Receive your boarding pass on your mobile device
July 25, 2008
NEW! As of July 10 you can now receive your Electronic Boarding Pass on your Apple iPhone or iPhone3G when you do a Web Check-In.
Now, when you use Web Check-in online at aircanada.com, you can choose to receive an electronic boarding pass on your cell phone or PDA (personal digital assistant such as Blackberrry or Treo) on select flights*.
It’s easy. The next time you check in online from any computer, you’ll be asked to enter the number of the mobile device where you’d like your boarding pass to be sent. Just enter your mobile number to receive two messages directly on your cell phone or PDA, enabling you to pass through security and board your flight…paper free!
Don’t have access to a computer? You can check-in directly from your mobile device using our mobile check-in service at mobile.aircanada.com. Remember to visit a baggage drop off point prior to security screening if you have any baggage to check.
Still prefer a printed boarding pass? Just select that option when you check in online, or visit an airport kiosk to print a back-up copy of your boarding pass if ever you need one.
Very cool! It looks something like this (censored):
I suppose they would just scan it like any normal barcode.
Frequent Fliers Use Markets to Trade Miles
June 29, 2008
Practical Traveler – Frequent Fliers – Practical Traveler – Frequent Fliers Use Markets to Trade Miles – NYTimes.com
ANY traveler who has tried to redeem frequent flier miles for an award seat, only to be thwarted by blackout dates or limited availability, knows that attractive alternatives are hard to come by. You could spend miles for magazine subscriptions, donate them to charity or, in a few cases, purchase merchandise in an exchange that often doesn’t quite add up (17,000 miles for a coffee maker?).
Now imagine a virtual stock market for the eBay generation where the miles and points are currency, and the free market — rather than the airlines — determines the exchange rates. That’s the general idea behind some new online services that have quietly begun testing ways for travelers to leverage unused miles. Such mileage matchmaking services have popped up as airlines, including American, Continental, Delta and United, have been announcing significant capacity cutbacks — reductions that are expected to make frequent flier awards even harder to use when the cuts begin to take effect this fall.
One of the sites, Points.com, has introduced a service called Global Points Exchange that allows travelers to barter miles with one another and set their own exchange ratios (I’ll give you 8,000 American miles for 10,000 of your Delta miles).
Cool idea.
Top 10 hospitality travel sites
June 27, 2008
Top 10 hospitality travel sites | Travel | guardian.co.uk
More and more travellers are abandoning hotels and hostels to stay with locals they have found through hospitality networks. Here is a round up of the best-known and most interesting organisations within this ever-growing field.
A friend told me about Couchsurfing about a year ago. At the time I had no idea what it was and the idea of sleeping at some random person’s couch seemed very strange. But you know, a lot has changed since then. The site looks decent with a lot of nice people.
10 Things To Do In Europe That Will Make You Smarter
June 27, 2008
10 Things To Do In Europe That Will Make You Smarter
Combining academia with cultural immersion: surely this is the ultimate education? We strained our brains and came up with a list that balances lessons and leisure to turn you into a European scholar du jour.
Also:
‘More than just a pumped up B’: Germany celebrates recognition of the letter ß | World news | The Guardian
It has long been considered the most troublesome character in the German alphabet. But champions of the Eszett, which resembles a bloated B with a hole, were celebrating its red letter day after receiving official status following a century-long struggle for recognition.
The Eszett, or ß, which is unique to the German alphabet and is pronounced like the letter s, has been officially accepted as a lower and upper case alphabet figure by the International Organisation of Standardisation (ISO) which has granted it status in its club of “special consonants found in western European languages“.
Ah. So maß is actually pronounced like “mass”, which is commonly measured in kilograms – in which 1 kilogram (of liquid water) is 1 litre. And that’s why a maß of beer is 1 litre. That makes sense.
And all this time, I’ve been pronouncing it “mab” thinking it was the greek letter beta (β). I just avoided a potentially embarrassing and awkward moment in Germany. Thank you Internet.
T-minus 30 days and 300 posts later [Eurotrip]
June 26, 2008
In 30 days, I’ll be leeeeeeeaving on a jet plane. Soon, my new home will be where this pin is on Google Maps:
A few interesting facts I’ve learned about Sweden:
- Bed sizes are different in Europe than North America (or UK and Australia)
- Business hours are 10am-3pm
- The exchange rate was $1 USD = 11 SEK in 2002, but is now $1 USD = 6 SEK – making everything ~50% more expensive in just 5 years. I hope it doesn’t continue to fall!
- VAT is 25% (!!) – if the exchange rate wasn’t bad enough
- 911 is 112
- Famous Swedes include: Annika Sörenstam (thanks Dad!), Tiger Wood’s wife/former nanny, Robyn (thanks Ken!), ABBA, a bunch of Canucks players – including Naslund and the Sedin twins, Alfred Nobel, Carl Linnaeus
- Famous companies: Ikea, H&M, Ericsson, Volvo, Absolut Vodka
- Other famous Swedish things: Swedish meatballs, Swedish massage
- They throw crayfish parties in August
- They like to eat fermented herring (looks kind of gross)
- A ton of men have Lars as their first name (just from my personal observation)
- 24 hour sunlight during the summer and 24 hour darkness during winter
- There’s an ice hotel (!!) in northern Sweden during the winter months
Lyndon’s awesome travel links [Eurotrip]
June 24, 2008
This is a compilation of various sites I’ve been visiting to book flights/hotels. I’m posting this because I need a central place to find all these links.
Kayak.com – flights and hotels
Travelzoo.com – flights and hotels
Opodo.com - flights and hotels
Map Channels Hotels Directory – hotels/hostels
Eurail and RailEurope – train
FlySAS.com – Scandinavian Airline
Sterling.dk – budget airline
Ryanair.com – budget airline
Germanwings.com – budget airline
Easyjet.com – budget airline (no routes to/from Stockholm)
Within Sweden:
Upplands Lokaltraffik - bus
SJ.se - train (X 2000)
Veolia Transport – train
Viking Line – ferry to Finland
Resa | Aftonbladet – last minute deals
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)
June 22, 2008
I’m posting this because I’ve caught a bit of the travel bug lately. I definitely need to travel to as many places as I can during my exchange in Europe. You may even see some videos posted (probably not dancing though.. I’m an awful dancer!).
Oh, the part where he dances in the Demilitarized Zone was awesome. The soldier looked so confused.
New York offers a wealth of fun for budget travelers
May 25, 2008
New York offers a wealth of fun for budget travelers – Travel – LATimes.com
New York City needn’t be a daunting destination for travelers on a budget. Here’s a list of freebies in the Big Apple.
