How to choose a destination

Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once. So next month's trip is for
Herself. Yes, I am self-serving enough to let her know that. I tell
her that I would be happier to take her to Budapest, but she has been
there once and considers it done.

Anyway, she phoned me from work to ask if I was aware that Aer Lingus
was running a seat sale with fares as low as €1. I was, and we had a
brief discussion about taking advantage of it. She pointed out that as
we don't greatly like high temperatures it might be a good opportunity
to visit the south of Spain or some other warm place which might be
comfortable for us in winter. She checked her diary and identified
times that she could take a few days off. So I went online and found
availability to Almeria, Alicante, Malaga, and Seville. Lisbon, too,
but we have been there recently. Marseille, which seemed interesting
to us, was not available on suitable dates. We hummed and hawed a bit,
thought we needed more thinking time, and decided to leave the
decision until the evening (the sale ends today).

I did a little more research, and found that they had similarly good
prices on destinations that were not flagged on their website. I could
get to and from Bordeaux for €13 each way. So I called her back to
tell her. No more hesitation -- a decisive "go for it". So I did.

Of course, it's a trivial basis on which to make decisions. Our €13
fare is not really €13. The add-ons more than treble the price, and if
you have some flexibility, you can get deals about as good as that
quite often. Further, the cost of travel is only a small component of
the cost of a trip; accommodation, meals, and other spending will
amount to much more -- and such things are generally more expensive in
France than in Spain. So it's not really price-driven.

So what underlies our decision-making? The Aer Lingus seat sale was a
trigger, but no more than that. The real motivator is caprice. Rightly
so: our travel is, for the most part, undertaken for fun.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
My travel writing: http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/

Yawn

"Padraig Breathnach" a écrit dans le message de
news: ...
Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once. So next month's trip is for
Herself. Yes, I am self-serving enough to let her know that. I tell
her that I would be happier to take her to Budapest, but she has been
there once and considers it done.

Anyway, she phoned me from work to ask if I was aware that Aer Lingus
was running a seat sale with fares as low as ?1. I was, and we had a
brief discussion about taking advantage of it. She pointed out that as
we don't greatly like high temperatures it might be a good opportunity
to visit the south of Spain or some other warm place which might be
comfortable for us in winter. She checked her diary and identified
times that she could take a few days off. So I went online and found
availability to Almeria, Alicante, Malaga, and Seville. Lisbon, too,
but we have been there recently. Marseille, which seemed interesting
to us, was not available on suitable dates. We hummed and hawed a bit,
thought we needed more thinking time, and decided to leave the
decision until the evening (the sale ends today).

I did a little more research, and found that they had similarly good
prices on destinations that were not flagged on their website. I could
get to and from Bordeaux for ?13 each way. So I called her back to
tell her. No more hesitation -- a decisive "go for it". So I did.

Of course, it's a trivial basis on which to make decisions. Our ?13
fare is not really ?13. The add-ons more than treble the price, and if
you have some flexibility, you can get deals about as good as that
quite often. Further, the cost of travel is only a small component of
the cost of a trip; accommodation, meals, and other spending will
amount to much more -- and such things are generally more expensive in
France than in Spain. So it's not really price-driven.

So what underlies our decision-making? The Aer Lingus seat sale was a
trigger, but no more than that. The real motivator is caprice. Rightly
so: our travel is, for the most part, undertaken for fun.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
My travel writing: http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/

On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:18:11 +0100, Padraig Breathnach wrote:

Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once. So next month's trip is for
Herself. Yes, I am self-serving enough to let her know that. I tell
her that I would be happier to take her to Budapest, but she has been
there once and considers it done.

Anyway, she phoned me from work to ask if I was aware that Aer Lingus
was running a seat sale with fares as low as ¤1. I was, and we had a
brief discussion about taking advantage of it. She pointed out that as
we don't greatly like high temperatures it might be a good opportunity
to visit the south of Spain or some other warm place which might be
comfortable for us in winter. She checked her diary and identified
times that she could take a few days off. So I went online and found
availability to Almeria, Alicante, Malaga, and Seville. Lisbon, too,
but we have been there recently. Marseille, which seemed interesting
to us, was not available on suitable dates. We hummed and hawed a bit,
thought we needed more thinking time, and decided to leave the
decision until the evening (the sale ends today).

I did a little more research, and found that they had similarly good
prices on destinations that were not flagged on their website. I could
get to and from Bordeaux for ¤13 each way. So I called her back to
tell her. No more hesitation -- a decisive "go for it". So I did.

Of course, it's a trivial basis on which to make decisions. Our ¤13
fare is not really ¤13. The add-ons more than treble the price, and if
you have some flexibility, you can get deals about as good as that
quite often. Further, the cost of travel is only a small component of
the cost of a trip; accommodation, meals, and other spending will
amount to much more -- and such things are generally more expensive in
France than in Spain. So it's not really price-driven.

