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Jul. 31st, 2012 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljGosh it's the end of JULY already!
Still waiting for Graham's vacation in November to be approved. Because they're changing their vacation year from May 1-April 31 to a calendar year, he's only got 6 days left for this calendar year but he's put in to see if he can take 4 days without pay or borrow some from next year. Even if he's only allowed the 6, i'll still go over for the 2 weeks. The four days he'll be at work, i can do my own thing, take a bus into town, maybe see if one or two of my friends are available. One is currently unemployed so if she still is, we can hang out one day. Graham's friend Malc is retired so might be persuaded to hang out one day and I've another friend who lives outside of Manchester a bit who works from home so might be able to change her schedule perhaps.
But it's been very strange trying to find a flight! I tried to look on the Air Canada site to see what flights were available, flying from Halifax and landing in Manchester and the only route they kept serving up flew me from Halifax to Toronto, then overnight to Copenhagen (!) and then, THE DAY AFTER THAT, Copenhagen to Manchester. WTF? The day after??? Looking on sites like Expedia and Travelocity, I could fly into London from Halifax but would have to change to British Airways for the ongoing flight. That still didn't make sense. What happened to British Midland? They were the carrier i always transferred to, and i could check my luggage straight through as they were partnered with AC via Star Alliance. The other day I went to bmi's site just to see just to see what the flights were from Heathrow to Manchester and discovered why AC was giving me so much grief. Seems that the flights between Heathrow and Manchester are now being handled by ... yes, British Airways. That's why AC wasn't showing an ongoing flight as usual, because BA is not their Star Alliance partner. But if i can get into Heathrow via AC directly, then I'll just get the ongoing flight from BA and be done with it. It's far simpler than flying backwards and then overshooting the mark and returning.
When i'd gone to a travel agent to see what she could do, she, using Star Alliance, was able to get me over there via Montreal and Heathrow and using BA onward but returning from Manchester to Brussels to Montreal to Halifax via Singapore Airlines (or probably a code share with AC or Lufthansa). That's just as bizarre. I think i'll do it a bit more directly using the BA flights. I try to stick to Star Alliance for the Aeroplan points but it's not THAT necessary. If i can't go direct from Halifax to Heathrow I don't mind having to transfer via Toronto or Montreal. Well i do mind, but i may not have a choice about that routing. The Halifax direct route fills up fast.
So. Once that's booked, I can concentrate on Rome. Looks like there are no direct flights to Rome from Manchester but the best flying times and arriving times are BA through Gatwick so that's probably what i'll do.I don't want to arrive in Rome at night because you've wasted a whole day. Mid to late afternoon at least gives you the evening to stroll around. I've been checking hotels and since i'll probably be taking my little laptop, the hotel and room must have free wifi and preferably a laptop sized safe in the room. It was nice being able to use it when we were in Montreal. I could upload my photos and type up my travelogue each night which saved me time when i got home. We'll also have a Rome city guide app on the ipods which is good on the go to find restaurants nearby where we are during the day. That came in quite handy in Copenhagen.
If he's got to work four days, I probably won't rent a car for the week since i wouldn't be comfortable driving it by myself but i might for a weekend at least. .
Still waiting for Graham's vacation in November to be approved. Because they're changing their vacation year from May 1-April 31 to a calendar year, he's only got 6 days left for this calendar year but he's put in to see if he can take 4 days without pay or borrow some from next year. Even if he's only allowed the 6, i'll still go over for the 2 weeks. The four days he'll be at work, i can do my own thing, take a bus into town, maybe see if one or two of my friends are available. One is currently unemployed so if she still is, we can hang out one day. Graham's friend Malc is retired so might be persuaded to hang out one day and I've another friend who lives outside of Manchester a bit who works from home so might be able to change her schedule perhaps.
But it's been very strange trying to find a flight! I tried to look on the Air Canada site to see what flights were available, flying from Halifax and landing in Manchester and the only route they kept serving up flew me from Halifax to Toronto, then overnight to Copenhagen (!) and then, THE DAY AFTER THAT, Copenhagen to Manchester. WTF? The day after??? Looking on sites like Expedia and Travelocity, I could fly into London from Halifax but would have to change to British Airways for the ongoing flight. That still didn't make sense. What happened to British Midland? They were the carrier i always transferred to, and i could check my luggage straight through as they were partnered with AC via Star Alliance. The other day I went to bmi's site just to see just to see what the flights were from Heathrow to Manchester and discovered why AC was giving me so much grief. Seems that the flights between Heathrow and Manchester are now being handled by ... yes, British Airways. That's why AC wasn't showing an ongoing flight as usual, because BA is not their Star Alliance partner. But if i can get into Heathrow via AC directly, then I'll just get the ongoing flight from BA and be done with it. It's far simpler than flying backwards and then overshooting the mark and returning.
When i'd gone to a travel agent to see what she could do, she, using Star Alliance, was able to get me over there via Montreal and Heathrow and using BA onward but returning from Manchester to Brussels to Montreal to Halifax via Singapore Airlines (or probably a code share with AC or Lufthansa). That's just as bizarre. I think i'll do it a bit more directly using the BA flights. I try to stick to Star Alliance for the Aeroplan points but it's not THAT necessary. If i can't go direct from Halifax to Heathrow I don't mind having to transfer via Toronto or Montreal. Well i do mind, but i may not have a choice about that routing. The Halifax direct route fills up fast.
So. Once that's booked, I can concentrate on Rome. Looks like there are no direct flights to Rome from Manchester but the best flying times and arriving times are BA through Gatwick so that's probably what i'll do.I don't want to arrive in Rome at night because you've wasted a whole day. Mid to late afternoon at least gives you the evening to stroll around. I've been checking hotels and since i'll probably be taking my little laptop, the hotel and room must have free wifi and preferably a laptop sized safe in the room. It was nice being able to use it when we were in Montreal. I could upload my photos and type up my travelogue each night which saved me time when i got home. We'll also have a Rome city guide app on the ipods which is good on the go to find restaurants nearby where we are during the day. That came in quite handy in Copenhagen.
If he's got to work four days, I probably won't rent a car for the week since i wouldn't be comfortable driving it by myself but i might for a weekend at least. .
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 11:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-31 12:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-01 01:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-01 11:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-01 10:04 pm (UTC)Maybe this is difficult cause you are going in November?
no subject
Date: 2012-08-02 09:31 am (UTC)