You wouldn’t know it but the days leading up to my departure from Vancouver to Christmas in Halifax every year are stressful and sad for me. It’s not that I particularly relish spending my hard-earned vacation days in Vancouver city–it’s just that I haven’t done it even once in the seven Christmases that have gone by since I’ve moved here (five Christmases I have not spent with NPY). It’s kind of getting hard. I’d like to spend Christmas in Vancouver just once and then have the freedom to Christmas just anywhere else.
After we got back from China/HK, my earned Aeroplan points showed up and the table showing my Air Canada Status Miles Earned showed I earned 11,648 in 2010 and 3018 in 2009. That’s it?! Those numbers correspond with the round-trip mileage to China and one-way from New York, respectively. What about the puny 1,440 Aeroplan miles I earn with each round-trip Air Can flight to Halifax (total distance actually 4 times that number)?
A little investigation shows that since I buy the cheapest (Tango) flights–$800 a round trip, if I’m lucky–I earn only 25% of the full miles and they are non-status miles. If I would pay 25% more for a Tango Plus flight, I could earn 100% of the full miles and they are status ones. Something to think about next flight??
It’s kind of sad and ungrateful but in the days leading up to my usual December 23 departure from Vancouver, NPY and I wallow about having to be apart (the weather in Vancouver wasn’t so great we could distract ourselves frolicking downtown and soaking up Christmas spirit) and I moan about how much of my money and vacation days end up in the black hole that is returning to my hometown because my parents run their own business and won’t/can’t retire or step away. Vacationing endlessly in Halifax during the best (single) years of my life frustrates me to no end!
The tally I recently made maddens me even more: Since moving to Vancouver in August 2004, I’ve gone back to Halifax all 7 Christmases, all 6 Mother’s Days (to work), once for Lil’ Sis’ grad, once to participate in a wedding, and August last year to work… and I may have forgotten one other time. Sixteen trips to Halifax in in 6.5 years. ACK!