Stampeding to Calgary - a bit late!
 

Sorry the title is a bit of a misnomer as the Stampede has come and gone and we are only flying into Calgary!

Dh hates planning anything more than 24 hours in advance, whereas I need time to get my head around things and lots of lists, how we have stayed married for 30 years I don't know, probably because he didn't plan too :d::d: Over the years I have learnt to deal with this but he still expects to get the hotels and flights he wants at the prices he wants. Especially difficult when although our kids are now grown up I still work in a school and can only go in school holidays!

However despite all this, we have finally booked a 2 week holiday in Canmore which is about 1 1/2 hours from Calgary airport and 1/2 hour from Banff (unless anyone knows different ;)) We had originally planned a road trip from Calgary to Vancouver last year but after a stressful year and looking at what we wanted to do we decided to get an apartment in Canmore and just go out from there or stay in the resort. Sort of fits me as I can have a list to tick off but also have a base and him as as much as we can we will just decide what to do on the day.

So we are flying with Air Canada from Heathrow, economy only :cry:
The online system was playing up so I ended up phoning and did say to the agent that it would be our 30th wedding anniversary which he said he had noted, but I'm not holding my breath for any upgrades. I looked at pre booking our seats but couldn't find any together anyway so will just do it the night before. The flight is at 1pm so fits in well, no rush in the morning as we are only an hour or so from Heathrow. It lands in Calgary just before 3pm local so plenty of time to get the car and drive up to the Stoneridge Resort in Canmore, where we have booked a 1 bed apartment with full kitchen. On the whole the resort gets looks lovely and gets good reviews, the odd bad one though seems really bad! Again Canmore gets good reviews mostly and was as close as we could get to Banff.

Our main must do is walking on a Glacier, and ride the Ice Explorer. Other notes I have so far are a cruise on one of the lakes, pluck up the courage to do the Gondola in Banff, afternoon tea at the Lake Louise Fairmont, lots of hikes, but only short ones, and drives to see the area - Emerald Lake,Banff Hot springs,and generally just relax.

DD has said we must go to Timmies most days and have a Beavertail as well as a Canadian pizza:confused2 but won't tell me how it is different.

Thanks for reading my waffle and will update as things get closer.

BTW we have done our ETA's, way easier and cheaper than ESTA's and straight back approved - YAY! :grin:

We are here at the minute. Immigration was two minute wait in Calgary and it’s an easy drive to Canmore. We stayed in Harvie Heights about 5 minutes up the road towards Banff.

There is a Safeway in Canmore for food etc and a Tim’s too. Banff and the area is lovely. Things I’d recommend ( we only had 3 nights)

- do the gondola - great views up the top, gets busy though, we booked ours online with an preselected upload time.

- horse riding in Banff, we did a short hour one but the views and experience was excellent.

- glacier is excellent, take warmer clothes, seems to have its own climate and allow plenty of time to drive as there’s loads of stops.

- Johnston canyon, great walks and views

- Two Jack Lake - you can swim in it ( we just paddled) and Lake Minnewanka, loads of mountain goats

- Lake Louise & Moraine Lake, just get there early though.

There are lots of hikes too we just didn’t get chance for many. Also had a beavertail, they are amazing!

Thank you for those tips, when you say warmer clothes, do you mean winter or just jacket and jeans?

We had jeans on a walking jacket ( from Trespass, light but waterproof and a bit thermal) it was really cold up there, my son said what did I expect it was ice, but really impressive. It was a rainy day anyway so that might of effected it but at one point before we got on visibility was bad but it faired up as we drove on. It was amazing but cold - you’re not on the glacier for long, about 20 minutes and can get back on the transport at anytime though. The whole trip out with the skywalk was about 90 mins to 2 hours.

We arrived at lunchtime and loads of tour groups in, did quieten off though later in the afternoon would just again book a time slot.

Have a fabulous time! Can't wait to hear all about it :)

Yep, coffee when I get back!

Definitely! Now the wedding's over I've somehow planned and booked a New England road trip - oops! :spin:

Wow! Lots of photos to share then!

So not much more done, which considering we go in a week I suppose you would expect:erm:

I have a list of places to visit and have looked at doing online pass for the National Parks and Glacier trip. The hotel sent me a suggested itinerary for that.

Still not booked a car, but have decided that we don't need an SUV so will save a bit on that.

DH is also looking into what to do with our phones as there is apparently no Pay as you go in Canada. At the moment he is looking into getting a US sim with roaming - I leave that to him!

Dh already had a REVOLUT card and I have now ordered one as well which will hopefully arrive in time. If not then I have found our Thomas Cook money cards from years ago and see if I can transfer them to CAD. Will not be using my John Lewis Mastercard as they really sting you on foreign transactions - my fault for not reading the small print so learnt the hard way.

Dh has also discovered that Edmonton Air Show is on while we are there so we are looking into that - booking.com has some well priced rooms that I can cancel the day before. Google says it is a 4 hour journey so not too bad if we stay over.

We are off to Countryfile Live tomorrow but am planning to get the car, parking and the glacier trip sorted at the weekend then pack early next week, housework and nails on Wednesday all ready to go on Thursday:confused2

Dh says we will be on a Dreamliner to Calgary, any tips or reviews?