Calgary Travel | First Trip After Covid Within Canada

My First Trip After Covid – Calgary Travel 2021

9-Day Calgary Trip Begins in About A Week

It feels like yesterday, but my last trip was almost 2 years ago when I went to Egypt in 2019. Covid has taken away so much from everyone, including exploring new places and faraway lands.

Things started to get back to normal, but not fully normal enough yet to travel beyond the boundaries of our own countries. I had a big trip to Asia in mind, but had to cut that short to Western Canada as Covid stills lingers around.

At this point, travelling to Asia is possible in certain countries. One thing in common, regardless of where you go, is the hassle. Each time you are entering a new country, a Rapid PCR test has to be done within certain hours, and that test is way too expensive.

Travelling within Canada is not cheap. It is actually more expensive than travelling to Europe or Asia, but this is the most viable option I have right now. I don’t need to go through numerous PCR tests or quarantine.

I only need to produce my proof of vaccination if I am staying within Canada. On this trip, I will be concentrating on Calgary and Banff, which is a famous resort town only 2 hours from Calgary.

My travel purpose has changed since I started documentation my journey and posting them on YouTube. My main purpose for this trip in not a vacation, but rather a business trip for my YouTube channel and Instagram.

I will be writing more about this trip as I continue my journey. You will be able to follow the full trip on my channel.

The links are here:

 Ahmed Dawn YouTube

Ahmed Dawn Instagram

Plaza Premium Lounge Review | YYZ Terminal 1 International

Plaza Premium Lounge | Toronto Pearson International Airport

My trip to Egypt was in economy class, so to use lounge access I utilized Priority Pass from my Canadian credit card.

Plaza Premium Lounge is located at Gate E77, Level 3, Terminal 1 Airside, International Departures. The Plaza Premium Lounge is accessible to International departure flights only.

This is my second time visiting this lounge and I found nothing noticeably changed from one year ago.

This is a not big, not small, kind of a medium-sized lounge. The inside is very bright due to glass walls, open ceiling, and frosted glass doors.

I found it not too crowded and lots of sofas in the seating area were empty. Travelers seemed to gather in the seating area in the dining section.

The food section was adequate, but nothing extraordinary. There were not too many items available. As a snack or just to have a little bite, it was OK. The drink section was OK, but again, not too many choices. There were alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. I had a little snack and coffee and didn’t find anything else to eat.

The washroom was good enough, but nothing fancy. There was a shower facility inside the washroom. It didn’t look like there was any sort of advance booking required for the shower.

Overall, I found the Plaza Premium Lounge was a lounge to visit and relax if you have free access and extra time to kill. But I wouldn’t regret not visiting if time didn’t permit me.

I was excited to try EgyptAir, although my flight was economy class. I will write about that in the next post.

EVA Air Business Class Lounge Review

The Infinity Lounge | Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)

Last time, I tried the EVA Air Star Lounge at TPE, so this time I decided to try the Infinity Lounge. The Infinity and Star Lounges share the same entrance. The Infinity is on the right and the Star is on the left.

I saw a robot butler at the entrance, but I was not sure if it was functional or just for decoration purposes. After entering, I was little bit shocked by the lounge’s general decor. I was not able to get what kind of theme they were trying to show.

I immediately regretted not choosing the Star Lounge, which I had already visited. Although the Infinity Lounge was spacious, it was crowded and I didn’t feel I could relax there.

It has shower rooms with nice names like Metro Forest, Star Drops, etc., but most of them were occupied.

The food section was adequate, but I felt the Star Lounge food section was bigger and better.

I saw some decor on the ceiling that were created by projecting lights. These different shapes, like mostly round or curved, changed colors and blue ones were the ones I liked most. These different-shaped light projections were something unique and made visiting the Infinity Lounge worthwhile.

Overall, I found the Infinity Lounge is a lounge you should visit just to get the experience of visiting. If it’s not too crowded, it would be a nice lounge to visit and enjoy the themed decor and light projections on the ceiling.

My Recent Cuba Trip and Life With Brand New Perspectives

Destination Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba

First Published Date : January 28, 2011

Living in one of the wealthiest nations on Earth where resources are plenty and where many of us can afford to buy anything we want, we often forget how fortunate we are and take everything for granted. My recent trip to Cuba added brand new dimensions to my life, and I am more grateful to God (or mother nature, if you don’t believe in God) than ever before for what we have.

To help you visualize what I really mean, consider that in Cuba:

– You have no freedom.

– You are not allowed to start a business and make money (like anywhere else
on Earth).

– There is no wage difference between a highly-educated professional and a general worker.

– You don’t own anything. Everything belongs to the government.

– Let’s say you have a cow and you get milk from this cow; you wont be able to keep this milk and the cow belongs to the state as well.

– You are prohibited from using the Internet and can’t read any newspaper and books as well.

– You are not allowed to leave your own province.

– Boarding on a plane and going to a foreign country is an impossible dream which will never come true.

– And much more.

However, there are good things I have noticed in Cuba as well. Today, I am going to take you to my Entrepreneur Journey site to read a very different type of article based on my Cuba experience. Let me disappoint you ahead of time if you are hoping to read a nice travel-log type of article, because it isn’t. Although it has some travel elements, it is more filled with socio-economic aspects – the Cuba I have seen and analyzed from different angles. What I can tell you for sure is that you will like it – because it is different.

What You Must Not Miss When You Have Only 24 Hours in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Offers So Much to See

Just finished my 3-day Las Vegas trip. I had to finish so much in 3 days that I was always on the run. Especially when my Grand Canyon trip took one whole day. So basically I had time to spend one full day visiting free tourist attractions and I decided to give you a brief rundown of what you must not miss if you have only one day in Las Vegas.

Bellagio Fountains: This spectacular water show is not to be missed.

The Mirage Volcano: Watch an exploding volcano in the forest without the risks of going into the actual forest.

The Venetian Grand Canal: Who says you need to go to Italy to experience Venice-style canals? The Venetian Grand Canal mimics the canals of Venice, complete with a gondola ride.

After experiencing the above three, if you have time you can go through Paris the Eiffel Tower, New York New York Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, Fremont Street Experience, Caesars Palace, the Luxor, etc. And obviously, taking part in the things I mentioned will give you the experience of watching The Strip as well.

Las Vegas has so many things to see that you will need about five days if you need to experience a bit of everything, including the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. However, if you are time constrained, in my view what I mentioned above should be good enough to claim you have visited Las Vegas.

In this video LINK, I have captured the three important things I mentioned. And keep an eye on my YouTube Channel for more video clips in the future.