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(A continuation of the saga I began on August 9)
So even with my refund in hand (or at least recorded in my online bank accounts), it was with some trepidation that I set about making travel arrangements for my trip to Ireland. I'd heard all about cancelled and seriously delayed flights, lost and delayed baggage, ArriveCan woes, random COVID testing and intrusive follow-ups even for fully vaccinated travellers, airlines refusing to compensate passengers in and appropriate and legally prescribed ways... need I go on?
In shopping for an airline, I considered both Air Canada and Westjet. Air Canada looked to be far more expensive, although the cost varied considerably according to how much flexibility they offered if you had to cancel or change your travel arrangements. Westjet offered premium economy seats at what I considered reasonable rates, and they looked to be a big step above regular economy class for the comfort, services and amenities provided.
Another consideration was the route taken and the airports I would have to go through. I've never been a fan of Toronto's Pearson Airport at the best of times and after hearing that it ranked worst in the world for canceled and delayed flights, that cemented my determination not to risk a layover there. Ideally I would have found a direct Ottawa-Dublin flight that suited my schedule (better for the environment too), but it was not to be. Travelling to Toronto meant travelling west in order to travel east, which makes little sense to me. And Toronto was also one of the sites where returning passengers might be subjected to random COVID testing in addition to the numerous other indignities we keep hearing about!
So I booked my flights to go through Halifax instead. Not only would I be flying continuously east (the irony of doing so on an airline named Westjet did not escape me) but by losing one of my hours immediately, prior to the overnight flight to Dublin, I figured it might be easier to adjust to the rest of the time difference. Plus, I could arrive earlier in the morning, go directly the the convention centre to check into the conference, attend the opening ceremonies featuring former (and first woman) president Mary Robinson, then check into my hotel for a nap, as there weren't any conference sessions later in the day I was that interested in.
That was the plan, anyway. In the end, the Ottawa to Halifax flight got cancelled - AFTER I had supposedly "checked in" for my flight the night before, AND printed boarding passes indicating the gates I'd be boarding at in Ottawa and Halifax and the times boarding was scheduled to begin! But at least it happened while I was still at home, not while I was sitting in a crowded, uncomfortable airport waiting area. And Westjet did offer me an alternative, which I accepted as the lesser of two evils.
The substitute offer had me on a flight at 6:45 PM instead of 6PM, bound for (sigh) Pearson Airport and a correspondingly later flight from Toronto to Dublin, which then took off about 40 minutes behind schedule. On the other hand, I was still assigned a comparable seat in Premium Economy and other than the comparatively minor delays, there were no problems at the airport. Security was quite fast and efficient; they don't even make you take your shoes off anymore to go through the scanner. A big advantage for me of Canadian airports and Canadian-based airlines is that masks are still required throughout the journey, except for meals and identification purposes at the gate.
I've become a big fan of Westjet and their premium economy service too. The Westjet in-flight people seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves and keen to make the experience pleasant for their passengers. For the meals, a flight attendant whipped out a little white tablecloth to spread over each tray-table. Wine was included. I hadn't specifically ordered a vegetarian meal but on all flights there seemed to be a vegetarian (though likely not vegan) option. On the flight from Toronto to Dublin that was potato gnocchi and on the flight home (Dublin to Halifax) it was a vegetarian lasagna. There were plenty of take-away snacks too, like granola bars, nuts, pretzels, mints and chocolates. Pillows and blankets were provided as well as little care packages with sleep masks, lip balm, ear plugs and socks inside.
The seats that I booked entitled me to two pieces of checked luggage, one carry-on bag (to go in an overhead bin) and one smaller personal item (such as a handbag or small knapsack) to go under the seat.
After all I'd heard about baggage handler strikes, misplaced bags and the like, it seemed safer to travel to Dublin with everything I needed in the cabin. But I was also pretty sure I'd want to buy a few things while I was over there. So inside my carry-on bag I packed a scrunchable backpack and a sort of day-bag (a tote-bag with rubberized lining, therefore waterproof) I'd need while in and around Dublin. The backpack would become my carry-on for the flights back to Canada and I would check my larger (and by then heavier) rolling carry-on suitcase. I figured it didn't matter quite so much if my bag got lost or misplaced on the way home.
That arrangement worked pretty well, although I did wish I'd packed a few extra plastic bags. Single-use plastics seem to have been completely eliminated in Ireland and good on them! It's just that paper bags are not always practical - they take up more room in the luggage and they disintegrate in the rain. One partial solution I adopted was to buy cloth bags from some of the landmarks I visited - the James Joyce Centre, the Rock & Roll Museum, the Winding Stair Bookshop - and they were useful for separating clean clothes from dirty ones and for cushioning a few of the more fragile items I wanted to pack for the trip home. And the barman at the Ha'penny Bridge Inn was good enough to give me a reusable plastic (or at least plastic-like) carrier bag from Tesco when I arrived there with a rapidly disintegrating paper shopping bag.
