Obi Wan Kenobi
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2004
- Messages
- 3,938
When? 1st to 15th december 2007
Who? (Original cast)
Obi Wan Kenobi (48) trip planner and Paymaster General
Princess Leia (DW 4-something and spender of the total wealth of Alderaan)
Darth Vader (DS 5) still cute before the dark force takes over, Power Rangers and HSM mad.
New cast call (in Part two)
Hans Solo aka Dave, (45, neighbour and friend of Obi & Leia)
Ewok Aka Caroline (46, DW of Hans, only sane one of the bunch!)
C3PO Aka Amy (DD 21, of Hans and Ewok, last trip with parents)
R2D2 Aka Charlotte, Better known as Taz after the cartoon character due to her energy (11, DD2 of Hans & Ewok, has no idea about the trip)
And Introducing:-
General Greivious (Aka Neil, 36, Amy's boyfriend)
Those who know me will know that I am quite errrr... anal about things, and I am not one to leave things to the last minute. I HATE not having things cut and dried well before time. I am unable to do things on a whim, I think its something to do with my time in the RAF, or just a flaw in my otherwise impeccable character
Due to work commitments, we have three weeks holiday a year, which used to be three weeks together running into Christmas break (effectivly five weeks total) but since the birth of Darth Vader, this has morphed into one week in June and two weeks in November/December.
We own a four bed villa in Florida and whilst Darth is young, that makes a good base to work from. As he gets older, we will alternate Florida with Vermont to teach him to ski, but for now this is ideal.
So I start to check flights at the 336 day return date. We are big fans of Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class, but have been known to fly other airlines Buisness/First Class depending on the offers available.
As most of you do, I work hard all year and I want my holiday to be relaxing and comfortable. The very first time we went to the States, some 20 years ago, we flew from BHX to Florida on a charter, which had started from Glasgow, so all the non smoking seats were taken, we were stuck in the smoking section in seats with a pitch WORSE than the space cattle have in trucks, so uncomfortable, we both had bad backs for half the holiday (we are both over 6 feet tall) I vowed that time NEVER AGAIN! and have always kept to that, even if it mean at the beginning, not going to the States every year.
I looked at flying from two airports,
1) Birmingham (BHX) closest international airport to where we live, means no hotel overnight, but few choices.
2) Gatwick (LGW) better lounges, but overnight stay, more choices.
Never look at Manchester, I refuse to pay that sort of money to fly buisness with the awful lounges they have their compared to Gatwick! (plus being a Leeds fan, there is something "dirty" in using that city!!
)
For the past four years we have taken the direct flight into Florida as opposed to via an American/European hub as the less time for Darth on a journey the better (For example, Vermont to home is roughly a 24 hour total travelling time!)
but this year, he is now old enough to withstand the extra 2-4 hours I think.
So, first of all, flight prices.
I am a firm believer that either right at the seats being available date or right at the last minute are the best times for prices, and as I hate not having an end date, the second option is not for me.
So after searching the best prices (Two adults and one child total including taxes in Buisness Class) were as follows:
Continental:- BHX-NWK-MCO Buisness First £4,175.10
Virgin:- LGW-MCO Upper Class direct £ 3,854.60
BA:- LGW-MCO Club Class direct £3,829.90
Continental looks totally out of it at this point, BUT, I still have to add to the Gatwick flights, hotel and car parking compared to BHX's car parking only.
I also looked at using my Virgin FC miles, but there were only two Z class fares available and no G reward tix. Miles Plus Money was not that much of a saving for the miles I would have to use.
So, next is pricing up hotels for Gatwick.
Two things here, why a hotel? well firstly, again, I hate being late for an appointment and the thought of driving down the M25 on the day fills me with dread. I have driven back from France, should be 3 -4hours total from Lille, but one time I was 6 hours stuck on the M25 crawling from the M20 to the M40!
I much prefer to drive down the night before and know I have arrived.
Secondly, I don't want to bother waiting for a shuttle bus to and from the hotel, so we normally go to the Hilton, but last year was very unimpressed with the room and the hotel, so I decided this time to try the ex Le Meridian the Sofitel. It also helps that if you have a Sofitel Privilege Frequent user card you get an upgrade of room.
On the hotel and car parking web sites, Sofitel was only coming up a room only without car parking, so I had to price it up seperatly.
My choices werecoming out as:
Hilton room only £123.73
Hilton with meet and greet £209.00
Sofitel Room only £99.00
Maple parking £79.00
so in effect
Hilton with parking £209
Sofitel with parking £178.00
Just to check, I went direct to Sofitels web site and low and behold! 1 room plus 15 days car parking £160.85! Sorted.
Birmingham airport car parking was a huge £44.85
Next car.
Again, being tall people, we do not like small cars, I drive a Range Rover and Princess Leia a Discovery.
