It’s been nice to be home for a bit. After attending some of the Buffalo Sabres playoff home games, I got to spend some serious time up at our family cottage. One of the nights, it rained hard, and I’m the type that prefers being up there when it rains over anything else. I get the best sleep to the sound of the rain—not the fake rain sounds you get from an app. Windows open. Thundershowers. I love it.

Speaking of sleep, I desperately needed some during one of our final road trips covering the Maple Leafs last season. For some reason, the schedule makers blessed us with having to fly up to Northern California in the middle of a road trip in Los Angeles and Anaheim.

It wasn’t ideal to leave and come back instead of just doing these games back-to-back. In fact, I had no choice but to take a 7:00 a.m. flight from SJC to LAX following the game against the San Jose Sharks. That meant an earlier-than-ideal wake-up. With the Leafs scheduled to practice at 1:00 p.m. local time, I was intent on getting a good nap in if my hotel room was ready.

I showed up at the Hotel Figueroa, which is about a block away from Crypto.com Arena, around 9:45 a.m. I was exhausted, hoping the room was ready.

It was. However, they said that because I was so early, I could only check in if I paid a $50 early check-in fee.

Seriously? I should note this is a Hyatt hotel and I have status. They said if it was noon they would have waived it, but because it was just hitting 10:00 a.m., it was a no-go. I cover my own bills and $50 USD is still money worth saving, so I told them I was just going to hang out in the lobby. I gave them all of my information, passport, etc. They were nice enough to hold my carry-on in case I ventured out. Paying a fee when the room is ready is ridiculous.

I wasn’t happy about it. There had to be a way around it. And here’s how I did it.

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Appropriately enough, it’s my connection to Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York, that made getting the Atmos Summit Credit Card last summer such a logical move. As someone who is self-employed, the card has been an absolute game-changer when it comes to my spending.

In December 2023, Alaska Airlines and Porter Airlines announced a broad partnership. That agreement expanded last year when users could begin to redeem Alaska Miles (now called Atmos points) for Porter flights. Given that most of my flights either originate from or land in Toronto, either at Pearson Airport or Billy Bishop, I found the partnership rather intriguing.

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Entering the draw with just an 8.5% chance, the Leafs actually faced a higher probability of losing their first-round draft pick entirely. Had they fallen out of the top five, the pick would have been given to the Boston Bruins—a condition of the deal that brought veteran defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto.

Despite the odds, I wanted to be there. The draw was held at the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey. For a traditional employee, a last-minute request for a round-trip flight and hotel would have likely cost an employer roughly $800–$900.

But I work for myself. I just needed my client, The Hockey News, to approve my access so I could get to work.

The “Ask” and the Logistics

The NHL doesn’t openly invite media to the actual drawing, but as the saying goes: If you don’t ask, you don’t get. I asked, and soon I was joining three other local New York-area reporters for the event.

Here is how I managed to pull off the entire trip for an effective cost of $250 CAD all-in.

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When I launched this newsletter in 2023, I bit off a little more than I could chew. The Maple Leafs site I manage migrated from Sports Illustrated to The Hockey News earlier than expected, and the site took off like a juggernaut. I’ve been told I have an all-or-nothing complex when it comes to my work. It’s a trait that isn’t well-suited for a “jack of all trades, master of none” like me.

But then I realized I actually am a master of something: travelling to every single Maple Leafs game of the season. Aside from one snowy game in Minnesota where a cancelle

d flight ended my “ironman” streak of 440 consecutive games attended, I have been there for every moment. More importantly, I’ve mastered travelling well while keeping costs effectively negligible.

My goal for this newsletter is to help those who cover their own travel expenses, whether you are self-employed or running a business. I’ve learned a ton of travel hacks along the way, and I want you to utilize them to your fullest advantage.

A few things I’ve picked up on the road:

• Wi-Fi Workarounds: Before Air Canada stopped charging for Wi-Fi, I found a hack to bypass their overpriced and underperforming onboard internet.

• Ticketmaster Hacks: I learned a trick that helped me score amazing, cost-effective tickets to see Depeche Mode while I was in Washington, D.C.

• Hotel Stacking: I once stayed in a fancy downtown Los Angeles hotel where, after stacking rebates and offers, the effective savings were like they were paying me to be there.

• Currency Strategy: I discovered why it is almost always better to buy tickets in USD rather than CAD. Even without a credit card that waives foreign transaction fees, American funds are often effectively discounted by an average of 10 percent.

• The Road, a newsletter about reporting on the Maple Leafs is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

What you can expect in the coming weeks:

• Why I almost never pay for hotel parking and the better alternatives I use.

• How a specific American credit card launched last year cut down my Canadian travel costs through an Alaska Airlines partnership.

• How the journey started through credit cards and discipline.

So, why will this time be different?

I’ve learned what makes a niche newsletter successful—and what doesn’t. I was lacking structure, but that changes now. Every Friday morning, there will be a new post based on a lesson I’ve learned from the road. The road is long, and my list of tips to help you cut travel costs is even longer. Whether you apply these to your business or a family vacation, my hope is that you’ll never feel like you’re breaking the bank.

Thanks for sticking around. I vow you won’t regret it.

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I know, it's already two weeks into the year, and Larry David would be upset that I'm past the "Happy New Year" window. But here we are.