I wrote earlier about my frustrations with Canada's own ArriveCan website. Somewhere in Dublin, but no sooner than 72 hours before my expected arrival back in Canada, I had to be in possession of my ArriveCan receipt: probably a printed one, as I was not using a smartphone during my trip. So where would I print my receipt? The conference was already over by that time and as for the hotel, there didn't seem to be at the kind of business centre that I had hoped for. I had perfectly fine Internet service via my laptop, but no access to a printer. Maybe a public library? But the problem was, there wasn't any obvious public library
in the areas I wanted to visit and I didn't know what their hours were or what their printing facilities were like. But something I HAD seen around town was Internet cafés.
On the Friday evening (July 29), just after I returned from a day trip to Galway, I entered my expected return flight details into ArriveCan. I couldn't believe how smoothly it went! I soon had the requisite ArriveCan receipt in my e-mail box and now it only remained to find somewhere to print it off. I did an online search for Internet cafés in the Dublin area and jotted down a few possibilities to explore the next day.
So, about Internet cafes. They do have Internet and printing services but they don't really have café. In fact, the one I went to was combined with a tanning salon. The good news is that it was inexpensive and was open long hours. The bad news is that even though I used the few privacy tricks I knew about and was assured I was "going incognito", I still got a couple of spam messages the next day, telling me (erroneously, thank goodness) that my e-mail had been locked and several e-mail messages had been withheld. But other than printing off my ArriveCan receipt, I wasn't using the Internet café for anything confidential or anything I can think of that would be much use to hackers and crackers.
The flights back to Ottawa were fine. I went through Halifax as I had wanted to. Things were efficient at Dublin airport and since I was flying on a Canadian-based airline, they made sure I had my ArriveCan receipt right from the get-go. Masks were not required at Dublin airport (and most passengers weren't wearing them) but things weren't so ridiculously congested as to preclude social distancing. But they WERE required on board the plane. I checked one bag at Dublin airport, as planned, and it was checked right through to Ottawa. At Halifax airport (my point of arrival back in Canada), Westjet staff were on hand to guide us through customs procedures, which were mostly about punching the relevant buttons on a computer terminal. I didn't have to go through security a second time before my flight from Halifax to Ottawa.
So that concludes my piece on the logistics of travel during the 7th wave of COVID-19. In a future blog post, I'll write more about my experiences in Ireland.
So even with my refund in hand (or at least recorded in my online bank accounts), it was with some trepidation that I set about making travel arrangements for my trip to Ireland. I'd heard all about cancelled and seriously delayed flights, lost and delayed baggage, ArriveCan woes, random COVID testing and intrusive follow-ups even for fully vaccinated travellers, airlines refusing to compensate passengers in and appropriate and legally prescribed ways... need I go on?
In shopping for an airline, I considered both Air Canada and Westjet. Air Canada looked to be far more expensive, although the cost varied considerably according to how much flexibility they offered if you had to cancel or change your travel arrangements. Westjet offered premium economy seats at what I considered reasonable rates, and they looked to be a big step above regular economy class for the comfort, services and amenities provided.
Another consideration was the route taken and the airports I would have to go through. I've never been a fan of Toronto's Pearson Airport at the best of times and after hearing that it ranked worst in the world for canceled and delayed flights, that cemented my determination not to risk a layover there. Ideally I would have found a direct Ottawa-Dublin flight that suited my schedule (better for the environment too), but it was not to be. Travelling to Toronto meant travelling west in order to travel east, which makes little sense to me. And Toronto was also one of the sites where returning passengers might be subjected to random COVID testing in addition to the numerous other indignities we keep hearing about!
So I booked my flights to go through Halifax instead. Not only would I be flying continuously east (the irony of doing so on an airline named Westjet did not escape me) but by losing one of my hours immediately, prior to the overnight flight to Dublin, I figured it might be easier to adjust to the rest of the time difference. Plus, I could arrive earlier in the morning, go directly the the convention centre to check into the conference, attend the opening ceremonies featuring former (and first woman) president Mary Robinson, then check into my hotel for a nap, as there weren't any conference sessions later in the day I was that interested in.
That was the plan, anyway. In the end, the Ottawa to Halifax flight got cancelled - AFTER I had supposedly "checked in" for my flight the night before, AND printed boarding passes indicating the gates I'd be boarding at in Ottawa and Halifax and the times boarding was scheduled to begin! But at least it happened while I was still at home, not while I was sitting in a crowded, uncomfortable airport waiting area. And Westjet did offer me an alternative, which I accepted as the lesser of two evils.
The substitute offer had me on a flight at 6:45 PM instead of 6PM, bound for (sigh) Pearson Airport and a correspondingly later flight from Toronto to Dublin, which then took off about 40 minutes behind schedule. On the other hand, I was still assigned a comparable seat in Premium Economy and other than the comparatively minor delays, there were no problems at the airport. Security was quite fast and efficient; they don't even make you take your shoes off anymore to go through the scanner. A big advantage for me of Canadian airports and Canadian-based airlines is that masks are still required throughout the journey, except for meals and identification purposes at the gate.
I've become a big fan of Westjet and their premium economy service too. The Westjet in-flight people seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves and keen to make the experience pleasant for their passengers. For the meals, a flight attendant whipped out a little white tablecloth to spread over each tray-table. Wine was included. I hadn't specifically ordered a vegetarian meal but on all flights there seemed to be a vegetarian (though likely not vegan) option. On the flight from Toronto to Dublin that was potato gnocchi and on the flight home (Dublin to Halifax) it was a vegetarian lasagna. There were plenty of take-away snacks too, like granola bars, nuts, pretzels, mints and chocolates. Pillows and blankets were provided as well as little care packages with sleep masks, lip balm, ear plugs and socks inside.
The seats that I booked entitled me to two pieces of checked luggage, one carry-on bag (to go in an overhead bin) and one smaller personal item (such as a handbag or small knapsack) to go under the seat.
After all I'd heard about baggage handler strikes, misplaced bags and the like, it seemed safer to travel to Dublin with everything I needed in the cabin. But I was also pretty sure I'd want to buy a few things while I was over there. So inside my carry-on bag I packed a scrunchable backpack and a sort of day-bag (a tote-bag with rubberized lining, therefore waterproof) I'd need while in and around Dublin. The backpack would become my carry-on for the flights back to Canada and I would check my larger (and by then heavier) rolling carry-on suitcase. I figured it didn't matter quite so much if my bag got lost or misplaced on the way home.
That arrangement worked pretty well, although I did wish I'd packed a few extra plastic bags. Single-use plastics seem to have been completely eliminated in Ireland and good on them! It's just that paper bags are not always practical - they take up more room in the luggage and they disintegrate in the rain. One partial solution I adopted was to buy cloth bags from some of the landmarks I visited - the James Joyce Centre, the Rock & Roll Museum, the Winding Stair Bookshop - and they were useful for separating clean clothes from dirty ones and for cushioning a few of the more fragile items I wanted to pack for the trip home. And the barman at the Ha'penny Bridge Inn was good enough to give me a reusable plastic (or at least plastic-like) carrier bag from Tesco when I arrived there with a rapidly disintegrating paper shopping bag.
I wrote earlier about my frustrations with Canada's own ArriveCan website. Somewhere in Dublin, but no sooner than 72 hours before my expected arrival back in Canada, I had to be in possession of my ArriveCan receipt: probably a printed one, as I was not using a smartphone during my trip. So where would I print my receipt? The conference was already over by that time and as for the hotel, there didn't seem to be at the kind of business centre that I had hoped for. I had perfectly fine Internet service via my laptop, but no access to a printer. Maybe a public library? But the problem was, there wasn't any obvious public library
in the areas I wanted to visit and I didn't know what their hours were or what their printing facilities were like. But something I HAD seen around town was Internet cafés.
On the Friday evening (July 29), just after I returned from a day trip to Galway, I entered my expected return flight details into ArriveCan. I couldn't believe how smoothly it went! I soon had the requisite ArriveCan receipt in my e-mail box and now it only remained to find somewhere to print it off. I did an online search for Internet cafés in the Dublin area and jotted down a few possibilities to explore the next day.
So, about Internet cafes. They do have Internet and printing services but they don't really have café. In fact, the one I went to was combined with a tanning salon. The good news is that it was inexpensive and was open long hours. The bad news is that even though I used the few privacy tricks I knew about and was assured I was "going incognito", I still got a couple of spam messages the next day, telling me (erroneously, thank goodness) that my e-mail had been locked and several e-mail messages had been withheld. But other than printing off my ArriveCan receipt, I wasn't using the Internet café for anything confidential or anything I can think of that would be much use to hackers and crackers.
The flights back to Ottawa were fine. I went through Halifax as I had wanted to. Things were efficient at Dublin airport and since I was flying on a Canadian-based airline, they made sure I had my ArriveCan receipt right from the get-go. Masks were not required at Dublin airport (and most passengers weren't wearing them) but things weren't so ridiculously congested as to preclude social distancing. But they WERE required on board the plane. I checked one bag at Dublin airport, as planned, and it was checked right through to Ottawa. At Halifax airport (my point of arrival back in Canada), Westjet staff were on hand to guide us through customs procedures, which were mostly about punching the relevant buttons on a computer terminal. I didn't have to go through security a second time before my flight from Halifax to Ottawa.
So that concludes my piece on the logistics of travel during the 7th wave of COVID-19. In a future blog post, I'll write more about my experiences in Ireland.
