I’m not sure if this is a sign of my full on transition to a flashpacker but these days I am happy to pay more to avoid extra hassles. This can be anything from airfare to airport pickups to getting a single room at a hostel.
In the past when I would search for airfares online I would almost always go for the cheapest, no matter what. I wouldn’t even glance at the other options and I never went to the next page of fare results. Now I tend to value good connections, early arrival times and airlines I hve miles with over the ultimate cheapie. Often better flights aren’t tha much more expensive, it’s just that, in the past, I wouldn’t even look.
I’m currently planning my exodus from Haiti and have been looking into Nicaragua as my next destination. I could fly Spirit Air on two separate flights for around $400 plus a night at a hostel in Fort Lauderdale or I could pay $500 to do the trip with American Airlines in one shot and get airmiles to boot. In the past I would have gone Spirit Air all the way just to save the extra $50 but now, that amount doesn’t seem like much to sacrifice to get me to my destination as quickly as possible.
This new attitude of mine doesn’t just apply to airfares. I plan on spending a night or two in a hostel in Managua and will be springing for a single room and even an airport pickup. The old, backpacker me would never have gone for these options. The single room is $20 which is more than I want to pay but my logic is that I have been sleeping in a dorm room for five months in Haiti on an air mattress and think I deserve a couple nights of good sleep before returning to dorm land. The airport pickup is only $15, Managua has a reputation for being dangerous, I speak zero Spanish and I would be due to arrive after dark so this choice might be a no-brainer.
Are you more likely to go cheap all the way or is paying more for a bit of comfort something that has snuck its way into your travel style like it has mine?
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