Category: travel

Air Canada Winter Getaway Pass

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

air-canada-logo.gifMy least favourite airline is getting great press. And making money.

This traveller just sent them $1060.

I purchased something called a Western Winter Getaway Flight Pass (2 month).

I can fly free any Tuesday, Saturday or Sunday from January 8 through Tuesday March 04, 2008. From most Western Canadian cities to Western American cities to which Air Canada flies.

It’s good value for me. Though inevitably I will have to fly back to Canada merely to turn around next day and fly South again. Air Canada does not fly between U.S. destinations and the Pass is not valid on their partners.

Fine print:

Available only to Canadian residents with a valid address, Aeroplan membership and PIN number at time of purchase and during the entire validity period.

… Flight credits can be used only on Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and Air Canada regional partners with Air Canada flight numbers. Codeshare flights operated by United Airlines and United Express are excluded

… Flight credit booking changes are subject to availability; a $75 CA fee per direction, plus taxes, applies to booking changes and cancellations

This pass is only available until December 2, 2007.

More information – Air Canada Flight Passes

book – A Piano in the Pyrenees

On By Rick McIn books, humour, product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

I am on a reading listening binge. (Thanks to Audible.com and hours each day on my bike with a Nano.)

The Ups and Downs of an Englishman in the French Mountains

A Piano in the Pyrenees: The Ups and Downs of an Englishman in the French Mountains

What? He’s not the world’s most famous skateboarder.

He’s Antony Gordon Hawksworth, better known as Tony Hawks, English comedian, author and philanthropist.

I loved his first book — Round Ireland with a Fridge and somewhat liked his second book — Playing the Moldovans at Tennis.

Piano is his fourth book. And it is excellent. I love the amusing, understated British humour.

A Brit out of his element in rural France after impetuously buying a house. Brilliant.

PS

A guy named Dave Nicoll also liked Round Ireland with a Fridge. Inspired, he decided to travel round the WORLD with a fridge.

Kelly and Lexi – Honeymoon photos

On By Rick McIn photos, travelLeave a comment

Lexi and Kelly were married this past summer in Whitehorse, Yukon. We had a terrific time there. THANKS.

Today Lexi posted some photos to Facebook, including this one from their kayak trip on the Inside Passage right after their wedding.

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Sitka, Alaska: Facebook | Alexia McKinnon’s Photos – Honeymoon #1 – more photos

Yup, Lexi married this guy … and later in the Fall took a second trip to Hawaii.

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After a great day of snorkeling at Hanauma Bay: Facebook | Alexia McKinnon’s Photos – Honeymoon # 2 Hawaii – more photos

Looks wonderful.

book – All the Pretty Horses

On By Rick McIn books, product complaints, travel, travel MexicoLeave a comment

For some reason I thought I’d like All the Pretty Horses, the award winning novel by Cormac Mccarthy.

That would be wrong.

… The plot is simple enough. John Grady Cole, a 16-year-old dispossessed Texan, crosses the Rio Grande into Mexico in 1949, accompanied by his pal Lacey Rawlins. The two precocious horsemen pick up a sidekick–a laughable but deadly marksman named Jimmy Blevins–encounter various adventures on their way south and finally arrive at a paradisiacal hacienda where Cole falls into an ill-fated romance. …

The writing is excellent. But the plot plods and has nothing more to redeem it than tired “folk wisdom of uneducated cowboys” cuteness. The last time that engaged me, Clint Eastwood was a young man.

Thumbs down.

All the Pretty Horses

All the Pretty Horses

I bought it as an audio book. But since no one has (yet) come up with a convincing enough neologism to claim the prize, I cannot VERBalize what I did with Pretty Horses.

… “ristened” … GAK.

beautiful thermal geology in Pamukkale, Turkey

On By Rick McIn photos, travelLeave a comment

Katrina sent me photos of a famous formation in Turkey. For hundreds of years tourists have used them as hot springs. Of course people were damaging the geology. They are protected now.

Hierapolis-Pamukkale was made a World Heritage Site in 1988.

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larger original – flickr

more interesting photos of Pamukkale, Turkey

Pamukkale, meaning “cotton castle” in Turkish, is a natural site and attraction in south-western Turkey in the Denizli Province.

…

The effect of this natural phenomenon leaves thick white layers of limestone and travertine cascading down the mountain slope resembling a frozen waterfall. …

Pamukkale is a famous tourist attraction of Turkey. Tourists travel from the coast of Antalya and the Aegean Sea to Pamukkale, it is also recognized as a World Heritage Sites together with Hierapolis. Only a few other places in the world resemble it, including the Mammoth Hot Springs in the USA and Huanglong in Sichuan Province of China (another UNESCO World Heritage Site).

Wikipedia

Banff Mountain Festival

On By Rick McIn books, movies, travelLeave a comment

Up in the mountains for the weekend, for those interested, I’m blogging the films and book presentations over on my hiking website.

For example, John Harlin III (the son) presented the personal background story of his new book, The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father.

IMAX had a big hit with Everest. They’ve followed that up with a movie called The Alps.

Harlin, in the film, repeats the cimb of the Eiger where his father had fallen to his death. With his wife and daughter looking on.

To see the trailer click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Banff Hostel – Mountain Film festival

On By Rick McIn books, movies, travelLeave a comment

For the Banff Mountain Festival I’ll be staying at the Banff International hostel.

Coolest attraction there is the man made ice climbing wall. (Not sure if it is in operation yet this winter.)

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I have a standard $150 ticket package for events. But I’m guessing just the ambiance of the mountain resort over the festival days will be the highlight.

photos from Mexico – Lake Chapala

On By Rick McIn Cirque du Soleil, photos, travel, travel MexicoLeave a comment

Chris wrote from Guadalajara, where he’s a coach with a travelling Cirque du Soleil show.

They made a trip down to Lake Chapala where my parents spent 2 winters. It’s a quiet Gringo enclave.

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more Mexico and Chapala photos