cityplanner.ca
Discussing big picture urban/city planning and design issues.
Jun 20, 2010
While flying back from Omaha through Minneapolis on Friday night, my connecting flight to Edmonton was cancelled and I was rebooked for the first available flight on Saturday morning. Many people would be frustrated at the idea of being stuck in a foreign city overnight, but my first thought was: I wonder if there will be any opportunity for me to see the city?...
In fact, I woke up very early Saturday morning and called for a taxi driver who knew the city well and could show me around both Minneapolis and Saint Paul. At $110 for the ride, it was more than I had planned to spend, but there was hardly enough time for me to rent a car and attempt to find my way around, or to take public transit on an unknown weekend schedule, given I was flying out at 9am.
Of course, if you were to ask a city planner how much they would be willing to pay to go see a city they have never been to before, especially one that has been highly ranked in the planning literature, inevitably they would give a number higher than $110, by the time you factored in the cost of airfare, hotel, food, and more. So I really couldn't complain.
Sometimes, when you are already booking a trip, you can intentionally schedule a stopover in another city you would like to visit for a relatively low cost.
As an example, I visited both Winnipeg and Thunder Bay en route to Timmins last year, and the difference in airfare versus flying direct ended up being under $100. Even after factoring in an extra night of hotel say, and a couple of car rentals, the price was still very reasonable given I was getting to see two new cities.
Sometimes you can also have luck getting a seat sale fare on a flight with a longer layover. A smaller airport with flights to a given destination only once a day (or every other day) might not allow for this kind of flexibility, but a larger airport that flies out multiple times a day to your final destination could.
Unless the airport is centrally located, two or three hours until your next flight probably isn’t enough time to allow you to take in a decent tour. However, six to eight hours could probably allow you enough cushion in your schedule to go see a few things, take a few photos, stop for a meal, and perhaps even do some walking around.
If you do end up deciding to rent a car, one tip is that you may be able to drop off the car at a different rental location, sometimes at no extra charge. For example, when I rented a car at Reagan Airport in Washington, DC, I was told that I could drop off the vehicle at Dulles Airport if I wanted to. In Victoria, BC, I had the option of picking up a rental car downtown, and then dropping it off at the airport north of the city, by Sidney, BC.
In fact, I woke up very early Saturday morning and called for a taxi driver who knew the city well and could show me around both Minneapolis and Saint Paul. At $110 for the ride, it was more than I had planned to spend, but there was hardly enough time for me to rent a car and attempt to find my way around, or to take public transit on an unknown weekend schedule, given I was flying out at 9am.
Of course, if you were to ask a city planner how much they would be willing to pay to go see a city they have never been to before, especially one that has been highly ranked in the planning literature, inevitably they would give a number higher than $110, by the time you factored in the cost of airfare, hotel, food, and more. So I really couldn't complain.
Sometimes, when you are already booking a trip, you can intentionally schedule a stopover in another city you would like to visit for a relatively low cost.
As an example, I visited both Winnipeg and Thunder Bay en route to Timmins last year, and the difference in airfare versus flying direct ended up being under $100. Even after factoring in an extra night of hotel say, and a couple of car rentals, the price was still very reasonable given I was getting to see two new cities.
Sometimes you can also have luck getting a seat sale fare on a flight with a longer layover. A smaller airport with flights to a given destination only once a day (or every other day) might not allow for this kind of flexibility, but a larger airport that flies out multiple times a day to your final destination could.
Unless the airport is centrally located, two or three hours until your next flight probably isn’t enough time to allow you to take in a decent tour. However, six to eight hours could probably allow you enough cushion in your schedule to go see a few things, take a few photos, stop for a meal, and perhaps even do some walking around.
If you do end up deciding to rent a car, one tip is that you may be able to drop off the car at a different rental location, sometimes at no extra charge. For example, when I rented a car at Reagan Airport in Washington, DC, I was told that I could drop off the vehicle at Dulles Airport if I wanted to. In Victoria, BC, I had the option of picking up a rental car downtown, and then dropping it off at the airport north of the city, by Sidney, BC.
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Contact Myron Belej, MCIP, AICP at myron@cityplanner.ca to:
- invite Myron to speak at a conference or event
- feature a version of this article in another publication
- inquire about Myron's consulting or coaching services
- request more information
Learn more about 'How to Hire Myron'.