Booking flights: A bit of a treasure hunt

Last night I was laying on my sofa.  The TV was on mute, images flashing by in quasi-meaningful ways, my laptop perched on my knees while I investigated what wonders the internet had on offer.  In the process, I reran an old search on kayak that I had been eyeing about a week ago.

Sometimes I like to check flight prices or routings; see where I can go and how much it's going to set me back.  Sometimes I'm lucky and a truly ridiculous route pops up, one of the ones you just have to shake your head at because no one in their right mind would ever book it.

For example, did you know you can go from Toronto to Belize via London, U.K.?

Really!  Thank you British Airways!

Of course these crazy options come with equally crazy price tags, but they're useful to know about when it comes to booking an award flight where cost is less an issue and crazy routings make for cool layovers.

When I reran my search, I took a quick glance at the cities and dates but didn't look at much else.

The flights came up.  The lowest cost was $868 CAD from YYZ to BZE with one connection in IAH.

I was a bit disappointed.  You see, two weeks ago I could have gotten that flight for just shy of $600 CAD.  The Avianca option via SAL had been $622 CAD just the other day.  Now I was looking at over $200 CAD more.  I could argue that the flight with Avianca wasn't really an option for me, that I was looking at the United flight which had jumped to $741 CAD earlier in the week, but a 50% increase in price over a  two week interval was pretty stunning.

Then I noticed the booking class.

$868 CAD was the price for business class.

Well!

Well, well, well!  Not bad!  My $741 CAD United flight wasn't gone, but for $127 CAD more I could take that same flight in business class.  Of course it's only North American business class so it's nothing spectacular, but there is food involved, larger seats, and 50% more qualifying miles which will push me into their next tier.  Definitely worth it for me!

As it turned out, the friend joining me from the west coast was able to book the sale prices and we are set to meet in IAH.  A beautiful solution to a girl's getaway!

So my advice is this: play with your flight options before you make your choice.  You would expect that the results will be consistent, but sometimes you'll be surprised.  It's a bit of a treasure hunt, but if you strike gold you won't regret the time spent.

Where am I?

Update: Here I thought this was a hard one!  Good guess!

Poas Volcano is a gorgeous site a short drive outside of San Jose.  A private driver can be arranged for a nominal price, and it can be done in a half day.

A caveat to note is that seeing the volcano is weather and patience dependent.  Mist will cover the face for most of the time, but if you wait it might clear and you'll see the crater.  When it isn't clear, you'll see about five feet out before hitting a wall of white (think "The Nothing" from the Neverending Story).

***

Try this one out for size!  Not the country, the place!

Hint: It's in a  country famous for jungle excursions.

What is the most devalued airline frequent flyer program in north america?

Travel enough and you're bound to sign up for a loyalty program or two.  It might be for an airline or a hotel chain, something that offers free upgrades or even free travel if you visit often enough.

Over the last several years quite a few airlines have been hit hard by the global recession.  This has especially been the case in North America, where competition has become tougher than ever with the introduction of low-cost carriers like Spirit Airways.  This has resulted in scaling back on the offerings of many frequent flyer programs, and begs the question: what is the most devalued program out there?

I can't say that I know the answer, but an article recently went up on boardingarea.com that does.  The lucky winner?

Air Canada!

So perhaps all those flyers out there still clinging to their program might look elsewhere soon, because this program is starting to smell pretty bad.

Check it out!

Where am I?

Update: Seems this was a difficult one given no one got it!  Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Good luck next time :)

***

Because last week's was a bit easy for some, here's one that's a bit tougher.  Go for it!

Hint: This is a well-known area of a major city.

A guidebook that's just for fun

Sometimes choosing a guidebook is a difficult balance of pretty pictures and useful content.  There seem to be dozens of options, all jammed with information.

• Lonely Plant
• Frommers
• Rough Guide
• Let's Go
• Footprint
• DK
• Timeout
• Bradt

The list goes on.

Most of these I'm sure you're well able to track down, but for a bit of fun have a look at Jetlag Travel Guides.  Not useful for travel, but endlessly useful for entertainment.  Why?  Because they are guides to places that don't exist, and even if they did you can be certain you wouldn't want to visit them.
Leave one on your coffee table the next time you have guests over.  If someone asks, tell them you're considering it for your next vacation.  See what happens next.

