So, I’m going to Ottawa Thursday morning. How to get there? Train? Plane? Bus? On to the internet. I’ll check the plane fare from Hamilton to Ottawa.
Clickety, click, click, click. I’m into the WestJet site. No flights. Clickety, click, click, click. I’m into another site that searches all airlines for a flight out of Hamilton to Ottawa. No planes fly out of Hamilton to Ottawa. What the . . . ??
Hmmmm. . .. . Air Canada out of Toronto. A few more clicks and I’m into the Air Canada site. A few more key stroke clicks and I have the data entered. SEARCH. Yep, I can get out of Toronto on a Tango flight. Round trip for two on the dates I selected . . . $664.00! What the heck has happened to those cheap return trips to Ottawa? Something must be cheaper than this.
On to Porter Air out of Toronto Island airport. Yes, they service Ottawa. Clickety, click, enter, enter, enter . . . SEARCH. For the dates and times entered. . . .$760.00! What the. . . ? Porter isn’t even flying jets to Ottawa, how come so expensive? Flying is out. On to Via Rail.
Clickety, click, click, click and I’m on to the Via Rail site. A few more clicks – not too fast because the site is rather difficult to navigate for these addled grey cells of mine – hit SEARCH and . . . GOOD GRIEF!! . . . . over eight hundred bucks! A couple of sprays of nitro and I decide it is time to go to the last resort – Greyhound.
Greyhound winds up to be the cheapest of the three modes of travel. Around $345.00 for the two of us return. Not including the taxes.
“We might just as well go get our tickets this morning,” I say to Maria, “but lets stop at the train station just in case I got things wrong on Via’s site.” Off we go and into the wilds of Western Hill where our weed-surrounded little station sits.
Into the lobby. What’s this?? It is looking quite fresh and friendly. And what a bonus awaited us at the info booth. A very friendly, competent gal behind the glass who had us set up in minutes, explaining that we should forget about booking on line because there is nobody there to explain the deals Via have. Alas, had we been able to book on Monday we could have purchased round trip tickets for two at half price. As it was we were able to get our return trip at that deal. One full price, the other rides free.
Thursday morning we are on our way. I can hardly wait to hear the hissing of the steam and see the sparks from the coal whiz by the coach windows.
Clickety, click, click, click. I’m into the WestJet site. No flights. Clickety, click, click, click. I’m into another site that searches all airlines for a flight out of Hamilton to Ottawa. No planes fly out of Hamilton to Ottawa. What the . . . ??
Hmmmm. . .. . Air Canada out of Toronto. A few more clicks and I’m into the Air Canada site. A few more key stroke clicks and I have the data entered. SEARCH. Yep, I can get out of Toronto on a Tango flight. Round trip for two on the dates I selected . . . $664.00! What the heck has happened to those cheap return trips to Ottawa? Something must be cheaper than this.
On to Porter Air out of Toronto Island airport. Yes, they service Ottawa. Clickety, click, enter, enter, enter . . . SEARCH. For the dates and times entered. . . .$760.00! What the. . . ? Porter isn’t even flying jets to Ottawa, how come so expensive? Flying is out. On to Via Rail.
Clickety, click, click, click and I’m on to the Via Rail site. A few more clicks – not too fast because the site is rather difficult to navigate for these addled grey cells of mine – hit SEARCH and . . . GOOD GRIEF!! . . . . over eight hundred bucks! A couple of sprays of nitro and I decide it is time to go to the last resort – Greyhound.
Greyhound winds up to be the cheapest of the three modes of travel. Around $345.00 for the two of us return. Not including the taxes.
“We might just as well go get our tickets this morning,” I say to Maria, “but lets stop at the train station just in case I got things wrong on Via’s site.” Off we go and into the wilds of Western Hill where our weed-surrounded little station sits.
Into the lobby. What’s this?? It is looking quite fresh and friendly. And what a bonus awaited us at the info booth. A very friendly, competent gal behind the glass who had us set up in minutes, explaining that we should forget about booking on line because there is nobody there to explain the deals Via have. Alas, had we been able to book on Monday we could have purchased round trip tickets for two at half price. As it was we were able to get our return trip at that deal. One full price, the other rides free.
Thursday morning we are on our way. I can hardly wait to hear the hissing of the steam and see the sparks from the coal whiz by the coach windows.
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