Another Pin » travel

Home is where the holiday is

holly — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 01:10:23 +0000

‘Tis the season for millions of people to migrate back to their Motherland and spend the holidays with their families. Consequently, it’s also the time of year all travel providers (airlines, hotel chains, etc) jack up the prices because they know whatever the cost, you’ll pony up, because being with your family is that important. Hell, even seven elevens increase their prices, so you’re paying more for that road trip essential Slim Jim. But with the economy being what it is, this year I’ve had a lot of clients forced to walk away from their standard plans, as the cost is just too high. The majority still traveled, but it got me thinking about the significance of spending the holidays at your home, away from the usual folks.

Yes, this is sad. It hurts. And there’s probably a good amount of guilt rolled up with it. But at the same time, this is a chance for a fresh start. A chance to spend time with your new “family”, biological or not, to gather together with the ones you love and see often and appreciate one another all the more. And a chance to create new traditions of your own.

We all have one – that family tradition you’ve been begging to get out of since you were old enough to formulate sentences. It may be Aunt Suze’s caroling around the neighbourhood, regardless of the weather or her singing ability. Or it could be watching A Christmas Carol, the old creepy one, for the millionth time. I mean, I am all about the holidays, but that is one seriously depressing movie. This year, you’re off duty. You don’t have to do any of that crap, and you don’t even have to pretend you did.

Ah, the Christmas dinner. That gold mine of traditions and “oh my God, what is that and why is it mushy”-ness. Being away gives you the freedom to decide what you want to consume. If you’re invited to a loved ones’ family fete, you can always create a phantom “allergy” to anything you don’t want to eat, they don’t know your medical history, and as long as you’re friendly and festive, your lack of eating anything that wasn’t turkey or off the dessert table will be completely overlooked. Or, if you’re cooking yourself, it’s even better. Always wanted that Holiday lasagna? What’s stopping you? For less than 4 people, turkey is way more effort than it’s worth, and what could be more festive than a red-sauced lasagna with white noodles and a green side salad? If it makes you feel better, refer to the cheese sprinkled on top as “magic snow”, then sit back and enjoy.

But the point is that no matter where you are or who you’re with, the holidays can be special, and if circumstances prevented you from reenacting the identical holiday for the 30th year, that doesn’t mean all is lost. It means you just have to redefine your definition of merriment and joy. Have fun! Have the happiest of holidays!

Just don’t forget to call your Mom.

WTF? – Openly illegal

holly — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:08:19 +0000

If you’re committing fraud, don’t walk up to a travel agent and ask them to assist you. Got it? Unless there’s some cheezy hollywood plot where you’re blackmailing the agent into assisting you (and oh my God, if there is, you have some serious issues), we’re not going to help you. Nobody wants to go to jail for a complete stranger just to make a CAD$50.00 service fee.

Let me explain. A week ago a man walks into our office and wants to buy all sorts of prepaid visa cards and air tickets in his various aliases. The big catch was that he was so casual about it – “hey, I don’t want anyone to be able to track me so I’m living under an assumed name. Can I book an air ticket?”

No.

Hell no.

What were you thinking you dork?

Luckily he never gave his name (any of them) and didn’t waste too much of our time (when we said “that’s not legal” he said “oh really?” we said “yep” and he left), but it just left us scratching our heads. Who is paranoid/wanted by the law/about to be whacked by the mafia enough to live under an assumed name, but then walks into offices and blatantly tells strangers his situation? Was this for real? Were we being punk’d? For his sake I hope Random guy survives, but walking around talking like that is not helping his cause. All I can hope for is that he was mentally disturbed or something and that it was not his real situation.

As travel agents, we are ethically bound not to discuss any of your travel plans with anyone unless you authourize us to. Luckily, if you’ve got a lengthy criminal record, are carrying around thirty kilos of coke or laundering money, the chances are pretty good that we won’t be able to book you in the first place, as the government screening that every traveler goes through will catch you first. Now the US has instituted a new Secure Flight program that requires anyone flying over US airspace (you don’t even need to touch the country) to submit their full passport names, gender and birthdate more than 72 hours prior to departure. This of course opens up your personal information to more intense scrutiny. So basically, unless you’re really, really good, you’re going to get screwed.

But geez, this guy was stupid. Or nuts. Or both.

Oh well. Makes an entertaining topic around the water cooler!

