Triathlons: The Best Sport Ever Conceived

This past weekend I participated in my first triathlon. It was an Olympic distance (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run) race held in Kelowna, British Columbia. I’ve competed in a number of sports in my lifetime; including basketball, volleyball, track, football, rowing and running. I can honestly say I’ve never been as happy during a race as I was bouncing around from the lake, to the roads, to the streets of the Okanagan valley. The experience was so amazing; I have no reservation around unabashedly proselytizing the sport. Everyone should try a triathlon at least once in their lifetime.

Before you dismiss my enthusiasm. Consider I only decided to do a triathlon two months ago, I borrow a road bike to train and race, and I am regularly passed in the pool by the elderly and the pregnant.

Despite all this, I still can’t wait for the next race, and cherish all the time I am able to spend swimming, cycling and running.

Perhaps one can gain a little incite into the enthusiasm behind the sport by looking into its origin. According to sports historian Scott Tinley, early triathlons were held as off-beat training exercises for runners in history-rich port towns like La Rochelle and Marseille.

Let’s paint a picture here. You’ve been running along the French coast for the longest time. There’s nothing but pristine beaches, fine wine, ocean-side cafés, and blue skies for miles… I know… total yawnsville. But, you need a little something to shake things up. You look at the pristine blue water and some locals in their haute couture riding to work on their bikes. You think,”Ah oui!… I am going to float around in the water and take a little jaunt along the coastal roads before my run today”.

Et voila! That sums up the total vibe behind a triathlon. It’s all about having fun participating in a race built on three free-wheeling activities in the most picturesque of landscapes. What other sport offers this?

You may be think, "what about the labored breathing and excruciating lactic acid build-up"? The honest truth is: you decide whether you want to push yourself to those limits in a triathlon. You could chose to go out like Simon Whitfield in the Beijing Olympics; pushing your body to extremes only to race across the finish line on pure mental will. However, there is nothing saying you can’t take breaks, enjoy the scenery, and do the entire race with a smile on your face. As sure as the sun rises every morning, there will be others doing the same and feeling absolutely wonderful for their accomplishment.

If you are still not convinced. I simply ask you to give it a try. Join a local triathlon club, pick a race, follow the training and do the race at your own pace. You'll be sure to come out the other end beaming from ear to ear.

Happy racing!
Stephen

Finding Cheap Flights in Turbulent Times

Frustration, long lines, delays, bad food or no food at all, one blanket per row of 9, questionable movies, lost luggage….this is generally my experience of flying, but in order to get from A to B I have to grin and bear it and try to find the positives in flying…hmmm, frequent flier miles, the destination at the other end, views on a clear day to the landscape below, an excuse to read a good book for 10 hours straight.

I like to consider myself pretty good at finding economical flights on the web, but it requires some research and patience. If you have the time, it is best to shop around and wait a few weeks before making your purchase, unless of course, you find that one deal that is too good to be true.

I have worked in the travel industry for close to 4 years now, and have traveled for many more, but I am still no closer to understanding how airlines work then I was 10 years ago. Prices change all the time, and there seems to be no pattern to why this happens. We hear all the time from our travellers “the flight was $800 yesterday and then today when I went to book it, it had increased to $1200”. I don’t get it either, but chances are the next day the flight might be back to $800 again. So if you have the time it’s worth checking on the flight for a week or two to see if and what changes are occurring in the price.

Below are some suggestions for booking and finding the most economical flight for your next adventure:

1) Search the web and check various sites for the best deal. Some websites for booking flights are Expedia, Travelocity, Kayak, Orbitz and Sidestep. When booking on these sites check prices daily to see how they fluctuate before making the purchase. Everyone on a plane pays a different price because there are so many classes of service, which all have different rates, plus seat sales. I've saved as much as $500 off of a ticket by monitoring sites for a week or two.

2) These days there are so many different classes of travel. Airlines are cutting out services and then giving us the option to either purchase this service for an extra cost or reduce the price of the ticket by not opting for the service. Some of the “extra services” include advanced seat selection, the ability to change or cancel your flight, meal packages or complimentary hotel accommodations if flights are delayed. Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t most of these services included in air ticket prices not so long ago?

3) Booking flights on points can be time consuming, and oftentimes needs to be done far in advance to secure a seat. However, if you have time, check daily for availability because seats almost always open up. People either cancel or lose their reservation for not confirming within the allotted time frame. I have always gotten the flights I wanted when booking on rewards, yet I often hear people complain that they never do. It requires a bit of diligence, but it is well worth the effort.

4) When purchasing flights, check to see the amount of points you will be rewarded to your air miles. I know some of the cheaper flights only reward 50% of the air miles, so in the long run you might as well spend the extra money on the flight to get all your miles rewarded. As well, if you're flying with an airline that you don't have air miles with, but you do with one of their partner airlines, check to see that the class of service your ticket is booked in qualifies for rewards with your air miles membership.

5) If you have extra vacation time and are heading to Europe, we recommend finding a cheap charter flight to London and then flying from there with one of the many cheap airlines such as Ryan Air and Easy Jet. Sometimes these flights can be ridiculously cheap.

6) Give us a call and we can check to see if our air consolidators can find you economical flights. Consolidators get bulk rates because they are booking in volume.

Happy Travels
Meghan

Save the World… Travel

A number of years ago I was driving from my home town of London, Ontario to Satellite Beach, Florida. I stopped at some random gas station in West Virginia to buy a drink and some gas. I started a conversation with the middle-aged attendant. The name on his shirt was Alowishus. He was quick to observe that I wasn’t a local. In a long southern drawl, he asked me, “Where’re you from?” I told him I was from Canada. He didn’t know where that was. I explained Canada was the country just north of Detroit. He said he kind of knew where Detroit was, but he didn’t know there was a country north of Detroit. Then, all of a sudden he lit-up and asked, “Hey, isn’t that where they live in igloos?” I thought he had to be kidding. It turned out Alowishus was dead serious.

It’s easy to be critical of such a character. How could anyone be geographically and culturally ignorant of an entire country that borders their own? It would be so simple to turn this piece into a segment from The Tonight Show’s Jaywalking.

But, that would be missing the point, and hypocritical.

When I was last in Thailand, I expressed surprise that Thailand had a monarchy from the back seat of a taxi. The taxi driver huffed at me through is rear view mirror as if to say, “How could you not know?”

How could I not know?

I work in the world of information. I have a laptop and access to Wikipedia. Really, how could I be smug about Alowishus thinking 30 million Canadian’s carve their homes out of ice?

When I told a friend and wise mentor of mine about my conundrum, he was quick to point out there are things I know (e.g. I know how to drive a car), things I know I don’t know (e.g. I know I don’t know how to speak Russian), and things I don’t know I don’t know (i.e. everything else I am completely unaware of). The point being: You can’t beat yourself up for not knowing what you simply don’t know.

The truth is we can’t be conscious of everything. But, when you travel you have a chance to open your eyes to new ideas and new ways of seeing things. Attitudes change from one of incredulity and intolerance, of difference perspectives and attitudes, to one of deep interest and acceptance.

The next time I bump into Alowishus or someone like him, I'll invite him or her to check Canada out first hand and see we have cities, cars, grocery stores instead of the white expanse he might have imagined. Hopefully, they'll catch the travel bug to see how the rest of the world lives. Hopefully they'll tell their stories and inspire others to travel, learn and appreciate the beautiful world we live in.

Happy Travelling,
Stephen

Great Videos from the World of Travel - Part 2

Here is the second installment of excellent video shorts from the world of travel. We found some fun takeoff and landing video from St Maarten.

Enjoy!
Stephen