Subtitle (200)
0:00A quick announcement before we
get started with this episode,
0:03and this one is a special announcement for our
Japanese listeners, in particular the Tokyoites
0:09out there. Is that a word? Tokyoites?
I'm not sure. But if you live in Tokyo,
0:14this is an announcement for you because we are
going to have a Culips meetup in Tokyo on Tuesday,
0:22February the 10th. Tuesday, February the 10th. And
I would love to meet up with any Culips listeners.
0:28It doesn't matter if you are just a casual
listener or if you are hardcore Culips fanatic
0:35and are a Culips member. It's open to everybody.
And guys, the link for the details is going to
0:41be in the description for this episode. And to
be honest, I haven't decided on a venue yet.
0:48If you are a listener in Tokyo and think you
could help me out planning a little bit and
0:53finding a good venue to host maybe 10 to 15
people, then that would be awesome. And yeah,
0:59we'll have a nice casual and fun meetup with some
Culips listeners in Tokyo on February the 10th.
1:06So, check out the link in the description
and yeah, let's do it. See you in Tokyo!
1:14Hello, and welcome to bonus episode number 165
of the Culips English Podcast. How is it going?
1:21I hope you're doing well. My name's Andrew. I'll
be your host and your study buddy today for this
1:27English language lesson. What we do here in the
bonus episode series at Culips is I just talk to
1:33you, I hang out with you, and I tell you some
stories from my everyday life. I'm a Canadian,
1:38but I live abroad in Seoul, South Korea,
and I hope by listening to my stories
1:42you will be able to build your English
fluency, and grow your vocabulary, and
1:46become a clearer and more confident communicator.
To accompany this episode, there is an absolutely
1:53free interactive transcript and vocabulary
glossary. They're awesome study resources,
1:58and you can get them by following the link in
the description. Plus, if you're a Culips member,
2:03then you can also get a comprehension quiz. Yeah
so, Culips members, make sure to check out that
2:09comprehension quiz. And I gotta say a big welcome
and hello to all of the new members who have
2:14joined us recently. We had just a ton of brand-new
members sign up at the start of the year. So,
2:19guys, thank you so much for trusting Culips
with your English language education. And
2:25we're going to make a lot of progress this
year. So, it's great to have you aboard.
2:29Thank you to all the new members out there.
OK, so let's get started with this episode,
2:34guys. And in today's story, I'm going to tell
you about my upcoming trip to Canada. I'm going
2:40back to Canada. And you may be wondering, Andrew,
why in the world would you go back to Canada in
2:46January of all times of the year? In January! For
the same amount of money, essentially, you could
2:53travel to beautiful places around the world.
I could go to Spain, I could go to Australia,
3:00I could go to Bali in Indonesia, I could go to
Mexico, I don't know, beautiful places around the
3:07world I could visit for the same amount of money,
but no, I decided to go to Canada in January. Why?
3:16Well, as I said at the start of the episode, I am
from Canada and I gotta go back home. You know,
3:22I live away from home, far away from my friends
and family. And these days with technology, that's
3:30not as difficult as it used to be in the past. I
can FaceTime my family anytime and have a video
3:36conversation with them. And it makes things not
so difficult when I live away from home because
3:42of technology. However, once a year or twice a
year, I do like to go back to Canada and to see
3:48my family and see my friends. So, that's why I'm
going back to Canada here in just a little bit.
3:54So, I'm going to tell you about the process of
buying my plane ticket because it was actually
4:01a little bit of an ordeal. And I've complained
about buying plane tickets in the past on Culips,
4:09so maybe this is just a me issue. I don't know if
anyone else has difficulties buying plane tickets
4:15or if you find it frustrating as well, then let
me know in the discussion for this episode that
4:22we'll have over on our Discord server. But
yeah, I think this is something that affects
4:27everyone who travels is that there's always
a little bit of frustration with air travel.
