Igor at dusk with a view of the lake at Valle de Bravo, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun on December 17th!

Friday, May 23, 2014

Fun with airfares

I've been booking a lot of airfares lately!

We told you about our great deal ($471 return) from Calgary to Seoul, South Korea. But our daughter and son also have some trips coming up and I thought I'd tell you about the deals they got. One of them is totally amazing!!

Our daughter and grandchildren are coming to visit us here at the park. (They arrive in less than two weeks!) They live near Halifax, Nova Scotia and needed to fly to either Saskatoon or Regina in order for us to pick them up.

It's really tough to get a great deal on flights within Canada. We have a huge lack of competition, with only Air Canada and Westjet doing coast to coast flights, and on top of that we have among the highest taxes and airport fees in the world.

They ended up paying $309 per person for the one way from Halifax to Saskatoon (changing planes in Toronto) and $298 per person for the return trip. So $607 return. That's about as good as it gets.

Occasionally you can get deals for Toronto to Vancouver, I think I've seen it as low as $500 return, but never cheaper than that because it's almost all taxes and fees.

So, they're booked and they arrive June 3rd!

But the ticket I booked yesterday for our son is a REAL deal...

Yep...that's the price!

Our son wants to go to Europe this fall, and he had asked me to keep my eyes open for a deal. Well, sometimes something comes around that's too good to be true. I thought that was the case with our South Korea deal (and it was!) but this is even more amazing...

New York City to Milan, Italy on September 15th, and then Prague to Tokyo on September 24th.

Total price for both journeys? $172 USD. Yep, that's the total.

Neat thing about this deal is the connecting flights. The first leg connects in Rome, so Alex will likely get off the plane there and not take the second flight to Milan. 

Then, he may not even use the flight from Prague to Tokyo. If we can search out a decent return fare from anywhere in Europe, he can either fly Prague to Paris or Prague to Amsterdam because those are the two included connection on the leg to Tokyo. Or, if we find a deal on a Tokyo flight back to Canada, he may actually get around the world airfare for under $1,000. Wow.

This deal had to be a pricing error. One of the airfare alert websites I belong to had this deal and we booked it after a quick phone call to Alex. When these deals come up, you have to be prepared to make a decision now because they don't last long. In fact, the same deal only a few hours later was up to $285. Still a great price, but that gives you an idea of how quickly things can change.

Things at the park are coming along. There's been no campers here during the week, but we should have a few show up for tonight.

Oh, our little owl has been using his wings!

We haven't actually seen it fly yet, but he wasn't in his tree yesterday afternoon and we spotted it in another tree far enough away that there's only one way he could have got there!

His colors are sure changing darker.

His back. It was funny watching his head turn around, watching us all the way!

Ruth and our hired help got all the leaves cleaned up.

Looking good!

More wildlife here at the park!

That's called a Bullsnake. They're totally harmless, but they look like a rattlesnake! An adult is about six feet long, and they can grow as long as eight feet! That is our hired help's arm. He says that the only time they bite is if you piss them off!

I was thinking at the time that this snake was starting to look a little pissed off!


21 comments:

  1. Wow great airfare deals! Kevin you should consider being a travel agent part time LOL I'ld love to fly into any foreign country even if it's just for a day...I'm on a fixed income but hey I'd be willing to take the risk. I could work my way around...I'm a good house cleaner, nanny, dishwasher, bookkeeper, etc. I can even teach and do day labor. The park is beautiful and starting to turn green. What is your helper's name?

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    1. Thanks Rita, he loves this kind of thing but it does take persistence and patience to find these deals. I think you should go and travel to foreign countries, there are many out there where the cost of living is much less than in Canada or the US and are beautiful, friendly countries.

      Yes, the park is looking beautiful and green now. Our helper's name is Kevin, which is why Kevin hasn't used his name, it would get confusing.

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  2. Some awesome air fares you come up with, saving a lot of money.
    With that snake just make sure you don't piss them off and you will be fine.

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    1. No worries there, we have no intention on pissing off any snake! Plus we want them around, they eat mice.

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  3. In your airfare travels. have you ever come across deals for Toronto to Orlando? We want to fly our daughter and her husband, and our two grandsons down to see us and take them to Disney World. Late November, early December. Best I have found so far is $450 each.

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    1. A few years ago we some some great deals to Miami, I think that were like a $1 plus tax. Kevin says there are always deals for Florida. He suggests that you look at Sunwing's website, they always have deals on going. He said that he can see one for $325 per person for the flight, accommodation and car rental for anywhere between 5 to 10 days, and that is about the cheapest that you will find.

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    2. Thank You! I will take a look.

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  4. Wow amazing. Kevin what website alert do you use?

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    1. He uses a number of different ones, depending on what he is looking. He will do a blog post about it some day soon.

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  5. If there's an airfare deal out there, leave it to Kevin to find!!! Great work friend. I've put together a bank account totally dedicated to saving money for airfares that may become available from time to time. I've only used it one time so far - for the roundtrip ticket from Lafayette, LA to Sacramento and back to Lafayette earlier this year. I'd left my RV and pets in LA when I found I had to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles in California IN PERSON to renew my driver's license in early February. It turned out to be a nice visit with my family for a few days as I hadn't seen them since last July.
    Now I'm thinking about taking some trips roundtrip from California, where it's a bit easier for me to get care for my pets. Hmmm? Spain? Chicago? Guatemala? Madagascar?

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  6. WOW I thought your Korea was fabulous but that trip to Europe and Japan is just flat out unbelievable. Me too - what websites do you use to find these things. Your owl pictures are just so wonderful. I love seeing them and I'm going to be sad when little Owlie grows up and flies off. These two were great. Sure wish I could turn my head around 360!

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    1. Kevin will do a post on it, sometime in the near future.

      I am sad that he/she has grown up too. I couldn't find him yesterday but I know that he's out there.

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  7. You guys are like the airfare gurus. Fun stuff.

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  8. You can certainly locate the best deals.

    Love the owl photos.

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  9. instead of the slogan "Calgon take me away" is should be "Kevin take me away!" :-)
    ps park looks great

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    1. Ha ha, to funny!

      Thanks Donna, we have been working hard at it.

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  10. Thanks for the update on the owlet, who is surely growing fast! Love how green the park has gotten since your arrival too.

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    1. It's harder to keep our eye on him now that he/she is flying but I have been watching the park for him. I believe that they will stick around here for a while before they leave to go where ever they might go.

      The park is definitely greening up and the hills around are too but not as quickly because it is mostly grass there so we will have to wait for it to get longer than last years old stuff.

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