Last minute details, leaving tomorrow.

Well, the cats have taken up about 95% of my fret threshold so I haven't had too much time to freak out about the trip.  But I did manage to get some last minute stuff done.  I confirmed our hostel for the first couple of nights in Quito.  We will be staying at the Blue House.  www.bluehousequito.com.
It took quite a bit of questioning to get them to confirm that our private room has two beds.  I will let you know if there was a 'language' issue and we end up sharing.  I imagine after 24 hours in transit, arriving after midnight, I won't care too much on the first night.  We also have an ensuite and they are meeting us at the airport.  

I suspect we won't be there for more than a couple of nights.  It looks pretty tourist hostel-y.  I realize it IS a tourist hostel but that is no excuse to not be embarrassed by the fact.  Case in point, this photo on their website:

Yikes.

Other last minute tasks completed today:  I bought a case for my new camera and a plastic fanny pack so that I have something to hold my new waterproof camera while swimming.  I took my rolled coin to bank and submitted my mileage claim form at work.  This is my new travel budget.  So sad.  I also bought a new book (Hunger Games) for the flight.  AND worked a full day.

And let's not forget dealing with vets.  Again, let's all give a prayer of thanks for Chris who is not only going to have to take Samantha to the vet this weekend, and give her her regular meds and probably another round of antibiotics for her ears, but she is ALSO now going to have to deal with a radioactive GingyPuss.  I kid you not.  GP is going to the vet in two weeks and getting her thyroid zapped with radioiodine (I-131) while I am away.   She will be radioactive for two weeks and her 'litter' (the poop kind, not the kitten kind) will have to be treated like nuclear waste (put in a barrel and rolled into Lake Springfield - a Simpson's reference and I haven't even left Canada yet!).  And, jerk that I am, I will be away for all of that (seriously, I feel very guilty).  Lesson here, never take your cat to the vet before embarking on a long trip unless you hate your cat sitter.  (I do not hate Chris - I love Chris, I owe Chris a kidney or even my liver if she needs it - thank goodness she doesn't drink).

At least she will be easy to find in a dark room.

Now I have packed for the last time.  I packed with all of my travel clothes (what I will be wearing on the plane but not while we are backpacking) to see how much weight I will be lugging around.  Approximately 25 pounds.  It doesn't sound like alot but I am a wimp.  I lost a few items since the first pack.  I am down to two tee shirts, two tank tops and one long sleeve shirt.  Oh, how I am going to grow to loath those 5 tops over the next five weeks. I also tossed out my silk bed liner.  I only used it once in India but it was pretty vital that one time.  We'll see if I am sorry about this decision in time. 

I only used the backpack space.  I did not have to put any extra in the attachable day pack.  This is good because it means I have some shuffling space and,  more importantly,  some shopping space.

Val will be here in the morning at 11:30 so we can take the 1 pm ferry.  We will have lots of time to kill in Vancouver but I am paranoid about the ferries breaking down.  Or just one medical emergency mid-crossing and we could miss our flight, so we are going over early. 

One last concern.  I bought a travel alarm clock for Cuba but never could quite figure out how to use it.  But now, packed at the bottom of my bag, the alarm keeps beeping.  But it is midnight and I am going to bed so I will de-beep, if I can, in the morning. 

Final bag count for Lea and Alisma:
1 purse.
1 backpack
1 day pack
1 bigger purse/carry all
1 extra foldable bag for return trip.
Not bad.  (I won't mention the fanny pack, the dry bag and the various little sacks stuffed with little things)

Practising with my new purchases.

I am practising with my new computer and installing the free Anti-virus that came with.  The free trial is only for 2 months but that is long enough to get me back to Canada.  I have been warned multiple times about the dangers of shared public wifi. 


The plan is to write up my electronic diary on my netbook and then upload it when I can find internet.  Either directly from my computer if there is wifi or else I will have to save everything on a Word doc (actually WordPad since I don`t have Office on this thing), save it to a memory stick and then upload to an internet cafe computer.   So, I am practising that today.  I am also hoping that I can put pictures onto the wordpad doc and then have them upload easily onto Blogspot.  I am not too optimistic about that but we`ll give it a go.  Handily, I am also practising with my new waterproof camera.  Double deal. 

Ok, here goes. 

A few minutes later:  nope, apparently WordPad doesn`t have an `insert` option and I can`t seem to cut and paste from `photos`.  Oh well, one can`t get too lazy, expecting to be able to do everything in one step. 


Now, let's try the memory stick to Blogspot.  Let`s give this a go.  (Save, Cut, Paste...)

A few minutes later: well, that worked a treat.   This means I won't have to take notes and then try to slam out days worth of experiences in a single one hour internet session like I did in India.