4:34And yeah, actually, the big plane ticket that
I needed to buy to go to Canada from Seoul,
4:40to fly from Seoul to Canada. Originally, I was
thinking in my mind that there was no drama and
4:47that it was simple and easy to do, but now that
I'm speaking here, I just remembered that there
4:52was actually a little drama buying that plane
ticket. Thankfully, I bought it during a sales
4:58period. Air Canada had a sale on, so I was able
to take advantage of the sale and buy my plane
5:05ticket for a very, very affordable price. I have
to say that, you know, I go back to Canada yearly,
5:11so I know how the plane ticket prices fluctuate
from year to year. And “fluctuate” it's kind of
5:18this bigger, high-level word that just means
“change.” So, they change, they fluctuate,
5:23they go up and down from year to year. And
I do have to say that this is the cheapest
5:28I've bought a plane to get back to Canada in a
long time. So, I'm thankful for that for sure.
5:34However, one thing that is a little bit
frustrating is that you gotta shop around
5:38for a plane ticket. Like, you get different
prices from different websites. And you would
5:44assume that if I'm flying on Air Canada to
go back to Canada, you would assume that
5:49if you go to the official Air Canada website,
that would be the cheapest price, right? Like,
5:54they should be able to sell it for the
cheapest price. And they did have a good price,
5:59but I found it on a different third-party travel
website for a cheaper price. So, I was able to get
6:07a cheaper price on my airplane ticket through a
third party. And a “third party” is what we call
6:13a service that kind of acts like the middleman.
Like, they are in the middle of my transaction,
6:20my business transaction with Air Canada,
right? They buy the ticket off Air Canada
6:25or get it somehow, and then they sell it to
me, and then I travel with Air Canada. So,
6:30we're bringing in this third party, and they
were able to offer the ticket at a slightly
6:36lower price. So, I was happy about that.
And I booked my plane ticket and thought
6:43everything was done and dusted, was finished,
and I could just not worry about that anymore.
6:49However, a few hours after I booked my ticket,
my wife came running up to me and she's like,
6:56Andrew, you gotta cancel your ticket. And I
was like, what? Why? Why do I have to cancel
7:01my ticket? She was able to find actually a
quite substantially cheaper ticket through
7:06a Korean third-party reseller, and they even had
some special bonus discounts that if you used your
7:14Korean credit card, often in Korea, here you can
get some discounts when you make purchases online,
7:20depending on the card that you use. And it
just so happened that we have the card that
7:26got a pretty good discount on this plane ticket.
So, thankfully, I was able to cancel my original
7:33ticket. It was still in that 24-hour window. I'm
not sure if this is global or not, I'm not sure.
7:40But here in Korea, when you purchase a plane
ticket, legally, you have 24 hours to cancel
7:45the ticket with no fee or penalty. So, I was
still within that 24-hour window. So, I canceled
7:51my original ticket and I rebooked it using the
Korean third-party reseller, ticket reseller,
7:57or travel service, whatever you want to call it.
And I was able to get a really good price. So,
8:04yeah, I'm happy at the end of the day. No
complaints on my behalf, really, except for
8:10the fact that you do have to jump through these
hoops, right? It's not just a simple sit down,
8:15go to the Air Canada website, book your ticket,
finished. No, you got to do all the shoppin’
8:20around. And depending on the card that you have
and the service that you find, the exact same
8:26ticket in the exact same seat can really vary
a lot. So, that is a little bit frustrating.
8:32However, not a big deal. Got that ticket for
an affordable price. Happy about that. Great.
8:38Now, here's where my main complaint is. My main
complaint. My main complaint is that I'm from a
8:47small town in Canada called Kelowna. It's a city
of around 150,000 people or something like that.
8:54It's in a region in the province of
British Columbia, my home province,
8:59called the Interior or the Okanagan, and it's
around a four-hour drive or a one-hour flight
9:07from Vancouver. So, of course, when I fly to
Canada, I leave from Seoul, I go to Vancouver,
9:13and then sometimes I spend time in Vancouver. I
do have friends and family there. But often I just
9:18fly right on to Kelowna. That's where my parents
live, that's where my brother lives, and that's
9:23where I grew up. I consider Kelowna my hometown.
So, in the winter, you don't really want to drive
9:31to Kelowna from Vancouver because there's a big
mountain in between those two cities. And driving
9:39that mountain pass in the winter can be really
dangerous. There's lots of snow and ice, and yeah,
9:45it's just not the safest bet. You never know if
you're gonna have, like, really good weather one
9:50day. You could have great weather on the mountain
road, or you could have a blizzard and snowstorm,
9:55or the road could even be closed down. It's
just totally unpredictable in the winter because
10:00of the weather. So, instead of taking a bus or
driving or anything like that, it's best to fly.
