I've been seeing these commercials lately for companies (or lawyers) that will help you get out of tax trouble with the IRS. And there's happy smiling people there saying things like, "I owed the IRS $1,000,000, and I ended up paying only $40,000!"
And we're supposed to think, "Wow, what a great company! Saved these people from having to pay the mean, nasty IRS all that money."
But instead I think, "Hey! We need that $960,000." Seriously. OK, maybe I'm a little sensitive about this because my State -- which happens to be my employer -- is itself verging on economic collapse. But, honestly, California really needs people to actually pay their back taxes just now, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the federal government felt the same way.
So, when I see these ads, I don't think, "Wow, what a great company!" I think, "You're picking my pocket and I'm supposed to be happy about this?"
Sunday, June 7, 2009
I get ballsy at 1:00 in the morning
Finding a hotel in Athens has been becoming a pain in the ass.
I mean, I'm more than happy to be my own internet travel agent, but it's only fun if I can actually find what I want for a price I want.
This does not seem possible. Everywhere I look, I can't seem to find a decent hotel room in Athens for under, say, $200/night. This annoys me. I'll find some little boutique hotel that looks good, and then I'll find unanimous reviews that it's noisy, or the beds are uncomfortable or something else deal-breaking.
In desperation, I ran it through Hotwire -- you know, one of those sites that doesn't tell you where you're staying until you've committed to it.
And it said: 4 1/2 star hotel for $116.
Really now?
Hmmmm.
I did a massive amount of research to try to pin down which hotel this would be. (Said it has a 4/5 rating on TripAdvisor, with over 100 ratings and the last rating in May. So, here's me, pawing through 48 Athens hotels rated 4 on TripAdvisor, trying to find one with over 100 ratings, last in May, with amenities matching the list on Hotwire.) Conclusion: whatever hotel it is, it's probably a good deal.
Still, this is a big thing for me. I've never actually used Hotwire for something quite so foreign. I mean, usually, I look at the Hotwire map where they divide the city into different areas, and I'll know exactly where I want to be. Here, despite spending a few nights researching hotels in Athens, I'm still not particularly clear on where the hell anything is. I'm pretty much flying blind here.
$116, eh? In "Central Athens" (whatever that means.)
*click*
*hold breath*
The InterContinental Athenaeum.
Hmmm. A brand I've heard of. Hotel looks pretty. Snooty even. (Even the "standard" rooms come with bidets. I believe this will be my first hotel experience with one. I can see the 'blog entry already.) Location not the bestest but (a) they have an hourly shuttle to the center of town; and (b) I'll be taking tours the two days I'm there so I don't entirely care.
Come to think of it, I can use the money I've saved on a hotel to pay for the tours. Yes, this'll work.
Whew.
I mean, I'm more than happy to be my own internet travel agent, but it's only fun if I can actually find what I want for a price I want.
This does not seem possible. Everywhere I look, I can't seem to find a decent hotel room in Athens for under, say, $200/night. This annoys me. I'll find some little boutique hotel that looks good, and then I'll find unanimous reviews that it's noisy, or the beds are uncomfortable or something else deal-breaking.
In desperation, I ran it through Hotwire -- you know, one of those sites that doesn't tell you where you're staying until you've committed to it.
And it said: 4 1/2 star hotel for $116.
Really now?
Hmmmm.
I did a massive amount of research to try to pin down which hotel this would be. (Said it has a 4/5 rating on TripAdvisor, with over 100 ratings and the last rating in May. So, here's me, pawing through 48 Athens hotels rated 4 on TripAdvisor, trying to find one with over 100 ratings, last in May, with amenities matching the list on Hotwire.) Conclusion: whatever hotel it is, it's probably a good deal.
Still, this is a big thing for me. I've never actually used Hotwire for something quite so foreign. I mean, usually, I look at the Hotwire map where they divide the city into different areas, and I'll know exactly where I want to be. Here, despite spending a few nights researching hotels in Athens, I'm still not particularly clear on where the hell anything is. I'm pretty much flying blind here.
