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Old 24 Jul 18, 10:22 AM  
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parisdisneyfan
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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 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
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 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!
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Old 24 Jul 18, 02:20 PM  
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Gunna
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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!
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Old 24 Jul 18, 02:30 PM  
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parisdisneyfan
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Originally Posted by Gunna View Post
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?
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Old 24 Jul 18, 02:44 PM  
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Gunna
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Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan View Post
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.
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Old 24 Jul 18, 03:12 PM  
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anji
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Have a fabulous time! Can't wait to hear all about it
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Old 24 Jul 18, 03:43 PM  
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Originally Posted by anji View Post
Have a fabulous time! Can't wait to hear all about it
Yep, coffee when I get back!
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Old 10 Aug 18, 02:37 AM  
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Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan View Post
So with less than 48 hrs to go, think we have done it all bar the packing!

Car hire with Hertz, couldn't get an SUV so getting a Golf equivalent which will be big enough for the 2 of us to tootle about in. Spent ages reading the small print to see if CDW/LDW was included and finally found it was, they don't make it easy. Taken out a separate policy to cover any excesses and I'm covered free as dh has a gold card with them.

Booked meet & greet parking at T2, not cheap but then that is our fault for leaving it so late. Hire car looked promising but ended up being same price as did taxi both ways.

Picked up some cash, and very nice it looks too even has picture of the queen on to make me feel at home certainly a lot better looking than US dollars! Also found some old Thomas Cook cash cards and discovered that mine has over $100 on so will try to get down there tomorrow and get it transferred to a new card to use in Canada. Not sure if dh has any on his yet, got to wait for him to phone up and find out!

Just got to do OLCI tomorrow which may be a bit tight as I've got a nail appointment at 12 and I assume flight will open at 1, 24 hours before take off

Big thank you to Gunna and Jocat for all the tips which I have printed out and are in my file.

Tomorrow is house work (so kids know how I expect it to be when I get back) nails and packing unless anyone can think of anything else?
Have a brilliant time Julia. We’re just sat at Calgary airport waiting for our flight home. Ask away if you have any more questions - I will probably be Dibbing a lot more now.
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