In the taxi to the airport in England, for the trip home to Victoria, my host became ill, and we diverted to a hospital emergency room. I missed my flight.
I bought another ticket and thought I would just have to absorb the extra cost. A relative suggested I check my credit card insurance coverage for an interrupted trip.
The insurance fine print indicated that my situation should be covered. So I filled in the forms, submitted the required evidence that we had been to the emergency room, plus credit card statements showing that I had purchased both the original ticket and the replacement using the card, plus the receipt for the replacement flight, plus my boarding pass.
The package went off via regular mail on Dec. 16, to the credit card company鈥檚 insurance division near Toronto. On Jan. 6, a cheque arrived for the full amount of my replacement plane ticket.
I thought that was pretty fast service, considering that there had been the Christmas holidays, plus a nasty ice storm.
My host has recovered.
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Today 鈥� Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014 鈥� is the last day for the Royal B.C. Museum鈥檚 admission by donation offer, which has been running since Jan. 2. It was a bustling place when I dropped by on Sunday, using my membership pass. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit was especially busy and interesting. It features winning wildlife photos from a National Geographic contest in a variety of categories. I was most fascinated by the extremely good photos taken by children age 10 and under. Each photo is accompanied by a caption explaining how the photographer got the shot; most of them involved a lot of planning and patience. And it looked like all of them were taken with single-lens reflex cameras; no winning photos came from a smartphone camera. They鈥檙e not quite good enough yet for up-close encounters with lions, tigers and bears. Regular adult admission price for the RBCM is $16.
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Two engineering students have an idea for a better cardboard box, one that is easier to assemble, easier to pack, and easier to open. They call it the Rapid Packing Container.
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Design firm Seymourpowell is pitching an economy airline seat that can, in its word, morph. Rugged fabric is stretched over a three-seat frame. The frame can be adjusted to change each seat鈥檚 width, seat-pan height, and seat-pan depth.
