Anyone got any travel planned?

[6miths]

At ClubMed Ixtapa this week. Beautiful weather, great surf, and tennis. Living the dream. Sweet!

 

[audreyh1]

I used Farelock to hold our flight reservations for a week. I've been trying to get past some scheduled medical tests (one for each of us), and problems aren't expected, but I hate to commit 100% until we're past that.

Wow - flights total dropped $324 today! Glad I bought a Farelock and could cancel.

I'm used to fare prices being low on Tuesday and popping up higher on Wednesday, not the other way around!!!

 

[Lsbcal]

Wow - flights total dropped $324 today! Glad I bought a Farelock and could cancel.

I'm used to fare prices being low on Tuesday and popping up higher on Wednesday, not the other way around!!!

Great! I've never done such a thing. Do you only use it in extenuating circumstances? Seems when I have checked, fares don't vary much in a short period of time. But we don't fly that much.

 

[audreyh1]

Great! I've never done such a thing. Do you only use it in extenuating circumstances? Seems when I have checked, fares don't vary much in a short period of time. But we don't fly that much.

This is the first time I've used Farelock, and I decided to use it because I'd selected the flights we wanted and I'd seen the prices creeping up. I didn't expect the prices to drop because we are now less than 2 months out. They had already jumped up quite a bit from Feb 1.

It's hard to know whether to treat a Hawaii flight like international or domestic. A domestic US flight you can usually still get good prices if you are about a month out, but at 21 days they disappear. Getting close to 21 days on busy flights and choice seats start getting taken. Hawaii I think people make plans more in advance. In fact - the hotels had options disappearing this week, so they were getting booked up.

But I mainly used Farelock because we had a couple of things to get past before we totally committed to this trip, so I thought the $18 insurance worth it. Everything else we can easily cancel for full refund.

Today's drop was a big surprise, and I think it happened in the afternoon. I'm used to higher prices on Fridays and weekends, then dropping Tuesday for mid week. But once I saw a $100 per ticket jump from Tues to Wed, and I was so glad I had already booked the ticket on the Tues.

Yes fares can vary several hundred dollars in just a few days.

 

[audreyh1]

Great! I've never done such a thing. Do you only use it in extenuating circumstances? Seems when I have checked, fares don't vary much in a short period of time. But we don't fly that much.

Last night I found Yapta.com for monitoring a specific flight, and getting emails with major price changes. They'll even graph it for you. That's the only site (besides Google) that can handle multi-city as well as a specific flight.

Google Now can also handle this I think, but I have to download too much of their infrastructure onto my iPad to enable this feature. Only available on android or iOS, not just a web page.

 

[Fedup]

Jan and Feb, a few airlines I've checked in the last few years have sale. Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines, IIRC. I've seen it as low as $169 one way from Northern California to Hawaii. Direct flight from Oakland and San Jose sometimes.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[explanade]

30 hours from Amsterdam on the return? That's like 3 times the duration on a direct flight, depending on whether you're returning to the east coast or the west coast.

How much more would a ticket with more sane durations cost?

 

[martyp]

I am currently in Myanmar. My last day. Tomorrow I fly to Bangkok. What a fabulous trip. Two days in Yangon. Three days in Bagan. A day by boat up the Irrawaddy to Mandalay. Three days in Mandalay.




Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Sarah in SC]

Beautiful, Marty! What a great trip! Love this photo, too. Thanks!

 

[pacergal]

just started planning a trip to Oahu and Hawaii for later this year, after we are both done with work. Haven't been there for about 10 years. Retirement celebration for us!

 

[bizlady]

If renting a car-I just found this for scouring lower car rentals. It looks for coupons and rate drops and rebooks you- at no charge. Reviews are decent.
https://www.autoslash.com/


UPDATE- so 5 minutes after I registered my rental, I received a lower quote and saved $238. I was shown the rate, got the same type of vehicle, and all my details were in place. LOVE THIS!

 

[capjak]

If renting a car-I just found this for scouring lower car rentals. It looks for coupons and rate drops and rebooks you- at no charge. Reviews are decent.
https://www.autoslash.com/


UPDATE- so 5 minutes after I registered my rental, I received a lower quote and saved $238. I was shown the rate, got the same type of vehicle, and all my details were in place. LOVE THIS!

I use this site all the time autoslash.com is great.

 

[DrRoy]

Just got back from a couple days on Puerto Rico and a week cruise on the Celebrity Summit with DW and her sisters & spouses. Note - Arecibo Observatory is closed until May, and the bioluminescent bay is weak due to El Nino. On the cruise we hit Tortola, Martinique, Dominica, St. Kitts, and St. Thomas. Weather was mixed but we saw lots of sperm whales!

 

[audreyh1]

just started planning a trip to Oahu and Hawaii for later this year, after we are both done with work. Haven't been there for about 10 years. Retirement celebration for us!

Just keep an eye out on the status of the Dengue fever outbreak on Hawaii (the Big Island). I hope they eradicate it soon.

 

[Bamaman]

Just got back from a couple days on Puerto Rico and a week cruise on the Celebrity Summit with DW and her sisters & spouses. Note - Arecibo Observatory is closed until May, and the bioluminescent bay is weak due to El Nino. On the cruise we hit Tortola, Martinique, Dominica, St. Kitts, and St. Thomas. Weather was mixed but we saw lots of sperm whales!

In the Caribbean, the cruises out of San Juan are the best. You can be sitting at a new island every morning virtually. And it gives you a chance coming or going at spend a couple of days in Puerto Rico.

 

[Fedup]

I was in the Big island Jan 2015, the vog was bad, and the water had funny taste. My husband vowed never to return there. But the fish and chips were awesome.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[unclemick]

Mission Texas - There's a top secret enclave of winter refugee's from Kansas City(all retired). Then on to Port Aransas in search of the elusive Whooping Crane.



heh heh heh - Family reunion this year is near Olympic National Park/ Forks Wa this summer. Last year was East Coast near Baltimore.

 

[audreyh1]

Mission Texas - There's a top secret enclave of winter refugee's from Kansas City(all retired). Then on to Port Aransas in search of the elusive Whooping Crane.



heh heh heh - Family reunion this year is near Olympic National Park/ Forks Wa this summer. Last year was East Coast near Baltimore.

Are you really in Mission? I'll go wave out the back door.

Great time to look for the Whooping Cranes. The boat trips to see them can be really good. They are spectacular.

 

[unclemick]

Are you really in Mission? I'll go wave out the back door.

Great time to look for the Whooping Cranes. The boat trips to see them can be really good. They are spectacular.

Not yet - next week if all goes well.

heh heh heh - getting a house ready for closing.

 

[jabbahop]

Club med Bahamas tomorrow. We have been there before and I like it for the food and because the island has a road (pretty rough) around he whole island that I can bike around. 34 miles per lap. It will be interesting to see how the road held up from the hurricane last year. Looking forward to a week of sun and warmth.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Sarah in SC]

Hey, so I'm trying to book DH for his trip in April to Morocco. I think a few of you folks have been there (rodi?). Any tips?

I think I've settled on using points to fly AA from CHS to MAD, then use one of the cheap lines to fly him to Marrakesh (RyanAir flies there, sadly, the super cheap Air Arabia only goes to Tangier).

But now that I know it is Marrakesh, and not Tangier or Casablanca, anyone have any ideas on what he should see in his few days around the mini-bike race, and most importantly, what he should buy me while he is there, for being The Best Wife in the World?

 

[Big_Hitter]

does going to Houston for a week count?

 

[audreyh1]

does going to Houston for a week count?

As long as you aren't visiting from Sugarland or Galveston or Conroe.

 

[Big_Hitter]

As long as you aren't visiting from Sugarland or Galveston or Conroe.

nope - coming from the pnw, technically...

 

[audreyh1]

nope - coming from the pnw, technically...

Well that's gotta count - it's a long way!