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Sunday, November 30, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
YQG: 24 Hours in Windsor (Make that 22, Plus 2 in Detroit)
Was in Windsor for about 24 hours. The flight I came in on turned around to be the flight I left on (but the next day). It was a whirlwind visit that included a tour of the currently expanding Windsor Airport, a great stay at Caesars Windsor, a jewellery show, a great dinner in Windsor's Little Italy (with a real live Italian no less!), a visit to MGM Detroit (complete with 2 tunnel crossings, 2 border crossings, a behind the scenes tour of MGM, and a US$50 co-win at Blackjack), a drive around GM's headquarters at a time of tremendous uncertainty for the company and its entire industry, a middle-of-the-night phone call to Kiev, a very productive meeting with counterparts from Windsor and Detroit, another good Italian lunch, a funny visit to Starbucks, and a great piece of customer service from an Air Canada agent that ultimately saved me (well, the company) $200, and got me home sooner. Thank you Air Canada!
YYZ: The Rest
Shortly after the post below, I received a message from Rogers on my BlackBerry that said I'd reached 80% of my maximum data plan for the current billing period. I panicked a little and decided to stop blogging temporarily... at least mobile blogging... until I got confirmation that I did or didn't have anything to worry about. (Still waiting for that confirmation BTW...)
So anyway, without the pleasure of photographic accompaniment, here's what else I can remember from Toronto.
Monday night: Canoe Restaurant, 54 floors above downtown Toronto. Food was good but contained too many mushrooms (in almost every dish). Company was great. View was great, but a little dark. Thanks to Joe (from Washington - in order to differentiate him from the other two Joes referenced below) for the invite.
Tuesday: Conference.
Tuesday afternoon: Intense negotiations.
Tuesday night: Host event at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Absolutely fantastic. For the men anyway. I got my picture taken in my Jets jersey with the Stanley Cup (although there was some sort of magnetic force that seemed to push the Jets jersey away from the Cup itself). Also won one of the skill competitions... the accuracy rapid fire one (sort of the Ray Bourque event). My time for hitting all 9 targets was 13.1 seconds. Second fastest time was 14.3 seconds, also by me. Third best was 15 seconds by Joe from Toronto. Joe and Doug from Boston also put in very good scores, but other than that... meh. No one else was really a hockey player. So it was nice to win (no prize), but the competition really wasn't that fierce. Thank you to Steve, Eileen, Janine and the gang. And Keith. He probably really made it happen.
Wednesday morning: Conference.
Wednesday afternoon: Shoe shopping assistant. As always.
Wednesday night: Host event at Horizons in the CN Tower. Very cool setting, very cool event with good food, excellent wines, and 5 table hockey games, all overlooking the big city. Thank you to Marco and the gang.
Thursday morning: Tour of Toronto-Pearson given by Morris. Excellent special treatment for us Canadians.
Thursday lunch: Lovely relaxing lunch at a delightful high end establishment just off-airport.
Thursday afternoon: Flight to Windsor.
So anyway, without the pleasure of photographic accompaniment, here's what else I can remember from Toronto.
Monday night: Canoe Restaurant, 54 floors above downtown Toronto. Food was good but contained too many mushrooms (in almost every dish). Company was great. View was great, but a little dark. Thanks to Joe (from Washington - in order to differentiate him from the other two Joes referenced below) for the invite.
Tuesday: Conference.
Tuesday afternoon: Intense negotiations.
Tuesday night: Host event at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Absolutely fantastic. For the men anyway. I got my picture taken in my Jets jersey with the Stanley Cup (although there was some sort of magnetic force that seemed to push the Jets jersey away from the Cup itself). Also won one of the skill competitions... the accuracy rapid fire one (sort of the Ray Bourque event). My time for hitting all 9 targets was 13.1 seconds. Second fastest time was 14.3 seconds, also by me. Third best was 15 seconds by Joe from Toronto. Joe and Doug from Boston also put in very good scores, but other than that... meh. No one else was really a hockey player. So it was nice to win (no prize), but the competition really wasn't that fierce. Thank you to Steve, Eileen, Janine and the gang. And Keith. He probably really made it happen.
Wednesday morning: Conference.
Wednesday afternoon: Shoe shopping assistant. As always.
Wednesday night: Host event at Horizons in the CN Tower. Very cool setting, very cool event with good food, excellent wines, and 5 table hockey games, all overlooking the big city. Thank you to Marco and the gang.
Thursday morning: Tour of Toronto-Pearson given by Morris. Excellent special treatment for us Canadians.
Thursday lunch: Lovely relaxing lunch at a delightful high end establishment just off-airport.
Thursday afternoon: Flight to Windsor.
Monday, November 10, 2008
YOW-YYZ
Sat beside a pilot on the plane today (not the one flying the plane). Their travel life probably isn't as glamourous as people think it is, especially for those who even have to commute (by air) to work.
According to this guy, he makes sure he gets to the airport in Ottawa waay early, allowing enough time to drive to Toronto (where his flying starts) just in case there's no room on the flights for him. He has also flown on other airlines in order to get to Toronto in time.
Also identified a new traveller: the Space-Hogger. He's a hybrid of several other types, including the Carry-On-Jammer and the Seat-Recliner.
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YYZ: Domestic Baggage Claim
So the new terminal in Toronto has been here for what, 5 years or so (correct me please)? And I've been through this airport probably 30 times or so in that time frame.
I believe today, right now, is the first time I have ever been in the domestic baggage claim area waiting for my luggage in this terminal. I have waited for bags many times in the international baggage hall. But on the outbound segments of those trips, my luggage is always checked through. Same for flights to the US... I have picked up luggage in the in-transit pre-clearance area, not the domestic area. The last time I can recall waiting for domestic luggage in Toronto was a leisure trip here in 2002ish, and that was in the old T2.
Of course most of my trips to YYZ are very short, and don't require more than carry-on. Some are less than a day. This one is for a conference, with another day tacked on at the end (in Windsor). Could probably have made it with just carry-on, but figured I may as well check a bag in case I buy anything here. And now, I get a new Pearson experience too.
For the record, baggage delivery took about 20-25 minutes from the time I got off the plane, not unlike YOW. The difference is that in YOW, it only takes 4 minutes to get from the aircraft to the baggage carousel.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
I believe today, right now, is the first time I have ever been in the domestic baggage claim area waiting for my luggage in this terminal. I have waited for bags many times in the international baggage hall. But on the outbound segments of those trips, my luggage is always checked through. Same for flights to the US... I have picked up luggage in the in-transit pre-clearance area, not the domestic area. The last time I can recall waiting for domestic luggage in Toronto was a leisure trip here in 2002ish, and that was in the old T2.
Of course most of my trips to YYZ are very short, and don't require more than carry-on. Some are less than a day. This one is for a conference, with another day tacked on at the end (in Windsor). Could probably have made it with just carry-on, but figured I may as well check a bag in case I buy anything here. And now, I get a new Pearson experience too.
For the record, baggage delivery took about 20-25 minutes from the time I got off the plane, not unlike YOW. The difference is that in YOW, it only takes 4 minutes to get from the aircraft to the baggage carousel.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
Thursday, November 6, 2008
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