St. Lucia becomes St. 'Elucia'

I’m supposed to be in St. Lucia now. But my SO’s disability has declined to a point where she doesn’t have sufficient mobility, therefore sidelining that plan. Yes, the airfare had already been paid. No insurance because we’d never needed insurance before. My way of looking at it is, yes, I’ve eaten $2000 but the entire trip would have cost another $8000 for three weeks. That, my friends, is money in the bank…Why St. Lucia, which I’m now calling St Elucia (as in elusive)? During the pandemic this deep southern Caribbean Island seemed to have the best Covid protocols, with all resorts abiding by a standard system which appeared better than other Caribbean Islands. Hence the Island was more open for business, combing safety and normalcy. Moreover, from all reports and photographs the island, unlike others, is a standout with its lush forests, waterfalls, chocolate factories and Pitons mountains. Well, we never ended up going during Covid; we’d simply put it aside among other priorities. And now this cancellation (no charge for the resort). We’ll see if St. Elucia ever becomes St. Lucia! Coincidentally, on Monday, the expected day of our arrival, my computer screen randomly generated a screen saver of, guess where.

Postscript: friends whom I wrote about in the last post were delighted to obtain two $400 vouchers after their Toronto-Windsor flight was cancelled and they had to take Via Rail to Windsor. “I sent a registered letter to Air Canada on Monday, requesting a refund of the cancelled portion of the flight from Windsor to Toronto, and our train fare, and by Wednesday evening we had a refund of $800 in our bank accounts!  I’m not kidding! Pretty impressive." Sure is, that speed is almost unheard of for any business. AC is more than pulling up its socks paying refunds, a far cry from 2022 with massive backlogs from delays when people started flying post-Covid, though I've never had too much of a problem getting refund vouchers ... However, there’s a story in today’s National Post about the airline taking a Vancouver couple to court for making a similar claim. The airline says it is not seeking vengeance but testing a new adjudication process by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA). “The complaint was centered around a January 2020 flight that the couple says was delayed for 24 hours. Nearly four years later, the CTA ruled that Air Canada owed the Dyczkowskis $1,000 each and gave the airline until the end of December to pay. Instead, Air Canada has opted to challenge the ruling in Federal Court. If the airline is successful, the couple fears they could be out for more than just the $2,000 compensation they received — they could also be on the hook for Air Canada’s legal costs.”

The more I think about it, Athens (photo - sunset from Filopappou Hill) – where I spent almost two months last fall - is an ideal city. Sure, it’s large on a metropolitan scale but the central city is compact yet overflowing with activity. Hundreds of restaurants, cafes and wine bars cluster in the circumference below the Acropolis, all within walking distance. The same goes for the city’s roughly dozen museums. And in summer, you can easily hop on a tram to take you directly to beaches on the “Athens Riviera,” just south of the city. No need for a car; how perfect is that ... I've joined several Athens FB groups and find myself as an ambassador touting the city's glories. 

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

More complaints about Windsor flight connections

Yet another complaint about Toronto to Windsor air service. A friend last week, returning from Western Canada, had her Windsor flight cancelled, necessitating a train ride home. “We were fifteen hours longer getting home because of Air Canada.” This is the third time this has happened," she said. “It took me less time to fly from India than it did from Victoria.” Well, I’ve suffered flight cancellations too – always from TO to Windsor and never the other way around – also, over the past three decades. The first time, in the 1990’s, I hitched a ride home with famed (now deceased) Windsor Police detective Neal Jessop, who was also on the flight and rented a car and we made it back to Windsor in the dead of night. The second, more than 10 years ago,  I was stuck at the nearby Holiday Inn in Milton and shuttled very early back to the airport for the first flight next morning back to Windsor. And, in December 2022, my SO and I, returning from Italy, had the last flight of the day cancelled. That is, to Windsor. Air Canada would put us up in a hotel but for one night only, when the next available flight was two days away! So I spent almost $300 out of pocket for a car rental. (I forget whether AC provided compensation but unlikely since they offered a hotel voucher but for one night!)…..I know people who refuse to use Windsor Intl Airport because of all-too-frequent flight cancellations. I still use the airport. I’m a fairly frequent flyer and most of the time the connections work. But I know people who adamantly will not use YQG (branded Your Quick Gateway) because they can’t trust flights departing or arriving on time or at all. In 2022 I wrote a story for my companion website WindsorOntarioNews.com. I found there were even travel agents who refuse to book through Windsor airport: ‘Al Valente, owner of Valente Travel, said he “purposely” does not fly out of Windsor because he can’t depend on flights not being cancelled. “It’s pretty sad to say because I love to support Windsor and the airport but we have to be honest with our clients and just say it's unreliable,” he said. Maria Voros of Complete Travel said she was heading to Europe but flying out of Detroit. “Why? Because I don’t want this happening to me,” she said. “Half of the time they don’t go, they cancel the flight.” Airport CEO Mark Galvin said most of the time there are no flight problems. But there can be bumps. “It’s very fluid, you have a day where everything is totally on time, even a flight’s 10 minutes early, and then the next day you might have two or three delays.”’ Said my friend: "I truly get the feeling that Windsor International Airport is a “joke title”.  Our Border City is not taken seriously as a hub of industry, technology, etc.  Proof of the pudding is the lack of connectivity by air, both coming and going."  

