Triangle Trip

If you’re based in the US and traveling to Canada for more than a few days, I strongly recommend you contact your mobile provider and sign up for their Canada plan. Sprint offers a $2.99 and T-Mobile offers $5.00 Canadian roaming plan (link to Sprint Canada Roaming option) where you pay $0.09 to $0.20 per minute on calls made and received in Canada. Both Sprint and T-Mobile allow you to add and remove the Canada plan whenever you want and won’t renew your contract. I am sure the other carriers (Verizon and AT&T) have the same deals.

I carry a BlackBerry on the Sprint network and do not have to pay for international data since I’m traveling on the BlackBerry network when I’m in Canada. On my most recent trip, I also found out that I didn’t have to pay for SMS sent from Canada to USA mobile numbers. I’m not sure if it was a system glitch, but I’ll take it – and I’d welcome anyone who can provide additional info on this.

And if you’re visiting Vancouver, you may want to check out these fine Vancouver eateries.

As the year comes to an end, many Starwood Preferred Guest (“SPG”) faithfuls are probably looking for ways to retain their status for next year — including me. Since SPG offers two redemption options for its rooms, you’re probably wondering:

Does using SPG Starpoints (to redeem a free room) or the Cash & Points (a combination of SPG Starpoints and cash to book a room) redemption option to reserve a room before the end of the year count toward one’s “number of stays” or “number of nights”?

The answer to both questions is:  No.

SPG treats Starpoint AND Cash & Points redemptions as “Reward” reservations. Hence both redemption options will not help you with your required “stays” or “nights” required to retain your SPG elite status. However, you can still earn Starpoints on other eligible incidental charges during a Cash & Points stay. Below is a quote from SPG’s Terms and Conditions for Cash & Points redemption:

Guest will not receive Starpoints or airline miles for their reservation; therefore, a Cash & Points stay does not qualify as an eligible stay toward earning elite level or toward any promotions requiring nights or stays.

You can also click on this picture to be linked to SPG’s FAQ site regarding this matter.

If you have landed in La Guardia Airport (LGA) and want to take public transportation to NYC, you either need exact change for the MTA bus (US$2.50 as of 2011), or a MetroCard with enough money for a one way fare.

Don’t have enough change for the bus? No need to scramble or buy unnecessary stuff at the airport…there is an MTA vending machine at the arrival level of LGA’s Terminal B. The MTA vending machine accepts credit cards and is located in between the United and Continental’s arrivals baggage claim area. See map below for more details:

If your flight doesn’t land at Terminal B, no need to worry as LGA has a free shuttle bus that circles around the terminals. Another option is look for a newsstand called Hudson News as they may resell MetroCards. You should also consider the unlimited ride Metrocard if you are staying in NYC for longer than a week. Here’s a previous post regarding on how to take advantage of NYC MTA’s unlimited Metrocard.

From LGA, visitors can ride the M60 bus to Upper West Side Manhattan. Buses and subways are both run by the MTA, so transferring from a bus, to another bus, or to the subway is free – as long as that transfer occurs within two hours after the initial fare was paid. If you paid the bus fare with exact change, you’ll need a transfer pass; you can request one from the bus operator before you exit. If you paid the bus fare by purchasing and using a MetroCard, it’ll automatically act as a transfer pass if used within the two hour window. Here’s a link to Captain G’s previous post for more details.

And if you’re arriving from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), you won’t run into issues finding a MetroCard vendor or transferring. There are tons of MTA vending machines at the JFK AirTrain, which takes riders from JFK to the Jamaica subway and train station, making it very convenient to go anywhere in New York City. For your convenience, here are links on how to get from JFK to Manhattan (How to take NYC public transportation to/from JFK).