Flight Booking Tip

This tip was known to me since 2002. It is probably the most useful tip that my travel agent gave me. It came in very handy today. I thought of sharing it with you on my blog.

When an airline change your flight (ie. when they bump you to a different flight) or there is a schedule change (ie. change in time of the flight), you are eligible to ask to be rescheduled. I've done with successfully with Northwest Airlines and also confirmed it with United Airlines. UA told me that if the flight schedule change is greater than 90 mins, then we can request to change flight within the same class.

Couple weeks ago, we booked tickets for my parents to come visit next month. We purposely booked direct flight from Montreal to San Francisco. There is only one per day. We just found out today that they rescheduled them to transfer in Denver one the way going and Chicago on the way back. This would cause major confusions to my parents and a longer travel time. We checked the timetable, Air Canada canceled direct flights on both days. We called them and were able to reschedule them on different days with direct flights.

Ever since I knew about this trick, I like to book early for big holidays (3-5 months in advance) as soon as I find a decent deal, usually for July (hight season) or Christmas. Then as the days come closer (about 3 weeks - 1 month), airlines would readjust their schedule according to demand. I would monitor and if they change my itinerary, then I request to change to a more ideal time or even airport! For instance, for Christmas 2002, I booked to depart on the Sunday before Christmas because Saturday was a blackout date, after they changed my itinerary, I was able to negotiate to depart the day before!

South Beach Diet

It's that time of the year, spring is around he corner and I'm getting ready for summer by starting my annual South Beach Diet. I really love that diet, it works very well for me so I do it every year :D.

Today is day 2. I have another 12 days of no carbs to endure before I can slowly re-introduce good carbs. It's quite painful, but hey... it's guaranteed to work! My record is losing 7lbs in 9 days and I was able to lose 10lbs for my wedding.

Going Vegetarian - Conclusion

I heard that some of you wanted to know the result of my vegetarian diet. Well, it wasn't as "cleansing" experience as I thought. The first 3 days was wonderful, we ate at home and had homemade cooking. After that, it went all wrong. We over ate! We went to try vegetarian Indian food. We had dosa and other dishes for the first time. It was good, but it was also a lot of potatoes and starch (and saturated fat from the coconut!)! We were quite stuffed. The following days, we had a lot of curries and also went to Sweet Tomatoes (a salad and soup buffet). Needless to say, we over ate for the remainder 7 days of our 11 days of diet! I have to say, that's not exactly what I expected from the diet!

For conclusion, I believe it is fairly easy to be non-strict vegetarian here in Silicon Valley. Supermarkets have great selections and many restaurants offer vegetarian alternatives. However, it becomes very tricky when you go out with non-vegetarian friends. Especially if they want to go for pho (vietnamese food) or Chinese food. It is definitely challenging when you want to have cheap fast food! One time, we had to fill on potato wedges at Safeway for quick lunch! So, finally, I don't see a need of going vegetarian again in the near future. As far as I am concerned, it's only healthier if you eat at home or at fancier restaurant.