dreaming and planning

So my boyfriend says to me that maybe we can go to England in 2013 and visit my friend Tracey. Some time passes by and I get a message asking what I think about taking the rail from London to Paris for a day-trip, it's fairly inexpensive and we can do it in a day.  My response:  the only obstacles are money and time.

A little more time passes and he sends me a message saying maybe we should stay overnight.  Again, time and money are the only constraints.  You can see where this is going.  Now we are up to possibly two full weeks to visit London, my girlfriend who lives on Sompting, West Sussex, and a couple of nights in Paris. 

Now, mind you, we aren't doing this trip until 2013.  This is February 2012.  I'm a Certified Travel Planner (at least I will be by the end of April, on my last class!) and researching  trips is a fun activity for me.  Erik is very detailed and we are both excited over the possibilities. 

My first thoughts are the the airfare will be ridiculously high and then the hotels will be high priced in London and Paris.  We start toying around with sample dates to get an idea of what those accommodations will cost.  We need to create a preliminary budget.  We need to make sure we can financially do this.  Erik gets so excited researching this possible trip he is seeking additional freelance work to supplement his income to put towards making this trip a reality.

We spent Valentine's evening researching places to stay.  We discovered a site called AirBnB.  It is a site that lists rentals (rooms, flats, houses, etc).  We found that we can probably stay in a BnB (bed and breakfast type) as much as some hotels or in some cases, cheaper.  Cheaper is good.  We don't have stacks of cash lying around waiting to be spent. 

The idea of getting to experience a local's residence/neighborhood and not the commercial treatment of a regular tourist would be a bonus.  I had the pleasure of staying with Tracey and with Alison in Germany so I know staying with someone who lives in an unknown area is vastly different than the traditional tourists experience.  I loved it and valued it.

We are also looking at sites to see and places to go and trying to get an idea of what that will cost us.  My goal has always been to get the most for my travel dollars.  Again, I'm not rich, just a working girl.  We had even thought of staying in hostels in order to afford this trip.  Staying at a BnB will be so much better.  What's interesting is that we are seeing such a wide range of choices in terms of locations, prices, amenities (if they exist).  One BnB offered cooking lessons with the hostess and they published a Paris blog with all sorts of advice for their guests.  They truly love their city and are proud to show it off.

Dealing with the facts and figures of this trip could possibly over shadow the fun and excitement if we let it.  With careful planning we'll get the most for our dollar and be happy in this experience.  The idea of traveling to the most romantic city in the world with the one I love is worth the time it takes to plan.