So what underlies our decision-making? The Aer Lingus seat sale was a
trigger, but no more than that. The real motivator is caprice. Rightly
so: our travel is, for the most part, undertaken for fun.

And after all, Padraig, that is exactly what travel is all
about............fun.
Gerry

On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:18:11 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once.

Yeah, Vienna is of limited value but please consider going there
anyway and going up to Cesky Crumlov for a night or preferably two.
It's really nice, and you wont run out of things to do there. It's
only a couple of hours from Vienna.

Also, there are plenty of really charming, cheap, and non-touristy
places in Slovakia that are in easy reach. Start from Levoca and keep
heading east stopping at every town mentioned in the guide book.
Really nice, and really good value.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

Dave Frightens Me wrote:

On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:18:11 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once.

Yeah, Vienna is of limited value but please consider going there
anyway and going up to Cesky Crumlov for a night or preferably two.
It's really nice, and you wont run out of things to do there. It's
only a couple of hours from Vienna.

Also, there are plenty of really charming, cheap, and non-touristy
places in Slovakia that are in easy reach. Start from Levoca and keep
heading east stopping at every town mentioned in the guide book.
Really nice, and really good value.

That looks like a heavy programme for four lazy days in November. I'm
thinking of just one day trip outside the city (using public transport
-- I'm not very interested in hiring a car) , and the recent
discussions here on Bratislava suggested to me that it might be a good
trip. Is that a good idea?

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
My travel writing: http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/

Dave Frightens Me wrote:
On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:18:11 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once.

Yeah, Vienna is of limited value but please consider going there
anyway

Vienna has huge historical and cultural significance, a world-class art
museum, one of the most beautiful palaces in the world, and lots of
great architecture.

Also, there are plenty of really charming, cheap, and non-touristy
places in Slovakia that are in easy reach. Start from Levoca and keep
heading east stopping at every town mentioned in the guide book.

Just stop before you get to Bucharest!

On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:18:11 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once. So next month's trip is for
Herself. Yes, I am self-serving enough to let her know that. I tell
her that I would be happier to take her to Budapest, but she has been
there once and considers it done.

Anyway, she phoned me from work to ask if I was aware that Aer Lingus
was running a seat sale with fares as low as ¤1. I was, and we had a
brief discussion about taking advantage of it. She pointed out that as
we don't greatly like high temperatures it might be a good opportunity
to visit the south of Spain or some other warm place which might be
comfortable for us in winter. She checked her diary and identified
times that she could take a few days off. So I went online and found
availability to Almeria, Alicante, Malaga, and Seville. Lisbon, too,
but we have been there recently. Marseille, which seemed interesting
to us, was not available on suitable dates. We hummed and hawed a bit,
thought we needed more thinking time, and decided to leave the
decision until the evening (the sale ends today).

I did a little more research, and found that they had similarly good
prices on destinations that were not flagged on their website. I could
get to and from Bordeaux for ¤13 each way. So I called her back to
tell her. No more hesitation -- a decisive "go for it". So I did.

Of course, it's a trivial basis on which to make decisions. Our ¤13
fare is not really ¤13. The add-ons more than treble the price, and if
you have some flexibility, you can get deals about as good as that
quite often. Further, the cost of travel is only a small component of
the cost of a trip; accommodation, meals, and other spending will
amount to much more -- and such things are generally more expensive in
France than in Spain. So it's not really price-driven.

So what underlies our decision-making? The Aer Lingus seat sale was a
trigger, but no more than that. The real motivator is caprice. Rightly
so: our travel is, for the most part, undertaken for fun.

I like both - long-term planning for major trips,
spontaneous reactions for others.

Unfortunately, there aren't many $50 fares to foreign climes
from here, so those tend to be long-range plans.


Cheers, Alan, Australia

Alan S wrote:
On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:18:11 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once. So next month's trip is for
Herself. Yes, I am self-serving enough to let her know that. I tell
her that I would be happier to take her to Budapest, but she has been
there once and considers it done.

Anyway, she phoned me from work to ask if I was aware that Aer Lingus
was running a seat sale with fares as low as ¤1. I was, and we had a
brief discussion about taking advantage of it. She pointed out that as
we don't greatly like high temperatures it might be a good opportunity
to visit the south of Spain or some other warm place which might be
comfortable for us in winter. She checked her diary and identified
times that she could take a few days off. So I went online and found
availability to Almeria, Alicante, Malaga, and Seville. Lisbon, too,
but we have been there recently. Marseille, which seemed interesting
to us, was not available on suitable dates. We hummed and hawed a bit,
thought we needed more thinking time, and decided to leave the
decision until the evening (the sale ends today).

