I’m writing this editorial today to share with you some of the realities of my daily life as an entrepreneur, member of an “international family” and frequent traveler.
Both governments and businesses have adjusted to the pandemic COVID-19. And various measures have been put in place to maintain public health, economic health and social peace. Life must go on.
milesopedia is a company I founded in 2015 that aims to educate Canadians about loyalty programs, credit cards and somewhere to travel better and save with points.
milesopedia is our family’s main source of income, my partner Audrey being the only other partner in the business. Now, milesopedia derives its revenue from its various affiliate links:
The content published every day and shared on our various networks is therefore a major factor in our SEO. Even in times of pandemic, it’s important to continue supporting the company’s revenues, and to do so, we must constantly feed the site with new content.
This is a first reason to continue to travel in full compliance with the established rules, in order to keep milesopedia in business.
I’m also a Frenchman who immigrated to Canada nearly 10 years ago, and today I’m a proud citizen of both countries. So I still have deep ties in France, notably with my circle of close friends, but of course: my parents.
But life goes on, and certain important situations require a physical presence with my loved ones, whether it’s for a key life event or to accompany a family member through a major medical operation.
This is a second reason to continue to travel in accordance with the agreed rules, in order to support and support those who are most dear to us and who live outside Canada.
Travel is my life.
To the point where I’ve even changed my country of residence. Openness to the world is vital if we are to keep our horizons and borders open, and continue to be charmed by what lies outside our neighbourhood, our city, our country.
An entire industry is playing for its survival right now and is deploying considerable resources to keep us moving.
Our members are asking questions on a very regular basis, and the best way to answer them is by travelling to check it out for ourselves. Both to support the titanic efforts of the industry and to answer questions from the community.
Not all readers will agree witj my editorial, and that’s okay.
Please know that I am traveling in full compliance with all government regulations, both to keep my business alive and to be close to my loved ones.
And if my reports and articles help both the industry and the community to move forward in a safe environment, so much the better! Now that “the table is set,” here’s my itinerary for the next few weeks.
It goes without saying that during this trip to Vancouver, Paris and Nice, I will scrupulously respect all hygiene measures:
Naturally, as a traveler, points user and blogger, I’m going to share with you my experience of “traveling in a new era”.
Therefore, I will prepare a lot of photo reports:
I’ll be flying business class for the most part, thanks to the points.
In addition to the comfort I’ll be gaining, this will reassure my family and friends about the social distance on board aircraft (even if load factors currently remain extremely low in economy class).
First of all, I will be taking my first flight with Air Canada since the end of 2019. This will be an opportunity to test the new SoinPropre+ process.
During the recent Aeroplan promotion offering 50% off award tickets, I booked a trip between Montreal and Vancouver to try out Air Canada’s new business class on board the Airbus A330. I can’t wait to see what Jonathan, one of our authors, has to say about it.
A bargain for only 12,500 miles Aeroplan one way instead of 25,000.
Good thing I had the idea of booking two one-way flights (Montreal – Vancouver / Vancouver – Montreal) rather than one round-trip flight (Montreal – Vancouver – Montreal). After all, I wouldn’t be taking the return flight to Montreal!
So I was able to cancel it free of charge thanks to the extension of the free cancellation period to October 16, 2020.
I chose to book a business class flight to Europe from Vancouver (it’s still the same cost as from Montreal until the new program is introduced on November 8, 2020).
By choosing to fly Swiss, I avoided paying a carrier surcharge: it cost me 55,000 miles Aeroplan and $75.
This itinerary enabled me to test Swiss’s new business cabin in its Airbus A340-300s (whereas it’s usually A330-300s that are positioned on Montreal).
Unfortunately, COVID-19 means that itineraries are never fixed for long! 24 hours after my booking, Aeroplan sent me new tickets for a flight with Lufthansa: Vancouver – Frankfurt – Paris.
This flight was available for booking on Aeroplan: but with a surcharge of over $600, I naturally avoided it!
Here, since the change is made by Aeroplan, I don’t have to pay any surcharge!
This change allows me to test the Lufthansa Airbus A330-300 on a flight lasting over 10 hours (unlike the red-eye flights between Montreal and Europe).
I think the experience was similar to the one I had on the Lufthansa A350. Plus surgical masks.
And from November 8, 2020, many Aeroplan members will be allowed to travel on airlines like Lufthansa, since carrier surcharges will disappear!
At this moment, I haven’t bought a return ticket yet. I’ll update the article once it’s booked! I think I will eventually fly on Air France to try their Air France Protect process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3UrdPw6TyA
As far as hotels are concerned, I concentrated my stays in Marriott Bonvoy hotels.
These are the hotels where members of the milesopedia community usually stay, which is why we provide milesopedia.com with numerous photo reports to help you plan your stay!
It has to be said that the Marriott BonvoyTM American ExpressMD Card is one of milesopedia members’ favorite cards.
In Vancouver, I took advantage of Visit Richmond’s promotion – similar to the one that was running for Vancouver or Ottawa.
By booking a stay before September 4, 2020, it was possible to get up to $125 in American Express gift cards.
I chose to stay at the Vancouver Airport Marriott Hotel, which offered both an attractive rate and a range of services, even in times of COVID-19 (I was able to make sure of this thanks to this new Marriott Bonvoy feature).
For my short stay in Paris, I chose to stay in two category 5 hotels. First of all, the AC Hotel Paris Porte Maillot.
Then at Le Méridien Étoile.
Are you looking for a Marriott Bonvoy hotel? Check out my complete map of the 7,000 Marriott Bonvoy hotels, divided into 8 categories!
The advantage of these hotels – apart from being category 5, which is rare for Paris – is that they are within walking distance of each other and right next to the metro/RER station.
Did you know? You can support milesopedia by using our Marriott Bonvoy affiliate link to book your hotel stays! You won’t pay any extra, you’ll get all the benefits of your status, and you’ll contribute to the future of the website and its community!
Check our partners’ pages regularly!
Of course, after a trip like this, there’s always the question of returning to Canada.
Until September 30, 2020 (extendable), the Government of Canada is imposing a mandatory 14-day quarantine on all international travelers. In the milesopedia community, the announcement of the extension of this quarantine has sparked a great deal of respectful debate. The arguments are valid for both opponents and defenders of this measure.
Whatever happens, the law is the law. If you want to travel right now, you have to take this into account. And it is only natural that I will comply with this requirement by respecting this 14-day quarantine.
And it is not only to respect the law:it is mostly to protect my family and those around me. I therefore arranged to isolate myself for 14 days on my return to a Sonder apartment at Montreal.
You can watch this video clip about Sonder and our pandemic efforts:
This implies not getting in contact with anyone, even Audrey and our children: 2 weeks of travel + 2 weeks of quarantine = 1 month without seeing each other. I’m lucky enough to be able to work from anywhere on milesopedia!
I did not write this article to encourage you to travel internationally.
But I wanted to be 100% transparent with you, readers and community members, about my train of thought and why I’m doing it. But also, I want to show my audience the actions taken by an industry deeply marked by the pandemic COVID-19, that of tourism.
Airlines, hotels, apartment rental services, airports: all these sectors have taken considerable steps in recent months to reassure their customers. When travel really resumes – that is, when the Government of Canada relaxes its rules – these businesses will be ready to welcome travellers.
And as you can see: there is more than just leisure travel. There are also business trips, but also, and above all, trips to be closer to loved ones in good times, but also in more difficult times.
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