The terrible weather and Air Canada: two national disasters.

 I shouldn't slag Air Canada too much, they weren't that bad really.  It's just habit I guess. 

I got an email this morning (Monday), from Air Canada saying there is some bad weather brewing and it might mess up my flight.  Not yet, not sure, just maybe, when it will be too late to do anything about it (I'm paraphrasing)

I kind of ignored it for a while.  I was busy at work.  But then I checked the weather reports.  I swear, a couple of days ago, it said this cold snap would be over by Tuesday.  I feel like that should be some sort of non-verbal contract.  But apparently, the weather channel can just change their mind at any time.  

I waffled a bit. The email said I could change my flight for free.   If I change my ticket, I will lose a day in Bogotá.  But if my flight is delayed AT ALL out of Vancouver, I will miss my connection in Toronto.  I only have a one hour layover.  So, lose a day in Bogota AND 24 hours in Vancouver or Toronto due to weather, which would be not Air Canada's fault, so hotel will be on me.  Or I just play it safe, cram a lot of Bogotá in one day and change my ticket.  I decided to see if I could change my connecting flight between Vancouver and Toronto. 

So, decision sort of made.  I hit the "Manage my booking' link.  Nope, of course not.  Good bloody luck finding a phone number on the Air Canada website.  Fortunately Google isn't actively anti-customer service when it comes to other business's customer service.  Phone number acquired. 

I tried to call them before lunch, between students.  I was on hold, with very terrible music.  I got through. I gave my name, booking info and a synopsis of my issue.  Then the Air Canada lady said, 'I can't hear you' and hit a bunch of keys.  It was a very 'I'm going through a tunnel, can y...  hear...' line goes dead situation.  

I didn't have time to call back before my next student.  Then I had lunch.  I figured I would let my frozen mini-pizza (aka fate) determine if I should change my flight.  I called them back after lunch and got someone who didn't hang up on me.  If I change one ticket, I have to change them all.  So I did.  

I am now leaving on Thursday morning instead of Wednesday.  And I am flying into Montreal with a two hour layover instead of Toronto with one hour.  Silver lining:  an extra day to find that sandal!  

I was able to cancel that first night at my hotel .  Valerie can still drive me to the airport and the cat sitter actually responded to my text about the date change.  So all is good

I can probably only take one walking tour?  Food or War?  TBD. 

A few minor last minute details

Perhaps not so minor and perhaps should not have been last minute. 

So, I remembered that I probably need some money when I get there. I called my usual exchange place.  Nope,  Some other exchange places downtown. Nope.  Oh no!  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  I checked with my bank.  They say I can have Colombian Pesos by Tuesday.  Note, I am leaving first thing on Wednesday and I work on Tuesday.  Best I can do so I ordered it.  If it doesn't arrive in time, I'm sure there is an exchange place in the airport (at 4am).  

I filled out my Gov't of Canada 'Register as a Canadian Abroad' info.  So they know where I was last seen. Because I also read the travel alerts.  Basically, I will be lucky to just get robbed.  Canada is not nearly so alarming as the US info. 

Basically, just reconsider travel, and probably your life choices

I looked up any visa requirements.  None.  Once again there is some sort of form to fill out which I'm sure is not needed.  Why is the necessary form to enter any given country never necessary?  Anyway, this one is online so I will fill out the form, again.  Of course, now I can't find the form but I think I saved it somewhere?.  Maybe I won't fill out the form, again.  

It's snowing here.  Making me extra happy to be heading south.  

To do: Recheck in with the cat sitter who is not answering my texts.  Wonder what to do if he doesn't ever answer my texts?  

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Next day, four and a half days to go.  It is -10 degrees today.  Yes, I'm mentally ready to go.  I'm not packed or much of anything else ready yet, but I do not like the cold so I'm ready. 

Biggest issue is that I am almost out of coffee!  I do not want to buy coffee right before I to to Colombia so I found that weird fig coffee I bought in Morocco and mixed it with that last of my normal, grocery store coffee.  Not as bad as I thought to be honest.  

It's Friday, I leave on Wednesday.  I will pack this weekend.  (hmm, even I doubt that!)

Cat sitter did confirm he will be fine to stay here and tend the cat and house.  

