My name is Chris Myden and I’m a travel junkie that’s hooked on deals from cities across Canada.
Sure, it all started innocently enough, but my obsession soon spiraled out of control, and I now find myself with a quarter of a million followers on Facebook and Twitter, fueling my addiction even further. How did I let it get to this point?
I’ve always loved to travel and with a background in computers & technology have had a real interest in exploring new websites, methods and techniques for finding the best deals. One day I decided to start sharing anything great that I found on one of the largest forums here in Calgary.
The thread was simply titled ‘Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie’ - YYC being the airport code for Calgary. I thought it might garner some casual interest and then be dismissed, but people seemed to love it, and it quickly became one of the most viewed and discussed threads on the forum.
It probably didn’t hurt that during the early days of that thread, I managed to come across a deal on a flight from Calgary to a beautiful island off the coast of Spain, called Menorca. The cost of the flight? $100, roundtrip, *after* all taxes and fees.
The fare was obviously a mistake, and that does happen from time to time. But still, it was bookable, and after making sure my friends and family booked their tickets, I shared the deal with my fellow Calgarians on the forum. It spread like wildfire, and soon there were 747s full of Calgarians heading to Spain for the price of a nice evening out.
That deal really seemed to set things in motion, and from that point on I knew I was hooked. I started a Facebook group for Calgary, and began posting my finds there. A deal to Tokyo, Japan came out for $350 roundtrip after tax. It wasn’t Spain for $100, but still obviously incredible.
The Facebook group started to grow, and I remember being pretty excited when it hit 1,000 members. Next came 2,000 members. Then 4,000. Then at 5,000, we had reached the maximum capacity for Facebook groups so I had to start another group for Calgary. That one eventually hit capacity as well, so I started another. And then another. And another. As I write this, there are six for Calgary alone.
At this point I started to wonder if other cities across Canada would be as interested in my finds. So I started a group in Halifax, and it seemed to catch on even faster than Calgary. In approximately 6 months I found myself with five Facebook groups full of Haligonians, or 25,000 members.
Edmonton was next, then St. John’s, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and every other major Canadian city soon followed. I even started groups for smaller cities, like Kelowna, BC and Thunder Bay, Ontario.
There were a lot of amazing deals in 2010, Winnipeg to Jamaica for $97 roundtrip after tax was one of my favorites. Saskatoon and Regina had similar deals to Mexico. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at just how many truly great deals there are for smaller to mid-size cities in addition to the biggies like Toronto and Montreal.
But the deal of 2010, at least in terms of mass appeal, had to be the Expedia.ca fiasco near the end of the year, when they released a coupon code for $300 off flight + hotel packages to Vegas, from anywhere in Canada. To this day, nobody is sure if Expedia did it accidentally or not, but there were no minimum night stays, and it worked even if you booked it one person at a time. It didn’t take long to figure out that 2 people taking $600 off their flight + hotel package would result in free (or nearly free) vacations to Vegas.
By now, I had quite a large following on Facebook, and I still remember the adrenaline rush I felt as I got the word out to my group members as fast as I could. I wanted everyone in Canada to get in on this!
I now find myself with an audience of hundreds of thousands, many of them with questions about how to find the best deal for whenever and wherever it is they want to go.
The question I’m asked most often is, ‘Chris, are you a travel agent?’ And the answer is simply ‘No, I am not.’ I think there’s still a segment of the public out there that believes travel agents have access to special prices or deals. The reality is, in the Internet age, they’re looking at the same prices you are. Now, that doesn’t mean a travel agent can’t benefit you in other ways with their knowledge and experience.
My goal has always been more about sifting through the entire landscape of prices, the complete spectrum, and spotting the deals that are truly spectacular. There’s a lot of noise out there these days, and not a whole lot of signal. Airlines and travel companies constantly bombard people with their alleged deals, marketing them over and over, claiming *this* is a deal, or *that* is a deal, when in fact the price is ordinary at best, or (more commonly) overpriced.
