Vacation planning with E-Bikes

[Jeremy McCreary]

I am generally a big advocate for what I call "Expedia Travel". The idea is you use online booking and most of the time book your stays only on the day of and book them one night at a time.

Much to be said for that approach. But if my wife read that, her head would explode.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Much to be said for that approach. But if my wife read that, her head would explode.

All you need to do is have one trip where there is a missed flight or something is closed or you are otherwise delayed. And then you are looking at a bunch of cascading change fees (that can add up to astonishing numbers rapidly) and being on hold for most of an afternoon, at best.

I had a ski trip to Banff where a two-hour delay ended up costing me about $1500 between needing to book another hotel, losing our rental car reservation and needing to rent another one, and the nosebleed change fee our hotel in Banff charged me. For two freaking hours.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

All you need to do is have one trip where there is a missed flight or something is closed or you are otherwise delayed. And then you are looking at a bunch of cascading change fees (that can add up to astonishing numbers rapidly) and being on hold for most of an afternoon, at best.

I had a ski trip to Banff where a two-hour delay ended up costing me about $1500 between needing to book another hotel, losing our rental car reservation and needing to rent another one, and the nosebleed change fee our hotel in Banff charged me. For two freaking hours.

We've been very lucky in that regard. But after a few dozen cascading failures, she might come around.
;^}

 

[RunForTheHills]

I used to travel a lot for work. If you are a frequent traveler and have status with the hotels and airlines, a lot of those problems go away. One year I qualified for Global Services on United. My connecting flight got canceled while I was in the air to Dallas. When I got off the plane, an agent met me with a choice of two alternate flights to my destination.

 

[Chargeride]

Never had a delayed flight, but every flookin time I go to an airport or get on plane the village idiot homes in on me, I swear , I know its a cliche but Im gifted with them.
I even had the barman at Innsbruck airport want to fight me because I asked for the wrong beer.
He had a huge handlebar moustache and was shouting like a drunk that I was a stupid english person.
Luckily someone on our plane stepped before I lost it, the entire lounge was staring...
the wife..' why is it always you?'

Hilariously I went back and just stared him down for another, he had calmed down.

I hate flying with a passion.

 

[stompandgo]

I used to plan the family vacations where we traveled out of the area. For anyplace new, I planned half of the trip. The other half was wide open.

 

[Jim1348]

My wife and I have been vacation planning with e-bikes for the past year, too.

Tuscon was great.

Laughlin NV/Bullhead City AZ was not great.

 

[6zfshdb]

My wife and I take many fly / drive vacations. We've had quite a few trip disruptions over the years, mostly due to airline issues. We also found out the hard way that it pays to book everything in advance, especially hotels. Once spent a night in the rental car during a snowstorm when everything was booked. To avoid cascading problems, the best approach we've found is to book a 2 night stay at the first and last hotel near the airport in the cities where we plan to arrive & depart. That gives us a 24+ hour cushion to make adjustments for delays caused by weather, airline, rental car, hotel or POI complications. It also allows us to make any itinerary changes we choose to make on the fly. We've been doing this for over a decade and so far, haven't incurred any fees for hotel cancellation or airline flight changes.

Being retired gives us the timeline flexibility this requires. I realize it won't work for everyone, so YMMV.