My New Year's resolution this year was to try to win back some free time. One of my biggest challenges when it comes to finding the best points redemption or travel deals is not the search for the deal itself, but rather how time-consuming it can be. While searching for solutions, I found a brand new website that takes all my credit card, airfare, and hotel rewards and finds me the best value possible. I used this on my first trip of the year, where I stayed at my first-ever Choice Hotel brand hotel in Queens, New York. The Toronto Maple Leafs had a single game scheduled on Long Island and the best value for that stop was a two-night stay for just 8,000 points per night. I used my Amex points, which transferred at a 1:1 ratio, to redeem them. I rented a car for $45 from La Guardia and paid $100 in Aeroplan taxes. Adding another $10 for gas for the car, the three-day, two-night trip cost $155. Not terrible!

The site to find those deals is Daily Drop Pro.

Recently, the annual fee renewal on my US-based Amex Gold card was coming up. I was faced with a decision. I could renew it and enjoy some of the mid-level benefits with an annual fee of $325 per year. I could cancel it, or I could upgrade to the personal platinum card, which I've had before, for an increased annual fee of $695, but with a whole bunch of added benefits that I could exploit. I had the Canadian business platinum version of this card, which I had just canceled, so having a card that would get me back into the Amex Centurion Airport lounges was attractive. But I needed additional sweeteners. Here's how I made it work.

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Originally, the club had planned to go home immediately after Pittsburgh to spend the day off at home, rather than travel to the next city. But those plans changed one week prior, and as a result, so did mine.

The Leafs enjoyed the day off in New York City, except for head coach Craig Berube. He travelled south to his home in New Hope, Pennsylvania where his wife and kids reside.

So here I was one week before this trip changing the flights. Excited about the prospect of trying to stay in Lower Manhattan for the game, I checked out the hotel prices for New York and couldn’t believe it.

The most basic 3-star hotel in New York came in at the cheapest price of $700 US.

My only choice was to stay closer to the Devils’ rink in Newark. I managed to get the Crowne Plaza Hotel in New York for $118 per night. Whenever possible, I like to try and redeem points whenever I can. However, if the rate is cheap enough and you can stack it on top of some other kickbacks, paying for the rate makes sense.

So let’s break it down:

The hotel cost me $380US after taxes.

Kickback No. 1: My US Business Gold Card was running a statement credit offer. Spend $250 at IHG brand hotel, get $50 back. Perfect. New total is effective $330.

Kickback No. 2: During Cyber Monday, Rakuten was offering 20 percent back on all IHG bookings. It applies to the subtotal, so that’s another $70.80 back, bringing my effective cost further down to $259.20.

Kickback No. 3: Credit card spend of $381, which will give me 1,524 Amex points, for a low-end benefit of $15.24, brining my effective cost down to $243.96.

Kickback No. 4: IHG was running a stay two nights and get an additional 3000 IHG points. Being a Platinum Elite member, I get 20X per dollar spent, for a total of 10,760 points earned. IHG points are worth an estimated 0.5 cents per point, so the value of those points is about $53.80, brining the effective cost further down to $190.16. That’s my total effective cost for three nights. I’d say that isn’t too shabby.

I would have rather been in New York City, for sure. But if there was any lesson learned, it’s to book hotels in New York City in advance.

I flew from Pittsburgh to Newark fairly early. It was a 7 am flight, that I managed to turn into 6 am since I was there early enough.

I got lucky that my hotel had a couple of no-shows, so I was able to check in as early as 8:30am. I snuck in a very short nap before Ubering to the Chelsea neighbourhood of New York where I met up with my friend and his wife for brunch. He was in town scouting the New York Rangers’ afternoon games (I wish Toronto had more afternoon games, but that’s for another blog). I went to a terrific brunch restaurant called Cookshop.

I was able to use my $50 Resy credit that the U.S.-based American Express Gold card gives you per half year at any Resy restaurant, a fine perk of the US-based Amex Gold card.

Later I walked all around midtown Manhattan where I intended to do some shopping on Fifth Avenue, but ended up buying nothing. In an effort to reduce costs, I ended up taking the Port Authority bus to my hotel adjacent to Newark Airport because it was a door-to-door trip for just $8.50 whereas the Ubers were $70+. The New Jersey Transit train can be a good option, too. But that only takes you to the Newark Airport train where my hotel was a shuttle bus away.

Celebrating 300 games

On Nov. 27th, the Toronto Maple Leafs visited the Florida Panthers and the night also marked my 300th consecutive Leafs game assignment (home and road) for the regular season and playoffs. A streak that probably should have ended due to a travel snafu, health or any other reasons. But for whatever the case, it didn’t. I cannot tell you how truly blessed I feel to be able to do this and serve the fans of the team. The streak dates back to Game 1 of Toronto’s seven-game playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens in 2021. That year, I returned to the beat after about 3.5 years away from the beat. Before that, I had been run through the meat grinder of the industry where I was cut from my job at a traditional employer three times in 4.5 years. Before landing The Hockey News as a client and starting a website from scratch, I honestly thought I wouldn’t ever get back to what I love doing. I also let doubt creep in and questioned my ability. The biggest mistake I ever made was doubting myself. Maybe it’s not a mistake because I’ve learned so much. After going through many bouts of adversity, I feel like I’m better equipped to handle whatever the world throws at me. It truly is all about the journey.

