May 2010

When you fly with your family, the cost can get ugly pretty quickly.  We have five people in our family and if each ticket costs just $300 with taxes and fees, that’s $1500.  In my single days, I could have lived on that for a month,  maybe two!  So I’ve always searched carefully to get the most bang for the buck on our ticket prices, thinking we would have more money for fun when we got there.  Sometimes that decision put us on connecting flights.  No big deal.

After a couple of recent experiences, I’m rethinking my position.

In the last few weeks, I flew from Minneapolis to both Orlando and Acapulco.  Both had connecting flights.  The trip to and from Orlando was uneventful, but both ways had these whacked out connections, one through Philadelphia and the other through Dallas.  Really?  I need to go to Dallas to get from Orlando to Minneapolis?  (Well, I did get it on Priceline the day before, but still!  Heh.)  I guess the point is that a bell went off in my puny little brain that maybe it wasn’t worth the $80 I saved to fly around the entire US for a flight from Minneapolis to Orlando and back.  But the following week, my trip home from Acapulco solidified that thought.

The Flight From Hell

When I arrived at the Acapulco airport with my three travel companions, it was all good.  Our flight was “on time”, and we were good to go.  Except for the rude TSA employee that threw my shampoo and lotion in the garbage,  I was  happy as a clam.  The trip had been spectacular, and I was excited to see my family. 

Then I heard, “This is your captain, blah blah blah, maintenance issue, blah, blah, about an hour”, and I knew, I just knew, that we were screwed.

The maintenance issue turned into a weather issue,  turned into a rerouting to New Orleans when we were supposed to be in Houston.  Two people on our flight had been connecting through Houston to get home to New Orleans, so yay for them, right?  Wrong.  Customs had left the building (not unlike Elvis), and apparently no one else in the entire New Orleans airport is qualified to process two people back into the country!  What in the hell?  So those passengers had to continue on to Houston, where they had to spend the night before returning to New Orleans.   

Also, everyone on the flight was starving.  They sent someone to McDonalds to get burgers for the flight attendants but nothing for anyone else.  So  I guess no food at the New Orleans airport either.

I understand that there are federal regulations , (And we’d better get used to them because the federal government has been taking everything else over lately, too), but when the same things keep happening over and over, when people contine to get stuck sitting on hot airplanes for hours, perhaps a contingency plan is in order.  How hard can it be to make a rule that if a flight is going to be sitting on the ramp, someone should throw some sandwiches together?

The flight to Houston in the middle of the night hit turbulence that, had I not been wearing a seat belt, would have sent me into the ceiling more than once,  and probably out of my row altogether.  I scrunched my eyes up, held on for dear life, and thought about my kids, praying that we weren’t going to be vaporized somewhere in Texas.  My husband hates Texas.

After finally making it back to Minneapolis the next day, I started thinking about the actual time and financial cost of taking connecting vs. non-stop flights.  When does it make sense?  I did a little analysis.

I’ll be posting it tomorrow, but in the meantime, tell me your thoughts.  What do you usually do and why?

About the author: Debbie Ferm is the founder of Travel Dither.  Connect with Debbie at the Travel Dither page on Facebook!

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Gratuitous Fancy Travel Photo

I love to travel.  It inspires me and feeds my soul like almost nothing else does, my family, friends, and pets being the only thing I can think of at the moment.

The word “travel” has a sort of glamour and mystique to it that is fun to indulge in,  and there will definitely be times that I will do that on this website.  After all, I certainly don’t have enough glamour in my life, and none of the moms I know do either.

But, mostly, what I want this to be is a place where real moms can hang out.  Moms who have bigger concerns than which baby wipe warmer keeps the baby wipes their very warmest.  We all know that most of us who travel and take family vacations make real sacrifices to do it.

We’ve chosen LIFE style over life STYLE.

So if you are a regular mom, with a regular family, feeling like you want to travel with your family, but you aren’t the same as those fancy internet people, keep reading.

In the spirit of after school specials throughout the ages, I bring you…

A Very Special Photo Friday (You Know the Voice)

My 1994 Ford Explore bought before my 14 year old daughter was born.  When people see me in their neighborhood, they think I’m there to case the place.

My bedroom in the morning.  Half the time this is where I work.

Our one dinner “out” on vacation in Wisconsin Dells.

So while I share these with you today, and this is what my very unglamorous life looks like,  I can’t help thinking that you don’t want to look at these everyday around here.  Hell, even I don’t want to look at these.

Hence, the palm trees photos,  Lyrical essays , and spa reviews find their way in.

We all need a little of both in our lives.

Thanks for hanging around and leaving your comments.  It makes my day.

About the author: Debbie Ferm is the founder of Travel Dither.  You should sign up for the Travel Dither newsletter, because she really is going to write one someday, and you’re not going to want to miss it.

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