Ironically, the greatest deals are almost always unadvertised by most companies, and the majority of them would usually go unnoticed by the general public, and even by those working in the travel industry (there’s a reason so many travel agents follow my postings).
Perhaps the public appreciates having someone who can say ‘Now this is actually an amazing deal’ and trust that it is from an unbiased source. And from my perspective, I just plain enjoy it, keeping an eye out for that next great deal, and the thrill I get from sharing it with an audience.
When Sympatico offered me the opportunity to share my finds on their new travel blog, I jumped at the chance. I would be crazy not to. I’m excited that more Canadians will be following along, and I hope it even inspires some travel ideas for them. I look forward to seeing what deals 2011 will bring!
Chris Myden
Chris Myden runs a travel deal community for Canadians, 
www.Ycheap.com as well as a network of blogs, one dedicated to each city.
You can follow his deal findings for your city on the 
blogs.
I am a member on that forum you mentioned. Ever since that thread i have been following you and always check for new deals. I am waiting for a few deals myself to come up hopefully this year. Congrats on your new job. I am sure you are going to rock it!
Posted by: Johnny | 03/30/2011 at 01:32 PM
I've been following your calgary site for a while! Thanks for sharing your finds :) Looking forward to what gets posted here!
Posted by: Anne | 03/16/2011 at 08:23 PM
Congratulations on the new job. I've been following your deals for a few months now and hoping to jump at the opportunity to fly to Australia if such a deal appears. Great work you've been doing, keep it up!
Posted by: CJ | 03/03/2011 at 05:00 PM
Great job, Chris! Good to see your first posting. Kicks butt! Lisa S.
Posted by: Lisa | 02/24/2011 at 11:02 PM
Sympatico is fortunate you came across their posting! Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Susan Rieseberg | 02/15/2011 at 10:32 AM
Can't thank you enough Chris! We've taken advantage of some amazing deals in the past year alone. Cancun for a song, the Expedia Vegas "incident", and now the UK out of Seattle in March! Now if you could just make those airline seats more comfortable and security line ups shorter -- you'd REALLY be a demigod! ;)
Posted by: PamSKelowna | 02/12/2011 at 03:44 PM
Hi Chris,
I enjoyed your travel Blog; am also an ardent travel best deal tracker!
Maybe I can be an Ontario form of you. Keep up the great work.
Posted by: Wanda taylor | 02/08/2011 at 01:23 PM
Congrats! I love your blog and I love to travel as well! :) I follow your posts on facebook and I am so glad there is someone like you who takes the time to find deals for lil ole me!! You rock!!!!
Posted by: Joanne | 02/01/2011 at 12:02 PM
Congratulations Chris,I understand how you feel about finding great deals.My friends and family come to me to help them plan and book their travel.I always check your site.How did we manage without you.We all appreciate your time and effort.A BIG Thank You,from all of us.
Posted by: Beatrice | 01/31/2011 at 12:26 PM
Just started following your blog a month ago, and have since been super excited to take our family on a nice affordable vacation, something we probably wouldn't have done so soon otherwise.
Thanks for all your selfless work over the years, hope your new job goes well, you deserve it!
Posted by: Jonathan Lindsey | 01/22/2011 at 01:49 PM
Chris I am a huge fan. Please keep up the good work. I haven't found my deal yet, but look forward to when I will. Annie
Posted by: Annie Culligan | 01/21/2011 at 04:27 PM
My question to you is "if you find a deal on the internet and book it...and if it may have been a mistake on someone's part pricing incorrectly" - are they obligated to process for that price. Asking cause I found a deal for a cruise in Europe link that was so obviously too low that I personally called them to enquire. They investigated and confirmed it was incorrect, so I didn't book it. If I had thru the computer would I have gotten my trip??
Posted by: Ann-Marie Honkonen | 01/21/2011 at 10:32 AM
Congrats Chris!! I love following your travel deals. Took advantage of a great price from Winnipeg to Chicago last spring from your tips!!
