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Date Posted: 23:08:58 04/11/07 Wed
Author: Erica24
Subject: I love talking about it. :)
In reply to: mayor 's message, "My passport pic is awfull too." on 16:59:49 04/11/07 Wed

We paid up front for all six nights, to get a deal. I just watched for hotel deals over a period of about two weeks, and when a deal came up for a hotel that didn't look awful, we took it. I just checked a variety of sites every night for HOURS. I checked tripadvisor the most, but also travelocity, expedial, orbitz, and londontown.com. I even tried to book a hotel through Londontown.com, but it wouldn't process the booking. I think the deal got eaten up and we weren't able to get that hotel.

We are going for 15 days to London, the Italian Riviera, Florence, Venice and then Dublin. I read in the Rick Steves book that if you fly in one place and out another, it is cheaper. I booked flights on travelocity.com and that was true there. I got the best deals through that website (versus orbitz, expedia, cheaptickets and priceline). So I bought round trip tickets from Chicago to London and from Dublin back to Chicago for $725. Then we bought another round trip ticket, from London to Pisa (near the Italian Riviera) and then from Venice to Dublin for around $275 each. From Chicago to London it is a 7 1/2 hour flight. Ours is non-stop to London. From Dublin back home, unfortunately, we have to fly back to London before going to Chicago. Oh well.

Then I just booked our hotels over about two weeks as I found deals. I almost went crosseyed comparing all the different websites. I got a deal in Florence from Orbitz (reserved but not paid for), a deal in Venice (paid up front) from Expedia, and a deal in the Italian Riviera by emailing the hotel directly (booked but not paid for). I think our hotel in London was through Expedia, which we paid for up front, too. I think I am going to book the Dublin hotel directly, too. We are not staying directly in Dublin. I wanted to stay on the Irish Sea so we are staying a bit outside, in a town called Howth which is closer to the airport. Booking hotels was the biggest pain, too. We have to share a bed in Venice and we can only afford one night, because things are soooooo expensive there. Consequently, I'm booking us at a Castle in Dublin to make up for it. LOL.

We are flying overnight on June 12. We're leaving at 9:50 p.m., and arriving at 11:30 a.m. London time. We could have left earlier but they we would have ended up arriving in the middle of the night Chicago time. Hopefully we'll get on the plane and pass out for a few hours. We're still arriving at 6:30 Chicago time, though.


Honestly, it probably took me two straight weeks on the computer to book the flights and then two straight weeks to book the hotels. I'm mad because had I booked the flights even two weeks earlier, we could have saved probably $100-200. I just wrote down everything and compared and contrasted flights and hotels until the right deal jumped out at me. When the flight prices seemed to be increasing I booked them.

Oh, and "en suite" is apparently a big deal. It means the bathroom is in the room. I kid you not, I have checked each hotel I booked five times to make sure the toilet is in the room. I would DIE if it wasn't. I would absolutely DIE. LOL.

Another thing - in London, you're going to pay about $35 more PER NIGHT in tax that they don't put in the "nightly rates" you see. That was a nasty shock. It's about $25 more in Italy, too.

Oh, and I have heard of the Speaker's Corner. I believe that is on the north side of Hyde Park, which is where our hotel is. This month I want to finish up scheduling our activities, but I need a break, or I need a new guidebook because I'm feeling a bit sick of it all. I just don't think we should have to spend $400 to go to all the sites. I'm bitter about that. LOL.

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