Travel Tracks by Dave Heron

(Page 8)

Meeting Expectations

Like most - I love a bargain.
Offer me a vintage '57 Fender Stratocaster Sunburst for $5,000 and I'm all over it.
En route to divorce court perhaps, but the proud owner of a true bargain.
A '91 Chevy Cavalier for only $500?

Cheap - but not my idea of any kind of good deal other than for possibly the vendor.
Bargains on holiday packages need the same kind of scrutiny as any other major purchase.
When a fellow called up the other day to tell me that he'd located a much better deal "on the web" than anything I'd sent over to him, I suggested we both log on to the site at the same time to see what was coming up available.

At the precise AH-HA moment the deal popped up he exclaimed, "see - $800 and you quoted me $1,400".
He was right - there it was in black and white - $800.
Of course it wasn't for the package into a 4 star all inclusive he'd asked for but rather into a 2 star.
It was close to the beach - less than 5 minutes by cab.
And rather than a nonstop flight from Calgary, it made flight changes in Chicago and Dallas before attempting to land in Paradise.

But it was cheap.

And easy to find once you arrived - it was the motel with the Cavalier parked out front.
Not more than an hour later another treasure hunter floated in saying he'd prefer to shop locally so if we could get him into Timbuktu for the same price or less than what he'd found "on the web" he'd favour us with the business.

Proudly producing the itinerary he'd pulled up, we took a look at this epic find.
A 14,000 mile journey on 4 different airlines, 1 of which had been banned from 1st world airspace for the past 10 years and 2 others not even the most enthusiastic airplane hound could recognize.
We took a pass on issuing that ticket explaining that our policy was to sell round trip tickets only and this didn't exactly inspire my confidence that it would actually complete the itinerary.

But it was cheap.

Over the years I've come to expect that in exchange for an output of currency on my part, that the product I'm acquiring have a certain shall we say - value attached to it.
When choosing a restaurant, I have a certain expectation that in exchange for paying the bill, that the meal served will stay down and deliver some degree of enjoyment.
If on the other hand, I talk myself into believing that $2.99 for an all you can eat buffet seems like a good idea, I probably shouldn't be too surprised at the end result.
I got what I paid for.
And more.

After enduring a Winter such as we've enjoyed thus far, wanting to get away for some Vitamin D is understandable.
But when we see the $800 bargain advertised - taxes included - there's a couple of alarm bells that should be clanging inside the hollow cavity.
Taxes into Sombr-eroville account for $300.
That leaves $500 for flights, transfers, accommodations, food, liquor and other miscellaneous items.
Something's gotta give here folks.
Seven days worth of grub, even at $2.99 per buffet takes about $70 out of the pot.
Another $100 or so for kickapoo joy juice at the bar and you're left with $330 for the hotel and the airline to split.
If they split it 50-50, the hotel's getting $23 a day for the room and the airline reaps $83 per direction for the flight.
With the right inoculations I can probably survive a $23 a night hotel room.
But at $83 for a 5 hour flight, am I certain the airline has checked to make sure the seal on the aircraft's sun roof will hold?

Brain surgery and skydiving school are 2 fields I don't look for clearance sales on.
Anything involving hurtling my ass through the air at 600 mph is another.

But if you're bound and determined to score "the deal" - call me.

I probably won't sell you the trip but at the very least you can get the damned Cavalier out of my driveway.

Adios until next time
Dave Heron
Dave Heron is the owner and operator of: Pace Setter Travel & Tours (1995) Inc; P.O. Box 612, 49 Elizabeth Street, Okotoks.
Tel: 403.938.5454
Toll Free: 1.800.206.7223.
Fax: 403.938.5568
Email:
pacesetter@nucleus.com