Posted by: Christy | 01/21/2011 at 09:47 AM
Contratulations on your new job. Keep up the good work finding us those great deals.
Posted by: NancyB | 01/20/2011 at 04:19 PM
Congratulations! I'm a believer after jumping on one of the deals you posted--and then I got to sneer at Air Canada's pathetic and half-hearted attempt to match it, which has made more than my day. Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Lisa | 01/20/2011 at 01:40 PM
Good for you Chris. Hope you enjoy the new job and that you're making some good money doing it too. Nothing like enjoying what you do and helping others at the same time.
Great job, I will be looking for that great deal.
Posted by: Deb | 01/19/2011 at 04:19 PM
Congrats on the new gig! Wish I knew about your blog back when the free Vegas trip happened!!
Keep up the awesome deals, they're much appreciated!
Posted by: Kelsey | 01/19/2011 at 01:57 PM
SOS.. need a YYC deal mid Feb to anywhere warmer then here and skips over USA and avoids TO!.. Keep up the great work Chris! and congrats!
Posted by: Matt | 01/19/2011 at 12:28 PM
Awesome, you've already gotten me tons of deals. Hope you can help many other Canadians with this now even bigger audience!!
Posted by: Sally | 01/19/2011 at 12:22 PM
Way to go Chris - love the info and hope to be able to participate in some of these great deals. A great read, even if I haven't been able to go YET!!!!
It is fun to see the YQR deals.
Posted by: Mardy | 01/19/2011 at 11:20 AM
Great Blog..Congrats on your new job..Finding travel deals is my passion as well. Many of my friends and I are able to leave at the drop of a hat as they say....so we love finding great deals! Keep up the good work..
Posted by: Jodi Graham | 01/19/2011 at 09:28 AM
Great!!! Really glad you got to have the chance to spread the joy and fun of travelling at very low prices to an even greater number of people. Keep up the good work! Looking forward to see what will come next for you and for your suprise deals in 2011!
Posted by: Martine Tremblay | 01/19/2011 at 09:27 AM
Chris congraulations on the new job. Been a big fan and proud to say follow you on facebook on the first yycdeal group and the first yegdeal group. Have used your deals twice would have used all of them if I had vacation days left lol.
Cheers thanks for all the help and look forward to more of the deals you find.
Posted by: Kevin Lee | 01/19/2011 at 01:16 AM
Congratulations Chris!! Im a follower of the YYC deals and always look forward to see what new deal you have for us. Thanks and good luck :)
Posted by: lolita | 01/19/2011 at 12:52 AM
hey Chris,
Nice to see you getting rewarded for your passion. I have been looking out for deals at calgarypuck since you started. keep up the good work.
Posted by: Asif | 01/18/2011 at 11:52 PM
Hey Chris, I follow YEG deals, and I'm always amazed by them. Good luck with the new job, and THANKS!
Posted by: Jessica | 01/18/2011 at 11:42 PM
I am excited to be a new follower- waiting to see the great deals!
Posted by: MLHOLLE | 01/18/2011 at 10:47 PM
I am amazed by the deals you find! I'll be watching your blog for sure! Good luck!
Posted by: Jen MacKay | 01/18/2011 at 10:42 PM
Chris, Excellent job! I too am a TRAVEL junkie....and by far I cannot find the deals that you find. I too booked a trip to Vegas for $ 13 Total in December. I have also taken adventage of Ixtapa $ 49 each way, Palm Springs and Vegas out of Great Falls, Kalispell. Keep up the great work....this will mean quicker to the jump for YYC people.
Posted by: Karyn Knapp | 01/18/2011 at 10:21 PM
Congratulations! Wishing you all the best!
I am one of the Vegas people and I just loved the trip!! Thanks!!
Posted by: Kim | 01/18/2011 at 08:49 PM
Awesome job! Your deals and input are greatly appreciated in Calgary and will be in the rest of Canada as well. Keep it up!!
Posted by: Scott | 01/18/2011 at 08:35 PM
Congratulations Chris. They could not have picked a more qualified person for the job.
Posted by: Brad Penner | 01/18/2011 at 08:12 PM
your travels through life certainly have brought you to some amazing adventures.
Congrats.
Maria
Posted by: Maria | 01/18/2011 at 07:38 PM
Well, they were smart in getting you!
Posted by: Nora | 01/18/2011 at 07:02 PM
Congratulations on your new job, you deserve it. I've really benefited from your hard work from both the Spain and Vegas deals as well as you cut my trip to Dallas this past summer in half with another of your finds.
Posted by: Ryan | 01/18/2011 at 07:00 PM
The perfect person for the perfect job! Congrats!
Posted by: Lesley D. | 01/18/2011 at 06:59 PM
Chris,
You do a great job! I was one of your followers that jumped in on the Vegas fiasco! Thanks to you, I plan on taking many more spontaneous and random trips in 2011. I had no idea travel could be so cheap!
Many thanks!
Posted by: Jill | 01/18/2011 at 06:53 PM
Glad the best voice out there has found a bigger box! I look forward to the day that we start seeing your posts not just here on Sympatico, but in the Globe & Mail or maybe even on the nightly news!
Good luck (though you don't need it!) and I look forward to each post (as always) with the anticipation of another great deal!!!
Posted by: Tony W. | 01/18/2011 at 06:44 PM
Chris,
Don't know if you're going to be any sort of advocate but one thing that really sticks in my craw is that to get to Europe and other points east we have to travel to the center of the universe (TO) and then you end up flying over you originating airport 8 hours later. I have heard that Toronto has some of the highest airport taxes in the world which I would not have to pay if they would have aircraft that departed from eastern Canada. Also the airlines make me pay extra costs for fuel prices for luggage etc. yet it is not me that wants to travel from St John's to Toronto to London. St John's to Europe non stop is only available for a short season and in my opinion Air Canada will only be flying the route until they put the other companies out of business and then we won't even have that option. Airlines should fly to Europe without going thru TO. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to vent.
Posted by: Twillingate NL | 01/18/2011 at 06:36 PM
Congratulations, looking forward to your next blog
Posted by: Debbie Williams | 01/18/2011 at 06:27 PM
Can't wait to see what deals you find next and to continue reading your blog
Posted by: Susan | 01/18/2011 at 06:20 PM
Great job Chris, You've already saved me lots of travel dollars. Looking forward to your blog!
Posted by: Tedinhfx | 01/18/2011 at 06:19 PM
You have def picked the right person for the job. So Chris I am going to San Diego on April 26 to may 2 got any flight deals for me. :)
Posted by: jennifer | 01/18/2011 at 06:14 PM
Chris, thanks so much!!! I recently found you on Twitter, and am now keeping my eyes open and hoping for a last-minute deal for us students who can only get away between Feb19-27 to ANYWHERE warm. :)
All the best! I hope this position opens many doors for you.
Posted by: Mariya | 01/18/2011 at 06:10 PM
Congrats for your new job! This is so well deserve, you work hard for all of us.
Thanks by the way!
Posted by: Caroline | 01/18/2011 at 06:09 PM
Very well written, can't wait to read more!
Posted by: Jenn D | 01/18/2011 at 06:08 PM
Very impressive! Congrats on the new job and can't wait to hear about more travel deals and read more blogs!
Posted by: Janelle | 01/18/2011 at 05:31 PM
Nice job Chris! Nice to see someone take what they have a real passion for and expand it the way you have.
I've been following you for for almost a year now and you have some pretty great deals!
Good luck in your new position and lets hope it opens many more doors - for both you and your readers!
Posted by: Rob | 01/18/2011 at 05:21 PM
Chris-I rely on your travel advice before booking anything. I can't believe I missed that Vegas deal! I will be watching even more carefully now. Keep up the fabulous work!
Posted by: Stephanie | 01/18/2011 at 05:10 PM
Wow, totally awesome. Congrats on your new job. Can't wait to stalk your new blog:)
Posted by: Rita | 01/18/2011 at 05:09 PM