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

I lost my wallet in Athens

It had been a perfect four-month sojourn in Europe – and almost two months in Athens – when one bright Saturday I decided to take a long walk and break up the days saddled at my desk with work,  despite a magnificent view of the Acropolis. Stopping at a neighborhood coffee bar for late morning cappuccino and Spanakopita (spinach and cheese pie), I ventured northeast across Loef. Vasilisis Amalias, by tourist photo mecca Hadrian’s Gate and through the sprawling National Gardens behind Parliament. There I sat down in a tranquil opening (photo shows ancient ruins resting on ground nearby; ruins are all over the place, literally, in Athens) and pulled out a bottle of water. Inadvertently I must have pulled my wallet out of my shoulder bag at the same time. Because after an afternoon of walking through the upscale Kolonaki neighborhood and then back through Plaka, Athen’s oldest district and one I thought I had mastered – but getting hopelessly lost – I returned home, emptied my bag only to find no wallet. What?! How could this be? I searched every nook and cranny of my apartment and my shoulder bag an infinite number of times, but, again, no wallet. Hell! Where could I have lost it? Probably the coffee shop. I had wanted change for a 20 euro bill so I could leave a tip. Maybe I left it on the counter. Sure, that’s where it was! In said wallet were two credit cards, one debit card, driver’s license, registration and insurance, and the most treasured original laminated Quebec birth certificate, which the government doesn’t make anymore. Not to mention the leather wallet itself, a gift a few years ago from my Significant Other. Hardly any cash. I check online that night to see if anyone had put any charges on the card – nothing. Reassured, it must be lost and no one has committed fraud. First thing Sunday morning I check again, and there are several charges on one card and three on the other! I immediately call BMO and CIBC and have the cards cancelled and told I’ll probably not be charged. Then head back out to the coffee bar. No, the staff search but turn up nothing. So the next probability is I dropped it in the park. (All the perp’s charges were in one or two blocks of the Gardens.) I’m not good with park benches. Several years ago, in Newport RI, I sat on a bench on commercial Thames St. and my wallet dropped out of my pants. On that occasion a Good Samaritan found the wallet, tuned it into Newport police, phoned me, and I recovered it, all ID and cash intact. Then there was the time I first when to Europe in 1988 and walking in front of the Spanish Steps in Rome – tourist ground zero – I’m distracted by a Roma child holding up a newspaper while with his other hand, yanking out my money belt with any number of important dox (yes, I know you’re supposed to wear the belt but it was an unseasonably warm day at the end of several weeks of uneventful travel, and I was lulled into complacency). Generally, I find human nature to be benign and sided with the thought that whomever found my wallet would contact me. No luck this time. The perp – yes, I have hexed him a myriad times - went on a minor spending spree. But I miss the birth certificate and leather wallet itself the most, everything else was easily replaced. Also, thank god I kept my main Mastercard separate, in a zipped pant pocket or otherwise I would have been up the river big time. And no, unlike Roma in 1988, I did not lose my passport as it had been left at the apartment.

