So, the deed is done! Our flights are booked and my VISA's taken a bit of a hit, but not as steep as it was going to be. Can you say the magic words, "Seat sale?"
Air Canada, in their infinite wisdom, popped a fabulous seat sale on their website about 10:30 P.M. tonight. I was browsing, watching and voila! There it was. So, a day flight to London from Toronto makes me the happiest camper in the campground.
Day flights...why, oh why, are they almost non-existent? Night flights simply can't be good for the constitution, at least they aren't for mine. No matter, I have a couple of the little darlings booked for my granddaughter and myself!
It's very late and I'm sorely in need of sleep, but this is a fantastic reason for staying up so late! I've just sent an email to Barb, so she will know that we are invading her home in July. I also hope there will be time for a GTG while we are in London. My granddaughter cannot believe that I have lunch in all corners of the world with folks I meet on the INTERNET, of all things! We'll have to show up in goth clothing, carrying axes and wearing a stack of fake tattoos, just to prove her right.
"This year, the airlines will carry a record 143 million passengers, who will be in the air for 382 million hours, during which they will be fed an estimated total of four peanuts. ~ Dave Barry Brenda
For us, getting our plane tickets makes the trip real and soon. We usually book our apartment months in advance and get the plane tickets two months before the trip.
Hope to see you in Paris. We leave a month from tomorrow.
Posts: 444 | Location: back home in san francisco but so excited about being in Venezia for the holidays!! | Registered: 22 April 2005
My granddaughter cannot believe that I have lunch in all corners of the world with folks I meet on the INTERNET, of all things! We'll have to show up in goth clothing, carrying axes and wearing a stack of fake tattoos, just to prove her right.
My daughters made have made great fun out of me going to GTGs, saying that they get it drummed into them at school about not meeting up with people from the internet, then Mother goes off and does just that !
Hope I do get a chance to meet up with you in the summer- I'll be wearing the chains and leather (multiple face piercings) and my green hair will be quite easy to spot.... .
Posts: 879 | Location: London, UK | Registered: 20 September 2006
just travel, That's how I plan a trip, also. The accommodation's first, months and months before I leave. Then, I start being a hawk watching for seat sales. Usually, there are sales on close to midnight, and this last one I caught, as I was about to shut the computer down for the night...then I tried just ONE more time, and there it was!
Panda, Maria...let's tattoo ourselves with fakey-bakey ones, just for TiaD! She'd laugh a lot! Amazing how our kids, and grandkids, are so protective. I love it, actually.
Bea, Thank you so much! You are so right...add up a trip and it's heaven. That is so true!
"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money." ~ Susan Heller Brenda
Originally posted by BGE: Panda, Maria...let's tattoo ourselves with fakey-bakey ones, just for TiaD! She'd laugh a lot! Amazing how our kids, and grandkids, are so protective. I love it, actually.
I'm serious though I'm thinking my left arm/wrist, on the underside. Kim had one done to represent both of us -- a ying/yang for me, with a dolphin on each side inside for her. So now I need to get the same one!
Day flights are few because of a thing called the diurnal rythym. Basically most people want to land at a time when there is an awake civilisation at their landing point. To make this work aircraft tend to leave the UK in the afternoon which gets them to the US/Canada early evening. In the other direction leaving late afternoon gets you in the UK first thing in the morning.
Other factors are airports shut at night so the locals can get some sleep.
Finally its safer. There is no radar coverage across the Atlantic so its safer from an Air Traffic Control viewpoint if everybody is going in the same direction. Basically its set up so that if our (or the Canadian) Oceanic centre were to go completely offline then all the aircraft over the Atlantic would be safe until they crossed the ocean and passed into radar controllers airspace. That gets so much more risky if you have aircraft going in different directions.
Originally posted by BGE: just travel, That's how I plan a trip, also. The accommodation's first, months and months before I leave. Then, I start being a hawk watching for seat sales. Usually, there are sales on close to midnight, and this last one I caught, as I was about to shut the computer down for the night...then I tried just ONE more time, and there it was!
Panda, Maria...let's tattoo ourselves with fakey-bakey ones, just for TiaD! She'd laugh a lot! Amazing how our kids, and grandkids, are so protective. I love it, actually.
Bea, Thank you so much! You are so right...add up a trip and it's heaven. That is so true!
"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money." ~ Susan Heller Brenda
I hear this all the time people booking their accomodation first then the flights and this doesn't make sense to me, I could totally be missing something though ...I always get the flights first because then I know exactly what day I am arriving in a country and what day I am leaving.
If I did the accomodation first and couldn't find a reasonable air fare for those dates then I would have to cancel my accomodation. Which is a pain and if you rent an apartment that can be a bigger hassle especially if you have sent off a deposit.
Does that makes sense?
Posts: 1298 | Location: Seattle - next is Isla Mujeres,MX in December, then its Paris in March, then hopefully England! | Registered: 02 May 2005
I hear this all the time people booking their accomodation first then the flights and this doesn't make sense to me, I could totally be missing something though ...I always get the flights first because then I know exactly what day I am arriving in a country and what day I am leaving.
If I did the accomodation first and couldn't find a reasonable air fare for those dates then I would have to cancel my accomodation.
I figure that there are more flights than desirable rental, hence book the rental first.
Also, we tend to spend a long time in one place (3 months in Paris starting last week of April and then 3 months in Venice starting the last week of October), and getting the same apartment available for at least a month at a time is not very easy. A week stay is not too hard to come by but long rentals..... We booked our Paris apartment 15 months ahead and our Venice apartment 10 months ahead.
We were actually thinking of going back to Paris in October instead of Venice but the apartment that we wanted to book was already booked part of the time we wanted when we asked last January. But it all worked out since we really wanted to go to Venice but at first having a hard time finding an acceptable apartment at the right price in Venice.
Another reason for us - we have a friend who works in one of the big airlines and can get us tickets at a discount which are usually not available until 2 to 3 months before the flight.
Posts: 444 | Location: back home in san francisco but so excited about being in Venezia for the holidays!! | Registered: 22 April 2005
Well yes I can understand booking accomodation before when you are staying three months...you have a lot more leeway when booking your flights. Not quite the same thing when your staying only a week or two though..
Let's just say you only have one week in Paris and you book your apartment. Then you look for flights and the cheapest fare does not coincide with your apartment rental dates. I don't know about everyone else but I need to find the cheapest fare possible when traveling or I don't go.
Posts: 1298 | Location: Seattle - next is Isla Mujeres,MX in December, then its Paris in March, then hopefully England! | Registered: 02 May 2005
Day flights are few because of a thing called the diurnal rythym.
CTD, I didn't know anything about diurinal rythms! Thanks for explaining. I didn't know about the safety factor, either. I carry a pilot's license and I know eastbound and westbound are given different flying altitudes to avoid each other. Is it a different flight rule when crossing the ocean or when going international?
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I hear this all the time people booking their accommodation first then the flights and this doesn't make sense to me, I could totally be missing something though...I always get the flights first because then I know exactly what day I am arriving in a country and what day I am leaving.
For me, the accommodation is a top priority, and I care more about where I am staying than about the flight details. So, accommodation gets booked first and then I book the flights around the accommodation rental dates.
There is rarely a variance, but if there was, I'd book a hotel at my destination for a few days, stop somewhere else along the way for a day or two, or otherwise take care of the difference in arrival date and accommodation date.
I think our trip this year is the first time in years of traveling when I've actually had to stay for a few days somewhere else besides my rental apartment, and this is only because I'm choosing to fly into London to get the lovely day flight, rather than taking a night flight to Paris and arriving a total wreck for the rest of the week. I could have booked a night flight to Paris with no trouble any day of the week. So, it's not been an issue for me, but if it were, I'd just stay somewhere until the rental date arrived, and that would give me the accommodation I want.
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How exciting! Where will y'all be staying and how long will you be there? I am crazy enough to enjoy an overnight flight. I hate the feeling that I am wasting a day in the air. I sleep - then wake up ready to go.
Oh, how I wish, Sandi! On a night flight, I do not sleep at all, so I arrive feeling like total crap and I'm a complete vegetable for the first 3 - 4 days, before I finally surface back into normal.
I can lose up to 5 days with serious jetlag after I arrive from a night flight with no sleep, and not a dainty little ladylike jetlag, but a full-on major crash. I just don't function for a few days, and then the last 1 or 2 days before 'normal' finally sets in consists of me being awake for 4 - 5 hours, then take a nap for 2 hours, then stir and repeat.
I'm hoping the day flight will bring me a less harsh case of that dreadful stuff. I hate 'wasting' those days recouperating and trying to get back into step with the rest of my world.
I also need to get the cheapest fare possible, and so far, luck's been smiling down on me when it comes to booking flights after booking the rental accommodation, I think. There are usually seat sales and I seem to be able to find them most times, by checking daily/nightly on the websites for Air Canada and other airlines that fly from here to there.
So, we're totally stoked about this trip! The grand-darling is as excited as can be and working her little butt off at a couple of after-school jobs to earn her airfare and spending money. I'm a great grandmother, but I'm not that great...she has to pay for her own airfare and also make sure she has plenty of spending money along for the trip.
Thanks for all of your advice and feedback ...I couldn't do this without you!
"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another." ~ Luciano de Crescenzo Brenda
Slow Travel Talk 
...I always get the flights first because then I know exactly what day I am arriving in a country and what day I am leaving. 
...I couldn't do this without you! 
