Milhouse

My preference would be to take the train. We were going to take the train from QC to Montreal in Feb 2020 but an issue with the route forced us to rent a car to make the trip instead. The trip most of the way was pretty straightforward but I felt it was a bit of a grind at about 3.5hrs (including a short break in the burbs). Fortunately, my friend who grew up on Montreal was driving but I thought the streets in Montreal itself were somewhat confusing and I think I would have struggled a bit. We took the train in the other direction from Montreal to QC in Dec 2021 and we enjoyed the carefree ride. +1 on the Fairmont QE. I've stayed there a few times in the past for work and I really enjoyed it. Very central and convenient if taking the train as @princeton123211 describes.

FWIW, we drove down to San Diego from LA for a visit pre-pandemic (so things may have changed). We ended up staying in the Little Italy district and found it pretty walkable to the waterfront and to the Gaslamp district as areas of interest. We made a stop at Kansas City Barbeque where they filmed the Top Gun restaurant scene. Really enjoyed eating at The Crack Shack (fried chicken in LI district).

Quick Shuttle bus from Seattle to Vancouver? Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (vs Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel and Fairmont Waterfront Hotel)?

There area is kind mixed residential, commercial, and light industrial so the immediate area is not super pedestrian orientated. However, I would not consider it an unsafe area. I think the walk along Great Canadian Way to the Bridgeport Skytrain station is reasonable versus shimmying along the side streets. We occasionally visit that Costco (pure mayhem) along Great Canadian Way and feel the area is fine, at least during the day.

It's not completely flat but the further west you go, it gets slightly steeper, especially along Bute which is along the western edge of Paradox. It's more gradual along Burrard. We regularly park our car along Georgia (free after 7pm) and Bute when we go for an evening walk. We'll usually walk up Bute or Thurlow though because they are quieter streets than Burrard. It's not super steep but there's one block along Bute that there are mini stairs parallel the the sidewalk to keep the entranceways to the businesses level.

The 72 hour subway pass gets spend per day down to a very reasonable level for break even IMO. Combining it with a Suica (specifically discussing transport) can be handy in Tokyo depending on one's plans because of the JR train usage and the extended range. Ie. Trips to the "burbs" or common daytrip destinations. Also, there's a potentially handy JR Yamanote Line (can also be used with the JR pass) which is a circle line around Tokyo that, depending on your journey, could be quicker and/or have more convenient station locations. (Eg. We usually take a walk down Takeshita Street and Harajuku JR Station is more convenient than the closest metro station.) And it's kind of nice travelling above ground.

Paradox used to be a Trump branded hotel in the mid 2010's. After Trump hotel closed down during the pandemic, it was shuttered for a while and eventually rebranded as Paradox. Being a local, I haven't stayed there but it's a higher end property. Generally speaking, it's just a rebranding and hotel management change so it should still be a nice hotel. FWIW, there occasionally seems to be a bit of a party atmosphere though as we see a lot of revellers milling about and catching rides along the laneway entrance when we pass by during a walk in the evenings. Location-wise, it's pretty central.

We had similar wants and issues when trying to book our trip from Fiumicino Airport to Ravenna this spring. Our main problem in searching for a complete journey was the Bologna Centrale to Ravenna leg on the regional commuter train which didn't publish its schedule far enough in advance. We just ended up booking our high speed train to Bologna Centrale first (which has reserved seating) on the trenitalia site. We then bought the tickets for the Bologna to Ravenna when in Italy. No cost savings (8e) for the second leg for booking in advance and it ran hourly. YMMV but we thought there was plenty of seating on the regional train in both directions we rode it. However, there's limited space to store luggage and there's an upper level which could be a pain to navigate with luggage so I wouldn't dilly dally getting onto the train and finding a seat. I would however suggest booking the high speed trains sooner than later. We didn't prebook tickets far in advance (only a day and day of) on our return legs from Bologna to Florence and then Florence to Rome to give ourselves some flexibility. Unfortunately, we found options more limited and pricing more expensive.