Other annoyances but more trivial: The Lufthansa flight from Athens to Frankfurt – more than two hours in length – offered no food or beverage, even for a price, except for small bottles of water handed out. This from Germany’s national carrier. Hell, even on the puddle jump turboprop from Toronto to Windsor Air Canada Jazz offers free beverages and a snack and paid booze….And on the Air Canada flight from Frankfurt to Toronto, after the seatback video screen security announcement, passengers were held captive by several advertisements; no way to turn off or skip. I complained to a flight attendant. “We’ve done it forever.” That’s backed up by Air Canada PR, whom I also contacted. News to me as well as air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs, who said “wrong morally for sure, although I cannot pull a case that says that it is wrong legally too.”

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

You want sweets? Athens has got sweets

Just wrapping up my stay in Athens and my location could not have been better. I’m literally within two short blocks of the Acropolis (pictured from my apartment), immediately south of the dominating outcrop and Parthenon temple. From my neighbourhood of Makrygianni I can walk virtually everywhere in central Athens, an area encompassing the city’s oldest neighbourhood Plaka (north of the Acropolis), Syntagma, where the Parliament is located, the vast national gardens via Hadrian’s Arch, the traditional downtown with department stores and theatres, the upscale Kolonaki shopping enclave, the university district and then west around the Acropolis itself. Slightly east is the Mets neighbourhood and the first modern era Olympic (1896) (Panathenaic) stadium recreated from an ancient one and built all in marble. I can easily walk to a voluminous number of museums, from the national art gallery, the city’s vast contemporary art museum, a jewellery museum (one block away), Benaki Museum of Greek Culture, Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments, National Archaeological Museum, Onassis Foundation (actress Tilda Swinton recently put on a one woman show) and more. You can even walk to, and then walk up or catch the funicular train, to Athens’ highest point, Lycabettus Hill.

Three blocks down my street is Filopappou Hill, where you can observe great evening sunsets looking out at Piraeus and the Saronic Gulf (photo) with ships at anchor waiting to dock. This neighbourhood, a combination of small hotels and residential apartments, has dozens if not hundreds of cafes, wine bars and restos. Indeed, the entire city is filled with places to eat, most with outdoor patios and most extremely well frequented, every day of the week. Athenians, like most Europeans, love to dine out but the vibe seems more intense here. Not only are streets chock a block with eateries, the number of patisseries and sweet shops is phenomenal, some the size of small grocery stores with every variety of torte, cake, mousse, cookie, donuts, baklava, mini pies, sweet bread, and chocolates (photo of Christmas choclates window display below). The sweets are delectable, so much one could get fat if not careful.  The other great thing about central Athens is, in summer (it’s 65 F as I write Dec. 13), you can catch a tram three blocks from my apartment and take it all the way down the Attica Peninsula or “Greek Riviera.” Just spot a beach and hop off; no need for a car. And, yes, it gets HOT here in summer. Another retail quirk is a few blocks away, among innumerable leather shops, is ‘Stavros Melissinos, The Poet Sandal-Maker,’ who famously (and the store more than advertises this) made sandals for A-list celebs like The Beatles and Jackie Onassis.

Other Athens observations: There are a fair number of people (10-15 per cent), post-Covid, still wearing medical masks, especially on transit.....You don’t put toilet paper down the toilet here (the sewer system can’t handle it) but in a tight lidded trash can and empty at the end of the block in a street bin.....Like other European cities, narrow streets in the central city predominate and are largely pedestrian filled, even on the most unpleasant days (last weekend the temp dropped to the mid-50s if you can imagine). But unlike orderly and anal North American cities motorbikes are everywhere and mingle with pedestrians, and even the odd car (mostly for deliveries) makes it up “pedestrianized” streets. I can just imagine the conniptions if this occurred back home.  