A big shout out to the Maple Leafs’ digital team who went out of their way to make pins marking the occasion. I was truly touched by this and seeing my colleagues wearing it the night of the game made me well up. Nice touch with the zeros actually being Oakley ‘O’s to make light of my obsession with the brand.

To mark the occasion I spent my Marriott free nights at an amazing hotel called The Dalmar. It’s in Fort Lauderdale, very close to the Florida Panthers’ brand-new practice rink. I got upgraded to a beautiful suite that had a wraparound building and I was very excited by the fact that it had a soaker tub.

@davidalter35Easily one of the nicest rooms/hotels I’ve ever stayed in while covering #fyp #Leafs #travel #ForYou #ForYouPage

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I’m usually not very picky about where I stay when I’m on the road but I do try to find the right mix of accommodations and location. For days where we are staying for a while and we have an off day on the road, I like to try and up the accommodations a bit more by treating myself.

A new site for booking hotels for best points value

There are a few hotel and travel points sites I’ve discovered lately but one I'm really starting to like is Daily Drop Pro. The site takes your inventory of points currencies and is able to search for the best points redemption deals for an upcoming trip. I used this for my stay in New Jersey and my upcoming trip to Dallas next week.

Take last week, for example: we were in Washington, D.C. for what was supposed to be a sub-24-hour trip. The Leafs had played at home the night before, and with a day off following the D.C. game, I had planned to take the afternoon flight back home.

Visiting friends in D.C. is one of my favorite perks of the road. It’s a city I love stopping in, and it sucked knowing this was our only visit this season. Luckily, the Swifties came to the rescue.

The day after the game, Luke Fox from Sportsnet and I were booked on Porter Airlines’ 1:45 p.m. flight to Toronto. We made our way to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), where I had promised to introduce Luke to one of my favorite airport hangouts: the Capital One Lounge.

If you haven’t experienced it, this lounge is incredible—easily one of the best perks of having the U.S. Capital One Venture X card. This card alone is a reason I got into the U.S. credit card game years ago, and if you’re considering it, let me just say, you should. But I digress.

Luke ran into some trouble with his TSA PreCheck not showing up on his boarding pass—something I’ve seen happen with Porter before. (Pro tip: the workaround is to create a profile on Porter’s app and make sure you check in there.) I went with him to the check-in booth, where they informed me that our flight was oversold.

Just last month, I had scored an $800 travel voucher by volunteering to switch to a later flight, so I decided to see if I could repeat the magic. When we got to the gate, I saw loads of Taylor Swift shirts, clearly making their way for her concert residency in Toronto that kicked off this evening. That explained the oversold situation. I asked the agent if they were looking for volunteers to leave later. He confirmed they might be and mentioned the bidding would start at $200. I smiled and said, ‘That’s fine, but if you can guarantee me $800, I’m in.’ He thought about it for a moment and agreed.

The only hiccup? I forgot to negotiate a hotel stay. Thankfully, a colleague’s place in D.C. was vacant since they were out of town, so I had a free spot to crash. That night, I met up with some friends, enjoyed a fantastic meal at a restaurant called Balos, and flew home the next morning.

I’m still working through the first $800 voucher I scored, and this second one has been a massive help in booking upcoming Leafs road trips. Plus, you still earn all the points, segments, and other benefits when you rebook flights, which makes it even sweeter.

The Leafs’ next road trip isn’t until the end of the month, with stops against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. That first game, in particular, will have a special significance for yours truly—but more on that in a future post.

But the trip almost didn’t happen. For many reasons.

The first reason started when I was woken Friday morning by the fire alarm. My first instinct? Assume someone pulled it, and try to go back to sleep. That’s when our security concierge came over the P.A. system, announcing a fire on the 15th floor. Get out.

In a T-Shirt and shorts, I grabbed my dog and phone and made my way to the exit. I couldn’t see any fire. Turns out it was already extinguished by then. I’m thankful it wasn’t more serious.

After covering the Toronto Maple Leafs practice, I headed to Pearson Airport, ready to board an American Airlines flight to DC Reagan Airport, with a connection to St. Louis. The only direct flight (via Air Canada) was earlier in the day and too early.

We’re backing out of the jetway, ready for takeoff when I hear the flight attendant yell, “Whoever is playing with matches, please stop!” Umm, what?

I look up, and there’s a smoky haze a few seats ahead. The captain comes over the P.A., saying they’ve shut off the engines and are waiting for a tow back to the gate.

Second fire-like incident in one day. I felt like I was in a ‘Final Destination’ movie.

With only a 58-minute connection time, I knew this wasn’t good.

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It’s been a wild couple of weeks. From driving to and from Columbus, Ohio, to a chaotic journey from Boston to Winnipeg—where I nearly didn’t make it after a challenging connection in Ottawa—I’m finally home, trying to unwind before hitting the road again.

A recent change to Air Canada’s offerings meant they no longer offer a Toronto to Columbus, Ohio direct flight outside of summertime. Due to the lack of direct flights, I elected to drive to Columbus. It’s a long drive (seven hours, and more for me since I drive an electric car). So immediately after the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 the night before, I got in the car and drove to Monroe, Michigan, where I split up the drive and stayed the night. Following the Leafs’ game in Columbus, I made the entire drive back the following morning. That was tiring enough.

