Monica and I had PLANNED to take a cruise around Morocco and hitting some of the French and Spanish coast on the way, but that fell through mainly because I just got PISSED OFF with all the hidden fees. Okay, and I am looking Norwegian directly in the eye on this one, you can't SAY you offer a FREE promotional code for something like, say, a free drink package with purchase but then you charge $130 A PERSON for using the promotional code, wow. Awesome. And that drink package is kinda bull shit anyway. I understand alcohol being extra, soda I GUESS, but if I am on your ship for 11 nights, yes, I am going to want WATER. Since you say the water in the tap isn't safe to drink, making me buy a bottle for $5 a pop is obnoxious. So, while Norwegian Cruises were the cheapest in price up front, their shore excursions were the most expensive, their timings at port were the most awkward, and they had a lot of little fees that seemed to pop up everywhere. Our $1000 cruise was gonna end up being $2000. That's... a big difference. And it's a CRUISE with limited time at port. Lots of people all pushing and shoving with parasitic tourist-fleecers waiting for you the moment you get off the boat. No, thanks. No, thanks.
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| "Free unlimited beverages!" "CHOICE PROMO SRVC CHRG: 253.44" Hidden bullshit charges I wonder ripped off how many people. |
The wifi had a service charge as did dining, so I opted for the shore excursion which was just a $50 credit TOWARD a shore excursion (which all came in over $70, the ones I was looking at were over $200) and, I kid you not, tucked away at the end of check out, "Choice Promotion Service Charge: 253.44" They charged $250 to get a "free" $100 toward shore excursions. That's... that's amazing.
So that got canceled. Fuck Norwegian. I don't like Pepsi anyway. I'm a Coca Cola girl.
Okay, well, if we weren't going on a cruise, that freed us up to just wander Europe. Well, the day I started looking at flights, bam, my property management company in Vegas decided to tell me that the $500 I put into fixing my air con, and the $500 before that, didn't fix anything, and now my house needs a new unit. (If my unit was SOOOOOOOO OLD and SOOOOOOOOO impossible to fix, why did the guy take $1000 to fix it before telling me it was too old to fix? Annoying.) Okay. $4000, bye bye. Oh, the the renters are moving out. They gave their 30 days a few days ago. I don't know when my renters switched to month-to-month, but I specifically told my management company I didn't WANT month-to-monthers. Never mind the stereotype about month-to-monthers being harder on the property, but I wanted the security of having the mortgage paid. Well. Never mind.
So, winter vacation plans got scrapped.
And then a few weeks passed. It snowed again. The Air Quality Index went over 400 a bunch of times. And I decided that, while I don't have the money for a vacation right now, I WILL have the money in two months, but when will I have the time again? This is what credit cards are for. I don't really have the funds now, but I know when I will have them paid off, what it is really going to cost, and I am cool with that. Screw it. I'm going to Latvia! Latvia, down to Lithuania, bumble around Germany, head over to Holland, down into Belgium, and end vacation in France. Started looking at some AirBnBs, some things to do in different cities. Starting to fall in love with the idea of Latvia.
but then...
My $380 ticket jumped up to $420. Okay. Not a big deal. And then, WHILE TRYING TO BUY IT, it jumped up to $650. Jumped up to over $800 on Travelocity. Awesome. FINE. FINE!!! I won't go to Latvia.
Back to Skyscanner and, with my I DON'T CARE WHERE I GO; I JUST NEED TO GO attitude, I found a flight to Europe for $350. It's not Latvia. In fact, I don't know if you have a list of places you've set aside to go with specific people, but I do, and I am breaking my rule on this destination, but... Europe for $350.
So, destination to be announced later. I am just excited to say I am going to be out of Beijing from January 5th until February 15th.
I'll just breathe fumes until I die. AQI is over 400. Shouldn't take long.
Back to Skyscanner and, with my I DON'T CARE WHERE I GO; I JUST NEED TO GO attitude, I found a flight to Europe for $350. It's not Latvia. In fact, I don't know if you have a list of places you've set aside to go with specific people, but I do, and I am breaking my rule on this destination, but... Europe for $350.
So, destination to be announced later. I am just excited to say I am going to be out of Beijing from January 5th until February 15th.
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