Blowhole at the waterfront of Xcaret Park near Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Toluca on December 24th!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Two weeks to go!

We leave here September 6, so there's only two weeks to go! We're making good progress though and I'm confident we'll have everything ready by then, including replacing the carpet. That's the only real big job left on the list.

Spent some time yesterday booking a flight for our son. He's going to Europe with a couple of friends for three weeks in September, and I found a good deal on a flight advertised online through a Canadian travel website. I'm quick to applaud great customer service, and I am just as quick to let everyone know about terrible customer service!

Do not ever use www.redtag.ca ! Red Tag Vacations advertised a price online, the flights still had openings, their system allowed me to book it, sending a confirmation number and then....they send me an urgent email asking for $75 more! So I get on the phone with them, and they refused to honor their advertised price saying that the two airlines don't have a ticketing agreement. Of course I don't care about that, in fact it has nothing to do with me at all. All I want is the deal as they advertised it. Nope. Of course I ask for the manager and it was like talking to a post. No deal. Nice customer service huh?! NEVER use redtag.ca ...there are a lot of alternatives so you don't need to use a service that doesn't care about it's customers.

So, I ended up booking directly with the two airlines involved and got the deal for only $8 more than what Red Tag Vacations had advertised it for. Morons.

Yesterday I permanently installed our small 400W inverter up by Ruth's seat. This way she'll be able to run her small laptop with the MS Streets and Trips while we're driving Sherman.

Today I'm heading into Ottawa for lunch with my accountant, then off to my sisters to get her new computer set up for her. Then I'll do some running around, including looking for carper for Sherman. All I need is a small piece so should be able to get some top quality carpet for not much money. Then I'm meeting our son and going to play some billiards before taking him over to his softball game to watch his team is in the finals.

8 comments:

  1. I agree, some online travel services are a big rip off, just want to make a dishonest buck! I also am departing for Mexico on Sept. 18. Picking up a friend in Vegas then Mx.

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  2. Thanks for the tip on redtag, will keep that in mind. Looks like all the small things are coming together then soon on the road again.

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  3. We don't fly much anymore but even when we did we seemed to find the rate directly from the airlines were as good or better than the "deal" sites on the web.

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  4. Yupper I put that one on my list of sites not to use. Thanks for the heads up! I bet your getting excited now about leaving ~ I would be. Microsift Streets & Trips is my favorite GPS program. Been using it for 7 years and haven't seen one better!
    Have fun
    Donna

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  5. Hey Kevin, can you get a 12volt car cord for your laptop, I just bought one off the web for our Dell so I wouldn't have to use the inverter at all. They just use to much current and are also noisy.I think I only paid about $12.99 for the car cord and it works great,Still got some of the lights on for you,Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

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  6. how exciting not much time left :)...wish we were with you...I have a little black boxy thingy (here I go again with the thingy) that has an electrical plugs on it and the other end has a 12v on it to put into the cigarette lighter thingy...so I can laptop going down the road...it was cheap...
    take care...no need to tell you folks to stay busy you never stop!!
    huggles to whiskey girly..glad shes feeling better

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  7. I always book our outings myself. Our daughter, Carrie, and I went to Italy for a few weeks. I did everything through http://www.venere.com. All our reservations worked out great. Great prices also.

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  8. trkdrivinfool...Keep in touch and maybe we will have a chance to meet up in Mexico somewhere. Enjoy!

    George and Suzie...Yes they are. Looking forward to being on the road again. Won't be long and you will be too.

    Janie and John...Kevin has become real good at looking for any kind of deal. He loves the challenge.

    Donna...We are really looking forward to being on the road and to have a chance to really use the Microsoft Streets and Trips.

    Sam and Donna...Kevin was going to look into that, our only problem with that is we would have to use the cigarette lighter for that and we need it for the Tom-Tom GPS as it doesn't have a good battery life. Kevin still likes to have a GPS unit in front of him and I would follow along with the Streets and Trips for a while just to see how things work out, then we may ditch the Tom Tom altogether.

    Rick and Elaine...That's what we have right now, except that Kevin hardwired it to the battery rather than using the 12v cigarette lighter.

    Whiskey tried to go through the patio door today trying to chase a squirrel in the garden, guess she is feeling pretty good!

    FULL-TIMERS...OCT. 17, 2009...That's a site Kevin will have to look at, although lots of these sites are set up just for Canadians or Americans. Redtag is strictly a Canadian site.

    Kevin, Ruth and Whiskey

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