The Best Laid Plans...

[tardis]

I recently moved to Vancouver for a co-op and decided to travel to San Francisco.  I usually live on the other side of the continent, so this is quite an event, as I otherwise wouldn't be able to justify going.  I worked hard to find the cheapest flights, and after discussion with several people decided to leave really early the day of instead of leaving the night before to keep from paying for a bed for another night while still getting the most time there.  I didn't once think about whether transit in this city ran at 4am.  The subway here is computerized and doesn't even have drivers for goodness sake.  Lo and behold, I have to book a ride to the airport which will cost the same as a hostel and 10% of the plane ticket.  Argh...  I feel like such an idiot.  I could have left the night before, gotten in around midnight, woken up early and had another half day on a full night's sleep for the same price. Live and learn I guess.

I just needed to vent, so thanks for listening.  :)  Anyone else have a similar story who wants to commiserate?

[11ducks]

Aah, those times when you try to save and it backfires.

It was recently my sisters birthday. She is allergic to eggs. For the party,
I volunteered to bring the cake. Considered buying a fancy premade egg-free one ($25) but decided that was too expensive and to make it myself. Could not for the life of me find the egg replacement stuff at the grocery store, so started a series of experiments to make an egg free cake. I had about 6 tries, all abject failures. Ended up wasting $15 on ingredients, and then buying the $25 cake last minute after all. Grrr. 

[Retired To Win]

Tardis, don't face punch yourself too hard.  You did the smart thing (except for checking on public transit schedules).  It just did not work out.   Just learn from the experience.

Go enjoy your day.

[2ndTimer]

15 minutes of beating your head against the wall is allowed.  Then promise yourself that next time you will check this.  Ok, now it's a sunk cost.  Move on.

[mathlete]

GF and I were planning a trip for this July and we had cheap plane tickets in the cart ready to go but we decided to try looking around through other booking services to combine flight and hotel to save. A few days later the plane tickets shot up in price :(

A few days later they shot up again :(

We actually ended up with a deal that worked out reasonably well though. Even though it worked out, I probably would have rather just booked immediately at a price I felt good about instead of having it up in the air for so long.

When planning another trip for this May though, I saw round trip tickets for $100 a piece and jumped on them that day. Lesson learned.

[Retired To Win]

GF and I were planning a trip for this July and we had cheap plane tickets in the cart ready to go but we decided to try looking around through other booking services to combine flight and hotel to save. A few days later the plane tickets shot up in price :(

A few days later they shot up again :(

We actually ended up with a deal that worked out reasonably well though. Even though it worked out, I probably would have rather just booked immediately at a price I felt good about instead of having it up in the air for so long.

When planning another trip for this May though, I saw round trip tickets for $100 a piece and jumped on them that day. Lesson learned.

So... I guess market timing doesn't work there either.

[Retire-Canada]

GF and I were planning a trip for this July and we had cheap plane tickets in the cart ready to go but we decided to try looking around through other booking services to combine flight and hotel to save. A few days later the plane tickets shot up in price :(

A few days later they shot up again :(

Happened to me as well. I had mentally packed my bags for a fishing trip to the Bahamas when I waited too long to buy the tickets and the cost went through the roof.

-- Vik

[Dicey]

I recently moved to Vancouver for a co-op and decided to travel to San Francisco.  I usually live on the other side of the continent, so this is quite an event, as I otherwise wouldn't be able to justify going.  I worked hard to find the cheapest flights, and after discussion with several people decided to leave really early the day of instead of leaving the night before to keep from paying for a bed for another night while still getting the most time there.  I didn't once think about whether transit in this city ran at 4am.  The subway here is computerized and doesn't even have drivers for goodness sake.  Lo and behold, I have to book a ride to the airport which will cost the same as a hostel and 10% of the plane ticket.  Argh...  I feel like such an idiot.  I could have left the night before, gotten in around midnight, woken up early and had another half day on a full night's sleep for the same price. Live and learn I guess.

I just needed to vent, so thanks for listening.  :)  Anyone else have a similar story who wants to commiserate?

More details, please. What time is your flight? How long will you be staying? Where will you be coming from?

BART does start at 4am, so there might be workarounds. There are a number of mustachians who live in the City, so someone will surely have a trick or two up their sleeve.

[nancyjnelson]

If you use online services to search for and book airline travel, make sure you clear the cookies off your computer between one day and the next.  If you don't - and you do the same exact search - the service recognizes that you want a specific travel route and will delete the cheapest option/s, giving you the impression that the tickets are being scarfed up and tricking you into buying at a higher price.  Always, always clear your cookies.

[tardis]

Well, now I can't find the $200 US I put aside in the special bank envelope that looks exactly like a receipt.... I have this awful feeling it is no longer in my apartment anywhere but can't think of where I might have lost it.  That is something that will NOT happen again.  Delta also tried to put me on standby due to their overbooking, but 20 minutes on the phone later that at least is resolved.   This trip is not off to a great start.  This is my first significant trip I've single handedly planned from start to finish, so I'm going to chalk all of this up to a learning experience and get on with life.  The weather's supposed to be great, I will be drawing and walking all day, and I will convince myself that the actual visit is going to be awesome.

Thank you again everyone for listening (and responding!) to my whining.

So... I guess market timing doesn't work there either.

:D

@DianeC:  It's the Vancouver end of things that aren't up until 5.  Thank you for thinking of how to make things work though!  I will be in from Friday to Monday this weekend, and any suggestions are welcome!

@nancyjnelson:  Great point.  I know Flighthub and Flightnetwork do just that.  I'm not sure if incognito mode in chrome helps at all, but I always do that too as I imagine it can't hurt.

@11Ducks:  I've done that a few times.  I tell myself I didn't just make a failed cakes and so forth, I learned quite a bit from it as well, which will make any future cakes more likely to be successful thereby justifying the experiment.  Or maybe I just think about it too much, haha.

[tardis]

Hallelujah- found the money!

[pbkmaine]

For future cakes for your egg-free relative, Google "wacky cake".

[gimp]

Enjoy SF. Wander the town. There are some fabulous places - museums, parks, structures; yeah, even bars. Academy of sciences, some sort of garden whose name I forget, twin peaks, the golden gate bridge, the beach on the pacific. If you wander after dark, keep an eye out - the tenderloin is literally intertwined with downtown; a block over from hustling bustling lights might have some unfriendly folk. I've never had any trouble but it's good to know.

[Retired To Win]

If you use online services to search for and book airline travel, make sure you clear the cookies off your computer between one day and the next.  If you don't -- and you do the same exact search -- the service recognizes that you want a specific travel route and will delete the cheapest option/s, giving you the impression that the tickets are being scarfed up and tricking you into buying at a higher price.  Always, always clear your cookies.

That is one nasty trick.  I'll make sure to remember to clear the cookies.  Thanks.