[FIXED] A Birthday Trip to Remember: Calgary via AC/AA in Y/Y+
Jul 26, 2017, 11:26 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 47
[FIXED] A Birthday Trip to Remember: Calgary via AC/AA in Y/Y+
Birthday Trip to Calgary, AB via AC/AA in Y/Y+
Hello everyone, welcome to my first trip report! Please give me tips on how to improve these reports, as I plan to do these for all of my upcoming travels.
Back in late June, my family decided to have a resort vacation to the Westin La Paloma to celebrate my 18th birthday. Unfortunately, the week before the trip, forecasts predicted thunderstorms for our entire stay there. I was bummed, but decided to look for cheap last-minute fares (*cough* ideally to somewhere with a drinking age of 18 *cough*). I stumbled upon fares to Calgary in the $300s RT, nonstop PHX - YYC and then YYC - YVR - DEN - PHX for the return on a combination of Air Canada, and United - a great deal with only two days until departure. I love connections and layovers, so I was excited about that return in particular. My mother and I booked the trip in Y for 22-25 July right away and got packing. Unfortunately, my father and brother couldn’t make it.
22 JULY 2017
Anxious about long security lines at Sky Harbor’s Terminal 4, we arrived two hours before our scheduled departure.
Shockingly, even without pre-check, we were through security in a matter of minutes. With a ton of time to kill, we explored Terminal 4 a bit, watching flights depart for Honolulu, Vancouver, and Mexico. Our end of T4 included a few decent eating options, such as La Madeline, Cowboy Ciao, Starbucks, and, of course, the typical Hudson News stands. We were called to the gate for passport verification and to fill out a brief customs-like form. Not too long after, boarding began promptly at 11:10.
Air Canada Flight AC8305 (Operated by Jazz)
PHX - YYC // Departure Time: 11:40
C-FKJZ // CRJ-705 // 12.2 years old
Seat 21D // Exit Row // Y+
We boarded with group three and found our luxurious exit row seats that were automatically assigned to us at check-in without extra cost. Now, Air Canada’s CRJ-705s are equipped with 34 inches of legroom in standard seats (on par with Economy Plus on several US legacy carriers). The exit row had even more. My worries of a three hour flight on a regional jet were without merit. Right across the aisle from us was a substitute teacher that I had several times throughout high school, and we chatted a fair amount throughout the flight. It really is a small world out there!
We boarded very quickly and began our taxi to the runway.
After a rapid taxi and takeoff roll, we were off the ground, bound for Calgary. On the way up, we were afforded some very nice views of downtown Phoenix.
Shortly after takeoff, the lead flight attendant working the business class cabin made her way into the economy class with leftover newspapers. I took one. It was very nice of them to bring them by the economy passengers!
Service throughout the flight was very professional and polite. Following the main drink service, several additional water runs were made through the cabin. We were getting better service on an express carrier than some mainline ones! I roamed back to the lavatory at one point and found it to be the most cramped one I’ve ever been in. It was impossible to move at all inside it.
Our approach into Calgary was marked with beautiful wheat and mustard fields, with a couple downtown views sprinkled into the mix. After the fairly rough landing, we quickly deplaned and headed to customs. We were greeted with this beautiful sign/photo-op on the way there.
We scanned our passports, scanned the form that was distributed on the plane, spoke to a customs agent (who was just standing to the side, not even at one of the booths) and made our way to baggage claim. My gate-checked hard-side carry-on was scratched up, which made me bummed. But such is life.
We made our way up to the departures level to catch our Uber to our lodging.
Lodging: The University of Calgary Yamnuska Hall
After a 35 minute drive, we arrived at Hotel Alma on the University of Calgary campus. We found lodging here for only $39/night for a One-Bedroom Apartment. Compared to most downtown options, this was very affordable. Plus, there is a C-Train station located on the other end of campus, making transit into the city fairly easy. After check-in, we roamed about a quarter mile west to the Yamnuska Hall. We were greeted unexpectedly by an acapella group (!) and entered our apartment. The place felt very clinical, almost like a doctor’s office. I’ll let the photos do the talking here.