Plus, second step, here is a photo from the new camera that I downloaded onto the netbook and then saved onto the memory stick and then transfered to a second computer.

poor unhappy Kitty with her icky, sticky head from her ear medicine

     other unhappy Kitty demanding soft food 

That works in a pinch. 


Next.  Here is an exciting demo of the underwater camera in action - in case I see a jar of garlic black bean sauce in the waters off the Galapagos. 

It's not great but better than nothing. I guess we can expect blurry fish/seal/turtle/snorkeling-Val pictures.  

Here is what it looks like out of water (breaching?) -  much clearer, although still not as good as my other camera.

Well.  Stuart McLean just ended and Rex Murphy is talking politics so it is time to get back to re-packing. 

By the way, both cats are unhappy because they are both having vet issues. Samantha; ear infection, GP; dental problems.  I hope the vet will take a rousing recounting of Ecuador stories, supplemented with a million photo slide show, as payment for their various treatments because the cats are costing about as much as this trip.  I did not budget for sickly pets. Lucky thing they are cute (although a bit less so right now with the goopy head and snaggly teeth). 

I see I'm not the only one who resorts to swearing when dealing with airlines

(it's ok, it is very mild swearing - safe for work).
Thanks to Mom (via Sue)  for the awesome and hilarious link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPyl2tOaKxM

my very long to do and buy list.

For someone who claims to already own anything I might need for a trip, I am shopping a lot.  As previously mentioned, I have bought a new backpack and a netbook.  I have also bought an underwater camera, new memory cards for the new camera and new sunglasses, new goggles, a super light fleece and a super thin rain jacket.  I even tried to buy a new bathing suit but I came to my senses and returned it.  I don't think the seals and tortoises of Galapagos care if my bathing suit is new.  Let's hope the old one holds up or it won't just be blue footed boobies on display.  Haha (I kill me).

For reasons unknown, my social calendar is red hot right now so I seem to have movies and dinners and other activities booked for pretty much every night until I leave.  Fortunately, tonight, Val is coming over to assess my packing. 

Issues to deal with before I leave. Both cats seem to have some sort of low level maladies. Sam is on antibiotics for an ear infection. GP is going in to the vet for a looksie this Saturday as she seems skinnier and whinier than usual. Hopefully Chris won't have to deal with medicine for her too. Shout out to Chris who is cat minding while I am away. Bigger shout out since I am promoting her from cat minder to cat nurse. I'm sure she will be thrilled. Note to self: get Chris baby llama as thank you gift. Rufus (her dog) will be thrilled.

I can't find my yellow fever card. I have to pay to have it replaced. My deliveries of memory cards and camera are all being delivered to different pick up spots. Cat medicine needs to be picked up. Buy American money. I have no days off before I go except the weekend and everyone I need to deal with seems to work on bank hours. Packpackpackpack. Unpack. Packpackpackpack. Excuse me I have to go and lie down.

Later that same day.  Val and I packed my bag.  I have too  much stuff!  The backpack is FULL but everything fits, just.  And the bag is exactly the allowed weight for carry on.  Some stuff has to go. 

Air Canada update

Here is Air Canada's response to my letter of complaint:

Dear Ms. Cumberland,

Thank you for taking the time to contact our office.

I sincerely regret to learn of the inconvenience you and Ms. Cooper have experienced as a result of our schedule change and on behalf of Air Canada offer our most sincere apologies. Given your description of how this has affected your work schedule I can certainly understand how frustrating and disappointing this is for both of you.

Please note that since your pre-travel inquiry requires information from the reservation system and/or access to your file, we invite you to communicate directly with Air Canada Reservations as they are best suited to respond.

That said, Customer Relations handles past travel concerns only and once your travel has been completed, kindly contact our office and we will be glad to review your concerns and offer some form of compensation at that time.

Sincerely,

Britt
Customer Relations

So, AC Reservations told me to contact Customer Relations and Customer Relations told me to contact AC Reservations.  That's about right.  I guess we aren't getting upgraded.   But hopefully some free miles "once our travel has been completed."

Val is working on getting the night shift in question off.  

I am working on a new Zen attitude when it comes to Air Canada.  It's all good, ooohhhhhm, it's all good. 

Oh, and just for fun this was in the paper today: 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/02/13/air-canada-pilot-talks.html

Air Canada in talks with pilots as deadline nears

Work stoppage could begin as early as Friday

ooooohhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Does Air Canada suck? Of course it does. But by how much has yet to be determined

I should have known better.  I was bordering on being nice about Air Canada in my last post.  But alas, they remain my arch nemesis, at least for the next (up to) 30 days.