The journey from Toronto to Boston to Winnipeg was a bit more challenging. The journey got off to a terrific start at Toronto’s downtown airport when I was offered the chance to wait 2 hours in exchange for an $800 Porter Airlines voucher. I sprinted to that desk faster than George Costanza rushing out of that kid’s birthday party when he thought there was a fire.

I love visiting Boston every year. It’s such a great walking town, especially in the fall. Between the morning skate and the game, I made my way to the public market where I bought a bag of George Howell Coffee. I’m trying to do a thing this season where I buy a bag of coffee from a local roastery for me to French Press at home. We’ll see how that goes.

It turns, out that was not going to be my only sprint on the journey. With the Maple Leafs originally scheduled to practice on Sunday before heading to Winnipeg, flight options to get there were extremely limited. I ended up booking another Porter flight for that Sunday that connected through Ottawa’s airport. This nearly proved costly.

There was a 90-minute connection and the first leg was nearly an hour late. It made up some time in the air, but it was going to be dicey. Also, because it’s a Canada-to-Canada connection, you have to clear customs as if you are leaving the airport and then re-clear security on the domestic side. Because Ottawa doesn’t do a lot of major international destinations, there is no designated area for these types of transfers.

Once I got off the plane in Ottawa, I had to sprint the circumference of YOW airport. Thankfully, there was no line at either security checkpoint. My gate for my Porter flight was at the very end of the terminal because of course it was. I managed to just make it about 10 minutes before they were closing, but man, did I sprint. Those summer F45 classes paid off! Shout out to F45 Yonge and Eglinton!

Getting home from Winnipeg to Toronto was far less dramatic and smooth. I don’t have much to say about my annual visit to the ‘Peg other than to say I’m thankful it was early in the season this year and not in January like last season.

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It feels really good to be back on the road to cover meaningful hockey games. The pre-season really took its toll on everybody, from the players, fans, and even us media folk who just wanted it to end.

That moment finally arrived last week when the Toronto Maple Leafs opened up their season against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Wednesday.

I decided to treat myself by taking the Via Rail Business Class. If you book this far enough in advance, you can generally find a reasonable price in the low $100s and it’s totally worth the upgrade from coach, It comes with beverage and meal service.

I chose the brisket with mac and cheese with Brussels sprouts, A pear salad and chocolate cake for dessert. Plus the wine and spirits were there when needed.

The day before the trip I had yet to find a reasonable rate for my hotel. The rates for downtown Montreal have kept going up and up and I just refused to bite the bullet and pay $300 per night. So that’s where World of Hyatt comes in.

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Because I have redeemed a lot of reward travel to keep business costs down and I fly many different airlines, it may shock you to find out that I did not have status with Air Canada.

That’s when I thought to myself. Maybe I should apply for the American Aeroplan Mastercard.

YES! That DOES exist!

When I began to get deep into the rabbit hole of reward travel — which led deeper into how to get American credit cards as a Canadian — I saw that Aeroplan partnered up with Chase Bank in the US to offer their very first co-branded card. In Canada, you’ve probably heard of the Aeroplan cards through TD, CIBC and American Express. They are ok. The ones that offer annual fees of around $600 have some elevated perks like some lounge access, but outside of that, the earning rate is terrible.

As of this writing, the Chase Aeroplan Mastercard offers a high sign-up bonus of 75,000 Aeroplan points when you spend $4000 over three months. You get another 25,000 points if you spend $20,000 over the first 12 months. You also earn a rate of 3X per point for any restaurant, grocery and food delivery purchases. Canada’s best Aeroplan card only offers 1.5X on eligible gas, groceries, travel and dining purchases. Currency conversion aside, that’s still a much bigger multiplier.

But wait, it gets better.

There are no foreign transaction fees on the card, the 2.5 percent surcharge most Canadian credit cards charge. You also get 500 bonus points for every $2,000 you spend in a calendar month - up to 1,500 points per month.

Chase and Aeroplan also have a pay-yourself-back feature where you could redeem Aeroplan points as a statement credit of 1.25 cents per point on various types of purchase, making it an even greater value. Nothing like this exists with Aeroplan in Canada.

Now here’s the kicker and why I wanted to apply back in April. You get automatic 25K Air Canada elite status for the first two calendar years. That comes with perks like a free first checked bag and Zone 2 boarding.

I whipped out my phone, applied for the card with Chase and was instantly approved. My Zone 5 boarding flipped to a Zone 2 boarding on my digital boarding pass and I was good to go. No checking a bag. Space for my carry-on and a happy trip commenced.

It is frustrating that a Canadian program would offer such an amazing and competitive program in the United States where none of their county offerings come anywhere close.

If you do any dealings in the United States where it makes sense for you the get this card, whether it’s visits, banking, online shopping, or whatever it is, this card is a must for Canadians.

This week, the Maple Leafs begin their regular season and I will be off to Montreal and Newark, New Jersey to begin the 82-game journey. I’ll have fun thoughts to share as I take the Via Rail in Business Class. A flight from Montreal to Newark and then a flight home via Porter. Lots of different modes of transport.

Thanks for coming along.

Actually, it’s been six months since I last updated this newsletter and you — the subscribers — deserve an explanation.

When I launched this newsletter while I was in Florida during the Toronto Maple Leafs’ first road trip of the 2023-24 season, I intended to fill up this space regularly.

But something happened along the way…

The site that hosts my Maple Leafs content, experienced a massive boom in traffic in November. To say I’ve been delighted with how things have gone is a massive understatement. I have you — the readers and Maple Leafs fans — to thank for that.