Though it definitely wasn’t the idea situation, the lodging got the job done. I’m not entirely sure I would stay here again, however, as it turns out that the C-Train is almost a mile walk from our small part of campus.
We bailed out of our room very quickly and went down to the C-Train’s Red Line and went straight to the Sunnyside station, just a couple stops before downtown.
We had dinner at Flipp’n Burgers, a delightful order-at-the-counter diner with fantastic burgers and fries. You order your base and once it is cooked you go back to the counter to select your sauces and other toppings. I ordered a Beef Bacon Cheddar Burger and poutine. The burger was delicious if not a bit slightly overcooked. The fries in the poutine were slightly undercooked, but the flavor was fantastic. The other fries had a sweet and salty seasoning on them which was very delicious. Everything tasted very fresh.
We then carried on to downtown Calgary, visiting the bustling Stephen Ave. and surrounding areas. Knowing we had to be up very early to catch our bus to Banff, we returned to the accommodations just past sunset.
23 JULY 2017 - MY BIRTHDAY
Though I didn’t originally want to wake up at 6:15 on my birthday, it turned out to be well worth it. For my birthday, we planned a trip to Banff. Around 8:00 we picked up our Uber to head to the Crowfoot C-Train Park-and-Ride to pick up our bus to Banff. Though our driver got lost, we made it in plenty of time for our On-It Transit Bus. On-It was working on a pilot project with weekend and holiday services between Banff and Calgary for only $10 CAD each direction.
We made stops at Cochrane and Canmore on our way there. Surprisingly our bus never had more than a dozen seats filled, which meant lots of room to stretch out and get some last minute rest before arrival.
Upon arrival, we went to the Banff Park Lodge for Banff’s Best Sunday Brunch Buffet. And it truly was fantastic. With a wide array of meats, cheeses, conventional hot breakfast items, a chocolate fountain, and so so much more, it was impossible to dislike the experience. In all fairness, many of the desserts & pastries were rather dry. It was also here that I ordered 2 mimosas…and I was not carded.
I then went on my own up to the Banff Gondola. The views from the top were nothing short of breathtaking. It is absolutely worth the money to go on this gondola!
I met up with my mom in town and we went off to Lake Minnewanka using the free ROAM shuttle service. Though ROAM itself isn’t free, they operate a bus to the lake every hour as a complimentary service. As we got off, the driver recommended that we take a short two mile hike down to Two-Jack Lake, as it has better views. We heeded this advice, and were given quite the treat upon arrival.
We wrapped up our day at the local distillery, sampling just about all we could. They also ended up giving us two of our snacks on the house! Service was fantastic here. I was also not carded here. I may or may not have had a tiny bit too much there…
We then headed to the Banff High School to pick up our 19:45 bus back to Calgary. As soon as we got on the bus it started to pour outside, which was only made worse by the high winds. Unfortunately, when we arrived back in Calgary we had to deal with 30mph winds gusting to 50mph. These didn’t cease until we were back in our accommodations for the night.
24 JULY 2017
On our final exploration day, we slept in a fair amount before heading down to the Dairy Lane Cafe. This Cafe is an incredibly popular, adorable breakfast spot just a couple miles from downtown. Their food is all sourced locally using high quality ingredients. I ordered French Toast stuffed with a blueberry compote, cream cheese, and golden oats. My mother ordered a burger and what she claimed to be one of the best gluten-free buns she’s ever experienced. The meal was truly incredible.
We then walked over to Crave Cupcakes, which receives phenomenal reviews. We were not let down. Even the gluten-free cupcakes were incredible, according to my mother’s review. Their cookies are also excellent.
We continued onto Prince’s Island, which was undergoing some extreme construction. However, there was a lovely Canada 150 sign there. It was also where we witnessed a goose kill another goose.
