5 Thoughts On My Trip To Toronto

One day in March, I got an email from a friend asking me to go to Toronto in June. Not being one to turn down travel, I decided to go along without question. The trip was overall good.

Here are five quick observations from the trip.

1) Porter Airlines is a Great Airline

     The reason for the trip to Toronto was a fare sale with Porter Airlines. The ticket cost $200
     round-trip direct from Washington Dulles to Toronto.

     Never Hear of Porter? Porter Airlines is a low cost Canadian airline that has a hub is in
     Toronto. The airline flies Q-400 Turboprop Aircraft with a 2-2 seat set-up.

     My first trip with them was very positive. The trip was 90 minutes, but felt much quicker.
     The seat pitch did not feel tight like other regional jets. They offer you a snack basket
     and complementary soft drinks, beer and wine in real glassware. In addition, the airport
     waiting area at Toronto is a lounge with soft drinks, snacks, leather chairs, plenty of
     electrical outlets & strong WIFI.

                                 

       I would defiantly try them again.

2)  Toronto City Airport is Located On An Island

      Porter Airlines flies into Toronto City Airport, not Toronto Pearsons Airport. Toronto City
      Airport is built on a man-made island. The only way to get on/off the island is by ferry.
      Yes, there is no bridge to the airport. All cars and passengers must take a ferry.


      The ride takes about 90 seconds once the ferry leaves. However, you need to plan 15
      minutes total for loading and unloading. They are building a walking tunnel under the
      river which should eliminate the ferry.

      This is no airport to be late to. From arriving to getting through security, it took 30 minutes
      with light passenger traffic.


3) Courtyard Marriott Toronto is Average

      We decided to stay at the Courtyard Marriott due to price and a free night certificate I
      had.The cost per night was $200 CAD inclusive of taxes. Overall, the cost of hotels in
      Toronto this particular weekend were expensive.

      The hotel has 550 rooms and 25 suites. It is one of the biggest Courtyards, I have ever 

      stayed in. Our room was average unrenovated room.

       The common areas were renovated, but not our room. The hotel was packed with
       groups. Service was good, but not great.


4) Toronto has Islands?

      Looking for things to do, we learned that Toronto has islands covering 580 acres. They
      are located a short boat ride from the city.
   

Photo Credit :http://www.jubileequeencruises.ca/

        The islands have parks, places to grill, restaurants, bars, bike rentals, trails, kids
        amusement parks and of course, beaches. The place had a fun atmosphere. This was
        the place to be on hot sunny Saturday.

        We paid for a harbor cruise to get to the island. Only once on the islands, we learned
        about the free public ferry running until 11 pm.


5) I like Tim Horton's; Maybe Love

       You all know I love doughnuts. When in Toronto, I fell in love with Tim Horton's.

      I had way to many doughnuts from them. There was one right next to our hotel
      and I forced my friend to stop or get me one each time we/he passed it.

       What I really loved from Tim Horton's are their Timbits or small doughnut holes. I

       got a box of them and woke up in the middle of the night to snack on them. 

       Tim, Mr. Horton, we are going to be friends.


Overall, a great trip to Toronto.

 
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Work Backward Approach: Using Marriott's Unexpected Bonus

A few weeks back, Chris and I wrote a guest post on Hack My Trip about our approach to travel planning: Work Backwards. The work backward approach focuses on picking the destination, first, and working to earn the miles and points to get there afterwards. However, the approach is easier in words than practice. For this reason, I will start writing posts about putting the work backward approach into action.

For the Memorial Day Weekend, my friends and I went on a road trip throughout Virginia. When it came time to decided on hotels, the choice was easy. Since we were spending one night in two cities, Cash Back Boy was adamant that we stay at Marriott hotels to use the Unexpected Bonus promotion. As I wrote here, Marriott's Unexpected Bonus promotion gives you a free night at any hotel category 1-5 after spending two paid nights.

How does the promotion tie into the work backward approach? Great question!

Every year, my friends and I take trips to see college football game. One of the biggest expenses that we incur is the cost of hotel rooms. Typically, hotels close to stadiums jack up nightly rates on college football weekends. For instance, last year's trip to Penn State, the cost of one night at the Courtyard by Marriott was $250, but the next weekend, when Penn State was playing away, hotel rates were around $119. By staying this past weekend at Marriott; instead of a Hilton or Hyatt, we prepaid for one hotel night for a future college football trip.

The cost of staying at Marriott hotels were similar to staying at Hilton or Hyatt. Therefore, we lost nothing expect some points in our preferred hotel loyalty program, but we gain a free night for future use. This promotion is a great way of helping pay for your dream trip. First, one needs to check to see if there is a Marriott located near your dream location. No reason to participate if Marriott does not have a hotel where you want to go. However, ff Marriott does have a hotel or hotels near your dream location then this promotion might be a good one to participate  The risk is that a "free night" might not be available for when you want to travel, but to be successful in the "game" a little be of risk is required.