Yes it is reasonably walkable (if it's not raining). You can take your time. I do the walk a couple of times a week but with my Starbucks, not luggage. I've timed myself: It's just over a 20min walk along the seawall from the far side of the Westin Bayshore and just over a 15 minute walk from the near side/main entrance of the hotel. The seawall path is fairly wide and fairly smooth/nicely paved. Careful to stay on the pedestrian side as the path is split in half with bicycles/wheeled transport. Mixed sunny and shady parts. Safe, nice views. It's fairly level except for two uphill portions: one by the float planes/Jack Poole Plaza and one on the east side of the Convention Centre. I've regularly come across others pulling their luggage walking along this route and NOT looking miserable. 😉

IIRC Priority Pass recently restarted their partnership with Plaza Premium lounges and there is a Plaza Premium lounge for Transborder flights to the US. However, I'd be cautious about timing. Some lounges only allow access starting two or three hours before your flight. The Priority Pass site (and AMEX lounge site) indicate that there's a two hour limit which would suggest entry for you at around 8:35pm. (However, I doubt they would kick you out if there's a delay though.) You can try to get in early but it's probably going to be hit or miss depending on how busy it is and how early you attempt entry. I would speculate that it would not be busy that late but my recent experience has been that lounges have generally been very busy/full overall during this summer season.

It's not a reasonable walk for most IMO, particularly with a cane. You'd be walking though some sketchy areas. Depending on the route, the sidewalks aren't wide and might be crowded. I generally love walking and checking out neighbourhoods but I'd loathe to walk this stretch with luggage. Skytrain is likely most direct but there's the luggage issue and then the Main Street station is elevated while the Waterfront station is underground. Personally, I'd probably just taxi or Uber it.

Here we go again? https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-port-workers-resume-strike-1.6910572

Schwartz's is my default and I used to try to go there every time when I was in town. It's in a reasonably convenient part of town for a tourist IMO. However, on my last trip in 2021, my Montreal based manager took me to Snowden Deli. Loved it. Moist smoked meat with an added bonus of having many of the favs you'd find in a Jewish deli. The decor has a bit of an 80's vibe to it though. It's kind of away from the normal tourist areas other than being somewhat close to Saint Joseph's Oratory but it is close to a metro station. Lucas Peterson did a segment on it for Eater's Dining on a Dime series if you want a bit of a visual. Next time I'm in Montreal, I'll probably visit both. 😄

I like using Japan Guide as one of my resources. I think their page on IC cards is pretty good: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_003.html I also like using wikitravel.org for city specific transportation detail. IC cards are extremely convenient and prevents complexities around correct fares and mixed transportation (ie rail vs metro vs buses). However, you aren't saving much per trip and I find local transportation within Japan can get a bit pricey if travelling a lot within a day. Various one or multiday local daypasses might be worth considering as they also provide the simplicity of tap payment/entry. But there is likely a bit of a convenience tradeoff of needing to source them when you get into town and what modes of transport they cover.

Would concur that the Delta is closer to a few sketchier blocks in downtown and not a lot more in the immediate area for a tourist. Sure, close to waterfront station and closer to Gastown. Not worth the tradeoff if all things being equal IMO but would not discount staying in this location if wanted.

I don't want to discourage the Marriott Pinnacle. When you step out from the hotel, you're just not in the thick of things which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But you're just a reasonable couple of blocks walk away from touristy stuff. +1 to the Metropolitan Hotel as a possible alternative Marriott property. But it's kind of six of one, half dozen of the other. It gets you closer to Robson street but further from the waterfront. The underground mall (Pacific Centre is across the street.) and the art gallery's square which occasionally has events is nearby. However, I don't find that part of Howe Street very lively during the day or evening. It's mainly people walking to some other destination apart from maybe the restaurant and lounge at hotel down the street.

