google flights and see if you can engineer long layovers (i.e. less than 24 hours - more, and it's a stopover and can cost more, although not always). Depends on the city, but some have great transit links to where you want to explore, and lots of competition for well priced hotels. Or, if you're flying further afield, early start flight to a hub, have a day trip, and then sleep on the red-eye - we've had a day exploring Philly and overnights in Boston before going on to Europe, for example.
#202
Re: Canada's vacation politics
Can't speak for Windsor/DTW but from what I understand, flights out of hub airports can be more expensive than tacking on a connector flight in to the hub for then taking said same flight.
The thing about the dead cheap flights out of BUF/ROC is that they are the very early ones - but you can work this in your favour by driving down the night before, airport hotel (get them to match the cheapest parking rate you can find if there aren't any park'n'fly deals - but these usually aren't cost-effective for weekend/week-long trips). It also means more time at your destination, so you can make the most of a long weekend trip.
Airport hotels around BUF are a very good way to use hotel points (and a good reason to churn hotel credit cards in particular).
This approach isn't for everyone (which is why there's such a premium on direct flights with nice timings), but if you can make it work for you it's a great way to do trips on the cheap and make the most of your time at your destination.
Weirdly, sometimes it can be cheaper to fly to/from the US in and out of YYZ - not always, but depending on your location and circumstances (i.e. if you have a Nexus card - YYZ transborder can be brutal otherwise) prices can be pretty close to make the schlep across the border not worth the additional expense.
The nice thing about Hamilton in this instance is that you can get the YYZ in 45 mins, and BUF 60-75 mins depending on what side of the city you're starting from (assuming you have Nexus and the line isn't going across the Peace Bridge - Whirlpool is a safe bet for lines, but longer drive time).
The other way to maximize exploring US cities is to play with google flights and see if you can engineer long layovers (i.e. less than 24 hours - more, and it's a stopover and can cost more, although not always). Depends on the city, but some have great transit links to where you want to explore, and lots of competition for well priced hotels. Or, if you're flying further afield, early start flight to a hub, have a day trip, and then sleep on the red-eye - we've had a day exploring Philly and overnights in Boston before going on to Europe, for example.
The thing about the dead cheap flights out of BUF/ROC is that they are the very early ones - but you can work this in your favour by driving down the night before, airport hotel (get them to match the cheapest parking rate you can find if there aren't any park'n'fly deals - but these usually aren't cost-effective for weekend/week-long trips). It also means more time at your destination, so you can make the most of a long weekend trip.
Airport hotels around BUF are a very good way to use hotel points (and a good reason to churn hotel credit cards in particular).
This approach isn't for everyone (which is why there's such a premium on direct flights with nice timings), but if you can make it work for you it's a great way to do trips on the cheap and make the most of your time at your destination.
Weirdly, sometimes it can be cheaper to fly to/from the US in and out of YYZ - not always, but depending on your location and circumstances (i.e. if you have a Nexus card - YYZ transborder can be brutal otherwise) prices can be pretty close to make the schlep across the border not worth the additional expense.
The nice thing about Hamilton in this instance is that you can get the YYZ in 45 mins, and BUF 60-75 mins depending on what side of the city you're starting from (assuming you have Nexus and the line isn't going across the Peace Bridge - Whirlpool is a safe bet for lines, but longer drive time).
The other way to maximize exploring US cities is to play with google flights and see if you can engineer long layovers (i.e. less than 24 hours - more, and it's a stopover and can cost more, although not always). Depends on the city, but some have great transit links to where you want to explore, and lots of competition for well priced hotels. Or, if you're flying further afield, early start flight to a hub, have a day trip, and then sleep on the red-eye - we've had a day exploring Philly and overnights in Boston before going on to Europe, for example.
Oh, one neat thing about flying back to Buffalo is the sense of passenger solidarity. They've all seen "Once Upon a Time in America", they know people not going to Buffalo are laughing at them. Appropriately, last time around, the plane announcements were in broad scouse.
Last edited by dbd33; Sep 16th 2017 at 11:37 pm.
#203
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 0
Re: Canada's vacation politics
I'll typically use Bellingham,WA or Seattle when flying. The past 2 times though the fare was YVR was the same in CAD$ as the fares from Seattle but in US$ so YVR it was
As long as you don't fly into YVR in the 10am to 3pm time frame customs wait are minimal.
As long as you don't fly into YVR in the 10am to 3pm time frame customs wait are minimal.