Don't judge a book by it's cover

Ever hear the advice "don't judge a book by it's cover"?

Ever ignore that advice entirely?  No?  Really?

I was wandering in YEG the other weekend waiting for a flight back to YYZ.  Time on my hands and a very nondescript airport in which to spend it.  As much as I love the lounges, I wasn't in the mood.  That's how I found myself in the little book store across from the arcade and next to one of those anything/everything stores where you can buy overpriced cough drops because you forgot to bring any along (I wouldn't do this, of course).

I was flipping through the fiction aisle, not really intending to buy anything but always on the lookout for something interesting.

When I say I'm looking for something interesting, I mean more glancing and my focus is on the covers.

The fact is, while we can rely on the classics to have crap covers and still contain good writing, I have a hard time buying a more recently written book with an ugly cover.  My little pea brain doesn't translate low-budget printing into a quality adventure.  If a publisher wasn't willing to commit, why should I?

When I was in high school I bought a book by Steph Swainston called The Year of Our War.  It was a phenomenal book that I would highly recommend to fantasy lovers out there, however I didn't know that when I bought it.  My purchase was based entirely on the cover, which I fell in love with at first glance.

The cover was white as snow with the title and author's name scrawled across it in silver.  Simple, sleek, clean lines and no clutter.  I thought it was the most pretentious cover I had ever seen.  Consider this: in years past, classics were published with just the title of the book on the spine and the author's name scrawled across the front.  Picking them up, you knew you had something good waiting for you.  That signature was a promise.  Any author who is brazen enough to parallel the greats of literature is worth my judgement, for better or worse.

I still think that cover is pretentious, but I don't regret buying the book.

Back in YEG, I was looking for another The Year of Our War.  A cover that tempted, intrigued and drew my attention to the point where I couldn't walk away without it.  I was looking for a cover that promised to trade my life and my problems for someone else's, and perhaps a guarantee that it would all turn out well in the end.

All things considered, that's probably what I look for in a vacation destination as well.

Think about it.  How often have you decided you want to go somewhere because you saw some pretty pictures?

Yeah, I saw that guilty look.

Perhaps you ordered a brochure, looked up some sights on Lonely Planet, eyed a few hotels or pondered a tour.  You might be on a quest for relaxation or for a solid adventure that sets your heart racing.  Regardless of what it is, the fact is that likely you'll go in with expectations set.  You'll judge by the cover, so to speak.

It's not surprising that we do this.  After all, we've spent a lifetime building those expectations.

• Paris:  A concoction of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.  Flavoured with butter and crusty bread, and seasoned with the romance of lover kissing under bridges.

• Tokyo:  Filled to the brim with people, traffic flying by, lights and action and shinjuku girls with too much make-up.  Everyone eats raw fish with chopsticks and watches anime over dinner.

• Rome:  A city of ruins.  Italians out in the street shouting their conversations while wives hang sheets from the windows or berate their no-good husbands from kitchens suffused with mouthwatering smells.

These are cliches, obviously. Yet we cherish them as our book covers to the world.

In the end, I hope you'll think about this when their next opportunity to travel arises.  If you're booking because of the pretty pictures, be aware of that fact.  If you're after the culture, recognize that Hollywood has formed many of our preconceived notions.

I'm hoping to book a trip to Africa soon.  I've already been a number of times, but I'm not picky about where I go next.  I want to see more of the continent, but in myself I recognize that I'm not immune to judging without seeing.  For me, Ethiopia is a land blanketed in the dust of the past, in West Africa await the origins of voodoo and their curious practitioners, in Rwanda there will be hardship, and in Morocco the snake charmers sit in alleys playing music that permeates the city streets.

I know there's so much more than that.  This is why we travel.  The cover, it might be good and you might be tempted to fall in love, but there's so much more to be had.

So my challenge to you is this:  Don't be satisfied by the pretty pictures and inconsequential words.  Go out into the world, do things you never dared when the opportunities arise, roar at lions, walk in the Amazon at midnight, watch the sunrise from a mountaintop, drink French champagne on new years before kissing a stranger, and laugh because you're having the time of your life.

It's simple really:  Savor the book, not just the cover.

Gorgeous Beachs You Won't Find on a Top 10 List

I'm going to be honest with you.  Really.  In kindergarden when all the other kids were learning to share, I'm pretty sure I was distracted by a butterfly.