$116, eh? In "Central Athens" (whatever that means.)
*click*
*hold breath*
The InterContinental Athenaeum.
Hmmm. A brand I've heard of. Hotel looks pretty. Snooty even. (Even the "standard" rooms come with bidets. I believe this will be my first hotel experience with one. I can see the 'blog entry already.) Location not the bestest but (a) they have an hourly shuttle to the center of town; and (b) I'll be taking tours the two days I'm there so I don't entirely care.
Come to think of it, I can use the money I've saved on a hotel to pay for the tours. Yes, this'll work.
Whew.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
I'm not sure that's better
I'm calling the airline daily to see if I can't get a better flight back from Istanbul.
See, if I was actually paying for the ticket, it would be Istanbul to London; London to L.A. Easy peasy.
But I'm trying to do this for free, on miles.
I mentioned that the original offer included an overnight in Helsinki. It was, in fact:
Istanbul to Budapest
Budapest to Helsinki
Overnight in Helsinki
Helsinki to London (all of that just to get to London!)
London to Toronto
Toronto to LA.
The nice lady investigated further, and came up with:
Istanbul to Madrid
Madrid to Boston
Overnight in Boston
Boston to L.A.
Which would be pretty much perfect if I could get on a Boston to L.A. flight the same day, but that's not available (unless I pay) so this looks like about it.
I called today, and they were able to come up with an alternative with all flight on the same day, although it only left two days later.
So, I mean, right now, I've got myself leaving Istanbul on Sunday and (after the overnight in Boston) returning to L.A. on Monday, getting in around noon.
The alternative left on Tuesday, and was Istanbul to Madrid; Madrid to New York; New York to L.A., all in the same day. I'd get home just around midnight on Tuesday.
Which would make me totally useless for work on Wednesday, so the fact that all the travel is technically done in the same day doesn't really help.
... it continues. We call again tomorrow.
See, if I was actually paying for the ticket, it would be Istanbul to London; London to L.A. Easy peasy.
But I'm trying to do this for free, on miles.
I mentioned that the original offer included an overnight in Helsinki. It was, in fact:
Istanbul to Budapest
Budapest to Helsinki
Overnight in Helsinki
Helsinki to London (all of that just to get to London!)
London to Toronto
Toronto to LA.
The nice lady investigated further, and came up with:
Istanbul to Madrid
Madrid to Boston
Overnight in Boston
Boston to L.A.
Which would be pretty much perfect if I could get on a Boston to L.A. flight the same day, but that's not available (unless I pay) so this looks like about it.
I called today, and they were able to come up with an alternative with all flight on the same day, although it only left two days later.
So, I mean, right now, I've got myself leaving Istanbul on Sunday and (after the overnight in Boston) returning to L.A. on Monday, getting in around noon.
The alternative left on Tuesday, and was Istanbul to Madrid; Madrid to New York; New York to L.A., all in the same day. I'd get home just around midnight on Tuesday.
Which would make me totally useless for work on Wednesday, so the fact that all the travel is technically done in the same day doesn't really help.
... it continues. We call again tomorrow.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
As a matter of fact ...
... the cruise company is just all over the idea of taking my money.
I innocently inquired about the price of a two-night pre-cruise add-on package in Athens. Two. Nights.
And the price I got was, like, half of what I'm paying for the whole cruise!
Apparently they book with the most expensive hotel in Athens. And then they put the single supplement on top of that.
(Seriously? A single supplement on a land package?)
I went to the hotel's website and found I could book a room directly for just over half of what the cruise company wants for their "hotel-only" pre-cruise package.
Looks like I get to play Internet Travel Agent again!
I innocently inquired about the price of a two-night pre-cruise add-on package in Athens. Two. Nights.
