I finally booked my flight to Hamburg this afternoon. I was on the phone with the Aeroplan agent and in the middle of the booking, decided to stay an extra weekend to see a couple of other people. It’s a rather complicated itinerary, but come to think of it, no more than it has been in previous years:
Fri, Mar 17: Lufthansa Toronto–>Hamburg
Sun, Mar 26: Lufthansa Hamburg–>London Heathrow
Virgin Trains London–>Wolverhampton
Wed, Mar 29: BMI Baby Birmingham–>Amsterdam
Dutch Rail Amsterdam–>Rotterdam
Fri, Mar 31: Dutch/German Rail Rotterdam–>Cologne
Sun, Apr 2: Ryanair Dusseldorf–>London Stansted
Mon, Apr 3: Air Canada London–>Toronto
I booked everything very cheaply. The transatlantic flight was with Aeroplan (Air Canada’s frequent flyer program), with thanks to K+C for making up the remaining 13% or so I needed to make it across the pond and back. I only paid taxes and the booking fee.
Incredibly, I was able to get the Hamburg-London leg INCLUDED on the Aeroplan ticket, because they allowed either a stopover or an open-jaw in the itinerary. Originally I asked for open-jaw, Toronto-Hamburg-Amsterdam-Toronto, but I was having a difficult time trying to get from Hamburg to anywhere in England on Sunday, March 26. I checked every single airline that flew out of Hamburg, and all were outrageously expensive for Sunday morning. Easyjet’s Hamburg-Bristol flight doesn’t run on Saturday, and leaves at night on Sunday. It’s Mother’s Day in England, and I’m trying to make it to Wolverhampton for the Big Spread that my friend’s mum is famous for. It would be a shame to miss out seeing the family at this gathering.
But I was able to get Hamburg-London for free on Lufthansa, which meant I couldn’t do an open-jaw. And I was able to find a cheap seat on Virgin Trains from London to Wolverhampton for £10, thankfully. I also scored a flight from Birmingham to Amsterdam on BMI Baby for a decent price (£15.99 + taxes/fees), which means I don’t have to schlep up to Liverpool to catch the Easyjet flight to Amsterdam. Birmingham is considerably closer.
I lucked out on Ryanair, getting a flight from Dusseldorf to London Stansted for — get this — ONE euro cent. I’ve been flying with Ryanair and Easyjet for years, and have bought flights for £4.99 and as low as 4.99 euros, but have always wondered if I’d ever get one of those one cent flights Ryanair advertises. I finally did! The taxes came out to 9.99 euros and I used a credit card (2.50 euro fee), so the grand total was 12.50 euros. It’s more than one euro cent in the end, but it’s still cheaper than the average taxi fare home after an evening out.
The only part of the trip I haven’t sorted out is the train times between Rotterdam and Cologne on Friday, March 31. It’s a relatively short journey, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.
All afternoon I’ve been thinking that this trip to Europe, if it wasn’t for the purpose of attending a memorial, should’ve been our honeymoon. We’d planned to fly into London and use the hotel program we’d purchased in March of last year (which expired on February 28, which is why I went to New York on February 24), then fly around the continent on these cheap flights.
I remember how excited David was at the prospect of travelling after we were married, and I find myself lamenting often about how he never got that opportunity. He didn’t take a vacation for three years because he didn’t want to travel by himself. I thought of starting a little travel ritual, maybe leaving his initials in places along the way to say, “David was here in spirit.” I’ll think of something along those lines, and see what would be practical (yet semi-permanent and non-destructive).