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Next day (Saturday).  Packing.  Going surprisingly well.  Perhaps it helps that I am sick and it is -100,000 degrees (°C) outside so I'm stuck in the house.  

Only issue is that I seem to have lost a sandal. 

Did I mention that at some point in the distant past, I ordered a Lonely Planet Pocket Guide for Colombia.  But I was informed that there weren't any to be had.  And then I forgot about it.  I got yesterday an email that it has shipped.  oops, I forgot to cancel it!  But, alas and miraculous, it is going to arrive on Monday!  So far I am lucking out with timing (knock on wood for the money on Tuesday).

My missing shoe and my arriving guide reminds me how I lost my Madagascar pocket guide pull-out map.  The reason I bought the guide in the first place.  Well, I found it last weekend, in my purse, tucked into a little notebook.  I carried that notebook all over Madagascar and I guess I never needed to make note of anything while I was there.  I made it home unscathed so I guess I didn't really need it.  

Let's go find that sandal.  

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Sunday.  Sandal is still missing.  May have to move on to finding new sandals to take.  

I practice-packed and I have room left in my bag!.  Of course, I still have to add the sandals but I should be good.  One of the things I usually take but am forgoing this time is a bird book.  My brother Paul suggested I download Merlin bird identifying app on my phone.  I just did that.  Umm, this is way better than a book!  I like having a book to tick things off but I guess it is time to move to the late 20th century.  

This has to be better than flipping though 1700+ birds found in the Colombia bird book, let alone the gazillion in my South America bird book.  Plus, it does photo id and sound id.  Crazy! Yet another reminder that Paul is no dummy.  

My hotel in Bogota is offering me an airport pick up.  $22.  Google says I can get into town for $8-10 so no thanks.  

I checked the Colombia plug situation.  No converter required!  For the first time in YEARS.  A tiny bit of space saved.  

My guide book arrived - a day early.  

 I am trying to check out my hotels on the map. It's a slow process...  

again with the annoyed face... 

I had a little collapsible water bottle that I liked a lot so I bought another one.  At some point, in Madagascar, one of them started to leak.  I might have switched the tops but I didn't have time to figure out which top went with which bottom and I didn't think it would have made a difference.  But I never got around to taking them back to the store, especially since I couldn't remember which one leaked.  Anyway, I decided to see if changing the top would work.  It did.  Now I have colour-coded them so I don't end up with a soggy backpack again.  

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Monday.  I have had dealings with Air Canada so you know that's going to be a whole thing.  I will end this one for now and do a whole new post.  One needs proper space for a good Air Canada rant.  

I have not found my sandal. Is it in a hotel room in Madagascar?  

One week to go

I really don't have any interesting updates.  I barely remembered to buy Dukerol in time, which I just took with one day to spare.  Which reminded me that I should post something.  You know, since I am leaving in eight days. 

I sewed my secret pockets into the two pairs of pants I am taking. The cat was not helpful. Snores before chores is her motto.  

You've got to love the annoyed face: 
I was disturbing her nap on my lap with my pocket project

And I started packing a bit.  Here is a picture.  Just to let you know where I'm at, the black bag is still on the bed from my Madagascar trip. Colombia is at the end of the bed.  Totally organized!  

Note the curtains.  There are the ones I bought
in the street market in Nosy Boraha. Nice, eh? 

I started googling 'what to do in Cartagena'.  And I checked Atlas Obscura.  If you remember, that site is how I ended up on Nosy Boraha in Madagascar, searching for pirate graves.  I still don't know what to do in Cartagena.  Next, I'll not figure out what to do in Medellin.  

And that's it.  That's my trip planning in 10 lines or less.  I'm sick so I'm home from work today.  I'm glad I got this icky cold before my trip.  Hopefully I won't be a snotty, coughing disaster on my flight.  How to make your seat mates hate you:  mucus!  

Better check in with the cat sitter.  

I guess that's it for now.  

I mostly have places to stay

It's hard to believe, I am leaving on this trip in less than four weeks.  And I have Christmas and Winter term start up to keep me distracted until I go.  