So when pricing we go for either a Luxury four door or a 4X4
Again, as I have a Hertz No.1 Gold Card I normally book with them , but always check for better deals, as different car hire companies have different deals on different sized cars depending on how many of each they have.
All prices inclusive of all taxes and insurances
Dollar
Luxury: Chrysler 300 £318.92
4X4: Jeep Grand Cherokee £341.24
Thrifty
Luxury: Chrysler 300 £315.29
4X4: Jeep Grand Cherokee £336.78
National
Luxury: cadillac DTS £413.79
4X4: Chevvy Trailblazer £425.29
Alamo
Luxury: caddy DTS £400.00
4X4: Chevvy trailblazer £420.00
So the best for a 4X4 was Thrifty. I then phoned Hertz No1 Gold Card (better prices than on-line for some reason!)
Using my No. 1 Gold discount and a further discount for using a Master Card I got a Ford Explorer for £229.33!
Sold! especially as this means I can use the No1 Gold collection at MCO, i.e. take bus to Hertz compound and collect the car, no waiting, the bus will have a board on it telling me the bay in which my car is parked.
Anyway! back to the flights.
Adding either car parking and hotel (for Gatwick) or car parking for Birmingham, the total fly/park prices came out as:
Virgin from Gatwick £4,314.78
BA from Gatwick £4,290.08
Continental from Brum £ 4,519.28
So even with the added cost of a hotel and expensive car parking, Continental was still more expensive, a longer flight and not direct, so out they went.
I could have booked the Continental Buisness First from Gatwick for cheaper than Virgin, but as its the same flight, I prefer to have the miles in my FC account and Tier points. But it IS a cheaper way of getting seats on teh Virgin flight if you price them up on the Continental UK web site!
So, BA or Virgin??
BA were a total of £24.70 cheaper (who says they check each others prices!???)
Then ist a toss up of the services available:-
BA= larger buisness cabin, better food, better amienity kit, But you have to climb over your next door neighbour to get to aisle
Virgin= smaller exclusive cabin, easy to get to aisle, bar, but awful food and crap ameinity kit
What made the difference is the Gatwick Clubhouse of Virgins compared to the BA lounge, no competition.
So (yes! finally for those who have been able to stay awake with my ramblings!)
Seats booked on Virgin, seats 6A 6K and 7A
Car booked with Hertz
Only the treatments in the clubhouse to be booked, all sorted11 months in advance of the trip, or so I thought.........
Who? (Original cast)
Obi Wan Kenobi (48) trip planner and Paymaster General
Princess Leia (DW 4-something and spender of the total wealth of Alderaan)
Darth Vader (DS 5) still cute before the dark force takes over, Power Rangers and HSM mad.
New cast call (in Part two)
Hans Solo aka Dave, (45, neighbour and friend of Obi & Leia)
Ewok Aka Caroline (46, DW of Hans, only sane one of the bunch!)
C3PO Aka Amy (DD 21, of Hans and Ewok, last trip with parents)
R2D2 Aka Charlotte, Better known as Taz after the cartoon character due to her energy (11, DD2 of Hans & Ewok, has no idea about the trip)
And Introducing:-
General Greivious (Aka Neil, 36, Amy's boyfriend)
Those who know me will know that I am quite errrr... anal about things, and I am not one to leave things to the last minute. I HATE not having things cut and dried well before time. I am unable to do things on a whim, I think its something to do with my time in the RAF, or just a flaw in my otherwise impeccable character
Due to work commitments, we have three weeks holiday a year, which used to be three weeks together running into Christmas break (effectivly five weeks total) but since the birth of Darth Vader, this has morphed into one week in June and two weeks in November/December.
We own a four bed villa in Florida and whilst Darth is young, that makes a good base to work from. As he gets older, we will alternate Florida with Vermont to teach him to ski, but for now this is ideal.
So I start to check flights at the 336 day return date. We are big fans of Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class, but have been known to fly other airlines Buisness/First Class depending on the offers available.
As most of you do, I work hard all year and I want my holiday to be relaxing and comfortable. The very first time we went to the States, some 20 years ago, we flew from BHX to Florida on a charter, which had started from Glasgow, so all the non smoking seats were taken, we were stuck in the smoking section in seats with a pitch WORSE than the space cattle have in trucks, so uncomfortable, we both had bad backs for half the holiday (we are both over 6 feet tall) I vowed that time NEVER AGAIN! and have always kept to that, even if it mean at the beginning, not going to the States every year.
I looked at flying from two airports,
1) Birmingham (BHX) closest international airport to where we live, means no hotel overnight, but few choices.
2) Gatwick (LGW) better lounges, but overnight stay, more choices.
Never look at Manchester, I refuse to pay that sort of money to fly buisness with the awful lounges they have their compared to Gatwick! (plus being a Leeds fan, there is something "dirty" in using that city!!