This promotion is not mattress run worthy. The cost in time and money is to expensive. In my opinion this promotion works best if you have flexibility in your hotel choices over the next few months.  My motto is always get something for staying at a hotel and getting a free night after two paid stays is pretty damn good.
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 Have a question for us? E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com

Will Travel for College Football! - Penn State

This past weekend, I traveled with three friends to see Penn State play Northwestern in football. The game was a perfect excuse to go to a game as my friend Chris (different than my fellow blogger Chris) is a massive Penn State fan and my other friend Robbie is a Northwestern fan. The other two of us, on the trip, have no allegiance to either team, but we cheered for Penn State. When in doubt always support the home team.

Leaving around 6:30 pm on Friday, the 175 mile drive to Altoona, PA, the location of our hotel, takes about 4 hours with DC traffic. As a custom, we stop three hours in the trip in Bedford, PA for dinner. We typically  stop at a chain restaurant called Hoss’s. Hoss’s is a steak house is a hybrid of a Long Horn Steakhouse and Old Country Buffet style. You order off a board before you are seated. They have a salad and dessert bar that are included in the price of your meal.

We decided not to go to Hoss’s and try a restaurant down the street, Ed's Steakhouse

Ed’s Steakhouse is, located on the corner of I-99 and I 200 off the Pennsylvania Turnpike, is a sit-down restaurant with a variety of food: from Steaks to Sandwiches to Pasta and Salads. Here is a sample of the food that we ordered:

The restaurant has plenty of TVs for watching sports or news programs. Service is always friendly and fast. Ed's is budget friendly with all of our bills under $20.00.

After filling our bellies, we went on our way to Altoona for the night. Before stopping at our hotel, we stopped for tailgating provisions at the local Walmart. At 11pm, Walmart is the only thing open in many small towns, I am learning.

Our normal antics began at Walmart with me daring Robbie to ride this children's amusement ride: 

                         

Provisions secured, it was time to head to our hotel for the night. As I described here, hotels can be expensive on college football weekends. We finally decided to stay at a Courtyard Marriott in Altoona, PA, 45 minutes or 45 miles away from Beaver Stadium, Penn State's football stadium.

For $200 a night, we received a standard room with 2 beds. The room was decorated nicely and bright. I liked the wallpaper. Some of the rooms had balconies, but ours did not:

The bathroom was clean and separated. The toilet and shower in one room:

The vanity and sink right outside the toilet and shower. This style worked great for us. Someone could be showering and the rest could still have access to the sink.

The hotel had a gym

and a pool, which I forgot to take a picture. The hotel lobby was bright and inviting. The lobby had plenty of 

places to sit

                                     

 

 The hotel had computers (which you had to pay for) and a small cafe/restaurant that served breakfast, lunch and dinner

 We awoke early Saturday to travel to Beaver Stadium for the noon game. Tailgating occurs in big fields, turned parking lots

We had a simple tailgate of burgers, beer and mimosas: 

  

For the game, I decided to get into the spirit a little more than normal: 

Yes, I wore a blue body suit. For the rest of the trip, I was known as "Blue"

On our way to the stadium and our seats, I received many weird looks, but that is half the fun. However, the weird looks went away, when we arrived at our seats. Our section was wild and fun. Thanks to Chris's uncle for the four football tickets located on the 40 yard line, you could see everything happening on the field.

The Northwestern game was Penn State's Homecoming game.  Therefore, the marching band had alumni back to participate:

The atmosphere was pretty calm up until the fourth quarter, when Penn State kicked it into high gear. In the fourth quarter, the stadium started to rock. At that point, one could feel what 90,000 supporting fans sounds like. It was crazy.

Penn State came back to win the game with five minutes left and never look back, winning 38-29:

Overall, it was a great trip with three great friends.

Oh, and no road trip would be complete without a trip to Cracker Barrel:

Did your team win this weekend?

Until the next trip!

Marriott's "What's Your Travel Type" Contest Ends Tomorrow

The Marriott "What's Your Travel Type"contest has been written about extensively with lots of promos out there in blog land to win additional points. (Here...Here...Here...etc.) But it is worth noting that the contest ends tomorrow at 4:00 pm ET. But, you can enter once a day so if you hurry you can get two more entries in!

The prizes are everything from 6 nights/5 days at a JW Marriott anywhere in the world to a 7 day/ 6 night trip to Madrid, Spain.

We don't have any prizes to offer...but I am curious what your favorite prize was, and what Marriott properties you would use your prize on?