You know, we're going to have to speak in code so the airlines don't get wise to our tactics!

Actually, tonight I am working on our taxes. I wonder what is easier, figuring out these airfares or figuring out the taxes! LOL

Peggy, we are way too young! Is there a place for Student Fares? LOL Thanks for clearing that up. I got the same thing when I checked it with the senior fare. I still think they have a glitch in their system, because under the adults, it defaults the nonstop flights to first class even though it is selected as economy and there are plenty of coach seats still available according to their seat maps. Weird!

Don,

They start sending AARP stuff as soon as you are 50. I refuse to join on the grounds that you never trust anyone over 30.

And Taxes? That's why at 8:15pm I am still here in the *&$%@! office. Because you can't figure them out - and neither can I, but, at least I get paid for finding the answers! Where's Frank when I need him? Home already. After 35 years he does them blindfolded :eek:

Goodnight, Gracie. My dinner is calling.

Well, it is a little later here. I think I hear my bed calling!!!

I can work on them some more tomorrow.

Maria, how about this.

Flying from JFK to Nice on BA and then on the return, Funchal to London Gatwick where you would overnight, then fly out of Heathrow the following morning nonstop into JFK. You could also do it to and from EWR (Newark) if that works better. Price per person is $473 plus $287 tax for a total for two of $1520.

19:30
1 Nov 06:25
2 Nov John F Kennedy (New York) Heathrow (London) BA0112
British Airways Traveller
07:55
2 Nov 10:50
2 Nov Heathrow (London) Nice BA0342
British Airways Traveller
15:20
12 Nov 19:00
12 Nov Funchal Gatwick (London) BA6873
GB Airways Traveller
10:55
13 Nov 13:30
13 Nov Heathrow (London) John F Kennedy (New York) BA0175
British Airways Traveller
$ 1,520.28

Currency calculator
Change flights

Price breakdown
Passenger Price Taxes, fees, charges and surcharges* per person Inclusive total
2 Adults $ 473.00 $ 287.14 $ 1,520.28

Hi Don,

That's so nice of you to take the time and look into this.That's a very good price for a complicated itinerary.

As of now we are booked from Newark to Nice and Lisbon to Newark with Continental miles. I could also get us from Gatwick to Newark with Continental miles and see if my meager AA miles could get us the BA flight from Funchal to Gatwick. But DH says he rather spend one night in Lisbon that at the Gatwick airport hotel.

So..... In that case I'm stuck with TAP or Portugalia. And it kills me that a 1.5 hr flight costs PP approx $200 (Portugalia) or approx.$300 (TAP)!

This is going to be quite an expensive night in Lisbon :( !

Maria, you are welcome and I understand wanting to stay in Lisbon instead of at the Gatwick airport. Lisbon is a wonderful town. We loved it last year when we went. We stayed at the Marriott not too far from the airport. The bus stops right by the hotel and it is pretty easy to get around Lisbon. BTW, we signed up for a Marriott Visa card and got a free night stay. You might check into that. I just don't know of any other cheap way to get to Lisbon. Funchal does not offer a lot of options. I do know that it was about the same to fly from Funchal to Gatwick on BA as it was to fly from Funchal to Lisbon on Portugalia. Good luck!

Editing to add: I also remember Grupo SATA flies that route, so I checked it for the 12th and the fare was 197 Euro.

Thanks again Don!

It sounds there is some "price collusion" going on in that market! LOL!

Okay, everyone, you can mark me down as getting our air done! Denise, are you reading this????? :D :D :D

We decided to use American FF miles and will be going through, of all places, Brussels (we'll get to mark Belgium off as new country visited, kind of!), arriving in Nice late morning on embarkation day. An unexpected benefit is that with the same 40,000 miles per person we were able to get back from Ft. Lauderdale to Dallas also, on the 12:30 flight that some of you are on. (Don, I know you are doing this too, on a different flight. Yea!) We're a little short of the 80,000 miles we need and have to purchase some miles, but that's no problem. The itinerary is on hold for a couple of weeks, which gives me time to complete an online purchase, and the scheduling has worked out great.

Now I need to arrange transport from the Nice airport to the ship. If you have any recommendations off the top of your head, thanks in advance. Otherwise, I know this issue has been discussed on some thread and I can locate the contact information.

Now the trip seems real! I didn't expect to feel this much more excited now that our air is done. <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" />

Hi Priscilla,

Congratulations! I think that's quite a coup! Only 40,000 miles is fantastic. More generous than the minimum 50,000 miles in Continental for Europe rewards.

Now you can devote your time to more interesting endeavors like planning excursions, etc!

