More Euro Issues

Well, the Euro hit an all time high (or the dollar hit an all time low) today. You now need to spend $1.50 to get one Euro. It must be time to reevaluate our accomidations and buy stuff with dollars where we can.

So, I checked out my accomidations in Rome, and instead of costing $120/night they were edging up to $140/night (uggh).

So, using an american website, I found a deal on a three star hotel in rome for $71 a night! Yippee. Cancelled the reservations for the apartment in Rome. It even includes breakfast and a free shuttle to the airport. The best part is that I payed for it in good old US Dollars with my credit card (instead of needing to bring Euro cash on arrival).

Buying Euros in the USA

The best currency exchange rates are available if you simply use ATM machines to get your Euros. However, you need to arrive with some native currency to get out of the airport (by train, taxi, or bus).

First step, find out what the exchange policy for your bank is, and make sure that they know you'll be traveling abroad.

Make sure you have a four-digit pin code for your ATM card (other length pin codes don't work in foreign ATM machines).

Know what the maximum transfer per day is in the country. For example, in Italy, it is 250 Euros per day.

The apartments we're renting in Italy all work on a "cash only" basis. Now, I'm not going to understand all the reasons for a cash-only transaction, but you need to pack a wad of cash to do that. Each of our apartments costs over 250 euros for the three or four days we'll be staying at them. You can't withdraw everything in one day.

Solution one: Multiple cards with different numbers to the same account. I'm not sure if this will fool their system into thinking that you are different accounts. My wife and I have the same number on our ATM cards, so we'll not be able to try out this system unless I get another card issued to us with a different number.

Solution two: Multiple banks.

Solution three: Pre-paid credit cards with Pin numbers. These have slightly higher fees than straight ATM machines, but are still much lower than the currency exchange mechanisms in airports, travel agencies, and most banks.

Speaking of most banks, the best currency exchange rates I found were for Bank of America. The day I wrote this, the base exchange rate was $1482.80 USD to 1000 Euros. Expect to pay a point or two more to buy, and get a point or two less to sell.

• Wells Fargo quoted $1,558.80 plus $8 for shipping = $1,566.80 5.13% mark-up
• US Bank (through My Travel Wallet) quoted $1578.28 plus $12 for shipping = $1590.28 6.44% mark-up
• Bank of America quoted $1,557.90 with no charge for bank-pick-up. 5.06% mark up
• CitiBank quoted $1571.60 with no charge for a bank pick-up. 5.99% mark up

So, what are we going to do?

I'm going to buy a minimal amount of currency from Bank of America. Enough to get me to my hotel and buy some food at a grocery store. I'll use the ATM machines each day for the 250 euros a day I'll need. Fortunately, our first hotel is prepaid, so I'll have the extra cash I need for the cash-only hotels by the time I get there.

La Traviata

We'll be seeing La Traviata in Venice on April 8th. It was first performed at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, on March 6, 1853. While we won't be seeing it at the same theater, we will see it in an historic opera house near Campo San Salvador, San Marco.

I know that my wife thinks this is one of the highlights of the trip.

Blogging a picture from my phone

Wouldn't it be too cool if I could blog this picture from my phone? Hey! I guess I can. This means that during my trip, I'll be able to send pictures to the blog for all of you to enjoy.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Remote blogging

Today I'm testing blogging via email from my blackberry. If this works, I'll be able to really send updates while in Italy.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

LessNo Delivers

I have to admit that they had me worried.

"Airline tickets", someone once told me, "are the most perishable product in the world. As soon as that plane pushes back from the gate, those seats are worthless." So, I knew that there had to be a way to get the seats less expensively.

Now, flying from Boise, Idaho to Milan, Italy is never going to be free, or what many people consider cheap. Out here they use the word "spendy". Which, as near as I can tell, means that something costs a bit of money, but is probably worthwhile.

So, I watched. For about six months I've observed the patterns of airline ticket prices. Here is what I've learned:

• If you buy tickets several months (more than two) in advance, you will pay full price, but you can choose whatever seat you want. I guess the airlines aren't worried about rewarding those who plan ahead.
• If you buy tickets FROM THE AIRLINE ITSELF several months in advance, and the price goes down, you can get a rebate. This is fine if you have a single airline that you fly all the time and want to rack up the mileage with them...and if you watch the price of the ticket.
• About two months before the actual flight, the prices of the tickets begin to drop. How far they drop depends upon how many empty seats are left on the flights for a particular airline. This will continue for up to a month.
• Once the flight reaches a pre-determined fill capacity, the prices go back up beyond what they were originally priced at. This is so the airlines can cash in on those last-minute business travelers.
• Finally, maybe, you can get an amazing deal if you are willing to fly stand-by, and if there are empty seats. This was something I might be willing to do, but my wife really isn't.

Having tracked ticket prices at one week intervals, I arrived on a plan. I knew what the "rock bottom" prices available through the orbitz and travelocities of the world were. But there were no guarantees if there would be flights available at those prices for my itenerary. I would try to "name my own price" by taking the very lowest fare I'd seen, and increasing it by 5%. If they were willing to sell tickets for a price one day, why wouldn't they snap up the opportunity to get more money a month later?

I tried to "name my own price" with priceline and ended up without any airline tickets. Perhaps I was a little bit too naive, but when two airlines responded with counter-offers that were only a few dollars less than full-price tickets, I began to think that the lowest prices I'd seen while doing my due dilligence for air tickets were just an anomaly.

Enter LessNo. I couldn't believe it when I did my search on this little baby and saw prices that were below what I'd bit on Priceline. Well, you can read the previous post about that.

Today I received my confirmation that my inexpensive tickets were confirmed!

We're officially going to Italy!

Airline Tickets

Today I bought airline tickets. I've been scoping them out for a couple of months. It seems that the airlines start their prices high, and then discount them about two months in advance. They drop for about two weeks, and then shoot back up. This has been the rolling trend as I've watched different dates over time.

So, today, being almost exactly two months before our big trip, I checked out the prices...they hadn't budged.

I found a link to a link from EuroCheapo and ended up looking on LessNo. This is an airline reservation system similar to Travelocity and Orbitz, but with way better deals. The prices I found on their system were less expensive than the cheapest flights I found anywhere else.

Now, their confirmation email says:

Please check your email to find a confirmation email that will include your ticket numbers. If you do not receive this email within 48 hours, contact us immediately.

Note: PRICES ARE NOT GUARANTEED UNTIL TICKETS HAVE BEEN ISSUED!

So, I may not have purchased any tickets at all. I'll know within 48 hours...here's hoping!

Oh, by the way... The price for was $830 per ticket.