In February, the site reached 1,000,000 visits in a month. When we started this journey in July of 2022, we had 5,000 visits. Keeping up with the demand has been a challenge. We added a third person to the site in September. Evan Doerfler, a fourth-year TMU student reached out to me about joining me for his summer internship. He took care of most of what had to be done and his self-starting approach is what everyone should strive for. We also increased the responsibilities of Nick Barden, who joined me along for the ride in July of 2023. You’ll see his byline more and more and he’s also taken ownership of some social media initiatives.

But as we begin this season, I’m striving to bring you folks content like I’ve never provided before. What I do and the way I do it is unique in my business. I cover all of the travel and expenses (and writers) out of pocket. But now that we’ve got the machine going here I’m desperate to get back to this newsletter because I truly am passionate about bringing you behind the scenes of how I operate.

Begining next week I’m vowing to make sure there is new content here delivered at least once a week. Thank you to all of you supporters for your patience, support and understanding.

Just Got the Best Cell Phone Plan I’ve Ever Had

It was Thanksiving of 2022 when my prayers were finally answered. As someone who travels frequently between Canada and the United States, I couldn’t ever find a cell phone plan that didn’t cost a fortune with roaming to the United States included. As a Bell internet/TV customer at the time, I was given an offer of $70 for 50GB of data which included use and roaming in the United States. So I switched my plan from Telus over to this Bell account.

No longer would I have to pay $12 a day for each day I was in the US. I finally got what I wanted. Or so I thought.

Just a few months later, Bell notified they were upping my bill $5 a month due to increased costs. I gave it a couple more months before there was yet another increase. I shopped around and departed for Rogers on a $60 plan for 150GB of Canada US and Mexico. Not that I’d ever need Mexico, but Bell called me within minutes of switching and matched the plan along with free Crave Basic (no Mexico though).

So here I was on a pretty good plan. But, again, the Bell price increased occurred. Only this time, they didn’t actually notify me of the price increase on my bill as they were legally required to do. They just started charging more. I had to call them to get the charges removed (which they agreed to do), A month later, the charge was back. Again there was no notification or fix. I was about to start shopping around when I got a phone call from Telus’ win-back department. If you used to be a Telus customer they will call you periodically. (NOTE, there are a lot of bullshit scams out there claiming to be Bell or Rogers offering you plans, if they don’t know you name and/or the name of the cell provide isn’t listed on the caller ID, do not answer them or give any information).

They offered me an amazing plan.

I brought my own device over and I’m paying $45 + tax a month for the same US/Canada roaming. It’s on 5G+ data and not restricted in any capacity (some plans will limit speeds to 250MBPS instead of the full 2GBPS capability). I have a whopping 200GB of full speed data roaming in Canada and the United States. I don’t even use 200GB in a given month at home. They also waived the connection fees associated with the account.

There is actually a lot of talk about this particular plan on RedFlagDeals.com right now. It might be hard to get, but just talking to some friends over brunch on Sunday I couldn’t believe how bad their cell plans are. You need to always re-evaluate every six months. They are getting better and better.

Feels good to be back, folks.

Speaking of cold and wind, a couple of weeks ago, I took my very first Porter Airlines flight out of Pearson Airport. The airlines recently unveiled a new jet service across North America. I had very high expectations as the Dash-8 experience to shorter destinations out of Toronto Island Airport has been pretty good. But this was outstanding.

There is no first class on Porter planes. Instead, you can pay for a seat with more legroom near the front of the plane. I don’t roll like that and always try to keep my costs down, so I was near the back. But man, I loved it.

NO MIDDLE SEATS

I cannot begin to tell you how great this is for longer flights. The 2-by-2 configuration made each seat feel slightly bigger. I was initially booked for an aisle seat. I wasn’t able to move it to a window during online check-in but had no issues doing it when I went to the gate before boarding.

FREE SNACKS, BEER AND WINE

This is a staple on all Porter Flights out of Toronto Island Airport and this holds for flights leaving to and from Pearson. Nothing new here.

FREE HIGH-SPEED WIFI

This, right here, is the big separator among the other airline choices in Canada. Air Canada and WestJet charge high amounts for basic internet on a plane and the speeds can be quite unreliable. It’s usually why I prefer using US airlines like Delta whenever I can (Delta has the best airplane Wi-Fi south of the border). But Porter provides streamable high-speed Wi-Fi that is completely free. I was able to get some work done and watch some sports on the entire flight.

NOT PERFECT

To maximize space, the seat backs don’t have a proper stowaway area. That led to an agent asking me to put my laptop under the seat in front of me during takeoff. That was a bit challenging as laptops can fly from seat to seat. I had to press my foot on the laptop case in order to make sure it didn’t get away from me.

Another issue is making me take the earphones and headphones off during the flight announcement. While I understand that safety is paramount, this shouldn’t be necessary. This hasn’t happened to me since I first started travelling for work regularly in 2011.

TERRIBLE POINTS PROGRAM, BUT THERE’S A WORKAROUND

The VIPorter Program is terrible. There’s no ifs or buts about it. I actually had some points expire recently due to two years of inactivity. Even though I booked within the two years (the flight was after the window). I’ve never accumulated enough points to redeem a flight. There is no credit card or other partner program where you can attain VIPorter points. It just sucks.

