Five Figure Traveler

Thanksgiving and Christmas: To Travel Or Not?

Five Figure Traveler — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:00:52 +0000

For those of us who love to fly cheap, it’s well past time to start thinking about holiday travel. But like any obligation we prefer not to think about, most of us start late. Like now.

If you didn’t have to go anywhere at Christmas and/or Thanksgiving, would you? If you could go anywhere you wanted, where would it be?

Five Figure Traveler’s answer, of course, is of course.

Thanksgiving is a great time for a road trip or to fly out of the country for a few days, since everyone else is traveling domestically.

Christmas is a great time to go international, too. The best way to do is tell Mom you’re going to help orphans. Two bad that didn’t work too well in Four Christmases.

We’ll address these more in later posts.

We Skipped The Wine Tasting And We’re Not Sorry

Five Figure Traveler — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:24:44 +0000

I think we had more fun in Los Olivos, California for $9 than we possibly could have for the $20 (or more) we would have spent on a couple of wine tastings. We bought 3 ice-cold beers, 24oz each, for $3 apiece and sat at the picnic tables at the general store on the main drag. Same town, same ambiance, discount price.

Two important notes:

1) Wine tasting would have cost us at least $10 each, per flight. When we spend more than $10 on a bottle, it’s because we’re going to a dinner party and don’t want to look cheap. Clearly we are not wine experts. We like wine just fine, but are we going to spend two or three or four times that much just because we’re on the main drag of a town near where they make a lot of wine? Nah.

2) Daily sacrilege: I just don’t think wine tastings are that great. They would be great if you could still pull up to an actual vineyard, try a few wines, chat for a while with the guy who makes the wine, and maybe buy a bottle or two or three. It doesn’t really work that way anymore, if it ever did. The tasting of wine is a business. You’re paying for the experience and the illusion of authenticity. Which is fine, if that’s what you want.

Sorry about that. Please tell me I’m wrong about this. In the end, our big bottles of good beer (did I mention they were $3 each?), olives and chips and guacamole lasted until the day trippers had left for the afternoon because the “wineries” closed at five. The temperature came down and we wandered around the town at twilight. It was great.

Goodbye Summer

Five Figure Traveler — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:00:50 +0000

For those of us north of the equator, today is a little sad: until March, our days will be shorter than our nights. For Five Figure Traveler, we’ll have a dose of Spring in October. We’re going to New Zealand and Australia for two weeks (thanks to the $600 tickets from Air New Zealand).

Pismo Beach, California

JetBlue’s Cheeps: Great, Now How Do We Get Home?

Five Figure Traveler — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:16:23 +0000

Am I missing something here? It’s awesome that on Mondays JetBlue posts a bunch of ridiculously low fares on Twitter. What’s not so awesome is that they’re all one-way, meaning that we have to pay a high return fare in order to get home.

That is, unless one of the three very unlikely scenarios holds true:

1) We’re already holding a ticket on that flight – in that case, get the credit: jetBlue will give you credit if the price of your flight goes down (actually, a very good reason to fly jetBlue instead of the competition)

2) We already have a one-way ticket in the other direction, or a ride (honestly, what are the odds?)

3) We’re willing to stay a long time – long enough to find a low fare on the return flight. Who is going to plan to be gone that long on such short notice? Not that many people, that’s who.

Suddenly, these fares don’t look so great. Certainly not enough to make me initiate a trip I wouldn’t otherwise be planning.

Right? Am I missing something? JetBlue has 33,708 followers on their Twitter feed, including me. But I kinda wonder why. I guess it’s like playing the lottery for free. I don’t really think I’ll ever use any of them, but I don’t mind looking at them. Which is marketing genius, if measured in the way it raises awareness of jetBlue… but it’s the opposite of genius when you consider they must take us for fools.

If You’re Bumped, Insist On Cash

Five Figure Traveler — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:03:16 +0000

Scott McCartney is right: insist on cash.

It’s not likely you’ll be bumped, but if you are, don’t accept the voucher. Make the airlines pay you cash, as they are legally obligated to do.

The View From My Windshield

Five Figure Traveler — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:15:07 +0000

What’s it like to road trip in Patagonia? A lot of this:

Heading South Through Argentine Patagonia - It's As Lonely As It Looks

NYC: Arrive/Depart At A Decent Hour Or Add $100 To Your Trip

Five Figure Traveler — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:50:21 +0000

This applies to plenty of other cities as well, but especially New York, since you’re not likely renting a car or getting picked up at the airport in New York. Roundtrip to Manhattan, a cab from LaGuardia will cost around $70 or more. From JFK, it’s $100. From Newark, it’s even more.

Unless you’re a masochist, the bus, train and subway are not practical when you arrive at Newark or JFK at 11 p.m. or depart LaGuardia at 8 a.m. (as Five Figure Traveler will do next week).

So if you’re visiting New York, consider your flight departure and arrival times before you book your ticket. You can take the subway to the AirTrain, or the AirTrain-to-the-New Jersey Transit-to-the-subway, or the M60 to LaGuardia. Five Figure Traveler enthusiastically recommends it. Roundtrip public transport will cost under $30 from Newark, $15 from JFK and $5 or so from LaGuardia – though LaGuardia is the toughest for to access by public transport from most of Manhattan.

Bottom line: if you’re traveling alone, it might be worth paying a little bit more for a flight that arrives at a time that will allow you to use public transport. And don’t bring that huge bag! If you’re traveling with two or more people, it’s often worth the convenience to grab a cab. Family of four? Cab, definitely.

Best idea yet: wouldn’t it be great to have some kind of organized cab share at the NYC airports? Anybody want to share a cab to Manhattan at 11 p.m. next Friday?

The Perfect City: We’re With David Byrne

Five Figure Traveler — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:23:13 +0000

Rio de Janeiro, a Great City

Much ado has been made of Time Ou t’s “Top 10 Cities List.” As we try to figure out what Time Out means by “Buzz” and “World Status,” we urge our readers to consider David Byrne’s much more interesting article: here is a fun, thoughtful muse on what makes a city great (we also love the fact that the article’s photo is of New Orleans).

For nerds like us, this topic is fodder for hours of conversation. Hopefully in a basement bar in a great city.

On a more day-to-day level, what makes a neighborhood great? Does living in a great neighborhood matter more than living in a great city?

We think it’s a great project to compile a list of wonderful, lesser-known neighborhoods in cities around the world.

We also agree with Mr. Byrne about Houston. Sorry, Houston.

When You And Your Travel Partner Have Different Budgets

Five Figure Traveler — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:37:45 +0000

One of you makes plenty of money. The other is on a tight budget. What’s the best way to handle this? Any experience?

The View From Your Windshield

Five Figure Traveler — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:54:43 +0000

Near Flagstaff, Arizona