10:05So, I needed to book a plane ticket to go
to Kelowna from Vancouver, just like I said,
10:11a one-hour flight. And this is where I got
really frustrated with the ticket booking process
10:17because, and this is on me, this is kind of my
fault. Actually, it's pretty much 100% my fault.
10:24However, I just went to this airline called
WestJet, and I booked a ticket with WestJet. And
10:32I've noticed that WestJet, which is a Canadian
airline that services lots of domestic flights
10:40in Canada, but also some international flights.
I've actually flown on WestJet from Canada to
10:46Korea before. I think they've canceled that
flight now, but they used to offer that. So,
10:51they do have some international options available,
but it's mostly just domestic flights in Canada.
10:58That's their bread and butter, I think. Oh,
that's a good idiom to be your bread and butter,
11:04just means your specialty or your main focus,
your main skill or talent. Something like that,
11:10when it's your main thing, then it's your bread
and butter. So, WestJet's bread and butter is
11:16domestic Canadian flights, and yeah, I booked a
flight on WestJet to go from Vancouver to Kelowna.
11:24Now, I noticed when I went to WestJet's website
that they have kind of changed their services
11:30over the last year or two since I've flown with
them last. And it used to be that they had two or
11:38maybe three options. You could buy, maybe just two
options. Maybe they had, like, a premium and an
11:45economy ticket, and I'm not sure what they called
it. Maybe it was business and economy, or maybe
11:50it was first class and economy. But I think they
just had those two options. Maybe they had, like,
11:55business, first class, and economy. But they just
had those kind of very clear options where you
12:01could book your ticket. And of course, first class
or business, you know, these are premium tickets,
12:06these are more expensive, and then you
have your economy where people like me sit,
12:12OK? And that used to be what you would see
when booking a ticket through their website.
12:18However, now they've introduced a lot
of complexity, and now in the economy,
12:24they have all of these different options. I
believe they had three options just for economy,
12:30and the options are priced differently depending
on if you're going to check a bag or not check
12:35a bag. “Check a bag” means to store a suitcase or
to store luggage in the storage compartment of the
12:42plane. Underneath, right? You can have a carry-on
bag, which is like your little bag that you take
12:48with you on the airplane, or a checked bag that
goes in the airplane's storage compartment. So,
12:53that pricing is different. There's different
pricing options depending on if you want to be
12:59able to cancel your ticket or not cancel your
ticket, or change the details of your ticket,
13:05select your seats, if you want some more
legroom or less legroom. Like, there are
13:09all these different options. And yeah, it's a
little bit frustrating because when you search
13:16for your plane ticket, the first price I saw
was a very affordable price. And I was like, oh,
13:21this is great. However, when I want to actually
get to the stage where I have to book the ticket,
13:27then that price goes up quite a bit once they
add in the extras and the tax and everything.
13:33And yeah, I reckoned, I thought, that I probably
wouldn't be canceling my ticket, so I just went
13:40with the no cancellation option, which was just
a terrible mistake. I don't know why I did that.
13:46So, I booked my ticket, kind of the cheapest
option available. I didn't want to spend a lot of
13:51money on this just one-hour flight. I thought, OK,
I'm done. All of my plane tickets booked. However,
13:59then I called my parents to tell them about my
travel plans and when I was expecting to come in.
14:04And my dad asked me why I was flying on WestJet.
He's like, Why are you flying WestJet? You usually
14:10fly at Northern Air. Why aren't you flying
Northern Air? And in that moment, I was like,
14:16Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about Northern Air.
There's this other airline that's a real regional
14:23carrier. It really only operates in the western
part of Canada. And they service the north, that's
14:29their specialty, northern Canada. So, it's kind of
like the northwest part of the country. However,
14:35they do fly between Vancouver and Kelowna,
and I've flown with them a lot in the past,
14:42but for whatever reason, I just totally blanked.
And it didn't cross my mind when I was booking my
14:47airline ticket, and I forgot about Northern Air.
So then, after I finished talking with my parents,
14:54I went to the Northern Air website. I'm like,
Oh, how much was it? Like, did I really miss
14:59out on a good deal or something? And I checked,
and yeah, I really did miss out on a good deal.