**This post has a Parental Warning Rating of 14+ due to mild (but fully appropriate) profanity**

What has Air Canada done this time to pique my wrath?  (That is two words in one sentence that I'm not sure how to spell correctly in this context).  Well.  On Wednesday, I got an email from Expedia, through whom we booked our tickets, that there was a change to our itinerary.  This has happened before but it was always minor so I figured it was no big, and gave them a call.  Well, it was a big.  A big big.  Expedia informed me that Air Canada had cancelled the Bogota to Toronto portion of our return flight.  Ummm, we need that part - it is just a bit too far to walk. 

Lovely agent, whose name I have forgotten, could give no reason for Air Canada's cancellation but agreed that it was a dick move (is that a swear word?  I apologize but as the movie censors say, if it is necessary to the plot and the tone, it is ok.  I am pretty sure swearing is necessary to both the plot and tone of any Air Canada post, especially this one).  But he did give me two options for getting home.  One, we could keep approximately the same schedule but instead of Bogota to Toronto, Toronto to Vancouver, we would fly Bogota to Mexico City, spend 4 hours (2am to 6 am) in the Mexican airport, (I assume upright on uncomfortable formed plastic chairs with our soon-to-be-stolen bags at our feet), then Mexico City to Vancouver.  Or we could move our original flight to the next day. 

I called Val, who, miracle of miracles, was home and awake and actually answered her phone.  I gave her the scoop.  Neither of us wanted the Mexican "night of the living dead" option.  But the problem with moving the departure date one day was Val's work schedule.  We had decided on our dates based completely on Val's approved vacation days.  With our original date, (arrive in Vancouver at noon, 3pm ferry, home by 6pm) Val would have 24 hours to sleep once she got back to Victoria before her night shift at 7 pm the next night.  Well, the brighter readers of this post will have already figured out that if we return 24 hours later, that leaves Val ZERO hours to sleep before her first night shift.

I called Expedia back and asked if we  could get some sort of compensation from Air Canada for the inconvenience.  They said we could try but we would have to call them directly.  So I called them.  A lovely 45 minutes on hold and then I got an Air Canada agent on the phone.  He was also nice and agreed with everyone in the world that the cancellation was, indeed, a dick move (I am paraphrasing his words but I know how to read between the lines - and really, who would know a dick move better than an Air Canada employee).  But he wasn't able to help me.  He told me to deal through Expedia to change the tickets and  to contact 'Air Canada Customer Relations'.  

So I called Expedia again and rebooked and now our new return flight is March 27/28 (overnight).  Then I hassled Lynda, my boss, to give me another day tacked on the end of my vacation days. Which she did, because she is awesome. 

But I want retribution. I want revenge. Well, maybe just a bit of justice.  So I checked out Air Canada's customer relations website.  For reasons I cannot fathom, AC customer relations does not have a phone contact.  (Well, maybe I can fathom irate AC customers screaming profanity a lot worse than 'dick' into the ear of some poor rep).  If you 'have something to say to Air Canada' as they so nicely put it, then you have to email, mail or fax your 'feedback or concerns'.  No screaming phone calls allowed. http://www.aircanada.com/en/customercare/customersolutions.html

So, I wrote a nice, two page, because they want detail, letter outlining the issue, the problems it has caused both me and my travelling companion and my suggestions for a solution.  My suggestion:  Upgrade us to Business class for our return flight so that Val can sleep and to add on a free flight from Vancouver to Victoria so that we get home a earlier so Val can also have a nap before her shift.  Plus, for all of the stress, hassle and extra lost day of work for me, they may also want to consider upgrading our flight to Ecuador too or persnaps a voucher toward a future AC flight (because, living in Canada, as much as I don't want to, I know I will be on one of their planes again - curse word!)

So, my enemy, Air Canada, the ball is in your court.  Will you make me hate you more or hate you less?  For the rest of you, I will let you know the outcome in 30 days or less, AC's customer relations resolution timeline (even though we leave in 25).  Curse word!

We are booked!

