Just received my passport

[Longjohn ★]

Just now, Dirtyhip said:

5 grand for plane tickets.  EEK!

Different lifestyles for sure.  

And that was just for plain tickets, just think how much the fancy ones would have cost? 

[Square Wheels]

1 hour ago, Dirtyhip said:

5 grand for plane tickets.  EEK!

Different lifestyles for sure.  

5 of us went to Greece.  We looked around for a while.  It's not cheap getting there.  Plus it's clear I am not saving for a future.

[Tizeye]

Since you are heading to BC, probably won't matter since you are driving but when flying and re-entering at major US airports that take it,  download the free app "Mobile Pass". Virtually every major airport takes it. There is a reason it has a 5 star rating! Essentially, initial one time setup is entering your Passport info and take a selfie for the photo. Then when returning to the US answer those few questions you currently fill out on a form. Do this as the plane pulls up to the gate (and can turn your phones back on) and upload the data. This give you a 40 minute window to clear Customs for that upload certificate to remain valid. I think it took me 10 minutes - long walk from the gate, skip the first room, and proceed to the special mobile line in the second room. Only thing that took long was a little confusion as they combined the Mobile and Global Traveler lines. I was being courteous as the line stopped for Global Travelers to wait and go to an available machine before I figured I could just walk around and up to the Custom officer's desk. A reader scanned my phone and they stamped my passport. I made it to the luggage carousel before they even started luggage delivery. 

[Tizeye]

5 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

I was surprised they accepted our pictures.  They came out a little dark.  We took them ourselves.  It saved us a bunch of cash to take them ourselves.

It could be worse. I took both of ours and then proceeded with some light Photoshopping - removing wrinkles on neck, crows feet at eyes, softened the glare from body oils, touch-up with healing brush and may have even put a little modeling glamour glow on. Wife looks at it and says "you don't think I look good naturally/" Oh sheot...there is no way you can win that argument as either yes or no is a bad answer.

[Tizeye]

48 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

5 of us went to Greece.  We looked around for a while.  It's not cheap getting there.  Plus it's clear I am not saving for a future.

While original noted $5000 for tickets (plural), while I was thinking of 2 people, not 5, I hope that $5000 was total and not per ticket!. A grand per ticket would be very cheap though. Last time I spent $5000 per ticket it was First Class to Spain as I upgraded following wife's concussion. My normal trips to Switzerland range fro $1200 to $2000 per ticket with July travel dates and I usually pay the small premium for the basic seat upgrade. United typically has the lowest price and best itinerary to Geneva, but I refuse to fly them. Last year I flew Virgin Atlantic (phenominal!) to London for $850 then caught the no frills EasyJet out of Gatwich (all others required transfer to Heathrow) for $150 but took longer getting to Geneva 6:30AM vs 4 PM and didn't have protections of a single carrier if there were missed/delayed flights like on my return, except I was staying a few days in England - but others on the plane were hurting.

[Square Wheels]

30 minutes ago, Tizeye said:

While original noted $5000 for tickets (plural), while I was thinking of 2 people, not 5, I hope that $5000 was total and not per ticket!. A grand per ticket would be very cheap though. Last time I spent $5000 per ticket it was First Class to Spain as I upgraded following wife's concussion. My normal trips to Switzerland range fro $1200 to $2000 per ticket with July travel dates and I usually pay the small premium for the basic seat upgrade. United typically has the lowest price and best itinerary to Geneva, but I refuse to fly them. Last year I flew Virgin Atlantic (phenominal!) to London for $850 then caught the no frills EasyJet out of Gatwich (all others required transfer to Heathrow) for $150 but took longer getting to Geneva 6:30AM vs 4 PM and didn't have protections of a single carrier if there were missed/delayed flights like on my return, except I was staying a few days in England - but others on the plane were hurting.

Yeah, it was total.  NOT first class, 5 adults to Greece in July.  Total was around 4400 to 4700.  I forget.  It was the most expensive part, and least liked part of the trip.

[Wilbur ★]

10 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

I am BC bound soon.

[Dirtyhip]

21 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Yes.  Hope to ride with ya, if you are not jet setting.

[Wilbur ★]

15 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

Yes.  Hope to ride with ya, if you are not jet setting.

What dates?  Just Whistler?

[Dirtyhip]

Just now, Wilbur said:

What dates?  Just Whistler?

