Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

It's begun. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?

The planning! The madness! The mayhem!

The Big Trip '11 Extravaganza scheduling!

I'm so very excited.

The 27th of January was the day it all came together, you know. That was the day I filed my tax return.

It was also, happily, the day that the magical number 65,000 rolled over into my frequent flier account. That was the number I'd been working on for the past year, you know!

So that morning, after filing my taxes, I hopped onto my British Air account online and checked the balance. Cha-Ching! Score!

So I went immediately to the reservations site to book my free-except-for-taxes-ticket.

And then the trouble began.

I looked for flights to Istanbul. Then to Athens. Then just to London. NOTHING.

Because, you see, while I was busy accruing enough mileage to make my booking all those months, the people who were crafty enough (and already had enough mileage) had already booked up EVERY LAST BLESSED ticket from San Francisco to London. (BA allows mileage tickets to be booked up to a year in advance!)

And, if you know British Airways, you know that you have to fly through London to catch a connecting flight with them to ANYWHERE. So, I was stumped. No London, no tickets, no trip, NUTHIN'.

GROSS!!!!

I was just not a happy camper. You wouldn't have been either, would you?

Well, I wasn't ready to give up, just ready to get someone else involved. So I called up the British Air Mileage booking agent. And after being in the call queue for nearly twenty five minutes I finally got through.
I called them knowing that I needed to get ahold of a really crafty agent, one well-versed in travel hacking. So I was willing to call more than once, to wait on hold for twenty five minutes for an agent more than once, to get that special, crafty agent.

You know what I'm talking about. Some phone agents (for anything!) are good. Some aren't. The end.

And low and behold, as I was sitting on pins and needles at the edge of my chair when I began my phone call, MY AGENT WAS GOLDEN! She was the kamikazee travel-hacker superstar of the universe and I ADORE her.

I just wish I could remember her name so I could call up British Air to tell them what a gem she is!

Let me tell you what she did. She took all of my dates and all of my possibilities and told me: "Mmmm... I've got nothing."

The end.

Just kidding!!

When it was clear that this wasn't going to be done easily, I told her that I was flexible and if I had to spend a night or two in airports along the way, it would be just fine.  

And then we were free to move about the country. (Or several)  
Ding!


So, though it's not pretty, and not direct, I actually ended up with a flight itinerary that I'm thrilled about. It's multi-leg, and omitted the need for me to buy additional flights (except one), which I was prepared to do if necessary.

And my rockstar agent booked it for me with my 65,000 miles plus taxes.

I looked up a multi-leg flight, taking me to the places I've booked and it would cost nearly $3500 as a purchase.

Um, yah.

That would have killed my trip.

So here's the deal:
SFO>JFK (+ an overnight... really, only a five hour layover, not even worth leaving the airport)
JFK>LHR (+ an overnight... arriving in the early afternoon, giving me an ENTIRE 26 hours to play in London)
LHR>IST. Arrive Istanbul.

Play in Istanbul
Travel down the coast.
Go to Greece.
Go on a sailboat-island-hopping tour of Greece.
End up in Santorini. Spend a few days.

JTR>ATH ($80, this was the extra flight I purchased)

Spend the night in Athens at the foot of the Acropolis

ATH>LHR (+another overnight in London, another whole day to play with friends!)
 LHR>SFO = Home.

And if you don't speak travel: SFO=San Francisco, JFK = New York, LHR = London Heathrow, IST = Istanbul, JTR = Thira (Santorini), ATH = Athens.

So, sure, it takes three days to get to Istanbul. But really, that's just one more day than normal and I'll get to spend a night in a hotel, have a shower and do some sightseeing on the way. It's a brilliant way to fight the jetlag factor.

So kids, the moral of this story is: Travel hacking is very real. And it works. And if you're flexible, you just might end up with something fantastic.

I'm so excited!!!

What's your best travel hack ever?