Spanish Fly

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...Well, more Spanish Flight, really

Makes for a good title though, don't you think? (For those who don't get that, check out this wikipedia article or - more importantly - this...EVH - you're a legend!)

Any way, back to business. It's done! The flights are booked! There's no turning back now! (Well, not until May at least).

I got (what I think is) a decent deal from Journey Latin America. I went through these guys rather than booking directly because they can arrange an "open jaw" flight - apparently this refers to a ticket type where you arrive in one country but depart from another. (All this new lingo is already making me feel like a seasoned traveller)

Also, they appear to have pretty knowledgeable and helpful staff - I think that I'm lucking out on the good service front. Certainly can't fault the service from them so far.

Finally, they can organise internal flights for me when I'm there if I need them - I kind of hope that I won't, but I suspect that I might.

Choices Choices
It seems that for my needs (London to Bogotá, then returning to London from Buenos Aires), there are three options. Unfortunately there are no direct flights to Bogotá so I need to get a connecting flight somewhere. These are the options in order of cost:

Iberia - £699 - connecting in Madrid.
British Airways - £764 - connecting in Miami.
Air France - £789 - connecting in Paris.

Honestly, since the BA cabin crew strike fiasco (which as far as I can tell is still unresolved), I'm boycotting BA. Well, it's not just that. Taking a connecting flight in Miami (as with any connections in the USA) involves having to collect your baggage and then re-check-in and re-clear security in Miami. This just sounds like a problem waiting to happen and way too much like a lot of hassle for me. So it was a choice of Air France or Iberia.

I was put off the Air France option not only by the price but also by the lack of flexibility in the ticket - once it's booked, it's booked. No changes allowed. That doesn't suit me at all for this particular trip. No sireee. So in the end I went for the Iberia option. (In fairness, changes to the Iberia flights incur a fee of 120 euros, but at least there is the option if I need it).

I elected to pay the £15 carbon offset cost (what a responsible chap I am) so total price (including taxes) was £714.

My Itinerary
My flight leaves at 0630 Monday 15th February. I arrive in Madrid at 0940. The flight out of Madrid is at 1215, landing in Bogotá at 1635 (all being well). By my reckoning, that's a 10-ish hour flight from Madrid to Bogotá which is entirely reasonable. I kinda like the idea of arriving in Bogotá at an early-ish hour, just in case I have problems finding the hostel (which I've yet to book!)

The flight back is at 1300 on 31 May from Buenos Aires, arriving in Madrid at 0555 1st June. Then I've got a four hour wait for my connecting flight from Madrid to London (dep. 0955, arr. 1115). Hmmm, already I'm not looking forward to the return journey!

So in the end I'm going to be away for exactly 15 weeks. Seems like a long time until you see just how much there is to do in South America. I'll be lucky to scratch the surface. My feet are sooo itchy now! I just want to jump on a plane and go!!

Other news
Today I also booked up my appointment to see the doctor to get any nasty injections that I might need. I think that I've left this a bit late because the general recommendation (according to the NHS) is to go 8 weeks before travelling. I don't think that this will affect me though - four weeks should be fine. I'll let you know!

I was reading some posts in the forums about "What's the one thing that you wish you had taken but didn't". One poster mentioned that they wish that they'd taken a laptop just because they wasted so much time queuing to use an overpriced and slow computer. Now, as some might know, I'm a bit of a computer fiend. But all my laptops are kind of expensive and I really want something that I can travel with without being too afraid that it'll get wrecked. So I decided to order an Edge 10 Pro netbook from Mesh. The main reasons for choosing this were:

Size - 10.1 inch screen. Smaller is definitely better for me.
Price - Just over £200. That's soooo cheap.
Built in Card Reader - Perfect for transfering travel shots from the camera.
Ubuntu Linux - It's not Windows which means it's cheaper (read "free")!
Built in web cam - Perfect for a bit of Skype action when I need to catch up with family and friends.
Built in WiFi - honestly, is there anything that isn't these days?

I'll get a nice shot of it up here when it arrives.

Thanks to Chris Duxbury for the recommendation regards the netbook. If it doesn't work, I'll blame you! 😱

Not heard anything about the sleeping bag from Itchy Feet yet - will give them a call tomorrow if I don't hear anything. It's a bit early to start worrying about it yet and they did say that it might take a few days.

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Comments

[Chris Parrott]

Thanks & Internal Flights
Many thanks for your honorable mention - glad we got it right. (feel free to delete what's below when you moderate, I can appreciate you probably don't want us advertising. However fyi:) A couple of examples of flights savings: at today's exchange rate, Lima - Buenos Aires oneway we could sell at £252 (the published fare is £415). Mexico City- Lima we could sell at £305 (published fare £320) In practice, prices often vary from those above, because it depends on a number of factors - e.g. what else you're doing. It's also worth keeping a record of transatlantic flight arrangements because this can affect the "fare basis" we're allowed to apply. Of course, we know yours already. Tickets can be issued electronically. You can make contact with us skype-to-skype (UK office hours) at: journeylatinamerica

[monket]

RE: Thanks & Internal Flights
Thanks Chris! Hey, you guys are really on the ball :) Delete? Moderate? Never! Well, ok, sometimes...but only if people are rude! Happy to recommend you since you did such a fine job for me! Could you explain this bit: "It's also worth keeping a record of transatlantic flight arrangements because this can affect the "fare basis" we're allowed to apply." What's a "fare basis" and how is that affected by transatlantic flights? Thanks Chris

[Chris Parrott']

Fare basis
These are terms our ticketing people (I should probably do them credit and call them experts) bandy about and assume that our clients (and I ) understand them. I'll ask one of them to explain more fully. In simple terms however, we can apply different fares according to where your first flight originates (and possibly different taxes), and also what else you're buying/have bought. eg the rules allow us to charge a lower fare if you've bought other travel-related services such as hotels or excursions. It's all completely above board. The two rates quoted below are probably higher than someone would actually end up paying because there are lots of variables - not least exchange rates. The principle applies also to others you might meet when travelling, but if they hadn't booked their transatlantics with us, they'd prob end up paying more than you - for exactly the same thing CP