After the harrowing death as a result of goose-on-goose crime, we went to downtown for a little shopping, stopping at all the important Canadian department stores…and more.
We decided to finish up the night with a small bar-hopping adventure. We started at the Cactus Club, a trendy, upbeat Canadian chain with a great happy hour. Their signature cocktails cost only $5CAD and some of their appetizers are knocked down to just $3CAD. It was my favorite place of the night. It was also the first place I was carded!
We carried on to the other side of Stephen Ave to the Hyatt’s in-house bar - Thomson’s. Drinks were a normal price there, but their Monday special was 2 beef burgers, 2 lamb burgers, and fries for only $12. We split them and enjoyed our drinks. The place was not crowded at all. It certainly was darker and had a more refined atmosphere to it.
My sweet tooth brought us across the street to Milestones, another chain, for dessert. We sat ourselves down at the bar and ordered some drinks. It was here that I discovered my love for the gin & tonic. When we were about to order dessert, however, the bartender disappeared for several minutes. Later on, we saw a man complaining that they had waited 45 minutes for food. Yet another guy received a discount because they took so long to bring him his check. Even more concerning, individual patrons were coming up to the bar to take their drinks to their tables, as neither the bartender nor waitstaff seemed inclined to do it. To make matters worse, the donuts were dry and flavorless. Not even the chocolate, caramel, or lemon sauces could make them a truly acceptable dessert!
We returned to our lodging to pack - we had a very early flight scheduled for the morning.
25 JULY 2017
Our Uber arrived at 5:40, way too early to even be awake in my mind. We were at the airport in a short 25 minutes, where we checked in for our flight. Security however, is poorly planned at the Calgary airport. There is only ONE checkpoint for both the B and C concourses, making the process extremely slow. It took us a full hour to get through it. They definitely need to find a way to add an additional checkpoint that could split the massive crowds we were in. We walked to the gate, where boarding started just a few minutes later.
Air Canada Flight AC205
YYC - YVR // Departure Time: 8:00
C-FKOJ // A320 // 25.2 years old
Seat 30A // Y
After what seemed like an eternal boarding and taxiing process, we finally took off for Vancouver. I fell asleep and woke up as the flight attendants approached our seats. I couldn’t help myself and ordered a gin & tonic - the last one I would legally be able to have! The flight attendant seemed alarmed at the fact someone would order alcohol on an 8AM flight. Overall, service was acceptable but nothing really special.
In Vancouver, we meandered our way over to the E gates for USA departures. We had to clear another short security line. Though there were only five parties ahead of us, it still managed to take an entire 30 minutes to get through it. Many of them were Americans clueless on what to take out of and leave in their bags. We then cleared customs without a hitch and carried on to our gate for our United Express, operated by Skywest flight to Denver.
10 minutes after boarding was supposed to begin, I checked our gate and there was still no plane there. However, no announcement was made by the seemingly incompetent gate staff (who I believe set off two alarms over the course of their tenure at the gate). Once the plane arrived and the passengers deplaned, the departure time was finally pushed 20 minutes on the board, still without any announcement. A mere 10 minutes later, the gate agents announced a mechanical issue and to form a line to be rebooked. This seemed like quite a step to take over something that turned out was easily fixed. We spoke to a supervisor who called a colleague at AA and got us booked on their afternoon flight out. It was very fast and easy.
We were then sitting at a restaurant when curiosity got the best of me and I looked at the flight status on FlightAware of the flight we were supposed to be on. Imagine my alarm when it said “taxiing for takeoff.” I went over to the gate to see our plane, filled with the passengers from our gate area, being pushed back. My jaw just about hit the floor. However, no announcement was made whatsoever within the concourse about the flight boarding. No last call announcement either. It was rather unfortunate, but fortunately our rebooking was not altered at all. A few hours later, we went back to the gate for our new flight to Phoenix.
American Airlines Flight AA500
YVR - PHX // Departure Time: 14:30
N768US // A319 // 16.7 years old
Seat 14B // Exit Row // Y+
Boarding was done efficiently and on-time with great ground staff handling. As a result of our being added last minute to the flight, we were fortunate enough to receive exit row/Y+ seats free of charge. These had an incredible amount of legroom, it felt like even more than the Air Canada Jazz flight!
We made our slow taxi out to the runway and took off. And with that it was lights out for me, until about 2/3 of the way through the flight. At this point, I was woken up by one of the flight attendants talking about the AA credit card on the intercom. This wasn’t a typical, 30-sec announcement. Rather, this advertisement for their credit card went on for several minutes, becoming quite repetitive and obnoxious! The flight attendants then went through the cabin several times distributing and picking up application materials. The captain then announced our descent - but only after congratulating the passengers who applied on their great decision and opportunity to receive 50,000 miles (2 round trip tickets within the continental US - if I had a G&T for every time they said that…oh boy…). I understand the desire to advertise it, but the extent to which they did it was truly ridiculous.
Landing was done quite suddenly and very early on the runway, which came as a surprise for all of the passengers. And with that, our trip was over!
Overall, Calgary is a beautiful place to visit. Though activities within Calgary were limited, there were many green spaces and cool areas to see. Banff, on the other hand, is a must-see destination. The Canadian Rockies are certainly something to behold. I’m definitely looking forward to my next trip to Canada!
As I said above, please give me any feedback you'd like on this trip report. I have several trips coming up (Dubai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and others) and want to make my trip reports the best they can be. Thanks for reading!
Hello everyone, welcome to my first trip report! Please give me tips on how to improve these reports, as I plan to do these for all of my upcoming travels.
Back in late June, my family decided to have a resort vacation to the Westin La Paloma to celebrate my 18th birthday. Unfortunately, the week before the trip, forecasts predicted thunderstorms for our entire stay there. I was bummed, but decided to look for cheap last-minute fares (*cough* ideally to somewhere with a drinking age of 18 *cough*). I stumbled upon fares to Calgary in the $300s RT, nonstop PHX - YYC and then YYC - YVR - DEN - PHX for the return on a combination of Air Canada, and United - a great deal with only two days until departure. I love connections and layovers, so I was excited about that return in particular. My mother and I booked the trip in Y for 22-25 July right away and got packing. Unfortunately, my father and brother couldn’t make it.
22 JULY 2017
Anxious about long security lines at Sky Harbor’s Terminal 4, we arrived two hours before our scheduled departure.
Shockingly, even without pre-check, we were through security in a matter of minutes. With a ton of time to kill, we explored Terminal 4 a bit, watching flights depart for Honolulu, Vancouver, and Mexico. Our end of T4 included a few decent eating options, such as La Madeline, Cowboy Ciao, Starbucks, and, of course, the typical Hudson News stands. We were called to the gate for passport verification and to fill out a brief customs-like form. Not too long after, boarding began promptly at 11:10.
Air Canada Flight AC8305 (Operated by Jazz)
PHX - YYC // Departure Time: 11:40
C-FKJZ // CRJ-705 // 12.2 years old
Seat 21D // Exit Row // Y+
We boarded with group three and found our luxurious exit row seats that were automatically assigned to us at check-in without extra cost. Now, Air Canada’s CRJ-705s are equipped with 34 inches of legroom in standard seats (on par with Economy Plus on several US legacy carriers). The exit row had even more. My worries of a three hour flight on a regional jet were without merit. Right across the aisle from us was a substitute teacher that I had several times throughout high school, and we chatted a fair amount throughout the flight. It really is a small world out there!
We boarded very quickly and began our taxi to the runway.
After a rapid taxi and takeoff roll, we were off the ground, bound for Calgary. On the way up, we were afforded some very nice views of downtown Phoenix.
Shortly after takeoff, the lead flight attendant working the business class cabin made her way into the economy class with leftover newspapers. I took one. It was very nice of them to bring them by the economy passengers!
Service throughout the flight was very professional and polite. Following the main drink service, several additional water runs were made through the cabin. We were getting better service on an express carrier than some mainline ones! I roamed back to the lavatory at one point and found it to be the most cramped one I’ve ever been in. It was impossible to move at all inside it.
Our approach into Calgary was marked with beautiful wheat and mustard fields, with a couple downtown views sprinkled into the mix. After the fairly rough landing, we quickly deplaned and headed to customs. We were greeted with this beautiful sign/photo-op on the way there.
We scanned our passports, scanned the form that was distributed on the plane, spoke to a customs agent (who was just standing to the side, not even at one of the booths) and made our way to baggage claim. My gate-checked hard-side carry-on was scratched up, which made me bummed. But such is life.
We made our way up to the departures level to catch our Uber to our lodging.
Lodging: The University of Calgary Yamnuska Hall
After a 35 minute drive, we arrived at Hotel Alma on the University of Calgary campus. We found lodging here for only $39/night for a One-Bedroom Apartment. Compared to most downtown options, this was very affordable. Plus, there is a C-Train station located on the other end of campus, making transit into the city fairly easy. After check-in, we roamed about a quarter mile west to the Yamnuska Hall. We were greeted unexpectedly by an acapella group (!) and entered our apartment. The place felt very clinical, almost like a doctor’s office. I’ll let the photos do the talking here.
Though it definitely wasn’t the idea situation, the lodging got the job done. I’m not entirely sure I would stay here again, however, as it turns out that the C-Train is almost a mile walk from our small part of campus.
We bailed out of our room very quickly and went down to the C-Train’s Red Line and went straight to the Sunnyside station, just a couple stops before downtown.
We had dinner at Flipp’n Burgers, a delightful order-at-the-counter diner with fantastic burgers and fries. You order your base and once it is cooked you go back to the counter to select your sauces and other toppings. I ordered a Beef Bacon Cheddar Burger and poutine. The burger was delicious if not a bit slightly overcooked. The fries in the poutine were slightly undercooked, but the flavor was fantastic. The other fries had a sweet and salty seasoning on them which was very delicious. Everything tasted very fresh.
We then carried on to downtown Calgary, visiting the bustling Stephen Ave. and surrounding areas. Knowing we had to be up very early to catch our bus to Banff, we returned to the accommodations just past sunset.
23 JULY 2017 - MY BIRTHDAY
Though I didn’t originally want to wake up at 6:15 on my birthday, it turned out to be well worth it. For my birthday, we planned a trip to Banff. Around 8:00 we picked up our Uber to head to the Crowfoot C-Train Park-and-Ride to pick up our bus to Banff. Though our driver got lost, we made it in plenty of time for our On-It Transit Bus. On-It was working on a pilot project with weekend and holiday services between Banff and Calgary for only $10 CAD each direction.
We made stops at Cochrane and Canmore on our way there. Surprisingly our bus never had more than a dozen seats filled, which meant lots of room to stretch out and get some last minute rest before arrival.
Upon arrival, we went to the Banff Park Lodge for Banff’s Best Sunday Brunch Buffet. And it truly was fantastic. With a wide array of meats, cheeses, conventional hot breakfast items, a chocolate fountain, and so so much more, it was impossible to dislike the experience. In all fairness, many of the desserts & pastries were rather dry. It was also here that I ordered 2 mimosas…and I was not carded.
I then went on my own up to the Banff Gondola. The views from the top were nothing short of breathtaking. It is absolutely worth the money to go on this gondola!
I met up with my mom in town and we went off to Lake Minnewanka using the free ROAM shuttle service. Though ROAM itself isn’t free, they operate a bus to the lake every hour as a complimentary service. As we got off, the driver recommended that we take a short two mile hike down to Two-Jack Lake, as it has better views. We heeded this advice, and were given quite the treat upon arrival.
We wrapped up our day at the local distillery, sampling just about all we could. They also ended up giving us two of our snacks on the house! Service was fantastic here. I was also not carded here. I may or may not have had a tiny bit too much there…
We then headed to the Banff High School to pick up our 19:45 bus back to Calgary. As soon as we got on the bus it started to pour outside, which was only made worse by the high winds. Unfortunately, when we arrived back in Calgary we had to deal with 30mph winds gusting to 50mph. These didn’t cease until we were back in our accommodations for the night.
24 JULY 2017
On our final exploration day, we slept in a fair amount before heading down to the Dairy Lane Cafe. This Cafe is an incredibly popular, adorable breakfast spot just a couple miles from downtown. Their food is all sourced locally using high quality ingredients. I ordered French Toast stuffed with a blueberry compote, cream cheese, and golden oats. My mother ordered a burger and what she claimed to be one of the best gluten-free buns she’s ever experienced. The meal was truly incredible.
We then walked over to Crave Cupcakes, which receives phenomenal reviews. We were not let down. Even the gluten-free cupcakes were incredible, according to my mother’s review. Their cookies are also excellent.
We continued onto Prince’s Island, which was undergoing some extreme construction. However, there was a lovely Canada 150 sign there. It was also where we witnessed a goose kill another goose.
After the harrowing death as a result of goose-on-goose crime, we went to downtown for a little shopping, stopping at all the important Canadian department stores…and more.
We decided to finish up the night with a small bar-hopping adventure. We started at the Cactus Club, a trendy, upbeat Canadian chain with a great happy hour. Their signature cocktails cost only $5CAD and some of their appetizers are knocked down to just $3CAD. It was my favorite place of the night. It was also the first place I was carded!
We carried on to the other side of Stephen Ave to the Hyatt’s in-house bar - Thomson’s. Drinks were a normal price there, but their Monday special was 2 beef burgers, 2 lamb burgers, and fries for only $12. We split them and enjoyed our drinks. The place was not crowded at all. It certainly was darker and had a more refined atmosphere to it.
My sweet tooth brought us across the street to Milestones, another chain, for dessert. We sat ourselves down at the bar and ordered some drinks. It was here that I discovered my love for the gin & tonic. When we were about to order dessert, however, the bartender disappeared for several minutes. Later on, we saw a man complaining that they had waited 45 minutes for food. Yet another guy received a discount because they took so long to bring him his check. Even more concerning, individual patrons were coming up to the bar to take their drinks to their tables, as neither the bartender nor waitstaff seemed inclined to do it. To make matters worse, the donuts were dry and flavorless. Not even the chocolate, caramel, or lemon sauces could make them a truly acceptable dessert!
We returned to our lodging to pack - we had a very early flight scheduled for the morning.
25 JULY 2017
Our Uber arrived at 5:40, way too early to even be awake in my mind. We were at the airport in a short 25 minutes, where we checked in for our flight. Security however, is poorly planned at the Calgary airport. There is only ONE checkpoint for both the B and C concourses, making the process extremely slow. It took us a full hour to get through it. They definitely need to find a way to add an additional checkpoint that could split the massive crowds we were in. We walked to the gate, where boarding started just a few minutes later.
Air Canada Flight AC205
YYC - YVR // Departure Time: 8:00
C-FKOJ // A320 // 25.2 years old
Seat 30A // Y
After what seemed like an eternal boarding and taxiing process, we finally took off for Vancouver. I fell asleep and woke up as the flight attendants approached our seats. I couldn’t help myself and ordered a gin & tonic - the last one I would legally be able to have! The flight attendant seemed alarmed at the fact someone would order alcohol on an 8AM flight. Overall, service was acceptable but nothing really special.
In Vancouver, we meandered our way over to the E gates for USA departures. We had to clear another short security line. Though there were only five parties ahead of us, it still managed to take an entire 30 minutes to get through it. Many of them were Americans clueless on what to take out of and leave in their bags. We then cleared customs without a hitch and carried on to our gate for our United Express, operated by Skywest flight to Denver.
10 minutes after boarding was supposed to begin, I checked our gate and there was still no plane there. However, no announcement was made by the seemingly incompetent gate staff (who I believe set off two alarms over the course of their tenure at the gate). Once the plane arrived and the passengers deplaned, the departure time was finally pushed 20 minutes on the board, still without any announcement. A mere 10 minutes later, the gate agents announced a mechanical issue and to form a line to be rebooked. This seemed like quite a step to take over something that turned out was easily fixed. We spoke to a supervisor who called a colleague at AA and got us booked on their afternoon flight out. It was very fast and easy.
We were then sitting at a restaurant when curiosity got the best of me and I looked at the flight status on FlightAware of the flight we were supposed to be on. Imagine my alarm when it said “taxiing for takeoff.” I went over to the gate to see our plane, filled with the passengers from our gate area, being pushed back. My jaw just about hit the floor. However, no announcement was made whatsoever within the concourse about the flight boarding. No last call announcement either. It was rather unfortunate, but fortunately our rebooking was not altered at all. A few hours later, we went back to the gate for our new flight to Phoenix.
American Airlines Flight AA500
YVR - PHX // Departure Time: 14:30
N768US // A319 // 16.7 years old
Seat 14B // Exit Row // Y+
Boarding was done efficiently and on-time with great ground staff handling. As a result of our being added last minute to the flight, we were fortunate enough to receive exit row/Y+ seats free of charge. These had an incredible amount of legroom, it felt like even more than the Air Canada Jazz flight!
We made our slow taxi out to the runway and took off. And with that it was lights out for me, until about 2/3 of the way through the flight. At this point, I was woken up by one of the flight attendants talking about the AA credit card on the intercom. This wasn’t a typical, 30-sec announcement. Rather, this advertisement for their credit card went on for several minutes, becoming quite repetitive and obnoxious! The flight attendants then went through the cabin several times distributing and picking up application materials. The captain then announced our descent - but only after congratulating the passengers who applied on their great decision and opportunity to receive 50,000 miles (2 round trip tickets within the continental US - if I had a G&T for every time they said that…oh boy…). I understand the desire to advertise it, but the extent to which they did it was truly ridiculous.
Landing was done quite suddenly and very early on the runway, which came as a surprise for all of the passengers. And with that, our trip was over!
Overall, Calgary is a beautiful place to visit. Though activities within Calgary were limited, there were many green spaces and cool areas to see. Banff, on the other hand, is a must-see destination. The Canadian Rockies are certainly something to behold. I’m definitely looking forward to my next trip to Canada!
As I said above, please give me any feedback you'd like on this trip report. I have several trips coming up (Dubai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and others) and want to make my trip reports the best they can be. Thanks for reading!
)
Jul 27, 2017, 9:29 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: St. Paul, MN
Programs: Delta Platinum Medallion, IHG Gold, HH Silver
Posts: 448
Great report, and it looks like you had a great trip! I visited Banff back about 15 years ago with my parents and I also loved it - a truly beautiful place.
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing!
Aug 3, 2017, 11:01 pm
#4
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: YYC
Programs: DL PM, UA *S, SPG/MR Gold, IHG Spire, Hertz PC, pleb in all the rest
Posts: 387
Thank you for coming to visit our lovely part of the world! I'm glad you enjoyed most of the restaurants (I agree Milestones sucks) and our somewhat lenient drinking age.
You'll have to come back for Stampede sometime, it will change your mind on the whole "limited things to do in Calgary" idea. Also if you are into skiing the Banff / Lake Louise area is one of the best in the world (during winter of course).
You'll have to come back for Stampede sometime, it will change your mind on the whole "limited things to do in Calgary" idea. Also if you are into skiing the Banff / Lake Louise area is one of the best in the world (during winter of course).