Why Edmonton Sucks for Travelers

First, let me be clear.  I am not one of the many people who live in Edmonton and either secretly or not-so-secretly hate it.  I even like the airport itself.  Especially with the new renovations, I think they've got a fantastic facility.  However, as most seasoned travelers will tell you, trying to actually travel out of that airport is far from awesome.

The major problem is Edmonton's location.  If you haven't noticed, we live in the middle of nowhere.  Natural resources will only get you so far.  At the end of the day, it is expensive to fly to/from Edmonton because you can't/don't fly THROUGH Edmonton.  Unless you are going to Grande Prairie, Fort MacMurray, or Yellowknife (total COMBINED population of ~120,000), the only reason you are flying to Edmonton's airport is because it is your final destination.

The fact that no one flies through Edmonton to get anywhere leads to the second problem.  Since we're not a major hub, most airlines and most other airports (especially non-Canadian ones) put a very low priority on us.  This means we get the worst possible time slots for departure and/or arrival.  This leads to my primary example and the genesis of this post.

Up until now, Continental (now United) has had a single direct return flight from Edmonton (YEG) to Houston Bush Intercontinental (IAH).  The YEG->IAH flight leaves at 0645 and arrives at 1212.  This is a decent arrival time but to be at the airport in Edmonton on time means waking up somewhere in the neighborhood of 4:00 AM.  The IAH->YEG flight leaves at 1805 and arrives at 2145.  This one isn't terrible actually.  However, with that departure time it does mean that you either have to drag your luggage to a shortened work day in Houston, get a VERY late checkout time at your hotel, or sit at the airport for a few extra hours.  Inconvenient: yes.  Horrible time: not really.

The downside to these flight has always been their popularity.  Not only do people use these flights to go to Houston on business, but they also open up a lot of options out of Houston to Florida, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.  Consequently, if you did not purchase a ticket 2-3 months in advance, it was either very expensive or simply not available.

I was then excited to hear that United was adding a second direct flight starting in mid/late February.  In my mind, it only made sense that the times would be reversed: IAH->YEG in the early morning and YEG-> IAH in the late afternoon.  Naturally this isn't the case.  The second IAH->YEG flight departs at 1435 and arrives at 1811.  This is actually fantastic.  Absolutely no complaints here.  However, the second YEG->IAH flight departs at 2355 and arrives at 0509.  They made it a red-eye.  This is good for anyone who is trying to catch an early morning flight from Houston to a sunny destination and perhaps it will alleviate the other flight to be more for business travelers.  But that's just me trying to find an excuse.  Really, it sucks.  I would rather have to take an entire day of traveling and spend 3 hours in Denver or Calgary than take a red eye for a work trip.

Speaking of Calgary (YYC), here is a list of their flights to Houston (note all flights are YYC->IAH):

Airline	Flight #	Depart	Arrive
Continental	1655	0700	1213
Air Canada	8102	0920	1414
Continental	1464	0920	1433
Air Canada	8104	1150	1644
Continental	1207	1307	1820
Continental	1429	1720	2224
Air Canada	8106	1850	2337

That is 7 direct flights per day.  They all do have matching return flights (which I won't bore the reader with) which are also spread throughout the day.  If you'll notice, they even have two flights on separate airlines at the exact same time.

Considering that there are no less than 20 direct flights between YEG and YYC daily,  I guarantee you can find a flight to Calgary with a connection as long or short as you like allowing you to take a good flight out of Calgary to wherever you want.

This is in the midst of Edmonton Airports advertising campaign to try to stop people from going to Calgary.  They say you should just fly out of Edmonton.  This leaves you with 10 American destinations (including such hot spots as Minneapolis and Chicago), London UK (at a terrible arrival time that precludes most connections), and seasonal charter flights to Mexico and the Caribbean.

I would gladly fly direct out of Edmonton more often.  Having no connecting flights is amazing.  I love it.  But realistically, it's not an option for most destinations.

But this isn't news to most.  We'll all continue to (not really) enjoy our time in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal...

</rant>

November Road Trip

Over the last couple of months, I pondered taking the family on a late-fall trip to Montreal and Quebec City (trying to stay within the scope of my earlier rant regarding those who ignore travelling within Canada). After some conceptual planning, though, I realized there would be a monumental number of things to bring along on the plane to travel with our almost-a-year-old, and the cost of flying to anywhere in eastern Canada from Calgary (Seattle to Boston is less than half the price of Calgary to Toronto, for example) was not meeting my preferred joy-to-value ratio for travel-related, capital expenditures.

So, I have rejigged everything over the last couple of weeks and now intend to head west.  I`m thinking the east will be a better visit in the spring, when we`ll at least have nicer weather to enjoy after the airline rape.

Our rough itinerary is below:

November 11 - embark on a leisurely 4 hour drive to Coeur d`Alene, Idaho, where we will spend the night (and probably visit Costco).
November 12 - head over to Bellevue, Washington (adjacent to Seattle, and another 4.5 hours of driving) for a couple of days to hit up the Lego Store, Seattle Premium Outlets, and the Museum of Flight (I`m looking forward to this, having done the sort of similar Boeing Factory Tour back in 2009).  Hopefully, we can get most of our Christmas shopping done south of the border.
November 14 - make our way up to Victoria, BC for another couple of days.  Will visit my cousin and do some wandering around downtown.
November 16 - drive over to downtown Vancouver and spend a couple more days eating copious amounts of sushi and ramen.
November 18 - start the trip back here, stopping in Osoyoos for a night to split up the drive.