If I come across any info about Nice transport I'll send it your way.

Priscilla,

I found THIS THREAD that discusses tour guides. But the company Karen mentions also gives prices in their website for transfers from Nice.

:app: :app: :app: :app:

BRAVO!!!!!!! Your friendly pest is :D

Thanks, Maria, for that link. I'll check it out. On to more interesting endeavors, indeed!

Denise, I'm happy you're happy with me! :D

Who could be unhappy with you? Certainly, not me!

Priscilla - :app: :app: Good for you getting this done.

Kathy gave me the name of the transfer service she used last year from Nice to Monte Carlo, and I've booked with them for our pick up on Nov 1 and transfer to our hotel in Provence, and then from Provence to the ship on the 3rd. I will look it up tomorrow, or maybe later tonight and PM you their email contact, they were the best priced and Kathy said she was very happy with them last year on WAVE, so we felt confident booking with them.

Now if JetBlue would just get their act together and get schedules up for Nov, I could finish!!! They still are only up to Sept 4, and I was told at least another month or two!!! :mad: :mad: Grrrrrr! I could do it on AA with our FF miles, but then we'd have to go to Miami, and fly into Regan National, and the flight times are so so, but we'd have to get ourseleves to MIA and from DCA to home, and we felt the cost was worth booking JetBlue from FLL to IAD and then just a short cab ride home.

JoAnn, it sounds to me as if it's worth waiting for JetBlue rather than going through all the complications of the AA schedule for you. You can keep monitoring the JetBlue site and be the FIRST to schedule your flight as soon as the flights open. That's what I was planning to do with AirTran until the FF option worked out today with American. No worries. You'll be able to work that part out, I'm sure. (But it IS hard to wait!)

Thanks in advance for info on Nice transport. I would love to have that contact.

Priscilla, feels good doesn't it? Quite a coup getting that 12:30 flight. I am going to check again later and see if we can move our flights up. Perhaps we can even get on the same flight.

Just FYI those trying for an earlier flight -- when I was working with RSSC for the air for my clients who will be sailing with all of us, RSSC would not schedule a flight before 1:00, so I could not get them on any of the 11:45, or 12noon, etc flights. I asked the air concierge why since FLL airport is only about 5 minutes from the pier, and usually Ft. Lauderdale is a much easier and less of a hassle cruise port, and she said that since it was a Transatlantic sailing, and the ship was just re-entering the US from the summer season in Europe, that often it takes a lot longer to clear the ship, and thus they could not,would not book a flight before 1:00. Our experience in Ft. Lauderdale has always been a very easy disembarkation, and most of the time we are sitting at the airport by 10-10:30 latest, but just thought I'd pass along that information.

Very good point, JoAnn. This is exactly why we booked a 12:30PM flight. We didn't want to take any chances with customs delays.

My American FF miles purchase came through today -- needed to purchase some miles to have 80,000 -- so now we truly are booked, not just holding the itinerary. Whew!

Don, any luck getting an earlier flight from FLL to DFW?

JoAnn, that's interesting about the timing of flights from FLL, that RSSC wouldn't schedule before 1:00. I suppose it is a logistical challenge to be certain the flow of passengers to the airport on disembarkation day is smooth.

I haven't called yet. I may try to call them tonight to see if we can get it changed over. I will tell them that we have four friends that are on the 12:30 flight and we just have to get on it!!!

Edited to add: I called and they said nothing is availble that day at all for miles at this time. I will keep checking back periodically.

Priscilla, when you hear somebody on the radio giving away something to the 10th caller, you need to call in, because your timing is working just perfectly!!! LOL

Don, this is a rare occurrence -- me with perfect timing. I may have used up all my luck getting our flights!

Seriously, here's hoping that if you keep checking back you will be able to move up your AA flight time.

Priscilla, probably will be something as it gets closer. There are plenty of seats, but they are just not releasing them for FF miles at this point.

Tonight I get to check on some stuff for my friends who are travelling from Barcelona and want to spend some time in the South of France before heading to Marbella. I enjoy researching for others, just as much as I do for us! Anybody know if there is a high speed train from Barcelona to Avignon?

Hi Don,

You too?? I am always helping my parents and sometimes friends with their vacations. I love it! And in the process I find I learn a lot too!

The only way by train I find is with a change in a place called Cerbere(?). The total travel time is approx. 6.5 hours

Hi Don,

I'm with Maria. I am always helping family, friends and co-workers with travel research and plans and really enjoy doing so.

Here you go -

Rail Europe

Rail Pass

Hope this helps your friends.

