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USA 2006
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Preparation On 3rd December 2005 (5 months in advance) we booked our flights with Delta Airlines via their website for 495 euros each. It was cheapest to book directly via the airline, the travel agency (Expedia) would have charged 30 euros booking fee extra. This was a special offer for certain periods valid until 3rd January. Departure was on 29th April from Düsseldorf via Atlanta to Las Vegas with the return flight on 19th May. Condor wanted 750 euros for a flight from Frankfurt to Las Vegas (Thursdays or Sundays). Alternative flights would have been with Lufthansa via Frankfurt to Los Angeles (670 euros) or with LTU from Düsseldorf to Los Angeles for 635 euros (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays). Or with Continental from Frankfurt to Las Vegas (from 525 euros). At the end of January 2006 (3 months in advance) we booked the rental car via FTI with a 5% discount: Alamo, category Equinox with full insurance for 662 euros for 3 weeks. Our hope was that eventually we would be allowed to choose any car in the SUV choice line such as Chevrolet Trailblazer for much less than the regular price for a 4WD. On 1st February (3 months in advance) at 12 p.m. Utah time (8 p.m. Central European Time) we managed to get an online permit for “The Wave”, a spectacular landscape formation on the border of Utah and Arizona, known as Coyote Buttes North. Within 5-10 minutes all permits for the month of May were sold! There are only 10 internet permits per day, plus 10 walk-in permits that will be issued locally (via lottery at 9 a.m. Utah time) on the day before the hike. We didn’t get our first choice, but then we still got lucky with the second try. There wouldn’t have been enough tickets left for a third time. From an insider tip The Wave has become really popular via internet forums, especially within Germany. On 20th February we noticed that our flight schedule had changed, so we called Delta and they told us the schedules were changed on 18th February, but we had not been informed yet. Our connecting flights didn't match anymore, but the agent rebooked us on the best connections including seat reservations without charge. Instead of an afternoon and a late morning departure we now had to get up early for both the outgoing and the return flight. But at least it meant we had a chance to arrive much earlier in Las Vegas than the originally scheduled 9:30 p.m. Depending on if we were able to make the connection in Atlanta. We now had 1.5 hours only to pass through immigration, customs and transfer from the international to the domestic terminal! On 31st March we made a room reservation at the Cameron Trading Post ($79 plus tax) not far from the Grand Canyon's East Entrance because this would be the end of a long day, a Friday (12st May) and there's nothing much else around, and it looked very nice. So better to be safe than sorry. On 3rd April we booked a room at the Aladdin Resort & Casino in Las Vegas for the last 2 nights of our trip (17th/18th May), at only $49 plus tax early bird special. During the week you can also get great last chance offers at the big casino hotels, while the weekends are very expensive. So for our arrival on Saturday 29th April we booked Motel 6 on Tropicana Avenue close to the airport for $82 plus tax. We really just needed a bed after the long flight. And it's still close to the Strip if one still feels up to something. Stratosphere Tower at the north end of the Strip is generally one of the cheapest. That's where we stayed in 1998. It was fine, but quite a way off. On 17th April we wanted to book the Holiday Inn Express in Page, but Monday 15th May now appeared sold out. Also the rates had increased from $62 at the beginning of April for 1 King bed to $81, so here we really should have booked earlier! We checked out some more hotels and the Courtyard by Marriott also looked very nice with good reviews for $89 (2 beds) but without any breakfast while the Holiday Inn Express offers a Luxury Continental Breakfast. In the end we did get the Holiday Inn Express at the dates we wanted (arriving on a Saturday for 3 nights). The Travelodge would have been much cheaper: $56 only, but it seemed to be quite a way from the center (when we finally saw it it was much more central than the Holiday Inn Express). We could have saved as much as €50 on the Holiday Inn Express if we had booked via fti.de but in that case the rate wouldn't have been refundable and we were afraid that we may end up with a smoking room again as happened to us at the Days Inn in Key West the year before when we booked the cheap rate fia FTI. We also booked the La Quinta Inn in Moab for 4 nights (Monday to Thursday) for $86 per night with the last night at a slightly higher rate. The Days Inn would have been $71 but the La Quinta had really good reviews. We also wanted a central location in Moab, so we opted against the Super 8 or Motel 6 out of town. We didn't reserve anything else as we wanted to stay flexible also because of the weather as the dirt roads we wanted to drive become impassable when wet. |