And the price I got was, like, half of what I'm paying for the whole cruise!
Apparently they book with the most expensive hotel in Athens. And then they put the single supplement on top of that.
(Seriously? A single supplement on a land package?)
I went to the hotel's website and found I could book a room directly for just over half of what the cruise company wants for their "hotel-only" pre-cruise package.
Looks like I get to play Internet Travel Agent again!
Whew
Conveniently, there was no problem at all in the cruise company taking my money this morning. So I appear to actually be going.
(Off to get passport photos!)
(Off to get passport photos!)
Oh, *this* might be bad
So, when I called the cruise lady this morning, she was very clear about me having to pay within 24 hours. I was gonna pay her right then, but she said, hey, wait the 24 hours to make sure you can get your airfare, which seemed totally reasonable to me.
So I went to call them now, and, of course, what with it being after midnight, they're not in.
And I look at the fine print on the email she sent me, and it says that I have to pay "no later than Wednesday June 3, 2009." Which is, y'know, today. Yesterday actually. Not at all 24 hours from when she did the reservation this morning.
If that thing got cancelled (after I'd already booked a theatre ticket) I'm going to be REALLY TICKED.
Time to drop the nice cruise lady an email. A "do not give my reservation away" email.
So I went to call them now, and, of course, what with it being after midnight, they're not in.
And I look at the fine print on the email she sent me, and it says that I have to pay "no later than Wednesday June 3, 2009." Which is, y'know, today. Yesterday actually. Not at all 24 hours from when she did the reservation this morning.
If that thing got cancelled (after I'd already booked a theatre ticket) I'm going to be REALLY TICKED.
Time to drop the nice cruise lady an email. A "do not give my reservation away" email.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Ack? It's a good "Ack."
Ever feel like your life is a series of hyperlinks? Where you're doing one thing and you go off on something else and keep following link after link until you're doing about 12 things at once and none of them are finished?
Yeah. That's me.
Finally figured out where my next vacation will be (and since this 'blog tends to be at its best when I'm on the road, perhaps this is of interest to y'all). I'd been thinking about Vancouver or going back to New Zealand ... and while I'd like to do both of those things, none of them seemed right for now.
And, of course, since I'm an employee of the Great but Bordering Bankrupt State of California, I don't entirely know whether (a) I'll be getting paid in July (because if the Governor and Legislature don't enact a budget by then, we'll be out of money) or (b) I'll have a mandatory furlough. Actually, I can pretty much expect a mandatory furlough -- the real question is whether it will only be one day per month, or if it'll be more than that. So, with that going on, it's hard to tell whether I should take a big vacation this year, or follow the more prudent path of doing something cheap and (relatively) local. And, of course, if I actually wait until California has a budget, all those good vacation deals will be gone by then.
And since I'm sure you've got something better to do than listen to the blow-by-blow of my poking around the internet last night, trying to find exactly the right vacation, let's just fast-forward to the amazing deal I got on a cruise in the Greek Isles in August, just as long as I pay for the damn thing within 24 hours.
Which led me spending an hour (literally an hour -- my phone kept track) on the phone with American Airlines trying to use all my miles so I could fly out there for free....
.... and tack a few nights in London on there, as there's a show I really wanted to see, and y'know, broadly speaking, I'll be in the neighborhood. In a "same continent, anyway" sense.
And she can't seem to find a way for me to fly back from Istanbul (Istanbul! Sweet!) on a free ticket without somehow overnighting in (I shit you not) Helsinki. And I think that unless I sleep in the airport, I'm gonna need a freakin' visa for Helsinki just to fly home. Which reminds me to check visa requirements for Greece and Turkey, and that's all covered, so we're good there. And then she eventually finds a way to ticket it where I'm overnighting in Boston, which isn't nearly as, y'know, "Amazing Race"y as 13 hours in Helsinki, but at least I won't need a visa.
So, with the ticket set, I can come back and pay for the cruise (safely within my 24 hours).