The good news is they recently struck partnerships with Alaska Airlines and Air Transat. Alaska’s points program is quite great. For an upcoming flight I have with Porter, I was able to book it through Alaska Airlines and get miles.

Alaska is also part of the Oneworld alliance, giving you flexibility with more airlines partners. You can also accumulate Alaska miles on the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard. They are set to launch a 1:1 rewards point conversion to Alaska Miles and restaurant and groceries earn at a rate of 5 reward points per dollar.

The Leafs have one big Western trip remaining and then the road is very light between now and the rest of the regular season. I’ve got some extreme couponing tips I’ve used for the upcoming trip through St. Louis, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver. I look forward to sharing those with you then.

For the final leg of travel, I opted to take the Vancouver-Seattle train which features a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean for about half of it. The key is to ask the conductor as you board what side of the car faces the ocean and then it’s a nice and relaxing trip the rest of the way through.

Oh, and the fully refundable ticket only cost $41 U.S.

The beauty of the train is how much legroom you have in the economy class. Getting a business class ticket serves no purpose, other than having a slightly nicer seat assigned ahead of time, while the train can be a bit of a free for all. Thankfully, it is winter time and the seat next to me was empty. It isn’t like Via Rail’s first class where you get free food and alcohol. Otherwise, I may have opted for the better seating.

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Yes, I know. It’s way too late for me to say that and Larry David would give me a lot of grief for it. But here we are.

Going forward, I’ll be making it a plan to post here once a week. Part of the problem of delegating yourself for a new project is finding the time to be consistent with it. So I’m going to make sure I do that going forward with a scheduled Sunday morning release. Every week.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs were in Boston in November, I was frequenting doctorofcredit.com, a popular United States credit and banking deals site when I noticed that Capital One was running a sale on their Premier Collection. This is where through their travel portal you can book very expensive 4-star or above hotels that come with extra benefits. This is usually too upscale for me for how little time I spend in my hotels. But they were offering $200 off the booking.

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***

When COVID took hold of the world in 2020, it was understandable to see reporters stay home. Doing media availabilities via Zoom from home was the new way of doing things until the world opened up again. Although the world reverted to normal the challenges of sports journalism continue to linger.

It was November 21, 2021, when I made my way to UBS Arena on Long Island for the first time. The Toronto Maple Leafs were playing the second-ever game at the New York Islanders’ brand-new home after the home team christened the building the night before against the Calgary Flames.

With the Leafs finishing off a home game the night before, they did a media availability 2.5 hours before game time with a couple of players and head coach Sheldon Keefe. I showed up to the interview area to find out that I was the only reporter there. That had never happened before.

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This is one of my favourite waiting areas while travelling as the lounge is equipped with an excellent breakfast buffet and a very cozy private area for you to work or nap.

There is also a shower if you need one.

There are a few travel credit cards that I sign up for and end up keeping for an extended period but the Amex Platinum card is certainly worth it for me. In addition to access at my home airport’s Plaza Premium Lounge at Pearson International, the card gets you into all the Centurion lounges in the US.

If you travel at a rate of once-a-month or more, you should check it out.

This week. was one of the more challenging ones for me personally. During the four-day period when the Leafs did not play, I ended up falling ill. I missed their Sunday practice following their 4-3 overtime loss against the Boston Bruins on Dec. 2. On the Monday, the team was off and I couldn’t get out of bed until 3 p.m. The good news is I’m over that spell and didn’t miss much due to the break in the schedule. I guess I got lucky.

Then it was off to Ottawa for a one-off trip. That’s what I call the one-game road trip where you are in and out. And in most cases, if there is an opportunity for me to head home after the game, I will take it. I ended up driving to Kanata, Ontario, which to my surprise (or maybe it shouldn’t have been) was 10 degrees colder than in Toronto for the trip. I arrived the night before on Wednesday and drove back home after my work was completed following the contest. I’ll take getting into my bed by 3 or sometimes 4 a.m. over an early morning flight any day of the week.

After a home game against the Nashville Predators on Saturday, it was immediately off to New York City for a Sunday-to-Wednesday trip in New York. We kind of got short-changed with the New York trips this season. There wasn’t any day off between the Rangers and the Islanders. The game on Long Island is far from Manhattan so the best course of action for me was to stay at the rink in Long Island all day following morning skate. There is a train, but it only runs once an hour during the daytime and an Uber or Lyft one-way to Manhattan will run you between $80-100 USD.

December in New York is also very expensive. The cheapest rates I saw at a decent-enough hotel in midtown was about $300US per night. Instead, I elected to use 69,000 Hyatt points that I converted from one of my Chase Visa cards at a penny a point for a rate of about 1.8 cents per point on redemption. My philosophy when redeeming points is if you can get greater than a penny a point on redemption value, you best take it.

Seeing John Tavares pick up his 1,000th NHL point against the team he spent his first nine seasons with was something special. The boos were loud. I agree with it or not, you have to love that passion from a fanbase.

The next night it was off the Madison Square Garden for what is easily my favourite NHL building. When you enter through the employee gates, there is an entrance to the ice that is just so captivating. You look up and you have the big wagon wheel to stare at.

After a brief media availability with select players and head coach Sheldon Keefe and writing a few game notes, I walked around Fifth Avenue to do some shopping and just took in the energy of the city. New York Pizza was had. But it was my trip to New York where I learned a delightful hack that comes in handy anytime you need to book with Air Canada.

