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Crazy ticket idea or just too expensive?


CruisingSince2012
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think you misunderstand. If you arrive at Tampa at 7.13 pm, you probably won't be in your car and on the road for the best part of an hour after that. If the aircraft arrives on time, you still have to wait for the jetty to be connected. Then you will file off the aircraft after a number (perhaps many) other passengers. Then you have to walk to baggage claim. And then you have to wait for your bags to be delivered. Then you have to find the transfer to wherever your car is parked, find the car, load it, and then drive off.

 

So you will very probably be doing most of the driving in the dark. Did you say that this would be a problem?

I think the problem is just being tired at the end of a long day. That is what Mom complains about and we have a Garmin to help us out. Therefore it is not as bad to start driving at 8:15 p.m.

 

The amount of time it takes to deplane depends on how far back we sit. Almost every year we start flight shopping too late to get seats in front of hte wing but this time we are not putting it off in order to get higher class seats on both transatlantic flights. I expect to schedule an appointment with my travel agent tomorrow for this reason.

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The amount of time it takes to deplane depends on how far back we sit. Almost every year we start flight shopping too late to get seats in front of hte wing but this time we are not putting it off in order to get higher class seats on both transatlantic flights.
I had another look at the itinerary that arrives at TPA at 1913: it's a non-stop from AMS. I have therefore missed two steps: after arriving at TPA, you will also have to clear immigration, and after collecting your bags you will also have to clear customs (although that usually doesn't take long).

 

So this itinerary will require you to drive a couple of hours or so in the dark. Are you now backing away from what you said in another thread?

 

The problem is arriving at night two hours away from home if we don't fly out of GNV. That alone scares the crap out of my mom - the only person who can drive. So when choosing a return flight from Prague, we need to land either iat GNV or in the afternoon.
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If I stop at AMS will I really need 3 hours?

 

In late June, sunset is around 8:30-9:00. I don't think 7:13 would be too late for getting out of Tampa and onto the freeway, then finding the right exit to I-75 North. Once we don't have to listen to the Garmin anymore, it is not too bad.

 

I doubt it, but you are the one who was concerned about not having three hours. Personally I'd take the 4-ish hour connection there and be very happy with it. Take your time getting off the plane, take your time with a restroom break, have a nice meal, relax, visit the restroom again, and then be at the gate an hour before your departure time, which is roughly when boarding begins.

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I asked Mom yesterday if stopping only once is imiportant to her. She thinks it is, but assumes one stop on the wey to BUD is impossible.
She would be wrong to make that assumption. We have already demonstrated to you - with examples - that it is possible to have only one stop on the way to BUD.

 

I am beginning to wonder whether you are paying any attention at all to what we are trying to tell you, or whether we are just wasting our time because you're more interested in identifying problems than hearing solutions.

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I doubt it, but you are the one who was concerned about not having three hours. Personally I'd take the 4-ish hour connection there and be very happy with it. Take your time getting off the plane, take your time with a restroom break, have a nice meal, relax, visit the restroom again, and then be at the gate an hour before your departure time, which is roughly when boarding begins.

 

My specific concern is about time at the U.S. airport where we go through immigration and customs at the end of our trip. I don't want four hours in Amsterdam, but two hours certainly is risky if I have to show them my passport.

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It is still not the same as driving at 11:00 p.m. Dark, yes. Tired, probably not.

 

I asked Mom yesterday if stopping only once is imiportant to her. She thinks it is, but assumes one stop on the wey to BUD is impossible.

8 PM in Florida is the same as 2 AM in Budapest. Not tired?

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My specific concern is about time at the U.S. airport where we go through immigration and customs at the end of our trip. I don't want four hours in Amsterdam, but two hours certainly is risky if I have to show them my passport.

 

You will have to show them your passport. Europe is a region of the world where boarder control is involved on entry and exit. That said, it is very quick.

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Update: We will definitely be flying out of GNV. Mom is unwilling to budge on that, unfortunately. Our travel agent books flights every day and I told her about how we nealry missed our flight from ATL to GNV last time, so she can help us get all flights on one ticket.
All of the options that we have suggested would be booked on one ticket, so that's nothing special.

 

I hope that you've made your mother aware that insisting on flying from GNV is going to cost you about $1,200 extra (assuming it's just the two of you travelling) in addition to incurring the hassle and risk of two connections rather than one in each direction. For $1,200, you could buy a lot of comfortable workarounds to make a one-stop itinerary work better for you (like paying for overnight stays).

Edited by Globaliser
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Update: We will definitely be flying out of GNV. Mom is unwilling to budge on that, unfortunately. Our travel agent books flights every day and I told her about how we nealry missed our flight from ATL to GNV last time, so she can help us get all flights on one ticket.

 

You could book a ticket online (or via phone with the airline) yourself easily, and have it all on one ticket. If your TA is selling that skill to you she's selling you a bill of goods. As Globaliser said, there are other workarounds that will cost less, but if your mom's main goal is to finish the itinerary the same day in GNV and she's willing to pay for that, then the extra money (and extra connection that you were adamantly against) must be worth it to her and you. To each his own.

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I did not say I am "adamantly" against two connections going home. My issue is the duration of those connections.
If you insist on an itinerary that requires two connections, and if you insist on the overall journey duration being similar (eg flying from PRG to GNV in one day without taking an overnight somewhere along the way), then it is almost inevitable that your connection durations will be squeezed. Like with your other difficulties, you are creating that issue for yourself by being too inflexible in the way that you're approaching this.
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I did not say I am "adamantly" against two connections going home. My issue is the duration of those connections.

 

And you've been all over the place on that topic. First you couldn't find a connection long enough. You subsequently specified that you needed 3 hours. Then you questioned whether you'd really need 3 hours. Then you said you didn't want 4 hours and you didn't want 2 hours and thus appeared to very inflexibly want exactly 3 hours (or thereabouts) That's being pretty darn particular about one little thing, especially given that you have also set parameters on number of connections and your final arrival time.

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