A bit delayed, but finally!!!! This comes from December 2009.

Wow.

So, here I am. I have thought about this for almost three years now, and something, while sitting in the bath reading about jewelery design, motivated me to pull the plug, rinse off and run to my constantly crashing HP laptop.

I travel across Canada on a monthly basis, and on my spare time, rather than sitting at home and dreaming where I have been or where I would like to be, I hop on a plane and head to Europe, hop in my car and drive out to the country, or visit another little spot in North America – whether tacky or fancy – I don’t care. I cannot sit still.

In these journeys, one must eat, shop, visit the doctor, get a haircut, buy vitamins, drink tea, coffee or wine, do yoga, rent a bike, car or donkey, know where the specials are, go see some music and/or art, have good skin care products (different air, detergents  and water are a nightmare) and many other needs or luxuries. You catch my drift. My goal, for those who may read this one day, who knows when, is to simply advise of the goods, bads and the in-betweens. Hopefully people can offer me advice, whether it is places I should or shouldn’t go, or whether it is to tell me how to deal with some of the predicaments I find myself in. I am open to suggestions. And, hey, I am also open to a good argument. I always have been – for fun of course. Perhaps “debate” is a better word. I am not claiming I know all. I am not a gourmet cook, I have not been trained on wines (although I believe I sure have practiced tasting), and my grammar and spelling will probably be tough to read sometimes, as I tend to write with excitement. I am just your average gal.

In all of my traveling, I have had many great experiences and memories (as I do make the most of it) but as we know, often, the bad ones tend to stick out. And so, in writing this, I intend to vent all of my frustrating experiences to open up room for much more fun! And I hope my stories of delight motivate others to experience them. I am going to try to provide pictures, when possible, as well as websites I enjoy, bargain shopping, and all other things I find noteworthy. I have some catching up to do because it has taken me a year to actually post – so please, bear with me. 

I am currently on one of my trips. I am in Alberta and this trip will find me stretching along the path from Lake Louise to St Albert. I have been here for 3 days, and in the past 24 hours, I have driven approximately 600km and have had three frustrating experiences. Three is rare in this span of time, and perhaps that is why I am finally writing this, I AM FED UP!

After a long and amazing day of snowboarding at Lake Louise, my first day of the season, my friend and I  finally rested our knotted thighs and rock hard butts and decided to trek through the -24 degree snowstorm and try a new restaurant; “Avocado” – advertised as a “fresh Mexican grill”. It is located in Calgary at 17^th and 4^th. Mission.  Avocados, being my new favourite treat, I jumped at the suggestion. We took precautionary measures and looked online at the menu – it read well. The prices were decent.  We bundled up and walked – ran – there.  Few were there, and on a Saturday night that should have been a clue, but we used the weather, and our rumbling stomaches, as an excuse. We curled up in the corner and ordered. The starters were delicious – guacamole and salsa – and then came the “entrees”. I ordered a “signature Burrito” – to me that sounds like a “chef special”.  It was the “Baja Veggie Burrito”. The descriptions of all burritos made it hard to pick. I settled for the “healthy” one to balance the fries and gravy from the hill, and my friend got the “ranchero fajita burrito”. MINE WAS AWFUL!

When I think “burrito”, I think delicious hot ingredients stuffed into a corn wrap, reaching from one side of the plate to the other, covered in melted cheese, salsa and sour cream; the side of salad deliciously piled in the left over spaces of the plate. If my eyes were closed and the loud dance renditions of Mexican music were replaced with Michael Buble, I could have easily thought my “burrito” was a veggie wrap with a side of salad in a plastic container from Starbucks. It was a cold, grilled vegetable wrap, with a little bowl of lettuce with 2 cherry tomatoes and creamy ranch-like dressing squiggled on top. It was a joke. The taste was barely there, my friends a tiny better, I am sure simply because of the texture of the meat.  For the $60.00 the meal cost us, with the starters and a glass of wine each, I was appalled. I mentioned it to the waitress, and she proceeded to tell me that she had “never heard that before” and that the “owner was drunk at the next table”. We paid our bill, walked out, and were greeted by the owner knocking on the window and waving at us. Classy.  

This morning I call Thrifty Car Rental at the Calgary airport to see if I can transfer my reservation to a location that was just a few blocks away to make it easier to pick up the car. Keep in mind I rent every other week from Thrifty, and often, the service is good. First I was told that she couldn’t find my name or reservation. Once I helped her find it, I was told that the downtown location near me was closed due to the bad weather, and that even if they were open, they wouldn’t have a full size car. After not really understanding her reasoning, I decided to call for myself. They were open, had three full sized cars, and made the reservation transfer while I was on the phone. The gentleman at the downtown location, 5^th and Centre, made up for the headache that the airport lady caused.

I picked up my car and headed for Edmonton, I stopped in Red Deer at Costco to buy a new laptop to replace the Acer laptop I bought a few months ago that crashed after 28 days.  I buy from Costco because they have an incredible warrantee. You have 90 days to return with no questions asked, and then an extended 2 year warrantee. I ran in, told the gentleman what I wanted, he sold me immediately on an amazing little HP dm3; perfect for the traveller. It is small yet powerful. The only thing issue is that I had to buy an external disk drive. No big deal at all. Having no disk drive allows the laptop to be smaller and lighter – when do I use discs anyways?

I drove the next 2 hours with excitement to park, check in to my hotel – the lovely Mettera  on Whyte  (great service, rooms, complimentary valet service (great for the winter) , free gourmet complimentary breakfast, free wine tasting and snacks in the evening, exercise room, business room, apples at the front desk, tea and coffee all day – you catch my drift!), run for a warm Thai dinner (also delicious and often frequented on my Sunday arrivals, Pad Thai on 82^nd Ave – their spicy salads and green curry are amazing! Service is always fantastic, and even though I only go about once every 6 weeks, they always remember me and make me feel at home ), come back to my room and set up my laptop and get a ton of work done. I turn on my laptop to install all of my software and files – it will not turn on properly. It tells me that the computer cannot turn on and that it will take a few minutes to fix the problem. 2 hours later, it was not fixed. So now, I have to go back to Costco, never a quick mission around Christmas, return the laptop, explain the issue, and HOPE that maybe they have another one there to replace the damaged one – and perhaps, just perhaps, I can get a deal for the complete inconvenience. I doubt it. Luckily I have my other old laptop with me, because I have learned to not rely on technology, however, I cannot do the work I would like to do on this one. But, good thing, I can write a word document. 

Pad Thai on 82nd

And so, tomorrow I will return the laptop, hope they have another one to replace it, track down a manager for some kind of deal for the complete inconvenience, and hopefully have it set up and running tomorrow night so that I can update you on how the return went.

So, As much as I sound like a complete whiner, I am not. I just am a strong believer in customer service. In these days of cautious spending and being told to support our economy and shop, I believe that customer service should be number one, no excuses. I work in an industry where I have to provide customer service, and I strive to do the best I can, and more importantly, I want to do it. If my customer is happy, my business is done.

This is quite an intro into my life of travels. All I can think about is how much I could have written over these past three years. I am so excited to be doing this. Let’s see how long I can keep it going.

Bbye for now,

Pippa