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Following the Toronto Maple Leafs game against the Boston Bruins this past week, I woke up Sunday morning barely able to move. As the day went along, it turned out I had a pretty bad flu. The good news is I’m probably getting better. But maybe this is my body’s way of telling me to take it easy just a little bit.

The weekend before, we returned from Sweden and the Leafs had about a week before flying to Chicago and Pittsburgh for consecutive road games on Friday and Saturday. Because the game was on in the afternoon, I saw no reason to head to the United States a night earlier on U.S. Thanksgiving when it is dead in the downtowns of any major American city.

I booked a 6:52 am flight on Friday morning, thinking I’d have more than enough time to make Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe’s media availability at 10:45 central time. Nope. I was wrong.

We ended up sitting on the tarmac for over three hours. United’s crew explained to me that the waterline didn’t go through its usual inspection last night and they had to wait for a mechanic to give them the go-ahead. The mechanic they were waiting for was working on another aircraft for over two hours. Then about a third of the plane left to book other flights since their connections were missed. It was not fun.

Hey, at least I had some awesome legroom.

The good news was I made it for the game. I missed the pre-game availability. But it happens.

When the game finished, I had another flight to Pittsburgh right after. It’s the first time that I’ve entered a city, covered a game and left for another city that wasn’t home. That flight, too, was delayed by 90 minutes.

Needless to say, it was a long day, but everything was covered successfully.

I arrived in Pittsburgh and was immediately reminded of how ridiculously far it is from the main city center. Ubers and Lyfts were charging $60. Cabs were charging $50. I saw that the airport bus was arriving in a few minutes for a perfect price of $2.75 and went with that. It was just a five-minute walk from there. (Awesome tip for this coming later)

I checked into the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center hotel which is right next door to PPG Paints Arena. This is the go-to hotel for Pittsburgh if you are going to a game. But it’s usually expensive. I got in for just $116 which was perfect.

I was late to booking so the flight options back from Pittsburgh were terrible. I managed to rent a car from Budget for $170US where I could pick it up in Pittsburgh and drop it off in Toronto. I picked up he car after Toronto’s morning skate and parked it at the hotel. With Platinum status or better with Marriott, you get 4 p.m. checkouts, which is what I did for this game. I covered the game and then drove him fairly quicky. I was in my bed by 3:30 am.

All in all, it was under 48 hours. After having just returned from Sweden, I was anxious to be home for an extended time. The schedule has been pretty taxing.

For Chicago, the media meal was a delightful breakfast that I had to skip because it was in my fasting window (I fast 18 hours a day).

But they had treats up in the press box and by first intermission I was allowed to eat again.

The green goddess sandwich on the right was better than I expected. I think I hit all four food groups here.

The Pittsburgh meal was adequate. It was a choice of beef or cooked salmon. I took the beef. They have great deserts. I had vanilla ice cream.

The Maple Leafs media meals are back after they had previously used the voucher system.

@davidalter35The #Leafs have brought back the #media #meal after previously using a voucher system. The chicken was very good and so were the cookies. Variety coild use some improvement for $15 cost. #food #foodtiktok #foryou #ForYouPage

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A big thank you

My main gig is managing the Leafs content at THN.com and Sports Illustrated at THN.com/Toronto. We’ve smashed records over the last two months with November coming in at over 760,000 views. If you have visited, I’m eternally grateful. For someone who makes money linked to performance, it truly has been a bet on yourself and win moment that I hope inspires everyone else out there.

Saving myself from expensive Airport Uber in Edmonton.

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I really only had one day (Thursday the 16th) when the Maple Leafs were off and I tried to do everything I wanted to do from a tourist’s perspective. I walked around the old town (Gamla stan) and just walked aimlessly as I went into shops and got lost. Because of the coffee culture of the town, I found myself taking numerous breaks inside just to warm up. But I did manage to get to the Nobel Prize museum. Thanks to the awesome tip from the Toronto Star’s Kevin McGran, admission. for journalists is free!

The strangest public washroom, but most useful.

When I walked into Caffe Nero to take a break, I didn’t expect to find myself using a toilet with arm stirrups on it. But when in Sweden…

All toilets should have this. It was so comfortable. The Swedes know what they are doing. Easy to get up, too.

Let’s talk candy

Sweden has a lot of unique candy, but for some reason, they are obsessed with black licorice. I never liked black licorice before but I tired to see if these Raspberry/black licorice skulls would make me change my mind. I bought a small bag in the old town and tossed the immediately. Just gross.

I think my favourite candy while on the trip was Kex.

It was nearly identical to Coffee Crisp, but without the chocolate coating surrounding the wafers.

The food

After having some delicious pizza on the first night of the trip, I decided to try out some burger joints.

I really enjoyed Max Burgers, a fast-food burger joint that is equally, if not more popular than McDonald’s in the Nordic countries.

@davidalter35If you are ever in #stockholm #sweden🇸🇪 , you mus try Max #Burgers. Easily a 9/10. #foodtiktok #foryou #foryourpage

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Outside of Avicii Arena, was a place called Bordernas. It is co-owned by New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad. It was good but it was incredibly greasy.

@davidalter35Trying Mika Zibanejad’s #burger joint in #Stockholm, #sweden . It’s good but very messy. #food #foodie #foryou #foryoupage

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Other burger joints that didn’t get the TikTok treatment that were also good include:

Harvest Home, a local pub where Swedish journalist Per Bjurman took us out for a gathering one night.

