:: travellingcari.com ::

but it’s over.

Not a bad week at all, just crazy. We had the PGAV/Gettysburg Foundation presentation on Tuesday and I think it went well. All parties seemed happy and I think we, both as a class and as six teams targeting six segments, did a very good job. I loved the fact that we were able to take what we learned and apply it in real life situations, it’s part of why grad school seems so much more real than undergrad. I’d upload the PowerPoint but I don’t even have a copy of our final segments. The one for education didn’t even work properly so I winged (wung?) it. Now just have the marketing plan for GRO to finish for Monday, a final paper for Wednesday and a final exam for the 7th and I’m done…until the 28th anyway

Oh, and I added another “destination” to this summer’s wanderings, though it’s not really new. I was going up to Rochester anyway for Beth’s graduation and was not looking forward to driving ten hours in two days. Had ruled out flying because everything was coming up ridiculous…and then I found a continental flight through Orbitz: $133 into Rochester on Friday night and out of Syracuse on Sunday morning. Yay!

Last weekend the NY Times had an interesting section on budget travel which started with an interesting article on budget airfares.

Where had I just been? Where was I going? I wasn’t really sure anymore — all I knew was that getting there wouldn’t cost much more than my sanity.

Although the author is talking about a week-long trip across Europe on various budget carriers, the same pretty much applied to by trip on the big grey dog across Australia. Most segments were fine but some (Darwin to Alice Springs – ~20 hours on the Stuart Highway; Coober Pedy to Charters Towers – 36 hours via Tenant Creek and Mount Isa on the Stuart and Barkly Highways and then on to Townsville and Cairns) were bewildering to say the least. But I accomplished my goals: to see the country in a way I couldn’t from the air and be able to guarantee I’d be able to finish my trip. I ran into far too many people over the course of my trip who were ‘stuck’ somewhere, having to fly or change course because they couldn’t find a ride–I wanted to be able to get back to Brisbane, and I did–some four months later.

Flylc.com is another wonderful site, second only to kayak, which was where I found my cheap flight last night. I love them both because they eliminate the need to punch your details into umpteen different sites. I was somewhat limited in choosing my flight home from Europe because I was looking to see where easyJet flew, but I hate to think of what other options I’d have considered if I knew about flylc. Oh well, I’ll have several weekends while there and there’s always next time. Plus, I think Switzerland will be wonderful. I haven’t ruled out flying from Prague to Geneva and then taking the train around Switzerland. I do need to make a decision soon though.

I know I’m definitely going to be making good use of the Prague guide. I’m glad I’ll arrive on Friday. I’ll go from wherever I stay on Friday night to the apartments to make sure I know how to get to class on Monday. Will be nice to putter Prague for the weekend. Almost one year back in the US, I’m getting itchy feet again.