Tegucigalpa what? Cheap tickets to Honduras for summer’s end

by Grant Martin on

You just don’t see that many cheap tickets to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras that often, so when this gem came along I just had to spread the word.

The Panamanian airline Copa is offering some pretty sweet fares around 300$ total between New York‘s JFK airport and Tegucigalpa (TGU) that are good for late this summer and into fall, perhaps because Toncontín airport is kind of a hazard and they’re trying to drum up business once shoulder season comes up.

You may have read recently (perhaps in light of Kent’s Plane Answers article) that TGU is closing down temporarily to rectify some of their runway and approach issues — bear in mind that Copa may reroute you to San Pedro instead. No worries, that’s just down the street.

And as far as Tegucigalpa goes as a destination? I haven’t heard a lot of great things about the capital, proper, but the city is 60 miles away from the Pacific Ocean and within spitting distance of El Salvador and Nicaragua. At the very least you use these cheap tickets as a stepping stone to your real vacation in Central America.

Tickets appear to be valid across a wide variety of dates starting in September but excluding Thanksgiving weekend. Use a flex search on Kayak to find dates that work for you.

Solo travel. How to make it cheaper.

by Jamie Rhein on

For those who solo travel, bargains are harder to come by, particularly if you’re booking a cruise or taking a tour. Most tour prices are couple friendly. If you have a traveling buddy, lodging is cheaper.

Ed Perkins, a consumer travel writer for Tribune Media Services offers some suggestions for people who are going it alone to reduce the cost of an adventure.

One option is to have a cruise line or cruise operator find a roommate for you. Perhaps someone is in the same position you are. You would only be sharing a room, but the rest of the time you can strike out on your own.

Another is to look for a traveling companion by hitting up your friends, coworkers, family members, basically anyone you know, to find out if they know of someone who would like to go on a trip.

Check out an organization like Connecting Solo Travel Network, Travel Acquaintance and Travel Chums. These businesses specialize in hooking people up to single travel deals and with each other.

Perkins also suggests O Solo Mio Tours and scouting out last minute deals with tour operators. Sometimes you can get a good deal right before a trip starts.

Even for people traveling with a partner, hooking up with a single person can be a money saver and can offer a broader experience. When my husband and I were traveling in Vietnam we became friends with Amit, a woman from Israel. We shared a room and hired a driver together, and even arranged to meet up with her in Hanoi after we veered in different directions for a few days.

We also hung out with Stan, a Vietnam vet who was traveling alone. After sharing a meal, we shared the cost of a driver from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang. Since Stan was stationed in Nha Trang, this gave us an experience from his point of view.

Amit became our companion from Nha Trang to Hue and on to Hoi An.

In Hoi An, Amit and I had a wonderful time shopping while my husband was relieved to not tag along.

Hedge your gasoline purchases with MyGallons

by Grant Martin on

I was JUST thinking about this on the ride in this morning when I passed the Shell station at the corner of Platt and Ellsworth when I saw regular fuel at $4.25 a gallon: “Man, I wish I could buy gas at today’s price tomorrow”.

That’s basically what oil futures are: speculators decide that they think the price of oil is going to rise, invest in futures and watch their money go through the roof. More people make money, more speculate and the price goes up. It’s the phenomenon that many economists think is leading the surge in oil prices today, beating out real market supply and demand economics and essentially crushing our transportation infrastructure.

The theory is identical to what Southwest Airlines did. Back when oil was at believable prices, that airline decided to hedge their oil purchases and lock in prices at the past rate of $51/barrel. Now that fuel is at over $140, they’re making a killing over other airlines.

Now, with gasoline at $4.25 a gallon, you can purchase as many gallons as you want at that price with MyGallons.com and watch the market fluctuate independent of your fuel consumption. If gas keeps surging to $5.00 a gallon? You’ve just saved a bunch of money. If it drops to $2.50 again? You’re out.

Based on how many gallons you buy, the service sends you a “debit” card that lets you purchase as much fuel (per gallon, not dollar) as you have stored up.