At some point since I wrote the last post, I went onto Booking.com and found some places to stay.  Who would have guessed that with a massive seat sale on flights to Colombia during high season, that many places would already be full!?  Not me apparently.  

That plus my recently acquired 'high falutin' standards' means the hotels are as much as all of my flights combined.  No problem, who needs to save for retirement when you are living the retirement life while not retired?  Not me apparently.  

I get to Bogota at 4am on January 18th so I just booked a room for January 17 just to avoid hassles.  I am booked for every night except the night before I leave.  I was trying to decide if I should stay near the airport since I fly into Bogota at 5:30pm and fly home the next day at 8:40 am.  As I write that, I realize, yes, just stay near the airport.  But that really means I can't buy anything!  Nothing!  No buying something in Bogota and leaving it at my hotel until I get back.  Anything I buy I have to carry with me and if you remember from my last post, I am only allowed a child's school bag as carry on for my Wingo flights.  

Oh, yes, before I decided in the last paragraph to book a room near the airport, I was trying to figure out how to get to and from the airport/downtown.  Bogota, I discovered, has a massive transit system with trains and subway called TransMelenio.  I looked at their website and saw the massive map and how it does not seem to go near my hotel?  But I can't be sure because I could not find a map that includes both subway stops and street names that are even close to the Booking.com street names.  

I decided to stay in the touristy area of Candelaria.  I don't have a lot of time there so this way I can be walking distance to the highlights such as the Gold Museum that literally everyone who's been there says is a must see.  

I was talking to my friend Dottie last night.  She loved Colombia and recommends a free walking tour company...  I wrote it down...  one sec...  Beyond Colombia Walking Tours.  Sure, I was intrigued by the 'historical tour' but she really had me at the free 'food tour'!  I'm gonna look that up right now.  

Oh man!!  They are in all three cities.  My trip might just be walking around, following the person with the red umbrella.  Finally something other than cocaine and kidnapping.  

(five minutes later).  I am booked for the Food Tour on the 18th and the War and Conflict Tour on the 19th (so I still get to do the cocaine and kidnapping, I would hate to miss out).  I'll look at Cartagena and Medellin later.  This post has already been derailed enough.  

https://youtu.be/yI7NnrxJ5Iw

-77777778875555555555555555558888888888888888888888 (Pigeon stopped by for a comment if you are interested in what she thinks about this trip -1 is 'exceeds expectations', 9 is 'very unsatisfied').

All of this food talk and video is making me think a cooking class might be a good idea.  hmm. $120 CAD!.  I'll wait until I get there and see what I can find.  My falutin' standards are not that high.  

What were we talking about...?  Oh yes, hotels.  I am booked in Masaya Bogota in Bogata (obviously).  ...more googling.  7 minute walk from the bus stop to my hotel.  Probably not at 4am though?  Probably...  

https://www.masaya-experience.com/en/bogota/ 

Then I'm booked in Santa Alejandria Hotel in Cartagena.  

https://hotel-santa-alejandria.negocio.site/

And then the Jaguar Refugio in Medellin. Which you just know I booked because of the name.  I got an email after I booked letting me know there are no windows in the rooms because of the street noise. 😕 But it's got a 9.4 - Fantastic! rating.  So, we'll see (and you will get to read all about it I'm sure) 

No website, here's the booking.com link

And now I also booked in Hotel Habitel Prime, very close to the airport for my last night.

https://www.habitelhotels.com/es/hotel-habitel-prime-en-bogota/

That's probably it for now.  Until I need another excuse to do some googling/planning.   

This trip is sort of coming together

I keep forgetting I'm going to Colombia in less than two months.  I do a bit of thinking on it, maybe a bit of research and then say, later.  

My flight from Canada to Colombia is carry on only.  And my smaller backpack is unsalvageable.  It has been too many places and been abused by its owner's overpurchasing/overpacking too many times.  I think the 6 cutting boards from Costa Rica might have been when it should have been declared dead but the 5 alpaca blankets from Peru was when the plug finally got pulled.  I think I may have 'Weekend at Bernie's' it one more time but now it is literally ripped open at the top, duct taped on the bottom.  Just not usable at all.  Even I have my limits. 