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

Notes from England and Greece

London is a very expensive city. A cappuccino and chocolate croissant can set you back as much as $10 Cad. A pint in a pub for more than that. I sampled the famous British Sunday dinner in a pub (photo) and it cost me $47.18 Cad. A film and beer in Canterbury cost me $33.75. There are no getting around some of these costs if you want to indulge. But there are ways to mitigate. I often took homemade sandwiches on walking trips around London and bought a Coke/coffee at a takeout (“take away”), eating on a park bench. But one thing's a bonus in Jolly Old - museums. All major state sponsored museums like the National Gallery and Tate are absolutely free. I’ve never experienced this in any other country. Since Brit museums are some of the greatest, it’s more than a treat.

This weekend I was thinking of flying back to London from Athens for the massive combatting antisemitic demonstration (attracting more than 100,000). But not only were the flight times inconvenient. To make the best I’d have to overnight going and coming at a London airport. And the least expensive fare I could find was about $200 Cad. So much for cheap European airlines, of which we’ve heard so much about.

My sense of travel adventure must be waning. I’d booked four days on the Greek island of Paros (left), a four-hour ferry from Athens’ famous port Piraeus. But then I thought about it. Do I want to be on a ferry four hours coming and going? I looked at the island on Google Street View and the neighboring coastal island Antiparos, where I’d booked my hotel. While the buildings gleamed white in that traditional Greek way, the streetscapes didn’t impress. I’ve been to Greek islands and these resembled the previous ones. Moreover, I’d have to catch a bus or taxi for a 15-minute ride to the second ferry dock to get over to Antiparos, which looked like a hassle. So I cancelled. As luck would have it there was a storm Friday night and Blue Star Ferries cancelled its Saturday sailings. I got my full refund almost $150 Cad. As for the hotel, the price was less than that and there was no free cancellation. I pleaded with them but haven’t heard back. Moral of the story? Before booking check Google Street View.

I have now stayed in an array of airbnbs and Vrbo’s – vacation rentals of peoples’ homes. But with one exception (St. Petersburg, Fla.) even the nicest ones have something lacking. There’s no coffee maker, for example, or toaster (a grill instead). Or furniture is basic or utilitarian. Not a problem but couldn’t there be a few warm accents like artificial plants or more art on the walls? 

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

Getting around England - a slice

One of the great things about Britain is how easy it is to get around. From London buses and subways (the Underground) to intercity trains (National Rail) it’s a marvel the nation is so well interconnected. The new Elizabeth Line, inaugurated by the late queen last year just months before she died, is a 72-mile marvel that bisects London and which you can take from Heathrow Airport, expediting the much slower Piccadilly tube line. The Elizaberh Line’s stations are gleaming, all are accessible (along with about half the city’s tube stations which they call “no step”) and trains run just minutes apart. There are also platform door barriers for extra security. But transit prices can vary, from less than a couple pounds for travelling within one zone to several (or more than $10 CAD) for going two or three zones, which left me of two minds. If governments want people to get out of their cars – and the Mayor of London certainly does by extending, to a lot of people’s dismay and anger – the Ultra Low Emission Zone charges for older higher emission vehicles – then make transit more affordable. On the other hand, government will make money from gas taxes and parking or from transit – one or the other – there’s always a catch. That said, transit is highly efficient, with buses running every few minutes on the three lines (the 76, 141 and 73) I mostly took, as well as tube schedules. As for intercity services, definitely the way to go for a North American is to buy a BritRail pass. These come in various configurations – from several days to as many as, in my case, 15. This allowed 15 round trips any days I wanted within a two-month period. Since England is such a small country it’s easy to plan one day journeys – two or three hours each way and then several hours at your destination without staying overnight and incurring a hotel fee - and then catch the train back to London. Trains run frequently, usually every half hour or hour, even to some of the remotest places. The BritRail pass also allows first class travel, meaning free grub and beverages including booze, those these varied by train company (there are about a dozen severing different geographic areas and from different London stations) and time of day. Very inconsistent! Seat reservations are free though on many trains you don’t need them as seat availability is plentiful. The trains themselves are modern, sleek with plush seating, and would put any North American railway to shame. (Photo shows side by side Great Western Railway trains in Paddington Station where, yes, a statue of Paddington Bear is located along the platform.) Ironically, British people love nothing more than griping about their trains, which apparently run late and are prone to labor strikes, at least in recent months. I encountered little tardiness - and usually with great apologies over the intercom and avails for compensation if more than 15 minutes - and during the few labor “action” days during September and October (well publicized in advance) I simply made up my mind not to travel. The other great thing about BritRail passes are the prices, a fraction of what Brits pay. My “senior” pass came to under $1000 CAD for 15 round trips. Had I bought separate tickets in England I would likely have paid at least twice that amount. Don’t leave North America without one!

