--Back when I worked for Big Movie I knew a guy who took his
family to Disney World every year, for a week.He’d buy a package deal that included airfare, hotel (in one
of the Disney properties), some kind of meal plan, and unrestricted
access to all the bemusement parks.
This sounded mighty expensive to me, so, lacking the tact of many
people, I said, “How much does all that cost ya?”
And his answer almost made me lose a rectal shelf.He said, and I didn’t know this dude to be a bullshitter or a
bragger, that it always runs him “just north of $10,000.”
Gulp.
Of course he’s a big-shot, and pulls down a handsome salary (with
one more digit than I’m accustomed to).And I have no doubt he stays in the best hotel, and has the
best meal plan, and all that.But
still… ten grand?Every
summer??
So, with that guy’s story in mind, I’m proud to tell you we spent
$5200 on our recent trip to England.
We saved money by booking it months in advance, and traveling at the
tail-end of the “off season.”If
we’d gone one week later, and had part of our stay bleed over into
April, it probably would’ve cost an extra $1500.
Yeah, we took a chance with the weather, and it wasn’t always the
greatest.But it was never bad
enough to slow us down. And it doesn’t look like it’s much better
right now…
We got our deal through British Airways, and it saved us big bucks.We’d signed up to receive email notifications from them,
about sales and special offers.And
it eventually paid off.
In August there was a one-week sale on travel to London, which made us start thinking
crazy thoughts.Book it by the
end of the week, and complete your travel before April, and they’d
deep-discount the airfare and hotel, and throw in a free 48-hour
familyLondonPass.
Toney did some research, and zeroed in a hotel in Kensington.And it just happened to be on British Airways’ list.So we hemmed and hawed, and finally pulled the trigger on the
final day of the sale.
The LondonPasswas worth hundreds of dollars.We got into Tower of Londonand the Churchill War Rooms, for
free.We took the so-called
cruise down the Thames and toured TowerBridge, for nothing.And we received 20% discounts on many of our meals.Tower of Londonalone would’ve cost about a
hundred bucks.
We also made a vow that we wouldn’t spend much on souvenirs.Our pictures and our memories will be what we take home with
us; that was our mantra.Of
course, we ended up buying the boys too much crapola.But Toney and I purchased very little (beyond beer).
So, our trip was built on a foundation of, um, thriftiness.But I never felt like we were cutting corners, or doing
without.Our days were
packed-full, our hotel was clean and quiet, and its location
couldn’t have been better.Plus,
they had Boddington’s on tap, in the bar downstairs.
Our biggest expenses, beyond the airfare and hotel, were the day
trips, and the airport transfer (which was convenient, but
crazy-expensive).If we’d
stayed in Londonthe whole time, and taken the
subway from Heathrow, we could’ve done it for even less.
Here’s how it broke down, roughly:
Airfare, hotel, LondonPass:$2400
Day-trippin’:$1000
Airport transfer:$250
Cash we took with us (and spent): $1000
Parking in Newark:$100 Miscellaneous
(credit card charges):$450
Londonis widely regarded as one of the
most expensive cities in the world, so I think we did pretty well.It was a week-long European vacation, for half of what my old
co-worker pays to visit Disney World.And
with the shitty exchange rate and everything, I consider it a complete
success.
We didn’t visit any museums, which some of Toney’s Pennsylvaniabuddies find shocking.But who wants to fly to another country, then walk around
inside a building looking at paintings?Not us.There’s a time
and place for everything, and this trip wasn’t for museums.
Another frequent question:Did
you ride the London
Eye?!No,
we didn’t.I’m not a huge
fan of heights, and it’s very expensive.I would’ve gone if the rest of the family had been especially
hot to do it, but I couldn’t sense much of a passion one way or the
other.So, screw it.
And (as Brenda reminds me) I didn’t visit any record stores.Toney HATES when I go into one of those places, lapse into a
trance, and flip through hundreds and hundreds of CDs.So, I suspected it might be a long-shot.But I didn’t even see any interesting stores.We passed several HMVs, and that sort of thing, but no cool
independent places.
Oh well, with the internet, it’s not as critical as it used to be.I can get anything I want at half dotcom, without even hoisting
my ever-expanding ass off this chair.Ya
know?
My biggest (and only real) regret about the whole trip?I didn’t get used to my new camera before we left.I’m pretty unhappy with the pictures I took, especially the
ones from early in the week.I
should’ve taken the thing out for a few hours, and played around
with it.I didn’t have a feel
for it, and a lot of the shots are poorly framed and slightly slanted,
like the old Batman
TV show.
Beyond that, I think it went amazingly well.I know we did some touristy things, but we were tourists.So what of it?And some
folks are saying we didn’t drink enough beer.I admit I started out slowly, but believe I made up for it
later in the week.The final
day, in fact, was a little ridiculous.
Also, we had kids with us.We
couldn’t hang out in pubs for hours on end.We popped into several, had a pint or two, and moved on.It was more along the lines of guerilla- drinking, and it
seemed to work for us.
I’m going to tweak the travelogue, screw around with the pictures a
little, and turn it into a stand-alone mega-article.Then I’m going to put this vacation to bed.
I can’t promise I’ll never mention it again, but by Monday we’ll
officially be back to regular programming.You know, bitching, diarrhea, cruel mockery… that sort of
thing.