I would consider the area safe. It's quieter but I wouldn't consider the area sketchy. You have more activity a block or two over closer to the waterfront or Burrard Street. However, I'd probaby describe the area beside the hotel more of a greenspace than a park. It's a handy pedestrian thoroughfare that allows people to go from Canada Place toward Hornby Street instead of going the long way around. Very busy during the week and less busy during the weekends and evenings. There are some tables and seats (at least during the day) to allow people to enjoy their coffee or lunch. But you do occasionally get some homeless people mixed in, hanging out on a bench. Again, I wouldn't consider it unsafe. If you are referring to Harbour Green Park by the water, it's a very popular area to enjoy. There's a lot of residental housing behind it. Again, you may encounter the odd homeless person sleeping on a bench but we've comfortably walked that part of the seawall very late into the evening.

From the Bayshore to Granville Island, it's a pretty easy trip by car. Google maps puts it just over 15mins. It's a pretty long walk though which I wouldn't recommend unless you really enjoy walking. You'd also have to either walk across a bridge (each have their own challenges), take a water ferry, or take the very long way around. You can also combine/take the bus which also addresses the bridge situation. There are a number of different combinations that will get you across the bridge but ending with the #50 bus has a nice route that saves a couple of blocks.

The immediate area is safe, if somewhat quiet IMO. Very walkable to Canada Place per @dawnvip route. While there are a few options to eat within a few blocks, it's kind of a businessy district. You'll need to walk a couple of blocks to be in a more lively area. ie It's a good launching point to the waterfront and the seawall which provides a nice path between Canada Place and Stanley Park. A few blocks in the other direction will eventually get you to Robson street which a main pedestrian retail/food area.

Personally I like staying in downtown Montreal in and around St. Catherines street just because it's lively and for relatively easy access to the metro. I've enjoyed staying multiple times at the Fairmont QE for work in the past. I found the rooms kind of small but I generally like the Fairmont brand. I stayed at the Residence Inn by Peel station in Feb 2020 just before everything shut down. Found it fine but nothing special. Handy free breakfast is included. We stayed at the Novotel Montreal Centre in 2021. The missus quite enjoyed the modern room. The closest metro station Lucien L'Allier is a few blocks away which I found to be kind of awkward station to navigate in and around as it's deep station and there's exits around the Bell Centre. We enjoyed a stay at Le Square Phillips Hotel buy it was many years ago. Decent location though.

Sorry, I can't say definitively as I had only researched going between beaches. However, while we went watching too closely, they did seem to appear multiple times within an hour. Other points to note however: Some ships tender to the old port just north of Mykonos Town/Chora by the northern bus station. Some ships dock at the new port further north. There is a water shuttle for 2e that takes you btw Mykonos Town to the new port. See: https://www.mykonos-seabus.gr/ FWIW, on their map in town, it seems to show a water taxi route to Paradise Beach.

As mentioned above, there are other beaches to visit. We took a bus to one. However, a couple beside us in the MDR mentioned they still did a boat tour to Shipwreck Beach but only going to the edge of the exclusion zone to take pictures. They also went to the blue caves and some other areas where they were able to swim/snorkel and see fish and turtles.

We used Bounce in Santa Monica after our cruise out of San Pedro/LA last November and had a good experience with the app and the local partner. However, I can see the experience being very partner dependent though.

+1 for Pitogyros in Oia. It was one of the top three pide gyros we had during our cruise; we had one or two pide gyros in every port of call. Rounding out our top three were Lucky's in Fira and Sakis in Mykonos.

The data I quoted was pulled from my ride history. We got picked up from LAX to Long Beach at 11:30am on Friday Nov 4 (2022). We took our time getting off the ship since we had an evening flight so we were close to last off. I forget the exact timing when we got off but it was likely around 9:00am on a Saturday. Very few pax on the ship so last disembarkation numbers were called pretty quick. It took forever for us to get an Uber to Santa Monica. Not apples to apples but we got assigned an Uber at 9:36am but didn't get picked up until 9:57am and got to Santa Monica around 10:40am.