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

Getting there is half the fun

There have long been jokes about Europe’s – or more correctly, Ireland’s – deep discount airline, Ryanair, a pioneer in cheap flying. Back in 2012 CEO Michael O’Leary in all seriousness wanted to sell standing-only tickets – until thwarted by a regulator. Some of O’Leary’s other great schemes were charging for restroom use and bunking passengers in the plane’s hull, both of which have never taken flight. So it’s with some mirth whenever I book a Ryanair ticket. This week was my second flight with the airline, and it was a bit of an eye-opener. I’d though I’d got a good deal when I initially booked and was charged $144.28 CAD from London Stansted to Athens Greece. That included one checked bag. Arriving at the airport I put my bag on the conveyor at check-in – typical for any other airline I’ve ever flown with – only to be told that my suitcase was ”too heavy.” Huh? It weighed just over 20 kg; I’d only paid for 20 kg. Sure enough on the website, ”max weight 20 kg.”  Read the small (or unexpected) print, Ron! So, I had to shell out $69.37 more. So much for a bargain flight to the Greek capital. As for the flight itself, it was typical Ryanair. A good aspect of the airline is you board either from front or back, making boarding much more fluid. But the downsides are a shopworn interior with seats that look like they’ve each carried 10,000 bums and their flippy-floppy arm rests. The seats also don’t recline; I’m fine with that. But no seat pockets and airline safety instructions are pasted to the top of the seat ahead (photo), giving the interior an overall tacky look.

But flying on Ryanair was only half the fun. I used to think Toronto’s Pearson was bad but London’s Stansted now outranks it as my least favourite airport. This box of a terminal – obviously assembled in no time – is about as bare bones as you can get. There is hardly any seating for waiting passengers, despite the fact this, being London, is one of the most crowded airports I’ve been in (London has six major airports). I finally found some wooden slatted seating – the same as at London train stations - near the food court, which could have accommodated about 100 people. Other than that – nothing. Well, not quite. Walking a long way towards the gate, there was eventually a bench beside the terminal window. But the bench resembled what you’d find in a bus shelter, perhaps worse (photo). Barely a foot wide and of metal with no back it wasn’t a comfortable design to begin with. But what took the cake is that it was convex in structure, making it very easy for someone to slide off of. A fellow passenger quipped it was designed to look like an airplane wing. Moving along I finally did find regular terminal seating – a nook of about 15 chairs. How they were allowed to be there is a mystery! And, at the passenger gate, at last, regular seating like at most airports, though the seats had seen better days, their fabric peeling off. Alert to terminal management – mass seat replacement needed!

-   Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

 

Travel in Britain? A breeze

 

When travelling to England the BritRail pass is the way to go. Don’t try buying it here. You can only buy it abroad, to the envy of the Brits. It will save you literally hundreds of dollars on relatively expensive train fares. I bought a pass in Canada for $933.40. Sound expensive? It’s for 15 round trips within a two-month period within England. You can also buy passes that include Wales and Scotland. But if I had bought separate train tickets here I would have been out a whole lot more money. The pass is also good for First Class travel (photo), a bonus in itself. Most trains have First Class sections. And you often don’t need to make reservations. Just arrive at the station and board a First-Class coach. If you’re worried the train might be crowded head to the ticket office and make a seat reservation – at no cost. Once aboard you’ll get the privilege of free food and beverages, including booze. Attendants, like in planes, wheel trolleys down the aisle. But First-Class service varies. The best I’ve had is on the London – York LNER line, where attendants took meal requests and served hot dinners on real plates. Booze was also served in glasses. But on the return trip no hot meals but beverages flowed frequently. Other services and railways didn’t have sandwiches, just snacks and drinks but usually booze. The Southeastern high-speed service had no first class at all.

