Last week I did my "weekly" search of various places I'd like to go and Europe was on the list. Well, Europe and Hawaii. You see I have two upcoming tentative trips planned. Tentative, you wonder? The airlines have decided to raise ticket prices to ridiculous prices.
I know, I know, you want the details, don't you? I thought you did. The trips are Maui in March and Rome in June/July. Maui with two girlfriends, Staci and Kori. And that would be theeee Kori from Blonde Episodes. If you haven't checked out her blog you need to. The other trip is to Rome with my sister, Mel, to celebrate her 30th birthday! Can you say YES...I can! Mel thought it would be fun for a girl's "sister" trip and she picked Rome. So very awesome.
Let's put Maui aside for now... Currently, the tickets to Rome are absolutely ridiculously priced. Seriously, they really are ridiculous. Very, very, very ridiculously expensive. I'm sure you are wondering the price, correct? The price is $1,983.00 round trip and coach. I did find tickets slightly less than that at various times however, we'd have to go Phoenix to Canada to Rome. I was hoping to find tickets around $800 or less. Yes, I really was. I've seen them before but, obviously that's not the case right now.
You see the price for the trip per person is $1,500. And this trip would be a budget trip. Yes, it would be with Mel. Her shopping budget (if she chooses to) is NOT included in the trip budget. We are going to stay at bed and breakfast I stayed at before or an apartment rental at roomorama.com. Do you remember when I headed to the UK for Will and Kate's Royal Wedding? Well, I "stayed" at an apartment rental from roomorama then too. You can view that post here and here. I am determined to celebrate in style and in Rome for Mel's 30th... *fingers crossed* So, the plan is this: to "save" roughly $800 in my savings for any given time to purchase the ticket if the price is right. Mel and I discussed this "plan" over the weekend and we are in agreement. Also, if we can get the trip price to $1,000 my bro-in-law might come with us too! So, we will see.
Anyhow, this long story/update brings me to today...where are we escaping too? Well, my search last week led me to check several other cities as well at various dates to see "what" was the deal with the pricing... So, I checked Rome, Paris, London. And let me tell you I was shocked with my results. First, let me point out that I didn't realize that I didn't change the dates to next June. And by the way, I was thinking maybe the airline tickets were high to Europe because of the Olympics in London. So, yes, I was checking this out. Well, let's just say that I would be heading to London soon in my wallet allowed. Yes, know...you want details...
Drum roll, please. I was absolutely shocked to see a round trip to ticket to London for $638 round trip with taxes included to London. I literally was like "wow" out loud. I re-checked all the information to make sure I "typed" in the information correctly and realized that the dates were wrong and not for not June. I did them for next weekend well, this weekend. This was about 2 weeks ago. So, let's just say I could have flown to London this weekend leaving Phoenix on Friday afternoon at 1pm and heading back on Monday evening. A short and sweet trip yes but, it would have been so much fun! And what a deal price wise. Right? Right. The fun part is that I have a fellow classmate from ASU studying at Hult and she would have loved to get together and it would have been a blast as well. Oh, and I have another classmate their right now as well from high school. So, it would have made for a fun, fun weekend with old friends! The best kind. Anyhow, I'm sad to say that no I didn't buy the ticket but, I did consider it. Let's just say that if I would have had an extra $1,500 lying around I would have been going on a little holiday abroad.
I was pretty stoked to see this deal and it gave me hope for future fun trips and lower airfare for Mel's birthday trip. And let me just say that my girlfriend, Brenna, is down for a fun girl's weekend trip in January to London if the price is right and we will stay at an apartment rental at roomorama as well. Yes, I know London in January is going to be a tad bit cold but, so is Chicago sooo it really doesn't matter know does it? It's all about girlfriends and having fun on a budget!
So, there it is my trip updates. I have big, BIG plans for 2012. Stay tuned for more updates.