I did a little more research, and found that they had similarly good
prices on destinations that were not flagged on their website. I could
get to and from Bordeaux for ¤13 each way. So I called her back to
tell her. No more hesitation -- a decisive "go for it". So I did.

Of course, it's a trivial basis on which to make decisions. Our ¤13
fare is not really ¤13. The add-ons more than treble the price, and if
you have some flexibility, you can get deals about as good as that
quite often. Further, the cost of travel is only a small component of
the cost of a trip; accommodation, meals, and other spending will
amount to much more -- and such things are generally more expensive in
France than in Spain. So it's not really price-driven.

So what underlies our decision-making? The Aer Lingus seat sale was a
trigger, but no more than that. The real motivator is caprice. Rightly
so: our travel is, for the most part, undertaken for fun.

I like both - long-term planning for major trips,
spontaneous reactions for others.

Unfortunately, there aren't many $50 fares to foreign climes
from here, so those tend to be long-range plans.

Nauru or Port Moresby maybe?

On 5 Oct 2006 19:50:31 -0700, "Iceman"
wrote:


Alan S wrote:
On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:18:11 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once. So next month's trip is for
Herself. Yes, I am self-serving enough to let her know that. I tell
her that I would be happier to take her to Budapest, but she has been
there once and considers it done.

Anyway, she phoned me from work to ask if I was aware that Aer Lingus
was running a seat sale with fares as low as ¤1. I was, and we had a
brief discussion about taking advantage of it. She pointed out that as
we don't greatly like high temperatures it might be a good opportunity
to visit the south of Spain or some other warm place which might be
comfortable for us in winter. She checked her diary and identified
times that she could take a few days off. So I went online and found
availability to Almeria, Alicante, Malaga, and Seville. Lisbon, too,
but we have been there recently. Marseille, which seemed interesting
to us, was not available on suitable dates. We hummed and hawed a bit,
thought we needed more thinking time, and decided to leave the
decision until the evening (the sale ends today).

I did a little more research, and found that they had similarly good
prices on destinations that were not flagged on their website. I could
get to and from Bordeaux for ¤13 each way. So I called her back to
tell her. No more hesitation -- a decisive "go for it". So I did.

Of course, it's a trivial basis on which to make decisions. Our ¤13
fare is not really ¤13. The add-ons more than treble the price, and if
you have some flexibility, you can get deals about as good as that
quite often. Further, the cost of travel is only a small component of
the cost of a trip; accommodation, meals, and other spending will
amount to much more -- and such things are generally more expensive in
France than in Spain. So it's not really price-driven.

So what underlies our decision-making? The Aer Lingus seat sale was a
trigger, but no more than that. The real motivator is caprice. Rightly
so: our travel is, for the most part, undertaken for fun.

I like both - long-term planning for major trips,
spontaneous reactions for others.

Unfortunately, there aren't many $50 fares to foreign climes
from here, so those tend to be long-range plans.

Nauru or Port Moresby maybe?

Port Moresby is about as inviting as a war zone, Nauru is a
lump of rock minus it's guano, and Bali has been crossed off
my list - if the bombs weren't enough, the Corby case was.

I've used up the frequent flyer miles from the first
northern trip going to Fiji and NZ. Now waiting for Qantas
or Air Caledonie to have some specials to Noumea.

I saw the crabs migrating on Christmas Island many, many
years ago - that was unforgettable - and visited the Cocos
and Keeling Islands (and Djakarta) on that same trip with
the military. Islands like that can be idyllic, but they can
also get just a wee bit boring after a while.

Cheers, Alan, Australia

On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 22:16:55 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

Dave Frightens Me wrote:

On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:18:11 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

Herself and I are scheduled to visit Vienna next month, mainly because
she has for a long time harboured a wish to go there. I have been
there before (some time ago, before Herself became a major part of my
life) and in my mind Vienna is "done". It's one of those places that I
think it sufficient to visit once.

Yeah, Vienna is of limited value but please consider going there
anyway and going up to Cesky Crumlov for a night or preferably two.
It's really nice, and you wont run out of things to do there. It's
only a couple of hours from Vienna.

Also, there are plenty of really charming, cheap, and non-touristy
places in Slovakia that are in easy reach. Start from Levoca and keep
heading east stopping at every town mentioned in the guide book.
Really nice, and really good value.

That looks like a heavy programme for four lazy days in November. I'm
thinking of just one day trip outside the city (using public transport
-- I'm not very interested in hiring a car) , and the recent
discussions here on Bratislava suggested to me that it might be a good
trip. Is that a good idea?

Ah, four days. I now see the issue!

To be fair, it will be cold and probably you would be better off going
to a bigger city and concentrating on indoorish type stuff. As I am
sure you know, I don't rate Bratislava as being all that special, and
would probably prefer Vienna, even though I have been there before.

Actually what I would probably prefer is to rug up and wander through
the Slovakian hills and mountains!
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--