On the last night of the trip, I couldn’t find a place to watch the Detroit Lions game but found a pub and tethered to my laptop at a place called O’Leary’s Pub. They were cool with it.

SWEDISH MEATBALLS

A group of us gathered the night before the Leafs’ second game to celebrate Kevin’s 60th birthday. We checked out ‘Meatballs for the People’

The four of us split two chef specials, which was an assortment of 12 different meats each. We made sure at least one of the were reindeer meat. It was very gamey.

My favourites were the duck and the 70/30 ratio of beef/pork, which is apparently what a traditional Swedish meatball consists of.

Randomly hanging out with the bassist from Europe

After dinner, Kevin took us out to Bröderna Olssons Garlic & Shots. He bought us a beer that was full of garlic. Despite its taste, I managed to finish it.

After ordering this, a random man approached us and started a conversation with us. He began to explain to us that he is the co-owner of the bar. I asked him about the rock basses that were hanging from the ceiling, to which he explained he is the bassist in the band ‘Europe’, best known for their hit song ‘Final Countdown’.

I immediately googled him to make sure he wasn’t full of BS and sure enough, there he was…John Leven.

Me, being the random, asked him if he made a fortune on the sale of the rights to the song. As a big wrestling fan, I remembered that wrestler Bryan Danielson wasn’t able Final Countdown until shortly after lead singer Joey Tempest sold a portion of the rights to his songs to an entity known as Primary Wave.

“How the f*ck do you know that?!” he replied.

It turns out that because Tempest has the songwriting credits, Leven didn’t receive any proceeds as a result.

The Leafs in Sweden

Seeing the Maple Leafs in Sweden was certainly a unique experience. The venue where they played had such a high ceiling that the sound would die immediately when things were really quiet.

On the first day when William Nylander held court with the Swedish media, it was quite the scene.

I met a fan from Switzerland who is a big fan of both the Maple Leafs (because of Mats Sundin) and Denis Malgin. He wore a #62 Malgin jersey to the first Leafs game in Stockholm.

Being interviews by Swedish media

I woke up Thursday morning to a DM asking if I was free to do an interview for Kanal75. The journalist, Sebastian Harryson, was awesome and was nice enough to take perhaps the best photo of me in recent memory.

How I got a row of empty seats on my flight home for $30

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It began at Pearson Internation Airport where I went straight to Plaza Premium Lounge at Terminal 1-international where I enjoy some free meals and beverages of all varieties. If you live in Toronto and travel on a somewhat regular basis, I cannot recommend a credit card with lounge access. The American Express Platinum card gets you free access to that lounge and comes with a Priority Pass membership, which gets you into that and hundreds of lounges across the world. There was a Plaza Premium Lounge at London’s Heathrow Airport where I was able to have myself and another reporter colleague have breakfast. They even had a gluten-free option for my colleague which he appreciated.

We arrived in Stockholm at 1:55 and just made it in time for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ first practice at Hovet Arena. They’ve spent the first two days of practice on an Olympic-sized sheet of ice even though they will be playing on a surface of regular NHL ice dimensions on Friday and Sunday.

The first day in Stockholm is a struggle just to get adjusted to the six-hour time change from Toronto. After covering practice and posting a whole bunch of articles, I made my way to the AC Hotel in Ulriksdal, which is a few miles north of the city. I was initially concerned that I would be far away from where the action was, but thanks to Stockholm’s fantastic tunnelbana Metro and commuter rail, I’m door-to-door from my hotel to Avicii Arena in 30 minutes. I wish Toronto’s transit was this good, but I’d settle for a fully opened Eglinton LRT over nothing at this point.

@davidalter35First time ever in Sweden for any reason and satisfied with my room. Very Scandinavian. #hotel #sweden🇸🇪 #stockholm #foryou #foryourpage #travel

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I checked into my hotel around 7 p.m. local time. There was a fancy pizza place next door called Spisa Pizza where I had a delicious pizza to myself. They fully disagree with pineapple on pizza, so I knew it was going to be good. And it was.

I made it to 9 p.m. thinking this was the perfect time to sleep and get adjusted to the time change. I made a plan to get up around 7 a.m. thinking I’d be golden. I woke up at 3 a.m. wide awake. While I felt good at the time, I knew that was going to mess up my day. Unable to fall asleep, I did some more work and tried to sleep again at 5 a.m. with a plan to get up at 7-7:30 a.m. I woke up at 10 a.m. with the Leafs set to practice around noon.

The second day of practice was more eventful. The Maple Leafs held a long practice full of line rushes, drills and special-teams work. We then spoke to Auston Matthews, Max Domi, John Tavares and head coach Sheldon Keefe. The building has a nice little media work room where I stayed until around 5:30 p.m. and headed back to the hotel to drop off my things before meeting up with some work colleagues who took us to a nice local restaurant and pub called ‘Harvest Home’. I went with a traditional cheeseburger and fries.

It was quite good.

I’ve been trying to keep with an intermittent fasting routine I developed in August but this trip has certainly tested that. The good news is the quality of food in Europe is far superior to that in North America and if I cheat, there is a nice offset.

The next post will feature more stuff about the city as Thursday is set aside for sightseeing since the club has the day off.

The Air Canada Wi-Fi hack

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