Sun Aug 20, 2017 11:02 pm
it's a myth that food, groceries & other stuff is cheaper in Canada than USA due to exchange rate. Apparently many Canadians who live within 1 hour of U.S. border still drive across every week or 2, for a big shop as it's so much cheaper, even taking into account the exchange rate. Canada mustn't have much in the way of Costco's, Walmarts etc. where buying in bulk saves you a lot. There was a cartoon recently, who bought some toilet rolls at Costco for almost nothing, but he had to buy 1,000 rolls & literally had taped them to the outside of his car, as could get all inside.
Also very hard to compare apples with apples re restaurants. In BC Canada, they have extra taxes, liquor & provincial, which kick up the total bill.
Canadian resorts like to tell people how much cheaper it is to go to Canada, but the reality is, it isn't. Again just looking at ski resorts, there are many more flights to LAX & SFO than YVR from OZ/NZ so it's almost always cheaper to get to U.S. ski resorts airfare wise.
FJ ex OZ are currently doing AUD$845 BNE, SYD, MEL or LAX or SFO return. MEL requires day in Fiji in both directions, most dates, but from BNE & SYD you can fly straight through, with few hours on ground in NAN.
Some agents are discounting this to only $820 or less. From LA or SFO, many Australians & Kiwis use either frequent flyer points to get to Colorado or fly Southwest, who seem to be having rolling sales for months of Jan & Feb. Eg. they are doing LAX/DEN from $42 u.s. which includes 2 checked bags. Once in Colorado, ski lifts & accommodation are cheap & the skiing is much better than almost anywhere else.
