Yes, I'm going on vacation! Again! I have an excuse this time - my big sister is getting married in Maui on May 15. The first of all the cousins to get married! My logic is that since I'm flying that far, I might as well go a little further to somewhere I've never been before. May 17 I'll be flying out to Bangkok for a 3 week romp around Thailand with Leah, then returning to Vancouver June 7 just in time to get fitted for a tux for the traditional Chinese reception. I have nothing planned for Thailand yet, so any tips you may have are more than welcome!

One of my managers at work takes 2 months off every year to go somewhere off the beaten path. In the last 4 years he's done SE Asia, Africa, India and South America, so when he recommended Smiling Albino, I looked it up immediately. How I envy these two Calgarians who moved in 1998 from their jobs in advertising and journalism to travel and share their knowledge and experience with others. This article in the Herald describes their tourism business. Who knows, that could be me! I haven't decided if we'll try their services yet, but it sounds like a good way to experience the culture.

Another travel tip: delete those Travelocity and Expedia bookmarks - Kayak.com is all you need. As one of the new breed of meta-search engines, Kayak checks the major sites (The two mentioned above, Orbitz, CheapTickets, and the airlines own sites like United, Alaska & Westjet) for the best prices. Besides the simple and intuitive interface, Kayak shows a fare price history chart that shows how much fellow kayakers have paid for your same search in the past 90 days! Farecast and Sidestep are similar sites, but I like Kayak best. One of the coolest features is the Google Map with the Top 25 most searched destinations from your home airport (try it for Calgary's YYC). I'm not saying forget about your travel agent as they still have value, but your first search should always be on Kayak. I found my Honololu -> Bangkok -> Vancouver multi-city trip for only $1180 after taxes! Thats a lot of money saved that can go towards $5 massages in Ko Phi Phi.