etc.

Remember that conversation I mentioned that spawned the almost-trip to Florida? Well, all that talk of the almost-trip to Florida has led to a definite-trip to England.

It went something like this:
MJ: if we’re getting like 10 days off, why limit ourselves to Florida?
AEJ: where else did you have in mind?
MJ: well, why not look into other last-minute warm destinations?
AEJ: like an island? the caribbean?
MJ: why not?
AEJ: well, if we’re talking a major-ish trip, what about Europe?
MJ: my travel miles will probably cover it
AEJ: how about England?
MJ: I would LOVE to go to London

This is usually the way we make decisions in our household. We start with an idea (a budget trip to Florida), we do a little research (expedia.ca and a trip to Travel Cuts), talk some more about it (see above), rationalize a little (10 days off, why not make REAL use of it? again, see above), and end up making a decision that is miles away from where we started, both in location (Florida/England?) and budget.

That said, the flight is costing us less than the trip to Florida, and we’re extolling the virtues of loyalty plans all over the place because the combination of about four different travel reward programs is paying for one ticket and about four nights of accomodation. Take my personal information, sell it to anyone who displays an interest, house it all on an unreliable server that is susceptible to the late night exploits of dirty hackers, and slap me silly. If you’re offering travel points of any kind, I’ll sign anything.