Tijuana sucks

On March 10, 2008 By Rick McIn travel, travel MexicoLeave a comment

Took the standard tourist day trip to Tijuana, Mexico. It’s a 25min ride from downtown San Diego on a quaint train.

About 300,000 visitors cross by foot or car from the San Ysidro point of entry in the United States every day. … Mexico’s drinking age of 18 (vs. 21 in the United States) make it a common weekend destination for many high school and college aged Southern Californians who tend to stay within the Avenida Revolución.

Greeting tourists is one of the oddest and least attractive structures anywhere. This arch:

I’d rate it zero out of 10 — except for the odd and interesting sound of those many cables vibrating in the wind.

Worst was the world’s busiest border crossing, a pain on the return. Very disorganized.

I highly recommend avoiding Tijuana unless you are on some sort of alcoholic bender.

hiking Joshua Tree

On March 8, 2008 By Rick McIn health & fitness, hiking, travel, travel MexicoLeave a comment

Hello from Peabody’s Coffee Bar in Palm Springs, California.

I’m just off to do a trail run on Mt. San Jacinto, off the tramway. It’s sunny summer down below. But I hear there is plenty of snow up high. In fact, they rent snow shoes and cross country skis atop the lift.

After a few days hiking in the Joshua Tree area, I fly to Mazatlán, Mexico on Tuesday for more dental work.

renewing a Canadian passport

On March 4, 2008 By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

I’m happy.

Travelling much, it was difficult to find the time to renew my passport.

Yesterday I learned the best way to do it, quick.

1) get your official photos
2) fill out the Simplified Passport Renewal form
3) arrive in person at a Passport office with everything signed and ready
4) attach a copy of your next reserved air flight itinerary

Your application goes to the top of the pile if you have a flight pending.

Thanks to Certificates Express (website) for the tip.

Frequently Asked Questions on the Simplified Passport Renewal Process – Passport Canada

… off to San Diego today.

hey Air Canada – where is my luggage?

On March 1, 2008 By Rick McIn product complaints, travelLeave a comment

My least favourite airline has gotten better over the years. But legacy inefficiency from the days of it being a “National airline”, government subsidized, are still evident.

For example, when they lost a piece of luggage recently, the system of tracking that lost bag is still astonishingly bad. Instead of marking it with a special “priority tag” and returning it to the disgruntled customer with the care of a UPS parcel, Air Canada employees hardly know any better than I do where it is.

Instead of a modern tracking system, this is what they use:

They gave me a web page for tracking my bag. But shorthand jargon used decades ago makes the site unintelligible to customers. It was not updated anyway. And was incorrect:

A phone call to their Lost luggage department is routed, as you might expect, to a call centre in India. The fellows there are sincere, hard working, polite — but they have no idea where lost luggage is located. How could they? There is no tracking system. At least 4 Air Canada luggage employees in North America admitted the call centre is only for letting customers blow off steam, not for actually finding bags.

Different Air Canada employees I talked to on the ground in North America tried to help. But notes they add to clarify when I will be in different cities, when departing, etc. seem to be lost by the next agent checking the file.

My advice is to avoid Air Canada, if you can. Other airlines could not possibly do a worse job tracking lost luggage.

After about 12 days I found my own bag by looking in the office at my home airport, Calgary, and visually identifying it myself.

It had been opened, a can of instant coffee exploded. And (I think) an electric razor was missing.

There was no accurate story given me as to what had happened to my bag. I heard several excuses, but they made no sense to me.

Air Canada still sucks.

==== UPDATE

I filed a formal complaint with Air Canada on this. Here is the template response you get after submitting online:

Thank you for contacting us. This is an “auto-response” which confirms we have received your message. Our current processing time is 15 business days for general customer concerns and 30 business days for baggage-related issues. There is no need to re-submit your information, we will do our best to get back to you as soon as we can.

The reference number for your question is ‘080301-000042’.

Ah, 30 business days. Six weeks.

Air Canada is REALLY concerned about my baggage complaint, aren’t they?

Air Canada pass for unlimited flying

On March 1, 2008 By Rick McIn product complaints, travelLeave a comment

I am on an Air Canada pass right now. (Not nearly as good as it sounds, actually.)

A new round of passes are available:

This spring, enjoy unlimited travel – three days a week – for the price of a single ticket with the Spring Getaway Pass. Travel in the zone of your choice – solo or with a companion – on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, for a one-month or two-month period. Don’t miss out on this exciting limited-time offer! …

… Plus, with the purchase of the two-month option, you can get an International Sample Pass offering you a return trip to Paris, London or Shanghai this April for only $150!

Hurry! This spring offer ends on March 20, 2008.

Air Canada