Fact is, I'm not good at sharing.  I like things to be mine.  This especially holds true for beaches.  I don't like to share my sand.  As a result, most beach resorts aren't all that appealing.  I have tested this several times in the Caribbean and while the beaches were nice, they didn't make me want to shove my flag in the sand and claim it for Canada.

The biggest issue?  Too many people.

My favorite beaches don't include company.

So for all those beach-lovers out there, let's talk about the more remote, jaw-droppingly beautiful bits of sand out there that you aren't going to see on a Top 10 list.

1. Easter Island, Chile

Easter Island: better recognized as that island with all the statues of the giant heads.

Fly to Santiago, Chile.  Board a LAN jet and head straight into the Pacific for 5.5 hours.  If the captain is worth their title, they'll find the most remote inhabited place on the planet, Easter Island.  The next closest populated place is Tahiti, but that's almost 6 hours away.

Easter Island marks the southernmost tip of Polynesia and boasts a population just shy of 6,000.   Surrounded by an azure-blue sky that stretches to the horizon, the water here is as clear as Bombay Blue gin and as refreshing as cool breeze of a hot day.

There are multiple beaches on the island worth visiting, some framed with the island's famed moai (giant statues) and others utterly deserted.  The island also has an issue with wild horses, so if you're sunbathing and think you hear thunder, check behind you as a herd may be galloping past (note for parents: this fact should be shared with caution to your 10 year old daughter.  Side effects can include endless pestering to visit.).

Easter Island

2. Fiji

This south Pacific gem is more modernized and easier to access than the other islands on this list.  That said, it's still a trek to get there.  For North Americans, the easiest option is a direct flight on Fiji Airways (formerly Air Pacific) from LAX to NAN.  This flight runs on a regular basis and prices tend to be lower than other options.  In addition, Fiji Airways has flights continuing on to Australia which allow free layovers, an excellent break on the front or back end of a trip (or both!).

Fiji

3. Giza, Solomon Islands

The Soloman Islands make up a small nation in the south Pacific.  It is difficult to get to, which translates into a very low rate of tourism.  Giza is one of the 922 islands that make up this nation, some hardly big enough to land a plane on, or so you'll think as your captain heads downwards.

The waters are crystal clear and chalked full of tropical fish.  Many hotels simply dip a line off their pier to bring up a dinner of some of the most succulent fish you'll ever taste (note: if you don't like fish, you'll be challenged for options).  Biking, kayaking, snorkeling, diving, and kicking back in a hammock are the most popular activities on this island paradise.

Imagine for a moment being stranded here, no internet or cellphone coverage, just peace and quiet.  Not so bad, right?

Giza, Soloman Islands

4. Champagne Beach, Espirito Santo, Vanuatu

Vanuatu is another fun one to find on a map.  Like Soloman, it's made up of a series of 82 islands, not all of which are inhabited.  Espiritu Santo is the largest of these islands (though oddly not where the capital is located or the main airport), and also one that lays claim to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world: Champagne Beach.

You can find this beach by driving down a long dirt road off the main highway (this highway is paved, luckily, and allows for two cars passing at most points).  You might run into a couple other people there, but in general you'll have it to yourself.  Bring a towel, some food and water, and a bottle of champagne to toast not just the beauty of the place but that you managed to make it all the way there! 

Champagne Beach, Espiritu Santo

5. Eritrea

My final choice on this list is also my favorite.  Like the others, it's difficult to reach by entirely worth it.

Let's start with a geography lesson.  Eritrea: located on the horn of Africa.  It's surrounded by Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sudan, and sits across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.  It's at war with the majority of its neighbours, and has strict requirements for tourists wanting to travel there.  That said, it's 100% worth the effort.

Below are examples of two islands located off the coast of Eritrea in the Red Sea.  Both were reached by power boat, both were entirely uninhabited, and on both we were left entirely to ourselves.  The water was warm and filled with fish, the boats having to edge around the reefs to make their landings.  Truly, I haven't seen anything to match the stunning beauty of these bits of sand.  For the brave, this is an experience not to be missed.

Desert Island, Eritrea

Sand spit, Eritrea

Note: These are just beaches I've come across in my journeys.  The fact is, the more remote you go the more spectacular they get.  There are tons more out there, just waiting to be discovered!