travel

Although my wife Joanne and I left Winnipeg yesterday afternoon for a whirlwind trip that will take us to Europe, Asia and back through Europe over the next 23 days, I really feel like our trip is only just beginning.

We left Winnipeg with a quick stop in Chicago for a beer ( Goose Island Honker's Ale) and an overnight in New York. Today we had breakfast at Whole Foods, did a little clothes shopping, had a quick trip to Central Park, then the 5th Avenue Apple store to pick up Snow Leopard. Currently we are sitting in the Swiss Airlines First Class Lounge at JFK awaiting our flight to Zurich.

And although, the past 24 hours would be an entire trip for many people, I feel ours is about to begin because of our first long-haul flight is about to board. The whole purpose of this trip was for me to attend DrupalCon in Paris, but because of new rules from Aeroplan, for a small amount of additional miles over just a trip to Europe, we were able to book a trip to Asia in First class, with a stop-over in each direction in Europe. Additionally the rules allow you to have connections on-route which are less than 24 hours, so this 23.5 hour stop in New York was possible.

• Darren Mak's blog

Air Canada quietly introduced a new feature to the flying public with so little fanfare, I can't even tell you when it happened! Something that you have been able to do on various US airlines for some time, is now available on Air Canada flights... Last Minute Upgrade Purchase.

You have always been able to go up to the desk at the gate and purchase an upgrade, but you would be charged the difference between the fare you paid, and the cost of a full-fare business class seat at that moment. In other words ridiculously expensive. But with this new announcement, although no pricing examples were mentioned, it appears that the costs of the upgrade will likely be fairly reasonable.

As with all promotions or offers there is some fine print, such as having to be departing from a US or Canadian airport, be ticketed on a Tango Plus or Latitude Fare, and it looks like you have to decide at time of check-in, either on-line or at a self-serve kiosk.

• Darren Mak's blog