)For the past four years we have taken the direct flight into Florida as opposed to via an American/European hub as the less time for Darth on a journey the better (For example, Vermont to home is roughly a 24 hour total travelling time!)
but this year, he is now old enough to withstand the extra 2-4 hours I think.
So, first of all, flight prices.
I am a firm believer that either right at the seats being available date or right at the last minute are the best times for prices, and as I hate not having an end date, the second option is not for me.
So after searching the best prices (Two adults and one child total including taxes in Buisness Class) were as follows:
Continental:- BHX-NWK-MCO Buisness First £4,175.10
Virgin:- LGW-MCO Upper Class direct £ 3,854.60
BA:- LGW-MCO Club Class direct £3,829.90
Continental looks totally out of it at this point, BUT, I still have to add to the Gatwick flights, hotel and car parking compared to BHX's car parking only.
I also looked at using my Virgin FC miles, but there were only two Z class fares available and no G reward tix. Miles Plus Money was not that much of a saving for the miles I would have to use.
So, next is pricing up hotels for Gatwick.
Two things here, why a hotel? well firstly, again, I hate being late for an appointment and the thought of driving down the M25 on the day fills me with dread. I have driven back from France, should be 3 -4hours total from Lille, but one time I was 6 hours stuck on the M25 crawling from the M20 to the M40!
I much prefer to drive down the night before and know I have arrived.
Secondly, I don't want to bother waiting for a shuttle bus to and from the hotel, so we normally go to the Hilton, but last year was very unimpressed with the room and the hotel, so I decided this time to try the ex Le Meridian the Sofitel. It also helps that if you have a Sofitel Privilege Frequent user card you get an upgrade of room.
On the hotel and car parking web sites, Sofitel was only coming up a room only without car parking, so I had to price it up seperatly.
My choices werecoming out as:
Hilton room only £123.73
Hilton with meet and greet £209.00
Sofitel Room only £99.00
Maple parking £79.00
so in effect
Hilton with parking £209
Sofitel with parking £178.00
Just to check, I went direct to Sofitels web site and low and behold! 1 room plus 15 days car parking £160.85! Sorted.
Birmingham airport car parking was a huge £44.85
Next car.
Again, being tall people, we do not like small cars, I drive a Range Rover and Princess Leia a Discovery.
So when pricing we go for either a Luxury four door or a 4X4
Again, as I have a Hertz No.1 Gold Card I normally book with them , but always check for better deals, as different car hire companies have different deals on different sized cars depending on how many of each they have.
All prices inclusive of all taxes and insurances
Dollar
Luxury: Chrysler 300 £318.92
4X4: Jeep Grand Cherokee £341.24
Thrifty
Luxury: Chrysler 300 £315.29
4X4: Jeep Grand Cherokee £336.78
National
Luxury: cadillac DTS £413.79
4X4: Chevvy Trailblazer £425.29
Alamo
Luxury: caddy DTS £400.00
4X4: Chevvy trailblazer £420.00
So the best for a 4X4 was Thrifty. I then phoned Hertz No1 Gold Card (better prices than on-line for some reason!)
Using my No. 1 Gold discount and a further discount for using a Master Card I got a Ford Explorer for £229.33!
Sold! especially as this means I can use the No1 Gold collection at MCO, i.e. take bus to Hertz compound and collect the car, no waiting, the bus will have a board on it telling me the bay in which my car is parked.
Anyway! back to the flights.
Adding either car parking and hotel (for Gatwick) or car parking for Birmingham, the total fly/park prices came out as:
Virgin from Gatwick £4,314.78
BA from Gatwick £4,290.08
Continental from Brum £ 4,519.28
So even with the added cost of a hotel and expensive car parking, Continental was still more expensive, a longer flight and not direct, so out they went.
I could have booked the Continental Buisness First from Gatwick for cheaper than Virgin, but as its the same flight, I prefer to have the miles in my FC account and Tier points. But it IS a cheaper way of getting seats on teh Virgin flight if you price them up on the Continental UK web site!
So, BA or Virgin??
BA were a total of £24.70 cheaper (who says they check each others prices!???)
Then ist a toss up of the services available:-
BA= larger buisness cabin, better food, better amienity kit, But you have to climb over your next door neighbour to get to aisle
Virgin= smaller exclusive cabin, easy to get to aisle, bar, but awful food and crap ameinity kit
What made the difference is the Gatwick Clubhouse of Virgins compared to the BA lounge, no competition.
So (yes! finally for those who have been able to stay awake with my ramblings!)
Seats booked on Virgin, seats 6A 6K and 7A
Car booked with Hertz
Only the treatments in the clubhouse to be booked, all sorted11 months in advance of the trip, or so I thought.........
) Will be eagerly looking out for more