The crux of your investment is on where you think the price of the oil is going to head. If you, like many others, think that the price will keep going up, now might be a good time to buy your MyGallons card before your summer road trip.

Subscription to the MyGallons service ranges from $30-$40 per year, but if gas keeps going up that will be a drop in the bucket compared to what you could save.

Are we in Los Angeles yet?: A Greyhound bus story

by Jamie Rhein on

My mom just arrived back in Columbus this morning at 7 a.m. from her trip to New York City on a Greyhound bus. The bus was one minute early. Wow! I thought that she’d be late due to the wicked thunderstorm that tore through here all last night.

When I pulled into a non-parking space in front of the station (there was just enough room to maneuver behind another car actually parked at a meter), there she was with her small pull behind that she was allowed to carry-on. If she had checked it there would have been no charge.

One more point for Greyhound.

As I posted previously, my mom took the Greyhound because it was cheaper and easier than flying at the time she found out she needed to get to New York. That still seems to be the case.

Unless, you are the woman my mother told me about who got on in Newark, New Jersey.

“Where are you going?” My mother asked her.

“Los Angeles,” the woman said.

“My!” said my mother. “When will you get there?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?!” My mom wondered how that could be.

That couldn’t be. When they changed buses in Pittsburgh, the woman found out she didn’t have a clue. She won’t arrive in Los Angeles until Saturday.

My mom said she had an accent, so perhaps when someone explained the trip details, she missed something. Obviously.

I hope she didn’t have much planned for the next couple of days and thought to bring a good book with her–or several. If nothing else, she snagged the best travel mistake story I’ve heard in awhile.

(In case you’re wondering. If you go from New York to Los Angeles, it will take 2 days, 12 hours and 25 minutes minimum and you would have had to make one bus change. Some schedules take longer with two transfers.You will have traveled 3072 miles. It costs $192 if you don’t want a refundable ticket or $215 if you do. There is one ticket left for today’s bus that leaves at 11 a.m.)

Why you should never buy frequent flyer miles

by Grant Martin on

Perusing your favorite airline’s frequent flyer web pages, you may have noticed that many of them offer a service to sell and transfer miles among friends. Points.com is a website that specializes in this task, and many programs from Jetblue to Delta to American Airlines participate in their miles purchasing programs.

Take heed before you get your wallet out and buy miles though: it’s a horrible horrible deal. Take a look a these prices for buying miles taken from the Northwest Airlines website:

2,500 = $95
25,000 = $725
30,000 = $865

Now, if you recall from your frequent flyer mile handbook, a domestic ticket costs 25,000 miles — so this basically equates to buying a ticket for $725. Any ticket, domestically in the US, whether this is between New York and San Francisco or New York and Detroit even if you’re having the worst day of your life, shouldn’t cost $725. And if it does, you can pretty well be sure that the flight isn’t going to have award availability either.

Similarly transferring miles is also expensive:

5,000 = $75
25,000 = $300

With a $25 transaction fee. And the airline isn’t even selling miles — it’s just moving them from column A to B in their spreadsheet.

Why would anyone take up this deal? Well, the least irresponsible excuse for buying or transferring miles is because you need to top up your account. You’re just short of that 25k or 50k award and need another 5k miles to book your ticket as soon as possible. But it’s important to remember the amount of cash you’re dumping into your miles just to make them work. If you’re dumping $100 dollars into a ticket to get it over 25k and your miles are valued at $0.02/mile (a common market ratio), you’ve just lost $600 in equity on a ticket. Was the market value of the itinerary that much? Could you have bought the ticket for $200 cash?

If you do find yourself in the above situation, try the following solution: take a deep breath, take your wallet out, hide it under the couch and take a good sharp look at your travel plans and finances for the next six months. There may be a time that you’re traveling in the near future during which you can accrue a few more miles and balance out that account.

Or you’re short on time and out of money, consider checking Gadlings guide to topping off your frequent flyer account.