Ottawa, July 23, 2023

 Hello all;       In six days, I will be away on another adventure as previously noted. Everything is in place, and the only item remaining for me to pick up is 20 Tim Bit birthday cake donuts. (The donut holes which kids, and adults love).  I will depart my home at noon on Saturday, and arrive Istanbul Sunday at 12 noon Ottawa time....24 hours in Travel status for what could have been a ten hour flight if seats on the direct flight from Montreal were available.

At the present time, I am in a battle with The Canada Revenue Agency regarding my 2022 Income Tax return, which the Agency appears to have lost. For 60 years, I have never had a problem with this group, and always filed my taxes on time....that is by April 30 each year. I always have, and will continue filing hard copy forms.

Because I was going to be in Asia from mid May to 22 June, I filled out my tax return and walked to a Post Office and mailed the package on March 1. Included was a cheque for over 2000 dollars. That cheque was cashed on March 8. To date, I have heard nothing from the Canada Revenue Agency. Here we are, almost five months later. I have sent a very blunt letter, with a copy of the cancelled cheque from my bank statement, to the Agency, and am hopeful for a reply this week.

One of the fallouts from this issue is the fact that since the records indicate that I did not file in time, I did not receive the Climate Action Incentive plan payment on 14 July as most people did. Some other folks are having the same or similar problems with this Agency. Perhaps, they are still on strike???    

I will do an update from Istanbul sometime next week. Take care. 

Ottawa, July 7, 2023

 As I noted in the last posting, I now have my flights to Istanbul, but not what I would have preferred.

My frequent flyer card is with United Airlines, and is good for all Star Alliance members, a group of 26 Air Carriers. Yes, Air Canada is one of them. Most of my travels, when at all possible, are with Star Alliance members. I used up my points about four years ago for a trip to Thailand, so the account has now built up again to just over 75,000 points.

It was my plan to use these for a round trip to Istanbul, a nine hour flight, direct from Montreal with Turkish Airlines. After two hours on the phone with United, I decided to forget any chance of using the miles at this time. The best they could offer was about 40 hours....Ottawa to Washington, on to Atlanta, 12 hours in the airport there, then on to Europe. There were three stops in Europe before getting to Turkiye. They explained that not all flights have seats designated for using Air Miles, and it was high season for travelling here and in Europe...so very few available options at this time.

I then went to my Travel Agency, Bytown Travel, and booked a round trip from Ottawa to Istanbul. I will depart here on July 29 in the afternoon, fly via Montreal to Geneva, then on to Istanbul. I arrive there at seven in the evening of July 30. A trip of about 18 hours, when one considers the seven hour time difference. The only available flights close to the days I required were; Air Canada here to Montreal and then to Geneva, Turkish Airlines from Geneva to Istanbul. The return on August 30 is the same routing, and carriers. I get home on the same day, August 30 at 4;45 in the afternoon, if my flight from Montreal is not cancelled again. Time in travel status for the return is about 20 hours from Hotel to home. I will do an update before departing for this adventure.