Pearl Travel

Pearls of Wisdom for Travel – Travel to Canada

Being a part of the North Coast of the US and bordering Canada we are perhaps a bit more aware of some problems in traveling to Canada than other parts of the country.  I feel that it is important to let my blog know about travel restrictions that are occuring more frequently for US citizens trying to travel to Canada via cruise or car or bus, when there is a point of entry into Canada. 

A person is considered to be criminally inadmissible to Canada if  you have been or were convicted of an offence outside of Canada that is considered a crime in Canada; and/or committed an act outside of Canada that is considered a crime under the laws of the country where it occurred and would be punishable under Canadian law. 

I am sure that most people out there think this does not affect them but I want to remind you that a DUI or DWI conviction is included in this restriction.

Why am I talking about this now - in the past travelers have had problems and with the Olympics being in Canada and people planning their summer travel I felt it to be a timely topic.   A person was denied boarding in Anchorage Alaska for an Alaska cruise because the cruise ended in Vancouver and Canada denied them entry.  It is very important that you know this information if you are planning a cruise in Alaska or New England where the cruise begins or ends in Canada or has ports of call in Canada.  this can also affect you if you are just going to Canada on a gambling trip.  Another point to remember is that Travel Protection or Travel Insurance does not cover this situation. 

For more information the link below will take you to the appropriate web page for Canada.   

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5312E.asp 

Pearl of wisdom brought to you bay Barb

Pearls of Wisdom for Travel

I have been in the travel industry for about 20 years and during that time I have probably seen or heard thousands of travel hints that might benefit you the traveling public.  I thought I would share one or two of  those with you.  So weekly check the blog and see the new travel hint posted. 

Today’s hint: this comes from my husband who always says “Less clothes more money”  this being said with all the extra charges by the airlines for luggage is it better to reduce the amount of clothes you bring.  You can’t and don’t need to wear a new outfit every day.  Pick clothes that are mix and match one pair of pants multiple tops, clothes that wash and dry easily, and clothes that wear well.  The last part of this hint don’t contingency pack you do not have to have an outfit for everything that might happen.  That’s all for now

Cruise and Ports

Shore Excursions while in port are an important part of a  cruise but a little advance preparation before your cruise  can save time and money while allowing you to see all you want to see.  Don’t wait until you are on the ship to decide what excursions you want to take or what you want to do in any given port.  Advance preparation, checking out the port on line through local tourist boards, english language newspapers for special event listings when you are in town, museum web sites, local tour agencies web sites or web sites of companies specializing in day trips (like Shore Trips) are the most important part once you’ve booked your cruise.  Make sure you know the distance to where you want to go for example Livorno Italy is the stop for Florence but if you want to see Michaelangelo’s ’David’ Florence is 90 miles away and you need to prebook a scheduled time to avoid a long line during high season, on the other hand Barcelona port is right down town so everything is close.  Is there a port you are really interested in, perhaps you want to spend more time in a particular location, book a cruise that departs from that port.  If you are in a port and you know everybody is going to the same ’sight’ or landmark this is the time to splurge and book a private car and driver/guide.  You will get there faster and see more than on the ships excursions.  don’t forget to check about local holidays when you will be in town, some things are limited or closed if there is a holiday.  Remember do your research for a more enhanced stop at any port.

Weathering the storm!

My Pearls of Thought for this week are a bit about combating and being prepared for delays.  I fly an average amount of time  (not frequent) and over the years have been delayed due to engine trouble (9 hour delay for a 3 hour flight), overcrowding at the arrival airport (missed European connection), emergency landing (made it home safe but late), Security breach (arrived a day late) and an untold number of weather related delays this is what I have learned I offer you a few things you can do to minimize the problems of flight delays. 

When traveling to a wedding, cruise, tour or some other thing that is ‘time  sensitive’  (it goes without you) think about leaving a day early.  This affords you the opportunity to be ready and rested at the right time and can lessen the possibility of travel delays that cause you to arrive late.

Any time you are traveling is it important that you stay informed- don’t wait for robo calls telling you a flight is delayed or cancelled you may have already left for the airport.  Call your airline, check the airlines web site, or find a flight tracking web site  like www.flightstats.com that lets you see airport delays and allows you to check the status of your flight.  Don’t forget the arrival airport can cause a problem, if you can’t land you will not be allowed to take off.

Know what your rights are.  Your airlines has a contract of carriage and it is available on the airline website.  You will find that this usually has an exclusion for “Act of God” which includes weather.  Most airlines will, as a courtesy allow you to change your flights without penalty, or reschedule to travel at the earliest possible moment.  The problem is that most flights are very full these days so it sometimes is only possible to get a few people from a cancelled flight on the next available flight.  If your flight is delayed and you find your self in line (usually a long line) to reschedule immediately get on the phone to the airline and see if you can make the change before you get to the desk.  Even when the airline phone has a long hold time this frequently gets you through before you get to the agent.  I put the airline 800 number on my cell before I leave home so that I am prepared.   

There are 2 other bits of advise I have to offer first sometimes finding an alternative way (drive, bus, train) if it is a short flight and a long delay sometimes the alternative is the best thing to do.  Second and most importantly bring your smile and your patience with you and be alert sometimes just being near the podium and hearing a word can get you to the head of the line and a courteous talk with an agent will get you much further than being confrontational.

