Travel Costs

Next month I will be visiting New York for my fourteen year old granddaughter’s Confirmation.  I plan to stay long enough to celebrate my youngest granddaughter’s first birthday.

Many people remark that they don’t understand how I can fly to the East Coast so frequently.  Actually, I visit there about two to three times a year.  Since I have children and grandchildren on both the East and West Coasts, I make it my business to see them all as much as possible.

The website, Wikipedia, states, “San Diego has on average 146 sunny days and 117 partly cloudy days a year. “  To avail myself of this good weather (no ice, no snow), I live in San Diego, California.  Thus, I unfortunately forgo the children’s birthdays, concerts, moving up ceremonies, and this year, my eldest grandson’s graduation from high school....sounds heartless, doesn’t it?  But I believe it’s better to have a grandma in good health, than not.

So far, I have been able to visit at least twice a year.  In order to accomplish this, I comb the Internet for good airline prices.  This year I joined Airfarewatchdog (http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/).  There was no fee to join.  However, this website is usually for someone who can pounce on the opportunity and buy immediately, or someone who has very fluid travel plans.  Since I plan my visits around an event in the family, it hasn’t proved useful to me.  I usually check out:
Cheapoair ( http://www.cheapoair.com/),
Orbitz ( http://www.orbitz.com ),
Travelocity ( http://www.travelocity.com ), and
Expedia ( http://www.expedia.com ), as well as the airlines’ websites.
Over the years, I’ve used them all.  And, I select flights with the most reasonable cost; that is, the most reasonable cost in my estimation.  I have never, so far, encountered any problems using these services. Though sometimes I have to fly into JFK, Albany, or North White Plains to get the lowest price.  My quest is to keep my ticket cost under $300.  My daughter in Queens, NY would love it if I flew into LaGuardia Airport (near her home), but flights into that airport are usually much more expensive.   Earlier this year, I used Southwest.  For an extra $10, you can get a “priority” number for boarding.  On Southwest, this is important since this airline doesn’t assign seats.  It was worth the $10.

Also, it pays to enlist help from people who are adept at finding good fares.  My daughters always notify their Queens NY sister when they are looking for flights because she is very good at it.  She has helped me a number of times.  Though in all fairness, my other daughters are getting much more adept at it. 

This time I picked Expedia because it advertised a $266 fare from San Diego to Newburgh, NY (an airport usually out of my price range).   After taxes, the complete cost is $328.80.  I’ll let you know how I make out.

Check out my photos at:
http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/PhotosbyCathi/Scenery  

Surprise Trips

I’ve always enjoyed showing up in New York without much notice. The surprise element is fun to plan.

Seven years ago, I really needed to be on two coasts at the same time. I always endeavor to be present at my grandchildrens’ reception of the Sacraments. That year, my youngest daughter was expecting her first child right around the time one of my grandchildren was receiving his First Holy Communion. I could not plan anything as I needed to be in San Diego for my daughter. The little girl was born on Wednesday about 7 pm. That evening I got a reservation on a Red-eye out of Los Angeles for Friday night. I drove to Los Angeles that evening and flew to JFK (New York City) arriving around 5AM. No one but my son in Los Angeles and my New York City daughter knew what I was up to. My daughter met me at JFK and drove me to Beacon, NY. As we were driving north, we planned how I was going to surprise the rest of the family. As she parked the car, I tip-toed up the porch steps to the front door and waited. Meanwhile, she ran to the back door and entered the house yelling there is someone at the front door. My son-in-law opened the door. He later told me that for him it was like seeing a ghost. My daughter ran past him, yelling to her sister (his wife) that she had to get out of the shower and come downstairs right away, which she did. It was such a great surprise. When the family was ready, we drove to the church where we saw my eldest daughter. She responded with a routine “hello” and then, at her sister’s beckoning, realized that I was sitting in the passenger seat. It was a great surprise.

I told the lady who does my hair. She told her mother, who lives in Mexico City. Inspired by my spontaneity, her mother flew one day to see her children in San Diego without telling them. She arrived at the airport and phoned one of her daughters. Unfortunately, she picked a time when they were at work. The poor woman sat at the Tijuana airport for hours until one of the children could come for her.

Four years ago I did it again for my eldest daughter’s birthday. Then, however, her husband and the sisters knew about it so I had a lot of help. I stayed out of the way until I went to the restaurant. It was so nice standing in a room full of people at her surprise party just waiting for her to reach where I was standing. She walked around the room talking to each of her friends and then, finally, recognized me.

In April of this year, I replayed the scenario for my Beacon daughter’s special birthday. This time, however, I flew to NY with no one meeting me. I arrived at JFK around 4pm, went to the baggage claim for my large suitcase. When I got that, I looked for the Air Train (a monorail) that would take me to the New York City subway system. I was loaded down with a small cosmetic bag that held a C-Pap, a big red suitcase, and a large model bag holding my “valuables.” I decided to take the “E” train and had to ask a lot of directions. I found everyone to be very helpful. It was quite a trek. My final destination was Grand Central Station on 42nd Street. I rode the “E” train until I reached 42nd street and Eighth Avenue. Then, I took another subway line which crosses the city from east to west to get to Grand Central Station. I purposely took the long way around because the larger stations usually have an elevator at train platforms.

I finally arrived at Grand Central at 6:30pm when I met my eldest daughter (a little worried, since she knew I landed at 4pm). We went into the restaurant where I surprised the birthday girl and my New York City daughter. It was another great surprise with the eruption of tears as well as hugs.

This fall, my surprise trip was to attend my daughter’s baby shower. Since we e-mailed daily, I made a big mistake. I forgot to make up an excuse as to why I wasn’t around to answer her e-mails and calls. You don’t do that to a pregnant woman. My bad….