I want to go to Vietnam for the food.

holly — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:13:05 +0000

Yeah, I know, I’m thinking with my stomach again. But blogging about food has so many fewer calories than actually eating it, so it’s worth it. Plus, this keeps me on my Jillian Michaels meal plan (that I’m following loosely, with emphasis on the “loose”, but that’s another blog altogether). So anyway, back to the topic at hand: I have a craving for Vietnamese Pho, and I’m tired of settling for the yummy westernized stuff they serve in Vancouver. I want real Vietnamese food, and the only way I can get it is to actually go to Vietnam. There it’s just called food. Alas, I am still in saving mode after the last trip, and am already paying off the next (California in September – stay tuned!), so my Pho craving will have to wait until next year, at least. Big pout. In the meantime, lets all take a moment and fantasize about that cuisine you love and can’t wait to try the authentic version of, or that plate of steaming awesomeness you once had and wish you were back there again.

One of my clients told me, which is probably why this is on my mind in the first place, that he was once in Texas and had a steak so good he actually cried. I, of course, told him he was a lunatic. Kidding. I just thought it. He had a point though, global cuisine can transform a vacation into an experience. The local delights are as much of a cultural experience as a dance performance or a museum, but they can be much easier to find and, depending on your tastes, either way cheaper or waaaaayyy more expensive.

Some of the best food in much of southeast Asia can be found at street carts for next to nothing, but it’ll keep you coming back for more. When I was in Bangkok there was this cart on the corner near my hotel that was little more than a single burner run by jumper cables hooked to a car battery, and there was this real and very dead rooster head hanging from the side, but every morning the line up was practically around the block for a container of their stir fry. I never tried it, the combination of the line length, the rooster head, and my weenie Canadian palette made me chicken out, but I still think about it, and vow that if I’m ever back there I’m totally eating from the rooster guy’s cart. If the locals like it, it has to be good.

What’s the deal with Korean Kimchi, anyway? It’s just fermented cabbage buried in a vat underground for like six months, but every time I’ve been out for Korean food, they use it on everything. I have not acquired the taste for it. To me it’s like sour… something nasty… but I can’t help but wonder if the stuff you’ll get on your plate of braised short ribs in Seoul would be so much better. Does the shipping process make it nastier? Is it less pungent straight from the ground?

Mmmmm… chicken tikka masala…. another of my faves. Admittedly, the BF does cook one hell of a home version, but it blows my mind thinking of the layers of rich flavour that can only come from a spice mix hand-ground daily by the women of the village. Yum. Just wait until I find myself in India one day and all the spices are ground by your standard coffee grinder, but in the interim I will happily allow my mind to wander to the romantic fantasy I have created. Besides, I’d go to Vietnam before India, the flight is shorter

So tell me, what foods would you love to try fresh from the source?

Motivating your motivation

holly — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:25:47 +0000

I’m just curious – what makes you want to get up and travel? What is the kryptonite to your contentment that hits you upside the head and makes you check your available vacation days at work?

For me, it’s my miniscule attention span. Well, now it’s my job (God knows, talking about all these incredible places all day every day has me in a perpetual state of “where next?” -ing), but even before I was in the industry I had an outbreak of “get me the hell outta here!” at pretty regular six-month intervals. I just reach my quota of home and need a change of scenery to maintain my mental stability.

Ooh, and television. Gets me every time. Yep, I’m the dork who finds herself in Paris trying to find the same flag on the Arc de Triumph from the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower that they searched for on the Amazing Race. Or went to Rainmakers adventure forest in Quepos, Costa Rica, just because the family edition ran through there.

So what spurs you into action?

Woo hoo Going to Costa Rica!

holly — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:44:17 +0000

Saturday night I’m taking off for a week of sun and fun in Costa Rica. Of course I’ll keep you all posted as much as I can while I’m there. It’s going to be awesome. Ziplining and exploring in La Fortuna, near the base of the active volcano Arenal. Dancing with hummingbirds, butterfly watching and more ziplining in the Monteverde cloud forest. Hiking, ATV-ing past waterfalls, kayaking through a mangrove forest, monkey spotting and touring a spice plantation in Manuel Antonio. Sweet. Mentally, I’m on my way there already. And it’s going to be warm, too. Tank top and shorts weather! Just dreaming about it is warming me up, I am so over this Vancouver winter, all the cold and rain (naturally the sun is coming out as I write this – leave it to mother nature to bitchslap my complaining), but I can’t wait.

Tropics, here I come!