Punta Cana

Spending a week in the Caribbean in Punta Cana at the Ocean Blue Golf and Beach Club.  Not sure why it is called Golf as there is none connected.  Property is not bad looking and food has been quite good so far.  Friday our day of arrival we had rain but since then wonderful weather.  Sunny skies, warm tropical breezes.  Today we did an Outback Safari and had a reallygreat time.  We saw a lot of the country, stopped at several places where we learned about coffee and chocolate.  Bought some of each and also about Mamajuana – a rum/wine/honey with herbs and twigs in it.  Surprisingly good.  We are bringing a bottle back because once you have one  you are good forever (they say for 100 years) you just keep refilling it.  Also bought a few good Dominican cigars along with the coffee and chocolate.  There is a lot of concern here for Haiti and we donated for the locals to contribute to Haiti.  A touch of sunburn tonight after our day long ride and stop at the beach.  The waves were terrific and everybody was boogie boarding. 

Having a terrible time with Internet connection and cell phone connection so probably not going to do anything else for the blog until I get back on the weekend. 

Look for a travel hints to continue next week.

Barcelona day 2

IDONDE ESTA LORENZO?  Our second day in Barcelona was completely free and so we decided to explore.  We learned that when traveling in foregin areas you need to be specific about what you are looking for.  We headed off on the Metro, which is superb and so easy to use just watch you pockets and purses and ended up at what were the Olympic Village when we really wanted the Olympic stadium sites.  We finally made it there and saw the entrance to the Olympic area very impressive and now put to wonderful use as musuems, and convention centers.  We then decide we wanted to see another building by Antoni Gaudi so headed off on the metro fo Casa Mila.  We had to change from one line of the metro to another and as we were heading off we suddenly turned around and Idonde esta lorenzo? (where is Larry?)  We had lost him.  After some discussion we headed off for our original destination and since we were extremely hungry we stopped for lunch and then as we were approaching the Casa Mila there was Lorenzo – he had gotten on the wrong metro.  We did indeed see the building and then headed back to our hotel for a rest before we went to a Flamingo show.  this was fantastic there were times when the feet were moving so fast you could barely see them.  After this we had our ‘thanksgiving’ dinner paella at a sidewalk cafe.  It was a wonderful end to an adventure filled trip.  This was a superb trip with many ports of call as well as our two land stays.  I was very pleased with the Oceania Cruise, Shore Trips, and Comtours in Spain they all did a wonderful job that enhanced our trip.

Barcelona Day 1

I would be remiss if I did not finish our trip and our adventures with our stay in Barcelona.  Again we were so very impressed with this beautiful city filled with impressive buildings.  On Wednesday morning we bid farewell and Happy Thanksgiving to those who were on their way home to Cleveland and departed the cruise ship early in the morning.  After checking into our hotel we set off to explore the city seeing a market that was filled with so many things to eat that we headed off for lunch which we had at a tapas sidewalk restaurant.  We then had an afternoon tour of a portion of the city.  This tour included the public gardens first started by Gaudi as a residential development then donated to the city.  We had an overview of the city before going the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) church that has been under construction since 1882 and is not expected to be completed until 2020 or 2030.  This church is called a temple and is said to be the masterpiece of architect Antoni Gaudi.  Truly a magnificent structure even with all the cranes and construction going on.  We dined at a local restaurant specializing in seafood.

Marsielle

Yesterday we were in Marseille and doing a wine tasting of Chatreauneuf du Pape and then on to Avigon. The wine tasting was very good and the wine was excellent. We drove on to Avigion and saw the bridge of song fame or what is left of it. Today we have a relaxing morning – breakfast in our robes in the café was a hoot this morning and this afternoon we will be in Mallorca for a wine tasting and stop at a pearl factory. This will be my last blog for now as my computer time is running out. See you all back in Cleveland.

Monaco, Monte Carlo, and the Amalfi Coast

Today I bring you an update from Monaco and the Cote d’Azure.  We have spent the past to days at a pier in the harbor of Monte Carlo in Monaco.  I woke up this morning and looked out and wondered if this is where you live would you get tired of the wonderful sight that greets you every morning.  This is truly a jewel nestled in the Mediterranean Sea.  

Yesterday we spent the day on our own and strolled around Monte Carlo.  We saw the Prince’s palace, changing of the palace guard, the course for the Formula 1 race and generally rode around and viewed the sights. 

Today we had a day on the Cote d’Azure our guide Tony and drivers Patrick and John Jacques gave us a wonderful tour around the country.  We drove up saw lovely views overlooking Monaco and then on to Nice and again overlooking it nestled by the sea.  We were able to have lunch in a sidewalk café outside our weather has been truly fantastic.  We drove on to Eze a medieval village up in the mountains where we did some shopping for things of Provance – lavender.  We saw several other villages and sights along the way before returning to the ship.

Cinque Terre and Livorno

Going to catch up on two days today.  Yesterday we were in Cinque Terre.  I stayed on the ship but most of the group went off on their own and did the 5 towns of Cinque Terre by train and walking.  All said it was a beautiful area and they really had a great time walking between the villages and stopping at them as they progressed through the area. 

Today we were in Livorno and Joe and I did a tour of Lucca and the wine tasting at a boutique winery.  This small winery has about 16 hectares of grapes that they grow and produce wine form.  They only produce wine from their own grapes.  They also have 4 hectares of olive trees and produce EVOO cold pressed olive oil.  Unfortunately they do not ship wine to the US so we could not buy any but I did buy some EVOO.  This was an excellent tour put on by the cruise ship and we really enjoyed it.  Much of the other group went to Florence and really enjoyed it.  John and Char did the Discovery walk tour and said it was excellent.  Several of the other members of the group acquired new leather articles.  Florence is definitely the place to buy leather and gold.