Ottawa, New York and Getting Around Airline Change Fees

In most cases, plans change and some airlines make it more difficult to adjust than others.

Hello everyone from LaGuardia Airport’s Amex Centurion Lounge in New York City.

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.