Well, all obstacles have been overcome (except for poordom but whatever). Val's condo mates rejected the proposed renos, VIHA approved her vacation and I just follow blissfully along.  Once Val's vacation time was officially approved, we booked our flight.  This turned out to be more confusing than we had anticipated.  It turns out that there are a variety of routes and airlines one can chose to get to Ecuador.  We narrowed it down to two.  One with United that had one layover in Houston (9 hours!) on the way down and two layovers on the way back (Houston, Denver).  The second option was with Air Canada; two layovers each way (Toronto, Columbia).  Option one had one less stop over and was only one day flight (19 hrs) but it was $400 more.  Option two was overnight each way (24 hrs), one more layover but no stopping in the States where they make you go through customs even if you aren't leaving the airport.  Option two was also Air Canada, which dedicated blog readers know, I hate.  But I had heard bad things about United too and AC International isn't near as bad as AC domestic.  We were going to go with United but the site wouldn't let us complete our transaction, so we ended up on Air Canada anyway.  I am ok with that.  Plus, we were able to tack on a few more days on the end so we got another weekend out of the deal for no extra cost (to make up for the two lost days of travel).  So, all told, $1100 round trip tickets.  Cheaper than I thought, and we fly out of Vancouver, no Seattle, which makes life easier.  Our flight out leaves in the evening and return in the early afternoon so we don't even have to spend an extra night in Vancouver.  With United we would have been overnight both ways. 

We even got to book our seats right away.

Itinerary:
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Travelling to Quito
Wed 22 Feb 2012
Vancouver (YVR) Depart 10:30 pm Terminal MAIN TERMINAL	to	Toronto (YYZ) Arrive 5:59 am +1 day Terminal 1	3,355 km (2,085 mi) Duration: 4hr 29mn	AC Air Canada Flight: 156
3Economy/Coach Class ( 29K, 29H ), Food For Purchase, Boeing 767-300
Thu 23 Feb 2012
Toronto (YYZ) Depart 1:55 pm Terminal 1	to	Bogota (BOG) Arrive 7:45 pm Terminal 1	4,352 km (2,704 mi) Duration: 5hr 50mn	AC Air Canada Flight: 962
3Economy/Coach Class ( 29K, 29H ), Meal, Boeing 767-300
Bogota (BOG) Depart 10:00 pm Terminal 1	to	Quito (UIO) Arrive 11:30 pm	721 km (448 mi) Duration: 1hr 30mn	AV Avianca Flight: 7377 Operated by: AEROLINEAS GALAPAGOS S.A. AEROGAL
3Economy/Coach Class ( Seat assignments upon check-in ), Meal, Airbus A320
Total distance: 8,428 km (5,237 mi) Total duration: 11hr 49mn (22hr 0mn with connections)
Travelling to Vancouver			Note: Your airport check-in is with AEROLINEAS GALAPAGOS S.A. AEROGAL.
Mon 26 Mar 2012
Quito (UIO) Depart 6:50 pm	to	Bogota (BOG) Arrive 8:20 pm Terminal 1	721 km (448 mi) Duration: 1hr 30mn	AV Avianca Flight: 7376 Operated by: AEROLINEAS GALAPAGOS S.A. AEROGAL
3Economy/Coach Class ( Seat assignments upon check-in ), Meal, Airbus A320
Bogota (BOG) Depart 10:55 pm Terminal 1	to	Toronto (YYZ) Arrive 6:00 am +1 day Terminal 1	4,352 km (2,704 mi) Duration: 6hr 5mn	AC Air Canada Flight: 963
3Economy/Coach Class ( 29K, 29H ), Breakfast, Boeing 767-300
Tue 27 Mar 2012
Toronto (YYZ) Depart 10:00 am Terminal 1	to	Vancouver (YVR) Arrive 12:00 pm Terminal MAIN TERMINAL	3,355 km (2,085 mi) Duration: 5hr 0mn	AC Air Canada Flight: 181
3Economy/Coach Class ( 27D, 27C ), Food For Purchase, Airbus A320 _________________________________________________________________________ We booked our flight on Dec 22.  Then Christmas happened.  But now planning is back on track.  Val and I went to the Nova Travel Clinic.  We both completed out Hep A&B and Val had to get Yellow Fever.  Mine is still good from Africa.  If we decide to head into the Amazon basin, we have to prove Yellow Fever Vaccination or they won't let us in.  Apparently, we might try to make out with previously undiscovered tribal people. Uncontacted Tribe in Amazon  Yesterday, we met up to do a bit of shopping.  Val wanted a weatherproof back pack cover since we will be there in the rainy season.  We bought goggles for Galapagos and I bought a new backpack.  My old one still smells of DEET from my Cuba incident.  Plus, the new one is just a bit bigger and it has an attached day pack.  Plus, bonus, it has a built in raincover.  That feature alone half paid for the pack since to buy a new separate one would have been over $40.  Now, I just have to be careful not to use that extra space when I am deciding what to take.  Which reminds me.  Mom and Bill were very generous this Christmas and gave me some cash for my trip.   Plus, Kirsten and Tommy gave a surprise Future Shop gift card so I was able to buy a new Netbook (plus the backpack).  Thanks everyone.  I assume that some parts of Ecuador won't have easy Internet access.  The Netbook will allow me to keep up to date with the blog.  I can just jot down my daily notes and then upload when I get wifi.