by "Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
Published 12/15/2017 at 19:31
by "Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
Published 12/15/2017 at 19:31
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STARS: 1
Being a recent transplant to the west coast, I will be experiencing the joy of traveling back home to the East Coast for Christmas. I did not book my flights until about a week ago so finding an affordable flight was going to be a pain at that point. Getting a flight from LAX to EWR round trip was well over $800-900 whereas I have paid on average in the $300 range other times. This called for some desperate measures using Google flights to come up with better options! This would require transporting myself to a further away airport but potentially yield several hundred dollars in savings.
What I ended up finding were direct flights from Las Vegas to Philadelphia on Spirit Airlines for $358, leaving Friday afternoon and returning Monday night. I have barely any vacation time since I took two weeks off to drive across the country so I was also restricted to the shortest window of staying on the east coast. This of course only has the issues though of how do I get to Las Vegas from Los Angeles and how do I get from Philadelphia to Central NJ.
Well there is no train to Vegas (because public transit is EVIL) but there are quite affordable busses! I had originally planned on driving but between gas and parking, that cost was already over $100 round trip and pretty close to just booking additional flights from LAX to LAS. Then I researched busses that don’t take a whole lot longer than driving and cost $30 each way, $60 round trip. Much better! I booked greyhound out of North Hollywood since there is a bus that goes straight from my apartment to that bus on a dedicated lane, kind of like a fake light rail.
The final part of my journey will be driving a rental car from PHL to go see family. I managed to find a deal with priceline for $148 through Alamo for the weekend. Considering when I was looking at flights into JFK and EWR and rentals there were $600+ for the same period, this seemed like an okay deal.
Overall I’m going to have to jump through A LOT of hoops and any sort of weather delays will really screw me up. But at least I’m not spending an arm and a leg to deal with it. For the future, my plan is definitely to just go home a different week. My family will be just as happy to see me in January instead! Hoping it goes smoothly enough but I won’t get my hopes up.
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
12/15/2017 at 20:02, STARS: 3
Just drive the Miata back.
Seriously though, in your shoes, I’d consider staying put and visiting the family in a more relaxed setting later on when prices are affordable. That’s what my wife is doing.
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
12/15/2017 at 20:04, STARS: 3
Seconded. Show up for Easter, being late is in fashion
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
12/15/2017 at 20:17, STARS: 1
Well yeah even like the following week is dirt cheap. That will be the plan for future years. But this one I just have to be there since I couldn’t plan ahead and had said I would be there.
And if I said I couldn’t afford it, I’m sure they would try to buy a flight for me. I don’t want that to happen so such is life.
"TorqueToYield" (torquetoyield)
12/15/2017 at 20:58, STARS: 0
Keep in mind Greyhound reservations aren’t really reservations - they don’t guarantee you a seat on that bus at that time. It’s a bit flying standby, all the seats are first come first serve and the ‘reservation’ while paying for the ticket doesn’t guarantee you a seat. Basically if it’s a busy time to travel make sure to show up early so you don’t miss your flight. An earlier bus will still honor your reservation.
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
12/15/2017 at 22:39, STARS: 0
Is the girlfriend coming with you? What are your plans for the holiday together. When my wife and I were dating early on, we both went to our respective families. Eventually that evolved into some elaborate compromises, but at least both were in the same state.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
12/15/2017 at 22:55, STARS: 0
Ahh good idea, I’ll make sure to show up early then! Does that apply to later buses too? Like if I miss the bus, can I just take the next one? I shouldn’t have any issues getting there early enough. Hoping it’s not too much of a shit show lol
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
12/15/2017 at 23:07, STARS: 1
Well both of our families are within an hour of each other. So we are both going to both. My family doesn’t really do anything special for the holidays but visiting my girlfriends family is more important since they get a lot more people together.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
12/16/2017 at 10:27, STARS: 0
Everyone is saying to time-shift, but learn from my mistakes. Check with everyone to see when they can take vacation. It sucks showing up and nobody can spend time with you because they are all at work.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
12/16/2017 at 20:01, STARS: 0
Well even coming for Christmas, the only way I can see people is on the weekend anyways. So that shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but thanks for the input I definitely will have to remember others schedules.