Summer Holiday Plans
 

We might take a road trip east. So far I've a half baked plan that involves driving to Quebec City and staying there a couple of nights. Then travelling along the St Lawrence shoreline roads and taking the ferry south maybe seeing some whales. Next stop would be somewhere in New Brunswick on the way to Nova Scotia. None of this might happen of course but it's good to plan.



Where are you lot off to?

Mods, sorry I meant to post this in the Maple Leaf. Could you move it there please.

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Provided I survive things on May 16th we are planning four weeks in Victoria. :)

Re: Summer Holiday Plans
 

Ireland for a long weekend for a wedding, then back to the southeast of UK for 10 days for a non-restful catch up with friends and family. Haven't been back for three and a half years so it will be good to see folks, do M&S and catch a show in London. 🙂

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We are doing this !! July 10 for two weeks

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That's not East. ;)

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We have a week in the Ottawa area over Canada day visiting family, but aside from that it'll a staycation at home I think this year after a big trip back to blighty last year.

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I would like to go on a short road trip. Not sure where. Maybe down to Oregon.

Ill have to fit it into my normal 3 days off so cant go too far.

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Off to Alaska for a weeks cruise on May 13

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We're off to the UK for a few days and Gibraltar for a week. I have distant family there.

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HID is going away for much of the summer so that'll be as good as an holiday. :thumbup:

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Where are you stopping? Or are you just going to see where you end up? I think we'll have to go in August as we have a mostly non vacation trip to the USA July 9th so it will be tricky to get hotels probably.

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I want to do this sort of trip as well and have been talking about it. But it will have to be next year!

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We will head to Halifax. That's the only thing planned, we just wing the rest. Stop when we wanna stop no other set plans.

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Regardless of whether we get off to Europe this year, I'm wondering about getting the train to Halifax for a few days and/or doing the Toronto/Niagara thing again.

Mother in law has never seen the Falls

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Going to the Philippines in August to see my in-laws and also do some touristy stuff.

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We got back from France last Thursday, so are taking it easy for a while.

North Wales for a week in May, back to Normandy mid June where Son#2 joins us in late July and we go for a drive down the Adriatic coast of Italy for 10 days.

If the deal goes through in time, we'll likely go to Palma in late September where my BIL has just bought a penthouse flat.

So, all in all, pretty quiet this year.

Re: Summer Holiday Plans
 

IF you are wondering about doing that, you need to very carefully check out the cheap deals on the train.

So far as I know, they don't really advertise them but go online to the VIA site and check their Tuesday deals ...... they usually have deals for the next 2-3 weeks.

AND they have very good deals on The Ocean :lol:

It's only a 5-6 hour trip

Re: Summer Holiday Plans
 

These all sound fantastic.

No holiday for us this year as we're moving province, but sort of trying to incorporate a road trip into it too so that I don't implode with the chaos factor of a uhaul self move with toddler, giant dog, other pets and a husband who has a phobia of driving on unknown roads. We should have moved a few months ago, and as I'm really looking forwards to moving i'm happy to sacrifice a holiday for it :)

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We have no plans for the summer, daughter and grandson are coming here for a week in August.

I am thinking of trying to organise something in late August / September (?? trip to Churchill), or October (northern BC), and we have a Decmeber trip to Halifax.

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We have just bought a tree farm, it has over 10,000 trees that need to be pruned by hand after the start of June and before the end of July. Plus we will be raising some baby ducks and geese and trying to train our Spaniel not to chase them - I don't think we are going anywhere.

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My Husbands cousin and her husband are arriving at the end of May for a unspecified amount of days (Usually about 4) and then in July My Stepson and his girlfriend and her son arrive for three weeks. She and her son have never been. So there will be a short Banff thing going on but a trip to Montana has been requested so I think we are going to do a couple of nights in Yellowstone - I REALLY would like to see something I haven't seen before, but nothing has been booked yet as I can't get a YAY or NAY from OH grr.

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Thanks for the info :thumbup:
I often check the website and play around with dates but what usually stands out for me is the service not running every day or it's a bus when it does run.

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I'm off to Cuba in a couple of weeks.

Hopefully we'll do some camping in the summer, maybe a small road trip or 2.

Re: Summer Holiday Plans
 

Took a gamble that WDW might be a little quieter than usual this summer. Tickets are currently -35% for Canadian residents, and there are some good deals on [no frills] flights and some hotels.

Exchange rate sucks but there are deals out there that soften the blow a little (even Disney hotels are discounting up to 25% for most of the summer).

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Hawaii in the late summer/early fall. Supposed to be going on a romantic something with hubby soon too but we haven't figured out where yet.

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The Canadian dollars seems to be keeping Canadian's away. Disneyland was offering 30% off to Canadian's most of last fall and into the winter, I think they have stopped now as they are entering peak season, but seems their winter Canadian visitors were not coming in mass.

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My Employer has just got back from WDW, they spent a grand at Universal - just one day, how I do no know:eek:

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Congratulations, and good luck!:thumbsup:

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Wonder if the 1k included the admission?

