It's a really tough call booking flights this far in advance. Especially for summer travel which is expensive to begin with. Then add in constantly changing Covid restrictions that are wildly different in each country, and increasing fuel prices, and it's hard to know what to do. But, I'm overall happy with what me managed to book.
So, we fly back to Canada August 5th from Amsterdam. We arrive in Montreal with an 18 hour layover before our flight to Calgary.
I have booked a ridiculously expensive car rental for 10 days in Calgary. It is free cancellation, so I'm also using a service (autoslash) that constantly checks for better prices.
We will then drive immediately to Cabri Park in Saskatchewan where it will be a busy August long weekend and hopefully a lot of our Cabri Park friends will be there.
Then back to Calgary where I have my guys weekend away in Jasper August 12-15. Then we fly Calgary to Ottawa (previously booked with WestJet) on August 16th where I have another ridiculously expensive car rental booked. Again, free cancellation so of course I will look for something cheaper (including Turo) as our time of arrival there gets closer.
Then we fly Montreal to Amsterdam on September 10th to return to Max.
I booked the Amsterdam to Calgary, then Montreal to Amsterdam flights with Air Transat at a cost of $727.50 CAD ($577 USD, €521) per person for both flights, which is a pretty good deal for trans Atlantic travel during summer. But we have enough credit card points to cover that, so it is essentially free anyhow.
So, that is all booked. Now, hopefully the Covid gods will see to it that things continue to improve in that regard. And if airlines start to come out with those fuel surcharges again, we have avoided that possibility by booking this far in advance.
Yesterday morning we said goodbye to our new friends Timmy, Duygu, and Esme and drove inland about 45 minutes from Adana to beautiful Seyhan Lake.
About to cross the bridge.
Looking back at the city.
Nice drive in the countryside.
Beautiful scenery.
There's the lake!
Heading down to our overnight spot.
The spot was perfect. And, nobody else around, which was kind of surprising for a Saturday. The site was level, easy in and out, far enough from the road which is not busy anyhow, quiet, and with a view to die for.
And, lots of walking areas with views of the lake.
And, one friendly dog.
Max, parked at GPS 37.203186, 35.31349
What a view!
This will be at least a two night stay.
Maybe even three nights. We'll see.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timber Ridge Acacia Director's Rocking Camping Chair. It's not much of a discount, but it is a record low price and Timber Ridge makes good quality stuff.
And in Canada...
Anatolian shepherd, pretty
ReplyDeleteWe didn't know the type of breed but that now explains why we see so many dogs around that look so similar. Now we know, thanks. :-)
DeleteYou've probably already checked but we used Eurocar last year in Toronto arriving from Vancouver. Turns out they used Budget at YYZ so that's the counter we went to on arrival. Rates were as high as $1700 for a small car and $3500 for a dodge caravan for a week! We only wanted to rent it, not buy it!
ReplyDeleteLol, Kevin said the exact same thing when he saw the price! We will most likely use Turo again like we did last time we were in Ottawa but he will keep the booking there so that he can watch to see if prices change and if something better comes up he can cancel it and rebook it at the better price with no penalty.
DeleteOh wow, that has got to be one of your best sites ever! It wouldn't be so good if someone else comes in, as the quarters would be close and would make me uncomfortable, but alone...perfect. And a dog -- bonus!
ReplyDeleteWe agree, it is definitely one of our best boondocking sites yet. Believe it or not but there is plenty of room if someone else were to come in but luckily no one did so we had the place to ourselves. :-)
DeleteWe are actually thinking of going to Canada in June for 3 weeks. We found retrun Brussel to Montreal for 330 euro's with Canadian airlines so it's pretty cheap.
ReplyDeleteThat would be great! Canada is a beautiful country and that is a pretty good price for sure.
DeleteIf you do decide to go and you are going to be there over July 1st you should plan to be in Ottawa, Canada's capital for the July 1st (Canada's birthday) celebrations, providing that they have it this year. The last two years it was cancelled because of Covid. Let us know when and where you are going and we will come up with some suggestions for you. :-)
yes we will keep you updated!
DeleteAnother lovely post.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
With metta
Thank you, we are glad that you enjoyed the post. :-)
Delete