Dream Travel

I dreamed that my sister and I were meeting in Amsterdam for a few days, the first half of our vaca, before flying on to South Africa, the second half.

WHY South Africa? Beats the ever livin’ fuck outta me. I’ve never been there nor is it likely I’ll get there anytime soon. Why? At the top of my Gotta Get To Next list is Barcelona (Gaudi’s buildings!), Vienna (MUST show Jen the amazing museums there!) and Reykjavik (the Blue Lagoon dammit!).

On KLM, Boston to Johannesburg is a surprising $787.

Meanwhile, a round trip flight to see my cousin Della in Berlin (which is approximately 9,000 miles closer to Boston than Johannesburg) would cost around $700. AND, if I want to go visit my niece Maya in Edinburgh – 700 miles closer than Berlin – I’m gonna be shelling out around 800 clams. Yeah, this all makes sense. //snort//

WHEN did flights get so damn expensive – too expensive for my meager budget?

Is there a way around this?

I totes know that flying out and back mid week and staying over a weekend, means lower prices. As does traveling in low season (November through March).

Anything else?.

Airlines post fare sales on Tuesday mornings and by the afternoon, other airlines will compete by lowering prices. (source)

Huh, didn’t know that. OK.

I plugged How can I find cheap flights to Europe into Google and found Nomadic Matt’s post How to Find a Cheap Flight. He had some interesting and surprising tidbits and suggestions.

Whenever most Americans do a Web search for airline tickets, they use Expedia or Orbitz. These sites either work with or are owned by the airline companies and don’t offer unbiased fares. You need to search as many flight search websites as you can in order to ensure you are leaving no stone unturned. Moreover, many sites don’t list budget carriers because those airlines don’t want to pay a booking commission.

Of course!

He also notes that:

The best booking window is six to eight weeks before your flight, or around three months before if you are going to your destination during peak season.

Clearly, before the next big vaca, I’ll need to do grand mas research.

Meanwhile, back in the dream – I fell asleep in Amsterdam and woke up in Copenhagen. Neat trick, eh?