Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
lowing Wednesday. Mark had accumulated enough frequent-flier miles through traveling
for work that they would be able to upgrade to business class using his miles together with
an additional fee. Everything was lined up, but as they sat there together, ready to commit
to the trip they had been planning for months, Mark was getting cold feet
.
The biggest decision you'll make in planning your trip is the decision to buy your plane
tickets. Once your tickets are bought, the rest of your plans will begin to fall into place and
your trip will become sure to happen. For this reason it's not unusual for last-second doubts
to appear just before the plane tickets are purchased. In order to help allay some of these
potential psychological concerns, let's start with a discussion of how to find quality tickets.
Once you're confident that the tickets you're about to buy are really the tickets you want,
it'll become easier to make the commitment to move forward.
For starters, the
Travel Every Day
approach is best suited to purchasing tickets far
in advance. This fact means that finding a low price, while important, is not the only con-
sideration. You're planning a trip of a lifetime, so your comfort and convenience should
be valued just as highly as price when tickets are purchased—if need be, the costs of your
trip can just be distributed over a longer time period. For instance, suppose one itinerary
involves a direct flight leaving in the late afternoon and returning in the midmorning, while
a second involves multiple stopovers and connections. Even if the second itinerary is sev-
eral hundred dollars cheaper, the extra energy and time spent in transit, together with the
possibility of a missed connection and increased probability of lost luggage, may make the
first itinerary a better choice for you even if it means delaying your trip by a few months
to allow more time for your savings to accumulate. From the standpoint of enjoying your
trip as fully as possible, I recommend making your travel as comfortable and convenient
as possible. So with comfort and convenience in mind, here are some recommendations for
booking your flights:
1.
Determine if off-peak times of the year will be just as enjoyable as peak
tourist times. This information can typically be obtained from guidebooks
or on the Internet. Sometimes off-peak times are actually preferable, as they
allow you a chance to see your destination in more of an everyday light, in-
stead of when it is overrun with tourists. For instance, my wife and I once
took a trip to Milan and Venice for Christmas and New Year's. It was a great