Squampton, then Whistler.

I'll PM ya.

[Scrapr ★]

6 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

5 of us went to Greece.  We looked around for a while.  It's not cheap getting there.  Plus it's clear I am not saving for a future.

please share with me on the Grease Greece thing. WoScrapr wants to go. 25th anniversary & cancer free celebration. 2 of us and tickets will be  about $5k ea  

and you are doing the seating wrong. SW & Speed Demon ride up front. Everybody else in cattle. Divide by 5. That's their share. It's like Socialism, but better

 

[Ralphie ★]

8 hours ago, Longjohn said:

I love my neighbors, Amish are the best neighbors you could ask for unless you want to borrow their truck, they don't have any.

You could try borrowing their draft team and wagon.

 

[Longjohn ★]

6 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

You could try borrowing their draft team and wagon.

 

When I had the Honda Accord they used a team hooked to an ice wagon to pull me out of a snowdrift I was stuck in on my driveway.

[Tizeye]

7 hours ago, Scrapr said:

please share with me on the Grease Greece thing. WoScrapr wants to go. 25th anniversary & cancer free celebration. 2 of us and tickets will be  about $5k ea  

and you are doing the seating wrong. SW & Speed Demon ride up front. Everybody else in cattle. Divide by 5. That's their share. It's like Socialism, but better

 

$5000 each???? Who is your travel agent? Just did a quick search Portland to Athens mid June but did use mid week travel dates (Weekends typically are not that much more but less seats available limiting flight options). 1 stop economy tickets starting at $1300 each, premium economy which I prefer $2000 each. Don't know Condor as appears to be your regional airline, but Air Canada, United, Delta, etc. I generally use an aggregator, such as Travelocity, cheap tickes, etc, to screen but ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS go to the airline's web site to book. The search narrows down which airlines to focus on.  If there is any problem the airline becomes responsible rather than "you have to check with ____ who booked the ticket and you paid". Also, you may be able to view seats (screen which competing flight) and select as part of the airline booking. Things to consider when screening is total travel time and connecting times as you will have to go through customs on a foreign connection and possibly again at the final destination.  Also, consider signing up for that airline's frequent flier and related credit card (book flight on it) which may give additional benefits - baggage, priority seating etc. You can always close them later. Finally, can't speak enough about the free "Mobile Pass" app speeding you through Customs when returning home. Hope that helps.

[Square Wheels]

7 hours ago, Scrapr said:

please share with me on the Grease Greece thing. WoScrapr wants to go. 25th anniversary & cancer free celebration. 2 of us and tickets will be  about $5k ea  

and you are doing the seating wrong. SW & Speed Demon ride up front. Everybody else in cattle. Divide by 5. That's their share. It's like Socialism, but better

 

I did none of the planning.  We went for a wedding in Greece.  My wifes girls grew up their, so I kinda cheated.  We were Athens for a couple of days.  Nothing special, a big, dirty city.  It is a great place to stay to travel to the ruins though.  We went to a few of them.  Must see places.

There are many hundreds of islands.  I suspect all are spectacular.  We stayed on Seraphos.  We were going to go to Create, where one of the daughters lived, but decided on an island she hadn't been to.

 The weather was perfect the whole time we were there.  

I didn't care for the food.  It's close to impossible to be a vegan there, I gave up.  It's really had to be a celiac.  They use wheat in a lot of their dishes.  I was expecting more from the food.

I think you'd have a wonderful time there.  Feel free to call and talk with my wife, she'd love to talk to you and your wife about it.

[maddmaxx ★]

Everybody likes Grease.

 

[shootingstar]

I renewed my  passport for 10 yrs., last fall.  It costs  $160.00CAN. Totally worth it for me to spend the dollars.  https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/passport/forms/pdf/pptc054.pdf

Photo also was nicer for me. Yes, on our side, we cannot smile.

Yesterday, I just found out from a work colleague that China is experimenting in limiting its Chinese nationals:  if they have a Chinese passport, they can't have a Chinese permanent residence card.  The last one is super critical to a Chinese national there:  it means if one doesn't have the card, in effect the person has no human rights, no right to have a local bank account there, no access to medical care there..    So in effect, China is experimenting in denying their local nationals to travel overseas long term.  So the experiment is to start with Shanghai residents.  This was just announced 3 days ago.  