Universal Orlando for a 1 day ticket is $165 US for admission to all parks or $110 US for 1 park admission per person.

A family of four could drop nearly $500 US just to walk into the place.

As much as I like Disneyland and I haven't been in 7 years, the price now just to get in is just too high to justify going. A trip for 2 for 3-4 days can be a couple grand once air fare, hotels etc are included.

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I know lots of people who have declared they have no intention of going to any part of the US "for the foreseeable future" .............

that might be the reason Disneyland didn't get the number of visitors they hoped ........ plus of course the exchange rate

Re: Summer Holiday Plans
 

The Ocean runs 3 days a week from Montreal to Halifax .......... Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

Leaves Moncton ca 1:30 pm on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

Arrives Halifax same day .......... takes about 4½ hours if on time

Return trips leave Halifax at a very respectable 1:00 pm on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

I have the timetable right next to my computer :lol:

I'll check for you tomorrow to see whether the good deals are available to anyone going on the site or whether you have to join their points scheme, VIA Preference to get the best deal.

If the latter, you'd all have to join separately, but it is free, and you can refuse to get emails, except I wouldn't do that because the Tuesday offers come in an email.


In addition, I'd suggest that when the time comes, you work out when you want to travel ....... and then use the phone number to book the tickets rather than booking online. The VIA call centre is in Moncton, and the people are tremendously helpful, they've all worked on the trains. There's also a dedicated phone number for the Preference members in addition to the public line.

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Thank you. I think we will need it!

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I got thrown out of DW years ago. I was staying at the Contemporary and there was an incident concerning pancakes with a Tigger and I think the King John character. Punches were thrown but no one got hurt. Apparently it was unsettling for the kids. I liked Body Wars.

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That's a lot to pack into 4 days, as I am sure you are aware.

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:) :thumbup:

I booked on line for my wife plus wheelchair and stepdaughter back in 2010. Booked one-way to Montreal as father ill and no potential return date known. It all went swimmingly.
He recovered so did it again for return journey and all went swimmingly again.

Father then fell ill again, likely to die soon so did it all again. Can't recall exactly what happened but got an angry phone call from viarail admonishing me for booking on line and not by phone as wheelchair had to be done by phone - despite the fact that the site allowed it and it had worked both times previously. :confused:

Too late now, but I wonder if there could have been a 'companion' fare and that's what the viarail person meant. She didn't say that though, just seemed to want to tell me off. :rofl:

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Sounds like you just got the brunt of a missed communication, maybe their website was out of date, or maybe she was. Via, like Greyhound, has been guilty of not advising customers of special fares or sales available when they purchase their tickets, but both companies (in my experience) graciously refund or credit the difference when I've called them on it.

Re: Summer Holiday Plans
 

There is a companion fare if a disabled person needs the attention of a carer for personal needs, etc. Crew can help a blind person move from carriage to dining car for example, certainly in Sleeper, but they would not do anything else.

In some cases, I think the companion travels free :eek:

I have a cane, and request a wheelchair at stations where I know there will be a long walk to or from the carriage .............. but otherwise I don't need OH's care. I have been asked if I do need that though.


Were you travelling Coach or Sleeper? I do know that those Renaissance cars are VERY difficult of access for disabled people ........ the doors and corridors are narrow, and stairs up into the carriages are steep.

Re: Summer Holiday Plans
 

A bit late, as you said ... but you could probably have travelled free.

from the VIA site ...............

Passengers who cannot travel alone without a Support Person may travel with a companion capable of providing the required assistance. The Support Person must be at least 12 years old and travels free in the same class of service.

If a passenger ONLY requires luggage and/or boarding assistance, a free ticket for a Support Person is not offered since these services are already provided by VIA Rail.


Where necessary, the companion is expected to assist VIA personnel in boarding and disembarking the passenger and in helping the passenger move about while on board.


To take advantage of this privilege, there are two options;


Option 1:
In order to travel with the assistance of a Support Person, the passenger must:
a) provide a signed Medical Certificate from a licensed medical doctor or licensed mental health professional (ex. psychiatrist or psychologist), and
b) the Medical Certificate must state that the passenger cannot travel alone without a Support Person, and
c) the Medical Certificate must be dated and signed one year or less prior to the date of train travel, unless the Medical Certificate indicates that the functional limitation is permanent.

Option 2:
Present, for each trip, a valid card from a recognized association or institution for persons with disabilities.

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You can see the Discount Tuesday fares on the open site .............

today's offer Economy Moncton to Halifax $46, instead of $51.

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It was my wife and stepdaughter who went. No sleeper. My wife always said the seats were comfy enough, even for overnight. I've not been on a Canadian train since 1975 :ohmy: CP and CN were both running passenger services.

They were away for xmas while me and stepson stayed home. I remember that at the time we didn't seek out the possibility because they'd both have gone anyway even if there was no wheelchair.

A couple of years later money was very tight so we would have done then. Like when we went to the zoo here and 'companion' went in free or half price, whatever it was.

Thanks. That fiver would buy a beer :beer: :lol: