Trip Introduction: A Pandemic Inspired Road Trip through the Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada
After not having had a work trip or personal trip in 6 months, I started to get a little stir crazy. Having a worldwide pandemic at the time didn’t help and for many months we were stuck at home without a travel plan to be had.
Fortunately, our home province of British Columbia in Canada had a very light pandemic experience with less than 4,000 total cases by the time of this trip with only two hundred active cases in a province of four million people.
The decision to travel during a state of emergency is always a personal one given the risks versus the reward. I think everyone needs to conduct their own risk assessment and decide whether this can be done safely. In this case, we decided it would be safe enough given the activities we planned on doing, and travelling by personal car in our own little "bubble".
We had a stack of Marriott Bonvoy vouchers from four American Express credit cards that required burning at some point this year. Since they are only valid on Category 5 hotels and lower, they can be a little tricky to use in our home town of Vancouver, Canada. I usually use them on Seattle, Washington, United States hotels but with the Canadian Government having to quarantine returning international travelers for 14 days, that plan went quickly out the window. Thanks to Marriott Bonvoy category devaluations thanks to the high demand of Vancouver’s’ cruise ship industry for Alaskan Cruises, there aren’t too many exciting places in Vancouver that these can be used aside from a few remote airport or suburban hotels. This left us with Vancouver Island or the Okanagan interior or flying to some other location within Canada.
One of my work colleagues recommended visiting the brand new Fairfield Inn and Suites in Penticton, BC. While we don’t normally get excited about visiting the lowest budget hotels in the Marriott group, there is hardly any Marriott foot print in this part of the country. We were able to stop in and experience the new hotel within 30 days of opening. The region, which is situated near Canada's only desert, features a lot of recreation activities which include lakes, restaurants and Canadian up and coming wineries.
Since putting on thousands of kilometers on your own car is never fun, we ended up renting from the neighbourhood Hertz Car Rental for this trip. We obtained a weekly rental with a nice Hertz President’s Circle upgrade for a reasonable rate using the American Express Platinum CDP coupon (15%) along with 500 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan frequent flier miles.
This is the first road trip of about twenty that I’ve written about and the first time that a Trip Introduction here doesn’t feature a flight map. Hopefully, this is doesn’t become the only one of this nature. Thankfully, travelling through the Canadian Rockies to get to a wine region is quite pretty and inspiring in its self.
I hope you will enjoy following along on our first great road trip adventure.
Read more from this trip:
Trip Introduction: A Pandemic Inspired Road Trip Through the Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada
Overland Travel: Getting to Quilchena and Nicola Lake
A Day of Fishing on Nicola Lake
Fairfield Inn and Suites, Penticton, BC, Canada
Floating the Penticton River Channel, Penticton, BC, Canada
Okanagan Winery Region Visits at Church and State, Checkmate and Burrowing Owl
Okanagan Winery Region Visits to La Frenz and La Stella
Overland Travel: Penticton - Nicola Lake - Vancouver
Links to my previous reports:
A Pandemic Inspired Road Trip through the Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada. August 2020
The United Island Hopper via Honolulu, & Kauai via United and Alaska Airlines First Class, January 2020
Peggy’s Cove & Halifax & Canada’ National Remembrance Day via Air Canada Business, November 2019
Chasing Legends In Ireland, London and Portugal via Tap Portugal and British Airways Business Class, Sept 2019
Melbourne, The Gold Coast & Whitsundays Great Barrier Reef via Qantas First Class, Aug 2019
Whale Sharks, Tacos and Baja California via Alaska First Class, April 2019
Fried Chicken, CNN and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia, USA via United First, April 2019
Spring Break in Park City, Utah, USA via Alaska Airlines, March 2019
Christkindlesmarkt (Christmas Market) Villages in Germany via British Airways and Lufthansa First Class, Dec 2018
Iceland, Spain & Morocco via IcelandAir Business Class & British Airways First Class, Sept 2018
East Africa: Tanzania and Seychelles via Air Canada & Turkish Airlines Business Class June 2018
Spring Break with WT73jr at Vail Colorado, USA via Alaska Airlines. March 2018
Polyensia Part II: Easter Island, Chile & Mexico City, Mexico via LATAM Business Class. Sept 2017
Summer is a state of mind; Kaanapali, Maui, via Alaska Airlines with my 13 yr old son, August 2017
Fiji, New Zealand and French Polynesia via Fiji Airways, Air New Zealand and Air Tahiti Nui Business Class, June 2017
Mileage Running to New York via Delta Airlines First Class for Alaska MVP Status, Dec 2016
Havana and Varadero Cuba via Westjet Holidays from Canada, Nov 2016
Malta (and the island of Gozo), Venice, Italy and Oktoberfest in Munich, via Air France Business Class, Sept 2016
South Africa, Namibia, Victoria Falls, Mauritius & the UAE via Emirates First, Qatar & South African Airways Business, April 2016
Pearl Harbor, The First Lady of Waikiki and Wailea, Hawaii via Alaska Airlines First Class, January 2016
Dodging Volcanic Ash: A family trip to Bali / Singapore with my 11 year old via Asiana, KLM and JAL Business, July 2015
RTW#3 (J): Vietnam, Maldives, and Tackling India’s Golden Triangle via Air Canada, Asiana Singapore, Air India and Turkish Airlines Business, May 2015
Experiencing flying as a "Non-Rev", Australia Wine and Beaches via Air Canada and Qantas Business, November 2014
Alaska Airlines First Class to Las Vegas, and a stay in the Aria Sky Suites “Penthouse” via Alaska Airlines First Class, August 2014
Family trip to Kenora Lake of the Woods Ontario via Air Canada Business Class. August 2014
Cathay Pacific First Class to New York, a sombre visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum & 4 days of eating in NYC, May 2014
RTW #2 The Khors of Oman via Japan, Poland & the UAE via ANA, Thai, Lufthansa Business Class, April 2014
South Africa, Safari in Maasai Mara Kenya, & Mauritius via South African Airways, Swiss and Air Canada Business Class, Nov 2013
A family trip to Westin Playa Conchal, Liberia Costa Rica via United Airlines, Aug 2013
Buried Treasure: UAE Empty Quarter and Beyond to Huvadhoo Atoll, Maldives via United and Etihad Airlines, Nov 2012
RTW #1(F) The Time Share Presentation: Spain / China / Thailand via Asiana, Thai and Lufthansa First Class, May 2012
A visit to Macchu Picchu and Valle Nevado, Peru and Chile via Air Canada Business Class, Sept 2011
Travel after the Revolution of January 25, 2011. Egypt via Egypt Air, May 2011
A Step Back in Time: The Twilight of Burma, a visit to Myanmar via Silk Airways, Sept 2010
For a more detailed version of this report, please visit www.worldtraveller73.com