So I have this brand new job. I am pretty stoked because although it does not pay as much as I had hoped, it comes with more than five weeks off; 3 weeks vacation, 4 personal days, 9 Federal holidays, and the week between Christmas and New Years, all paid. That makes up for the salary being SLIGHTLY less than I wanted.
So with the coming holiday break, I am finding myself with ten days off and pondering a last-minute vacation. I know that travel during the holidays is expensive, but I have also seen a few deals out there which are a little enticing.
I am in San Francisco and the best deal I have found to Europe is under $1k to Barcelona or Athens. Scandinavian airlines has some good deals out of JFK, but I will spend as much getting to New York as I will getting to Europe. Japan is a little more than a thousand… Mexico City isn’t bad at $670, but I thought I would put it out there that maybe some others on the board might know of some last-minute trips.
If I were in SF, I’d consider going to Hawaii. How are the airfares to Honolulu?
Was going to take a trip to London, but I’d given up because of the high airfares, but then late one night I discovered the Package Deals (on Priceline and Orbitz… and maybe others). Airfare and hotel for basically the regular price of the hotel. Woke my wife up to tell her about the trip to London (that she never thought would happen).
Also booked a last-minute family trip to Mexico the same way (London was Priceline, Mexico was Orbitz). We thought we were going on a short trip to Florida, but a week on the Pacific was the same price!
But, y’know, if I could go to one city… it’d be San Francisco. YMMV
I meant to state up front that those prices I quoted came from Travelzoo, Kayak, and Travelocity so I already had knowledge of those sites.
It was just that in the olden days, travel agents were made privy to deals that would often not get publicized on the 'net and that was what I was hoping to find.
Digs, sadly it costs more to go to Hawaii (especially during Christmas) than it does to go to Europe – mostly because there are less viable airports and a smaller clientele using it as a destination. From San Francisco, I would spend less money getting to and staying in Europe than I would going to Hawaii…
Sorry that Hawaii’s out. We ended up in Puerto Vallarta (after talking to an Orbitz agent at the cust. service number – he ended up being the best travel agent I’ve ever dealt with, and warned us about one of their hotels that had a mold problem!). Do check the package deals.