Don, if your friends want a guide for land touring in Southern France, I have a recommendation of a lovely guide based in Aix-en-Provence. I can't say enough good about her. Let me know. I'll be happy to get her contact information for you.

Denise, it sounds like we all have it. I guess it is just in our blood! Also, thanks for the links. I will check it out for them.

Priscilla, I think once they get there they are going to rent a car and head out on their own. BTW, is your guide Catherine? We were supposed to use her in Marseille when Diana took ill and ended up in the hospital instead. I had it all set up and the others really enjoyed her. She even picked out a nice bottle of wine that she sent to the ship for us.

Don -- Yes, Catherine is the guide I meant, a real gem. I forgot that you had made arrangements with her for the trip when Diana became ill. Now I remember. Maybe someday, right? You'll just have to go back to Provence!

Yeah, we can laugh about it now! Let me see, we have a choice of excursions at this port: Excursion #1 A visit to the Hopital Centre d' Perpignan or Excursion #2 Tour of Provence with Catherine? The #1 excursion was quite exciting, but I think the wine and the scenery would have been much better on the Tour with Catherine! LOL

I should have gotten some pictures of that place. It looked like some prison compound in a third world country, but I will say that they took exceptional care of Diana, and that was all that really mattered.

Here are some of the funny things that happened. The nurses hardly spoke any English and we spoke even less French. So we communicated for the most part in Spanish, since we were so close to the Spanish border. It was especially funny when Diana asked, "Hay cualquier otros Americanos aqui?" (Are there any other Americans here?) When they started laughing, Diana pointed to herself and asked, "Un solamente?" (I'm the only one?) To which they answered, "Si!" Probably the only American that they had ever seen was J.R. Ewing on Dallas.

The hospital room windows had bars on them and no glass. There was a roll down metal shutter to use if you wanted to keep the light out, or bugs out for that matter. She did have a view of the Pyrennes though. I think it was an upgrade though for her Room with a View! LOL

The toilets had no seats on them and you had to go to a special room to take a shower. In there they gave you a sheet (no towel) to dry off with, and an instruction placard (in French of course) on the proper way to bathe. :eek:

When we went to check out of the hospital it was, here are your medical records and au revoir. No check out desk, no place to pay, no nothing. Probably didn't even know what to do with us, since it is socialized medicine there. Several, and I mean several months later, we get a bill (in French of course) from the Hopital Centre d' Perpignan for payment of something like 1032 Euros for everything including her two night stay. Come to think of it, that was probably just the upgrade charge for the Room with a View! LOL

What an experience!

Don,

What an experience! It was amazing that even with the language barrier they obviously knew what ailed Diana and took good care of her.

Yeah, the cost in the US if not covered by insurance would have been at least 5 times that.

I am sure it was an "exciting" experience you don't want to repeat!

Don,

It's good that you can laugh about it now. Diana was so fortunate to have gotten through her medical scare as well as she did.

Well, we all complain about escalating medical costs, and the rise in medical insurance rates. The one thing we can pretty much agree upon and be assured of, living in the US, is not staying in a medical facility that resembles a prison.

Delete

Maria, at least the Doctors spoke some English and Diana's cardiologist said that they did exactly the right treatment.

Denise, that is so true. I have never been so frightened in my life. We can laugh about it now. I was especially scared when I got to the hospital and they pointed to the room that Diana was supposed to be in and all that was there was an empty gurney! The ships doctor and paramedics had given her diuretics to relieve the fluid from around her lungs and they kicked in just as she got to the hospital. So feeling better already and nobody that she could tell that she needed to go potty, she got up off the gurney on her own and walked down the hallway to use the bathroom!

Don,

Surely a travel experience NEVER to be repeated!

Don, I can only imagine how frightening the whole experience must have been. At least Diana got the care she needed, but still .... I'm glad you can laugh about it now!

OK, getting back to our friends. It looks like renting a car is going to be the best option for them, because they can actually get there faster than by train. Anybody know of a good place to stay in Provence? Even though they have money, they enjoy quaint but clean B&B's and probably since they will be driving back to Barcelona, staying in Montpellier, Arles, or Avignon would be the best for them. That way they could still get to all the areas pretty easily. I am going to check out Tripadvisor, but do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Don,

I did very extensive research on hotels in the Provence region when we were planning on taking the Monte Carlo to Dover cruise (before booking CROSS). I will send the info your way, via email.

Thanks Denise!

Just emailed you, Don!

Denise: You are an incredible "travel researcher" - I realize how time consuming info gathering can be - thanks to all who graciously share their time, talent and research gifts