I bought a wheelie/duffle/backpack thing that I took to Madagascar and it worked well.  But it is too big for carry on.  So, a new small backpack is required.  I spent way more time researching what bag I wanted that I did researching all aspects of this trip combined (which isn't hard since I gave it 30 seconds thought before buying my flight).  

Conveniently, this trip is on the heels of Black Friday. Say what you will about the Americanization of Canada, I can't say no to a good Black Friday sale.  Sorry Boxing Day, you were doomed to be pushed aside due to your post-Christmas date.  

Anyway, I made my friend Andrea come downtown with me and try out various backpacks.  I settled on the Cotopaxi 35 litre backpack, colour: Del Dia.  25% off for Black Friday, thank you very much. 

Del Dia bags are made out of ends of rolls so they are a mish-mash of colours.  I won't lose it on the carousel, that's for sure. 

It is small (although possibly not small enough, TBD), has lots of pockets and compartments, the waist strap turns into a shoulder strap so it can become a duffle.  

This is my bag:  business in the front, party in the back, just like a good 80s mullet! 

Next task.  What does one do in Colombia.  Actually, I still don't know.  

Next task.  Where does one go in Colombia.  

Bogota, not so much.  Google, tell me where is the best place to go in Colombia for a boring tourist who doesn't want to climb a mountain?  Mostly a tie between Cartagena and Medellin.   I have two weeks.  I think I can do all three.  

Next research:  Intra-Colombia flights.  There are four airlines in the area.  Two I've flown with in the past: Avianca and Latam.  And two I've never heard of:  Wingo and Clic.   So, three flights with two potential routes (Bogota to Cartagena or Medillin, Medillin to Cartegena or vice versa, Medilla or Cartegena to Bogota) X four airlines.  That took a bit of time.  Of course it was immediately apparent that Aviance and Latam were way more expensive than Clic and Wingo.  Probably better service but these are short hops so do I care?  Feel free to ask me when my flight is cancelled and I am booking a last minute, million peso flight back to Bogota.

My research, good old paper and a calculator!  

Anyway, Wingo is cheaper than Clic and has routes that I need at reasonable times.  I even calculated the difference in cost between B->M->C->B vs B->C->M->B.  By the way, this required I also look up the conversion of Canadian dollars (CAD) to Colombian pesos (COP).  Approximately $10 000 COP is $3.50 CAD.  

My initial research showed I could do all three flights for under $200 CAD ($170 actually).  But wait, Black Friday is coming, plus my procrastination/apathy made me hold on until today.  

Good decision.  All told, I got all three for @ $120 CAN, with priority boarding and selected seats!  Bonus.  And I can change each flight once if needed.  

But I still only have carry one.  And really small carry on.  Technically smaller than my new Cotopaxi bag.  So, TBD.  

For those that like to fret and/or judge my idiocy.  The bag I am allowed is 40cm x 35cm x 25cm.  The listed size of my bag is 51cm x 30cm x 20cm.  So, it is a little bit tall but a equal part less narrow/wide.  Wingo says I have to put it under my seat.  I can put my feet on whatever part doesn't fit under hopefully.  

Next task, find somewhere to stay in three cities. That is for another day.  

Please enjoy my very bad photo editing: 

I'm not even sure I want to do this, am I becoming jaded?

I was at a concert with some friends and one of them innocently said 'YVR Deals just sent an email about seats sales to Colombia'.  You'd think my friends would know me better than to say such a thing. 

Anyway, that percolated in my noggin overnight (no I did not buy a ticket while at a concert, I do have some self-control).  You all know you can just ignore that bracket about self-control right?  Cause I bought a ticket on my lunch break the next day, with zero research, no booked vacation and no idea what one does in Colombia except cocaine and kidnapping, neither of which particularly appeals to me. 

I am flying to Bogotá round trip January 17 to Feb 1 (I should check that date to make sure).  I then read Bogotá is not great for two weeks, more like two days.  So, now I am deciding between Medellin or Cartagena or both.  Internal flights are cheap.   There are three airlines to choose from, with varying prices.  Wingo is the cheapest.  Wingo sounds like a real airline, doesn't it?  It has wings and it goes. In theory.  TBD (again, not really, you all know I am going to go with the cheap option).  

More later.