Train travel generally here is a charm. Trains are frequent, even to long distance locations. If you miss a train there’s usually another in a half hour or hour. On board information is excellent. LED reads outs tell you the next stations, sometimes graphics will display how crowded each coach is and where the restrooms are. Upcoming stations are announced by an identical female voice sounding like actress Emma Thomspon. Beyond that, onboard “train managers” will welcome you aboard, inform how to connect to another train at a transfer point, and let you know why we might be hesitating or slightly behind schedule. Moreover, if you’re late usually beyond 15 minutes you can apply for a Delay Repay refund. Station signage is also good. Even at the most rural stations, and after hours when ticket offices have closed, electronic platform signs inform about next arrivals and departures.

The one downside of train travel – and city buses for that matter – is the passengers. On London buses people invariably talk on their phones. On trains, there’s yakking but also inconsiderate behaviour. Groups are often loud and have no conception of how their behaviour impacts others. Trains can have one “quiet car”; I wish there were more.

London buses are frequent and onboard signage informs of the next stop along with audio announcements. If a bus is delayed at a stop you’ll be told a reason such as a wait to “spread out” service or because of a driver change. Pay is no problem, you just tap your credit or debit card. All buses are accessible and have buttons on the side you push for a ramp to come down from the middle door. About half the tube stations have elevators. And all the stations along the gleaming new 72-mile Elizabeth Line bisecting London are accessible.

This last point isn’t about trains. But upon arrival at London’s Heathrow this was the best Customs experience I’ve had. No speaking to agents just an electronic gate using passport recognition. Sort of what's at Pearson without the added “speak-to-Customs” bit.

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

Lost in currency conversion

You’ve heard of lost in translation. Often happens when you travel. But how about lost in currency conversion. This appears what happened when the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) incorrectly billed for an overnight stay in June of last year at the Cape Berton Regional Hospital. The health department sent two notices (together) that an outstanding amount hadn’t been paid up. The original cost was $7818.10 (Yup, that’s what it costs for overnight and a few tests). Yet, the dear people at Nova Scotia Health didn’t seem to make the connection between Canadian and US dollars, or should that be the conversion. They kept insisting that $1637.69 was owing. Uh, no. The patient, an American, was covered by GeoBlue travel insurance, a US provider. The bill was paid in full. Their payment, dated Nov. 17 of last year, was for the total $7818.10. It even says this on the form to “NSHA Accounts Receivable Service Centre $7818.10 Canada Dollars.” But it was paid in US currency which was $6180.41, the equivalent of the Canadian amount. So, Nova Scotia Health made a boo-boo. They thought the $6180.41 was Canadian dollars and therefore remitted a balance (two notices) of $1637.69 ($7818.10 minus $6180.41). Clearly, they assumed the payment by GeoBlue was in Canadian money when it was in US. We alerted Nova Scotia Health August 30, resending GeoBlue’s documentation as proof of payment. We’re still waiting to hear from them as to whether the bill has been cleared. The wheels of bureaucracy turn...

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

Unknown customs that make a foreigner look foolish

When at a Waitrose store in Bath, England, yesterday and purchasing a reporter's notebook – a great writing pad that I've never seen for sale in North America, it having the perfect dimensions of not being too small or large - I checked it through a self-checkout only to find the machine wouldn't tally my payment. I had to call an attendant, whose long beard made him look like a philosophy professor. He took my item and simply moved it from a lower shelf to an upper shelf at the top of the till. I’d never seen this kind of configuration, at home having a till where you move items in parallel from one side to the other. 

At the Bath RR station waiting for the Great Western Railway train to London Paddington, the announcement says that first class loading is from Zones 1 and 2. Where are the platform zone numbers? There are numbers posted above but they seem haphazard. I had to ask a railway attendant (always wearing orange vest). He pointed to the other end of the platform, and then I saw them, circles painted on the platform floor with the zone numbers. A lot of the time you wouldn’t see these because the platforms are so crowded. 

Finally, after exiting the Elizabeth Line station in central London and walking to my bus stop I see a “diversion” (detour) notice asking me to “read down.” Only there’s no information when I look down the bus stop pole. It’s not until I walk a little ahead do I notice the information on the side of the pole indicating the next closest stop.    

