SICILY/TUSCANY/NAOUSSA
Finally GOING.COM came through again. Flying to Italy today was again briefly inexpensive. This time I booked the ticket immediately before it could slip away. This time instead of Charlotte to Rome for $606, it was Asheville to Milan and return to Asheville from Athens for $750. Not having to drive to Charlotte as a hub makes this flight as good as the one I missed out on a month ago.
But I learned a couple of things in booking this ticket. All GOING does for me is to let me know when there is a price drop several months in advance. GOING directs me to Google Flights but there is no way I can be shown all the options available. I have to discover them for myself. On Google flights the fare for every day differs. Monday might by $730, Tuesday might be $780, Wednesday might be $900. GOING points out the cheapest combination of outward and return flights which might be only two weeks apart. So it is unlikely I will be able to use their lowest quote. I have assumed that when the price on the outgoing day and the return day are different that the higher price will be what I get for a round trip ticket. But this is not always the case. Sometime the final quote is higher and sometimes lower.
I also at first found that a round trip ticket from Asheville to Milan was much higher than from Charlotte to Milan, which makes sense since Asheville is an added leg. But then * found that round trip from Asheville to Venice is little more than Charlotte to Venice. This could be because different airlines are being used. But then I found that if I changed the days slightly that round trip Asheville to Milan is little more than Charlotte to Milan.
Confusing. But playing with the dates slightly and trying different cities (both Milan and Venice were the cities being touted) is worth doing.
Of course, where I want to go is Taormina, Sicily. So why would I be pleased with either Milan or Venice which are far away from Sicily? Because once I get to Europe cheaply I can then take a low cost European airline such as Ryan Air which charges only about $30 for a flight from Milan to Palermo, Sicily. Another reason is because this gives me a chance to spend a few days in another Italian city, either Milan or Rome, on the way. A third reason is that I might take the train to from Milan to Sicily because I would get a much better view of Italy from the train than from a plane so the train ticket is worth the extra money and if it is overnight will save me a hotel room. But the main reason is because the flight I would prefer, from Asheville to Palermo with flight changes on the way, will never be a discounted flight and will certainly cost me more than $1500. It is much better to take what I can get rather than waiting for a flight that will almost certainly stay expensive. And the final reason to buy now is because I will be gambling if I wait and soon the window for cheap flights to Italy will close. Now that I have done the best that I can do I can stop fretting and stop looking five times a day at GOING and can relax and turn my attention to other things. I have exchanged anxiety for peace of mind. What I have is a ticket to Europe for the months of October and November without knowing quite what I will do during all of that time but knowing I now have flexibility and freedom to work things out as I go.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 