Wednesday, June 4, 2014

It’s official! A Plane Ticket Has My Name On It





"When are you leaving?" "I thought you were supposed to be gone already." "Are you headed there soon?" "Why are you still here?!?! Leave already!"

Well, wonder no more!  We bought plane tickets a few days ago!  Our departure date is August 2nd. We will fly from Charlotte to Miami to La Romana, Dominican Republic.  “But Trenita, according to your post about dry erase boards, your apartment lease ends on July 9th!” (you say) Well, this is true.  However, I will add my husband and kids to my student health insurance during the open enrollment period, and their coverage doesn’t begin until August 1st.  Therefore, we’ve got some time to hang out before we go.  We will be living with my in-laws (who are very wonderful, I might add) for a few weeks until we leave the country.

Each one-way ticket to the DR costs $385.30.  We need three tickets (the baby flies semi-free) so the total cost for three tickets is $1155.90.  The semi-free baby isn’t free for international flights.  We have to pay 10% of the cost of a ticket for him, even though he will be sitting in a lap and not a seat.  I’m not sure why the 10% exists for international flights, but I’m not complaining. It’s only $38.

The cost of checking baggage is something I will complain about.  I flew to the D.R. in March of last year and I don’t remember any baggage fees.  Since April 8th of this year, you pay $25 for the first checked bag and $40 for the second checked bag.  Since we are 3 ticketed passengers, we will have up to 6 checked bags.  That adds up to $195 in baggage fees.  Some child items don’t count (like strollers or car seats), but others do (like the “Pack and Play” – it’s like a traveling crib). We could have chosen to fly into Santo Domingo (first bag is free for this city) or upgrade to business class for $100 per ticket (each ticketed person gets 3 free bags). BUT, Santo Domingo is 2 hours from La Romana (you couldn’t pay me to add one more step to this trip!) and I don’t think I can keep up with 9 bags anyway.

I think we’ll have plenty of space…famous last words…I feel a blog post about packing anxiety coming on! 

* Photo credit: http://www.the-fishing-vacation-guide.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Plane-tickets-300x196.jpg

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