And I sit down at the computer to do that, but first decide to make sure I can buy a ticket for that show I wanted to see in London. And I check that show's website and it has tons of available seats. (Yay!) So before I actually ticket it, I decide to see what else is playing in the West End, so that I book this on the right date. So an hour or so goes by while I'm putting together a list of, oh, seven shows I'd like to see in the four days that I'll be there. I realize I'll have to pare this down, but, at least, I've figured out which day I want to order the first one for.
So I order the ticket. And when I'm done, I print out the ticket confirm, and stick it my Magic Drawer of Tickets and Stuff. Where I see my passport.
And all that looking at visa requirements reminded me to make sure the passport is current.
Passport expires July 18.
Which explains why my web browser is now open to pages for: London theatre listings; booking confirmation for one show; a .pdf of my passport application; a google search for the nearest passport photo place....
.... and I still have to pay for the cruise before my 24 hours are up.
Yeah. That's me.
Finally figured out where my next vacation will be (and since this 'blog tends to be at its best when I'm on the road, perhaps this is of interest to y'all). I'd been thinking about Vancouver or going back to New Zealand ... and while I'd like to do both of those things, none of them seemed right for now.
And, of course, since I'm an employee of the Great but Bordering Bankrupt State of California, I don't entirely know whether (a) I'll be getting paid in July (because if the Governor and Legislature don't enact a budget by then, we'll be out of money) or (b) I'll have a mandatory furlough. Actually, I can pretty much expect a mandatory furlough -- the real question is whether it will only be one day per month, or if it'll be more than that. So, with that going on, it's hard to tell whether I should take a big vacation this year, or follow the more prudent path of doing something cheap and (relatively) local. And, of course, if I actually wait until California has a budget, all those good vacation deals will be gone by then.
And since I'm sure you've got something better to do than listen to the blow-by-blow of my poking around the internet last night, trying to find exactly the right vacation, let's just fast-forward to the amazing deal I got on a cruise in the Greek Isles in August, just as long as I pay for the damn thing within 24 hours.
Which led me spending an hour (literally an hour -- my phone kept track) on the phone with American Airlines trying to use all my miles so I could fly out there for free....
.... and tack a few nights in London on there, as there's a show I really wanted to see, and y'know, broadly speaking, I'll be in the neighborhood. In a "same continent, anyway" sense.
And she can't seem to find a way for me to fly back from Istanbul (Istanbul! Sweet!) on a free ticket without somehow overnighting in (I shit you not) Helsinki. And I think that unless I sleep in the airport, I'm gonna need a freakin' visa for Helsinki just to fly home. Which reminds me to check visa requirements for Greece and Turkey, and that's all covered, so we're good there. And then she eventually finds a way to ticket it where I'm overnighting in Boston, which isn't nearly as, y'know, "Amazing Race"y as 13 hours in Helsinki, but at least I won't need a visa.
So, with the ticket set, I can come back and pay for the cruise (safely within my 24 hours).
And I sit down at the computer to do that, but first decide to make sure I can buy a ticket for that show I wanted to see in London. And I check that show's website and it has tons of available seats. (Yay!) So before I actually ticket it, I decide to see what else is playing in the West End, so that I book this on the right date. So an hour or so goes by while I'm putting together a list of, oh, seven shows I'd like to see in the four days that I'll be there. I realize I'll have to pare this down, but, at least, I've figured out which day I want to order the first one for.
So I order the ticket. And when I'm done, I print out the ticket confirm, and stick it my Magic Drawer of Tickets and Stuff. Where I see my passport.
And all that looking at visa requirements reminded me to make sure the passport is current.
Passport expires July 18.
Which explains why my web browser is now open to pages for: London theatre listings; booking confirmation for one show; a .pdf of my passport application; a google search for the nearest passport photo place....
.... and I still have to pay for the cruise before my 24 hours are up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)