While I really dislike the fact that we`re heading through the US, it will bring a welcome change of scenery over the ol` 12 hour, single-lane, wind-fest that is Highway 3 (not to mention 40% cheaper Lego prices).

Should be a pretty good trip; with any luck, I will be able to report in as we make our way there and back.

Travel Month

Edited: More travel.  Added it...

From October 21 to December 2 I will be travelling a lot.

Even by my standards...

To give you an idea of just how much I'm flying, I've put together a table:

#	Date	Depart	Arrive	Distance
1	Fri, Oct 21	Edmonton, Canada	Toronto, Canada	2696 km / 1675 mi
2	Fri, Oct  21	Toronto, Canada	Baltimore, USA	557 km / 346 mi
3	Mon, Oct 24	Baltimore, USA	Toronto, Canada	557 km / 346 mi
4	Mon, Oct 24	Toronto, Canada	London, UK	5723 km / 3556 mi
5	Tue, Oct 25	London, UK	Stavanger, Norway	909 km / 565 mi
6	Sun, Oct 30	Stavanger, Norway	London, UK	909 km / 565 mi
7	Sun, Oct 30	London, UK	Calgary, Canada	7036 km / 4372 mi
8	Sun, Oct 30	Calgary, Canada	Edmonton, Canada	246 km / 153 mi
9	Fri, Nov 11	Edmonton, Canada	Denver, USA	1640 km / 1019 mi
9	Fri, Nov 11	Denver, USA	Houston, USA	1387 km / 862 mi
10	Tue, Nov 15	Houston, USA	Edmonton, Canada	2984 km / 1854 mi
11	Fri, Nov 18	Edmonton, Canada	Toronto, Canada	2696 km / 1675 mi
12	Fri, Nov 18	Toronto, Canada	Baltimore, USA	557 km / 346 mi
13	Mon, Nov 21	Baltimore, USA	Toronto, Canada	557 km / 346 mi
14	Mon, Nov 21	Toronto, Canada	Edmonton, Canada	2696 km / 1675 mi
15	Tue, Nov 22	Edmonton, Canada	Montreal, Canada	2977 km / 1850 mi
16	Tue, Nov 22	Montreal, Canada	Paris, France	5540 km / 3442 mi
17	Fri, Dec 2	Paris, France	London, UK	348 km / 216 mi
18	Fri, Dec 2	London, UK	Edmonton, UK	6831 km / 4244 mi
			Total	46846 km / 29108 mi

For a sense of scale, that is larger than the circumference of the earth at the equator.

Terry has threatened me with...something if I don't attempt to document this in some way.

So expect updates over the next month that will be filled with pictures (hopefully), travel observations (likely), and complaints (definitely).

LET TRAVEL MONTH BEGIN!

Netflix

As my friends and family will attest, I am a reserved and humble man who rarely makes boisterous claims about the quality of service provided by businesses I willingly (or otherwise) involve myself with.

Ha.

Let's start over.

NETFLIX IS THE SINGLE GREATEST CONSUMER SERVICE EVER OFFERED IN CANADA.

$7.99/month.

Genuinely caring customer service.

My Shaw bill (which I'm never quite sure why I pay) is close to $130/month for a bunch of channels I hate 95% of the time, and absolute shit internet service.  Yet, I have to pay the evil telecommunications oligopoly, as without them I cannot engage in their own destruction.

I've had Netflix for over a year now.  I signed up for my initial free month after the launch on September 22, 2010.  Since then, my credit card has been billed 11 times for a total of $87.89, or roughly 6% of what Shaw has made off of me over the same timeframe.

Yes, in the beginning content was somewhat limited, but it has been an exponential triumph of win since then, with new titles coming out weekly. And besides, most of the complaints were from the type of people who thought movies like Transformers were the pinnacle of cinema.

If you come to terms with the fact that Netflix isn't the place for watching the latest sequel to the third remake of a film that was, in fact, shitty when it came out 25 years ago in the first place, it's quite possible to discover some amazing pieces of cinema that would otherwise escape the average Bit Torren--I mean internet user.

I'm honestly speaking when I say that the greatest films I have seen in my lifetime have all been things I've watched in the last year on Netflix.

There's no way to run statistics (yet, come on guys) but Netflix does keep a record of everything you've ever watched.

A quick tally of this page says that I've watched (in full, ignoring things I've started and not finished, and yes, Netflix always remembers where you left off) 156 things since October 1, 2010.  $87.89/156 = $0.56/item.

That's pretty hard to beat.  Didn't it cost like $5 to rent back when Blockbuster hadn't failed, plus the time, cost of gas, and risk of death to get there and the horrible return trip?

Almost all of my favorite films now are various independent ones that Netflix has an abundance of.

Below is a shortlist of my favorites in no particular order, and I suggest them to anyone who walks upright:

Keith

Holly

Dakota Skye

Gardens of the Night

Primer

Ip Man

Paths of Glory

Music Within

Mao's Last Dancer

Frozen River

The Visitor

Saving Face

Shattered Glass

Trade

Little Children

Lust, Caution

I will warn the squeamish that quite a few of these films are disturbing, dark dramas, and none of them are suitable for children.  Netflix does have a kids category, though.  Also, some of these films may no longer be available (like Primer).

I won't be making any comments on finance and current events, as my forecast from a couple months back hasn't changed in the slightest.

Good evening!