There have been a couple of other mishaps recently with maps or wayfinding. Yesterday in Bath (photo: Bath's Roman Baths)I exited the surprisingly small station (for a city of 100,000) over what I thought was a river to the centre of town (it was a canal). But if this was the centre of historic Bath – a highly popular tourist destination for its Georgian architecture and Jane Austen legacy – then this was disappointing indeed. Yes, there were some fine historical residences but not much traffic and only a small commercial area, where I stopped to buy a cappuccino. There, speaking to a young family, I asked if  I’d gone the wrong way out of the train station. Yes, “there’s a tunnel,” they said, leading into the main city itself. And, yes there was, I eventually found, and leading into a vast commercial and historic quarter just teaming with shops, restaurants and people! Amazing how it’s possible to get directions so wrong having consulted my Lonely Planet map. .... And last week in Cambridge, leaving the train station and consulting the Here We Go app, I was told to walk way off in a different direction to find Trumpington Rd., leading to the city centre. I found it alright, but by a great circuitous route that probably took a half hour longer than if I’d just walked down the street straight from the station., downtown Cambridge being a mile and a half from the railway. 

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

No refund in arguably exceptional case

This was something we were not expecting. Arriving at the Georgian Bay Hotel  (photo) in Collingwood last week we checked-in to the reserved room only to find the beds were too high. One of us is disabled and could not climb on to it. We had never experienced this problem before. Yes, we had earlier been offered an “accessible” room at a $30 upcharge – again, something we had never seen before at any accommodation. (Usually, accessible rooms are offered free of charge if available.) Was this charge discriminatory? Perhaps, or not. (I have complained to several industry agencies.) The hotel justified this by saying the suite offered “upgraded amenities, including a kitchen and features that contribute to a more comfortable and accessible stay” and yes, “a lower bed option.” When we told the front desk about the bed height they checked if an accessible room was available but was not. We had to find another hotel. We had booked through Booking.com, whose agent assured us we would get a “full refund.” But first we had to contact the hotel to inform it Booking.com, as a broker, would be requesting the refund. I thought this a bit strange but did so. About 12 hours later I got an email saying the hotel “is unable to make an exception in this case, and you will be charged the entire cancellation fee.” The fee was the full amount for three nights or $877.67. The alternative accommodation was $491.55. So, our total trip accommodation amounted to $1369.22. By the way, the alternate accommodation, Luxury Inn, proved to have an even better suite at just over half the price. Not only were the beds lower, the room larger but there were two armchairs where Georgina Bay Hotel only offered a desk chair (though there were two outside patio chairs). Georgian Bay Hotel Trademark Collection is a Wyndham property. In a follow-up email Ashleigh Levoy, VP of hotel operations, while offering no discount, did offer this: “We would be happy to provide you with a customized discount on your next visit as compensation for your experience.”

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

If this is Lonely Planet's new format, count me out

I have been a fan of Lonely Planet travel guides for several years now, after I converted over from Rough Guides. Lonely Planet captured me with both a text-forward approach (like Rough Guides) but with more graphic appeal - wonderfully colorful charts, maps, section dividers - all in all a travel guide tour de force. So I was very looking forward to LP's 12th edition, published July 25 and pre-ordered it. I eagerly opened the Amazon package and sat down to look it over. Um, something different about it. The old layout was gone. The book is now way too graphic-heavy with color, photos and maps dominating. Detailed info about travel (i.e., how to get round England by train) was reduced to one graph. Something was wrong. LP has revised its guide (apparently all future guides will be like this?) for what I can only call the 'Gen Z' generation or people glued to screens and not print. Gone are the detailed text info about hotels, restaurants, visiting sites. I submitted a review to Amazon which has gone live: "Very disappointed in this new edition. I loved previous Lonely Planet guides because they were text heavy with complementary appealing layout and graphics. This edition is clearly for the Gen Z generation accustomed to looking at screens and with short attention spans. Very little text, graphics and maps heavy. In a phrase, dumbed down."...So I've packed up the book, put it in a new envelope, printed out a return label, and will drop it off tonight. I've ordered the 11th edition (2021) instead. Maybe I'll have to go back to Rough Guides.

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller