Calgary Reunion: Escaping Smoke for a Different Fiasco

I used my Aeroplan points, 153,000 to be exact, to book flights for Dean and I to go to Calgary this past weekend. We went to visit a mutual friend who we hadn't seen in about a year. It's been since 2016, when I last spent time in the city. A lot has changed since then, but none of our plans came to fruition, so I feel like we barely experienced the city. We left to escape smoke from the BC wildfires, but what we got was a lost friendship from an entirely different disaster.

Flying with Air Canada Gave Us a Late Start

We were set to arrive in Calgary at 3:00pm; however our flight out of Vancouver to Calgary was 4 hours late. It was exhausting to arrive there at almost 7:00pm. The first order of business was to get to the hotel and then find some dinner.

When we arrived at the hotel, we checked in and bought some snacks from the hotel lobby. Then we went to our room. Dean went off to find some drinks and cannabis gummies. Within a short walk from our hotel he found some Straight & Narrow gin drinks, some tequila, and two bottles of prosecco. We were off to a good start in salvaging the weekend from that awful flight.

Then we walked downtown to find food around 9:00pm. Navigating through the city wasn't easy, we went inside a building because it was cold, but got lost in the plus 15s and almost got locked inside them. It felt like we'd walked a dozen kilometers. By the time we had eaten dinner, I was more than ready for bed.

Can I Sleep with You?

The friend we went to visit lives in Calgary. Since we had flown in to see her, when she asked if she could spend the weekend in our hotel room with us, we said yes.

At the time, it seemed fine. Generous, even. We were there to spend time together, so why not make it easy? A hotel room can feel like a fun little headquarters for a weekend. Snacks, drinks, late-night talking, catching up.

Except the talking did not stop.

She talked all night. Both nights.

I do not mean a normal late-night catch-up where everyone chats for a while and then gradually falls asleep. I mean she kept going long after Dean and I had clearly started fading. The lights were off. We were exhausted.

A Float, A Spa, A Symphony, A Strip Club

This friend of ours turned out to be extremely chaotic. She kept throwing ideas out for something to do, but none of them came into reality, either because they were too expensive or worse because of poor planning. This is the type of girl who likes to talk about how classy and how much money she has, but she wasn't willing to spend a dime.

She wanted to float down the Bow River, but the highs of the day were only 20 degrees Celsius. She didn't have the logistics of how to make a float happen either.

Then she mentioned the spa as an option. I'll be honest that the day rates proposed by the establishments she called were pricey, but we were up for it. She wasn't willing to spend $90, when we just spent over one thousand to go to see her.

Then she kept insisting on going to the strip club. It wasn't something either of us were very interested in. It felt cheap and like a boring suggestion.

Finally, one suggestion she made before we even went was that we should go to the symphony. This was interesting to both of us because we don't have anything like that in the West Kootenay region. She claimed to have tickets, but had tried to secure them for free in exchange for giving the company media exposure. She does this sort of thing all the time; of course when it didn't pan out, she insisted it was a lame idea to start with.

Reasons to Visit Calgary

Other than the Calgary Stampede, which wasn't happening, there's not a lot of reasons to go to Calgary. It's a sprawling city without much happening downtown during the work week. However, it's not the worst place to go.

It's a great city for a shopping trip because it has good malls. It has several neighborhoods with a lot of character. It's a place you can go for a relaxed and laid back trip because, for the most part, its residents don't take themselves too seriously.

Planning it Ourselves

If we had more opportunity to plan this trip ourselves, we could have found some things to do. Taking a day trip to Banff or Canmore is just one option. We could have done a scooter tour or a brewery tour. Exploring the downtown city skyline and the Calgary Tower is another option. Sadly, we had to plan on the fly and didn't have much energy to work with.

Sunday Salvaging

Even though we had flown all that way to see her, she booked work for Sunday and left very early, kidnapping Dean for a protective walk to her car and then trying to get him to spend the day with her. Luckily, he insisted on coming back to the hotel room and it ended up being a good thing that she worked.

Dean and I started the day by going to CORE Shopping Centre and walking through the Devonian Gardens. This is a place I used to go in the city all the time because it's moist and warm, a great change from the dry, bitterly cold winters. After this, we went to lunch at an Italian restaurant downtown on 10th Avenue. There we devised a plan to salvage the last day of our weekend in the city.

We grabbed a city map and looked at the highlighted buildings on it. Going to the Military Museums seemed like a great option, since Dean was in the army for 13 years. We lucked out and there ended up being an event - Tactical Days. We got to see extra tanks and vehicles and a range of guns. It was cool to see how much Dean knew about all these things; he was clearly in his element.

After about 3 hours at the museum, we were going to go to the Science Centre, but it was already too late, so we just called a taxi to take us back to our hotel. Unfortunately, I gave the wrong address and they took us to the other Alt hotel in Calgary. We appreciated the drive though, it was nice to see the city driving with someone we felt safe with.

A Missed Return Flight

I was stupid and too exhausted to realize that we should have woken up before 5:00am on Monday morning. We got to the airport just 5 minutes late and got locked out of our flight back to Castlegar. So it was now time to problem solve.

There's only one flight a day into Castlegar, so flying seemed like an expensive option since we'd have to spend the night in a hotel in Vancouver.

We thought about renting a car, but Enterprise wasn't going to allow us to drop it off at a different location. Talking to Avis, an option was to book one and drop it off in Kelowna, but that would have created 2 eight hour driving days back to back. Also, the price of renting wasn't affordable at around $1200.

Dean immediately went to looking on Facebook Marketplace for a car around the same price that would get us back home. We found one and left the airport for Airdrie, where we bought a car for $1500.

ICBC Insurance and an In Transit Permit

We were dropped off at the Airdrie Registry and after a 30 minute line, instructed that we needed to get insurance from ICBC for our new vehicle. Dean spent the next 30 minutes on the phone with ICBC getting that insurance, while I jumped back in line so we could get an in transit permit to drive the car home without any plates. After an hour at the registry, we called a cab to come get us, but they didn't show up. We asked a nice looking couple if they could give us a ride to the house where we bought the car, and thankfully they helped us and we were soon on our way.

The Scenic Route

Dean insisted on coming back through Banff, but we missed the right turn off and ended up going South to Cranbrook from Golden. We'd both never been on that highway before, so we took the day as an adventure. It ended up being a very beautiful drive, but it was a long day.

By the time we got to Yahk, the check engine light was on. The car was overheating, so Dean bought coolant, popped the hood, and replaced it. Within, 15 minutes we were back on our way. We got home just when it got dark out, so my missed flight mistake cost us an entire day.

Planning is Key

I learned from this trip that planning is the answer to making a spontaneous weekend trip worthwhile. I feel so fortunate that something bad didn't happen on our drive back. We are so lucky to have made it back on the same day and with the opportunity to get a little bit of ROI from the car we bought. Thanks to Dean's quick thinking, we didn't have to spend $3000 just to get back the very next day.