Rave - I have scheduled a trip!

JackieOnLine

JackieOnLine

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first time in I do NOT know how long - I will be travelling for fun instead of to relocate! this despite the fact that I still don't have my life in order, but life is short and I need to move ahead.

I'm going to Albuquerque the first week in October for the Balloon Fiesta.

just paid for my non-stop Alaskan Air tickets and wish I'd bought them 2 weeks ago or whever I first looked at all the options.

I've never been there and will be visiting a friend. We already have tickets for a balloon ride that is costing just slightly more than my airline tickets did, but to go up with 100s of other balloons is a once in a lifetime thing. bucket list material!

aside from that, we also plan a visit to the zoo there, a road trip to Santa Fe, and a short/easy camping in the nearby mountains.

WHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
 
Congratulations and I hope you have a wonderful trip. Post some pictures! Hope you have time to visit Old Town Alb. Lovely and lots of cool stuff to see and the atmosphere is sort of like an open air market.
 
At least five or six times today, I thought about your trip and got excited for you.

BUT…I DO hope you go a day early because of the airline troubles.
 
That sounds wonderful!!

Our RV club tried to get sites for the Balloon Fiesta this year, and despite being online at the moment reservations opened up, we were unable to get them. I wanted to go so much! Maybe next year.
 
Spiky Bugger said:
At least five or six times today, I thought about your trip and got excited for you.

BUT…I DO hope you go a day early because of the airline troubles.
Click to expand...

well, thank you, LOL - but what do you mean go a day early? I already have airline tickets and will be there the Friday before the festival. then our tickets to go up in the balloon are on Monday morning.
butt crack of dawn, apparently!

DianaCox said:
Our RV club tried to get sites for the Balloon Fiesta this year, and despite being online at the moment reservations opened up, we were unable to get them.
Click to expand...

I am surprised! my friend got the tickets to go up in a balloon, and he said those sell out, but I don't know anything about the RV sites. that's a shame you couldn't get tickets!

I'm a bit anxious about spending so much money and then maybe they won't be able to launch that day due to wind - they say if that happens you are first in line for any openings later in the week, but unlikely there will be any apparently.
 
Sounds like you’re covered. Friday travel for a Monday balloon flight gives you plenty of time to get to YOUR balloon flight, and to see the Balloon Festival, no matter how screwed up air travel is for that week.

I’ve seen, and read, info about the CURRENT state of travel in the US. They all said to TRY for the first flight of the day, because when the airlines get around to rebooking passengers on cancelled flights (and it SHOULD BE under control by then, but it has been a disaster recently), they START with the folks who were on the earliest flights of the day and work them in chronological order. People in afternoon/evening flights might not get a seat until the next day…or later.

Don’t let me scare you. ”There are those” who think I’m a terribly negative person. I think I‘m just cautious and thinking about all the stuff that COULD go wrong and taking steps to make sure those things don’t ruin MY plans! I’m a “Risk Mitigation” person.
 
Spiky Bugger said:
They all said to TRY for the first flight of the day,
Click to expand...
I thought about that, but ended up going the other way and am flying late. if I have an early morning flight I have to either leave home in the middle of the night or go to Portland the night before and stay in a hotel - don't want to do either. so I will take a chance!

I ended up skipping the $100 "completely refundable" part of the tickets, but did get the $31 "flight insurance" which will cover some things, like if I have to miss it because I'm in the hospital or something.

honestly, it was too hard to figure out exactly what it covers and after buying it I wondered if they do that on purpose? offer refundable but at a high price, to make the flight insurance price sound reasonable? because it worked on me!

anyway, I have a late flight (but nonstop!) both to and from and hope it works out.
 
Over-all I'm glad I went on the trip, but New Mexico had very atypical weather (clouds! rain! cold!) and three of the days of Balloon Fiesta they couldn't launch, including the day we had tickets. also didn't camp because of weather. so that was very sad.

But saw some sites in the damp (the zoo in Albq) and some in partly sunny including the stunning countryside around ghost ranch where Georgia O'Keefe lived and painted. Hiked at Lake Abiquiu, soaked in hot springs in the Jemez mountains and heard an elk bugle at El Malpais National Monument. got caught hiking in a thunderstorm including hail which was more than a little scary and we got soaked and very cold as we were completely unprepared. live and learn!

and it turns out I love green chillies - took home extra from restaurants and put them in scrambled eggs and on salads.

so, now back to my regularly scheduled life. sigh.
 

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