15:06It was like a much more affordable price, and
it included two checked bags. With WestJet,
15:12I had to add a checked bag to my ticket, and it
was really expensive just to check a suitcase,
15:20like one suitcase. And it's not like I'm carrying
a ton of stuff. I'm only going to Canada for a
15:25week, so I don't have that many things. But
you know, it's always nice when you go back.
15:30I bring some little gifts and things back for my
family, and so I do have to check a bag. And yeah,
15:37it costs almost like the same amount as the
airplane ticket costs to check a bag to go on
15:46a return ticket on WestJet. So, just ridiculous,
super expensive, and I feel like I'm just getting
15:52nickeled-and-dimed. “Nickeled-and-dimed” is an
expression that means like a company or a person
15:58is trying to extract and get like every little
cent and dollar they can get out of you, just to
16:04extract the most amount of money out of you. So, I
really felt like just terrible with WestJet that I
16:10was getting taken advantage of and all these
fees. Fees for this, fees for that. However,
16:15with Northern Air, it's really simple. It's like
a basic website. Everything is very transparent.
16:22What you see is what you get. There's no extra
fees, stuff is just included. And so I really
16:27like, as a customer, that kind of business, right?
So, I crunched the numbers. I calculated, OK,
16:36if I cancel my flight with WestJet and I have the,
remember, I booked the no cancellation option,
16:44right? I checked to see if I could cancel
my flight. And I guess I have to tip my hat
16:50to WestJet a little bit here and say that
I'm thankful that even though I chose the
16:55no cancellation option, I was still able to
cancel my flight, but you don't get a refund.
17:02You have to pay a cancellation fee, and then the
refund that you do get isn't money. They don't
17:09give you money back, they give you credit.
So, I did the math, I added everything up,
17:14and yeah, I was really not happy to have to
pay the cancellation fee to WestJet. However,
17:22it was more affordable to fly on Northern Air.
I also have to say that the plane times were a
17:28better time. I would spend less time waiting at
the airport between my Seoul to Vancouver flight
17:35and my Vancouver to Kelowna flight with Northern
Air, something like a three or four-hour layover
17:41compared to a six-plus-hour layover with
WestJet. So, the time was better as well.
17:47So, when I took all of these things into
consideration, like the way better service
17:52and just business practice that you get from
Northern Air, and the better times, and just
17:59the overall impression that I got comparing
these two different airlines, I was like,
18:04I gotta cancel WestJet. I can't fly with them.
So, I bit the bullet. I canceled my flight. It
18:10really sucks. I had to pay that cancellation fee
and then I received no refund, just credit. So,
18:16I guess I'll be flying WestJet sometime in
the future now that I have credit with them.
18:23But it was just frustrating, and really, I'm the
one to blame, right? I was the one who totally
18:28forgot about Northern Air in the first place.
I'm glad my dad reminded me about them because
18:33without that, I wouldn't have been able to
use their service. But yeah, that's on me.
18:40And that was a little bit of frustration I had
booking the ticket going back to Canada. However,
18:46it's all finished. It's all in the past. The
tickets are booked. Everything's good to go.
18:50And hopefully, that was the only little bit of
a travel headache that I'll have for this trip.
18:56Hopefully, the rest of it will be smooth sailing.
In the next bonus episode, I'm actually going to
19:01tell you about what I'm looking forward to doing
in Canada. I've got not a lot of things planned.
19:09Like, most of the time when I go back, I just want
to hang out with people. I want to see my family.
19:14I want to see my friends. But there are a few
things and activities that I want to do as well,
19:19and that's going to be the topic of our next
bonus episode. So, you'll have to wait until
19:23next week to hear that one.
But for now, everyone,
19:26I just want to say thank you for listening.
Don't forget to check out the study tools,
19:30the transcript, the vocabulary glossary, and
the quiz that are available for this episode.
19:36And also come on over to our Discord to hang
out and to chat about what you heard today in
19:42this episode. If you have any questions or
comments, I'd love to hear from you. Plus,
19:46there are tons of other different topics that
you can talk about on Discord with our awesome
19:52community. And it's a great way to be active with
your English and to practice your English output
19:57as well as your input that you get from listening
to the podcast. So, guys, we'll see you over on
20:03the Discord. Please take care, and I'll catch
you in the next episode. Until then, bye-bye.