[Scrapr ★]

2 hours ago, Tizeye said:

$5000 each???? Who is your travel agent? Just did a quick search Portland to Athens mid June but did use mid week travel dates (Weekends typically are not that much more but less seats available limiting flight options). 1 stop economy tickets starting at $1300 each, premium economy which I prefer $2000 each. Don't know Condor as appears to be your regional airline, but Air Canada, United, Delta, etc. I generally use an aggregator, such as Travelocity, cheap tickes, etc, to screen but ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS go to the airline's web site to book. The search narrows down which airlines to focus on.  If there is any problem the airline becomes responsible rather than "you have to check with ____ who booked the ticket and you paid". Also, you may be able to view seats (screen which competing flight) and select as part of the airline booking. Things to consider when screening is total travel time and connecting times as you will have to go through customs on a foreign connection and possibly again at the final destination.  Also, consider signing up for that airline's frequent flier and related credit card (book flight on it) which may give additional benefits - baggage, priority seating etc. You can always close them later. Finally, can't speak enough about the free "Mobile Pass" app speeding you through Customs when returning home. Hope that helps.

OK. You caught me. I falsified my expense report. On an 11-12 hour flight WoScrapr insists on flying up front. It all started when I accidently booked her in 1st on a cross country flight. Can't change now. It's about $7-8k for September. I'm looking at Turkish airline flying through Istanbul. The political situ makes me a bit nervous though. And I am trying to maybe wangle a connection through Paris. One of our first contractors almost 30 years ago is Greek. So we'll take em out to  dinner and get some islands to go to

 

[Wilbur ★]

1 minute ago, Scrapr said:

OK. You caught me. I falsified my expense report. On an 11-12 hour flight WoScrapr insists on flying up front. It all started when I accidently booked her in 1st on a cross country flight. Can't change now. It's about $7-8k for September. I'm looking at Turkish airline flying through Istanbul. The political situ makes me a bit nervous though. And I am trying to maybe wangle a connection through Paris. One of our first contractors almost 30 years ago is Greek. So we'll take em out to  dinner and get some islands to go to

 

Istanbul is fine.  Worthy of spending a couple of days in too. 

[Wilbur ★]

8 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

I renewed my  passport for 10 yrs., last fall.  It costs  $160.00CAN. Totally worth it for me to spend the dollars.

I did too.  That was 3 years ago and I only have one empty page left.  It won't make 10 years. 

[Scrapr ★]

24 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Istanbul is fine.  Worthy of spending a couple of days in too. 

That's helpful. Thank you. Good way to break up a 25 hour flight

[Wilbur ★]

1 hour ago, Scrapr said:

That's helpful. Thank you. Good way to break up a 25 hour flight

Turkish Airlines is very good as well. 

Turkey is the most liberal of Muslim countries in the ME.  Like Iran before Sharia law.  They also welcome other religions.  Several Christian cathedrals and Jewish synagogs.  Cool place.

[maddmaxx ★]

1 hour ago, Scrapr said:

That's helpful. Thank you. Good way to break up a 25 hour flight

I hated that on the last big trip.  17 hours from JFK to Taiwan and 5 more to Kuala Lumpur.  Couple that with a 3 hour limo ride to JFK and being in Taiwan in the early morning hours before most of the shops in the airport were open.  All of that in cheap coach and it still cost 5k for 3 people.

If I were to do that again I'd probably go the other way with a layover somewhere in the middle east.

[Randomguy]

What is a passport card?

[shootingstar]

6 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

I hated that on the last big trip.  17 hours from JFK to Taiwan and 5 more to Kuala Lumpur.  Couple that with a 3 hour limo ride to JFK and being in Taiwan in the early morning hours before most of the shops in the airport were open.  All of that in cheap coach and it still cost 5k for 3 people.

If I were to do that again I'd probably go the other way with a layover somewhere in the middle east.

Wow, long trip.

I'm hoping flying from prairies straight to Tokyo, will solve part of the problem. Air Canada has only 1 flight per day, without layover before Tokyo .  All other flights stopover in Vancouver BC. There are actually a lot of Air Canada flights each day, from eastern Canada, that have layovers in Vancouver.  I would recommend if you can 1 full day if you can in Vancouver when heading to Asia...you will enjoy the city. Within 2 wks., the cherry blossoms in vancovuer bc will be in full bloom all over the city. 

Actually recommended for anyone from eastern side of North America heading towards to Asia.