Help me attend my friend's wedding in Antigua, Guatemala

No, I’m not asking for donations (although if you feel you must , you can email me :slight_smile: ) , but am looking for the cheapest possible flight options to Guatemala City. I was looking on Travelocity and the fares have gone up since I last checked, starting at $500 roundtrip and rising precipitously. The wedding is on Sunday, June 27, with stuff planned as early as the Friday before and the Monday after, but the main events are on Saturday and Sunday. We’ll be departing from the Tampa Bay area, which means we could potentially fly out of Tampa, St. Pete/Clearwater, Orlando, or any place else I’ve not thought of semi-near there. We’ve even got my folks, the original selfish grandparents, to agree to watch the Shibblets for the (long) weekend. So any ideas on how to find a cheaper passage over? Short of acting as mules for the local drug cartels (if they have them) or joining some crazed right wing death squads?

Thanks! No idea too extreme (if they’re not serious, at least make them interesting!)

Shibb

The time we went to Guatemala(from Denver, in August), we paid almost as much as we would to go to Europe. I couldn’t understand why it was so expensive. Anyway, FWIW, I remember we were on Continental and were routed through Houston.
I checked the Continental website and it came up $577RT after taxes from Tampa to Guatemala City for your dates (connecting through Houston.)
Going from Orlando was the same.
This is actually cheaper than we paid, I think we paid almost $800 a ticket.

Try an ethnic travel agency in a nearby Hispanic neighborhood. They may have blocks of tickets and/or info on cheap charter flights. The ones near me advertise much cheaper fares than that, and we’re much farther away (Chicago). Good luck, and I’m jealous!

Also, if you’re willing to drive to Miami, I bet you can find even cheaper fares from there to pretty much anywhere in Latin America. Or are you willing to fly to somewhere ultra-cheap, like Cancun, and take a bus or something the rest of the way?

Both Travelocity and Expedia are showing $496RT Tampa>Guatemala City right now, departing June 24, returning June 29.
From Miami it was something like $344, if you feel like making the drive down there.

Miami->Guatemala City, June 25-June 28, I see fares of $344 (just stay away from the Taca flight that stops in Tegucigalpa - the landing is terrible).

$344 is not too bad. I also like the idea from Eva Luna, I’ll have to see if I can find some ethnic travel agencies in the area. I know that there are a lot more latino immigrants in the area lately, but not sure how many come from Guatemala. I also recall there being some kind of overnight ferry service from St. Pete to somewhere in the Yucatan, would it even be feasible to drive to Guatemala from Mexico (considering distance, border crossing, politics, etc)?

I don’t know too many specifics, but my mom once traveled really cheaply from Cancun to Belize by bus. There are long-haul buses which are actually pretty decent and comfortable. On the way back, they took a little prop plane to save time, but it was kind of a scary experience for Mom; I don’t know if you’re that adventurous, or what your time/money tradeoffs are.

Why don’t you try the boards at www.lonelyplanet.com? Lots of super-experienced budget travelers over there.