26 June 2008

More decent IAH international fares

Poking around on FareCompare earlier, I found a couple more good international fares on Continental.

Houston - Berlin is running around $650 all in through most of March 2009.

UPDATE: Some early March dates on CO's website are coming up just under $600 all in. That's quite a fare in the current environment.

Houston - Frankfurt is running about the same, also through most of March 2009.

It looks like other carriers are pretty close to these prices, in case you have loyalties to another FF program. A trip to Berlin is looking really tempting. Hell, that's cheaper than CO's (obscene) rate to Springfield, MO at the moment!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/26/08 21:24 | Travel | Technorati | Comments (1)

25 June 2008

Good fares from IAH

A couple of good fares from IAH have popped up.

You can fly IAH to St. Louis for $157 roundtrip on NWA, with pretty good availability. I was just able to book a weekend trip in late September that will get me in on a Saturday morning, off to a Cards game that night, and back out on Sunday evening. NWA's weekend fare finder is very helpful for this sort of thing.

The down side to this fare code is that it will only earn 50% EQMs for CO fliers (100% regular miles). I'll be fine for elite requalification this year, so the cheap fare sold me, but your requirements may vary.

Also from NWA (and United, for you Houston-based Star Alliance fliers) is IAH to London-Heathrow for around $650 (that figure seems to include taxes, fuel surcharges, and all the other semi-hidden nonsense, as far as I can tell from a quick search). This one is also a 50% EQM earner for CO fliers on NWA, but it's still a darn good fare for someone looking to save on a London getaway.

Best advice is to book these quickly if they look at all interesting. Sales have been hard to come by in the current price environment, and these are some good ones.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/25/08 10:29 | Travel | Technorati | Comments (1)

14 May 2008

Greece Trip: 05/14/08 (Weds) -- AMS to IAH (The End)

From 05/08/08 on, I had pretty much stopped writing up my bullet notes in my written journal. I may fill them in a little here, but this is mostly just a chronological dump from what's in my notebook. I regret that I've inevitably lost some detail this way, but I really got into Paros and didn't feel like writing in detail.

- Walk to the airport from the Hilton. Plenty of time. No surprises. This is how I like it.

13 May 2008

Greece Trip: 05/13/08 (Tues) -- Rafina to ATH to AMS

- Bus trip to the Athens airport from Rafina (no more strike!). The bus actually picks us up early, which is fine.

12 May 2008

Greece Trip: 05/12/08 (Mon) -- Leaving Paros

- Breakfast... where else?

11 May 2008

Greece Trip: 05/11/08 (Sun) -- Winding down on Paros

- Callie and her mom off to church first thing in the morning. No thanks!

10 May 2008

Greece Trip: 05/10/08 (Sat) -- Toodling around paros

- Breakfast at the coffeeshop

09 May 2008

Greece Trip: 05/09/08 (Fri) -- Toodling around paros

- Breakfast at the coffeeshop just underneath our room at the hotel. The hotel offers breakfast during the high season, but we're still a bit early, so the coffeeshop is just fine (the omelettes are actually quite good, if pricey). We get to watch all goings on. And the Parian waitress is cute, so that's nice too.

08 May 2008

Greece Trip: 05/08/08 (Thurs) -- Goodbye Amorgos, Hello Paros

From here on, I stopped filling in my bullet notes in my written journal. I may fill them in a little here, but this is mostly just a chronological dump from what's in my notebook. I regret that I've inevitably lost some detail this way, but I really got into Paros and didn't feel like writing in detail.

07 May 2008

Greece Trip: 05/07/08 (Weds) -- More (cold and windy) Amorgos

Awake after a good night's sleep. The beds are really comfy at the studios, although the heater clicks and clacks all night long. The showers are also nice (not always the case in some Greek hotels/studios), as is the homemade breakfast of (really orange!) scrambled eggs, Greek coffee, toast and biscotti. We're slow risers again, which is good, as I'm still dragging for some reason. Delayed jet lag? Beats me.