One And One And One Is Three
So what do you do when you realize the Biggest New Year's Party Ever (PHILONYE 07) which you've been talking about since last year's Biggest New Year's Party Ever (BONYE 06) is going to be prohibitively expensive?
Do you call your friend in Philly who is the one that is the most excited about it?
Do you IM all the other friends involved to complain and air grievances?
Or do you post the issue for all to see in an underhanded and confrontational-less format like, say, your blog?
So, as I said, the problem with the Philadelphia On New Year's Eve 2007 is expense, and not something crazy like "personal differences," or "friends with strange body odors." My concern is blowing my annual travel budget on the very first day of the year.
I don't have any specifics, which makes it a little harder to plan for sure, but, in general:
1. Hotels are going for about $200 a night. Even if I spend the minimum amount of time in the city (one night) that's $200 bucks. And who want's to spend just one night?
2. Plane tickets are going for about $200. Staying one night (see above) would mean flying out on Dec. 31st and flying back on Jan. 1st. That also seems stupid.
3. I'm not going to drive because it'll be cold, snowy, gas and parking will be expensive, and I (hopefully) won't be in any condition to drive the whole time I'm there. Also, it would mean a long drive home, hungover on Jan. 1st, which I do not relish.
I don't want to plan a $400 trip that gets me twelve hours with the gang. That is a poorly spent $400. On the other hand, if I plan a trip for longer I'm just racking up the hotel bill, turning a $400 expense into a $600 or $800 expense.
Spread over the whole year that's three or four weak-long trips to different places.
So, unless somebody's dad owns a hotel in downtown Philly... this may be unfeasable. Which would, yeah, suck.
-t
Update: Donny said I should take the train to Philly. Why didn't I think of that? It's maybe doable, and if I had the money, you know, I could fly down every other weekend (I hear they have good cheesesteaks)
4 comments:
Tom, for real, it's barely November. You have plenty of time to save. Maybe if you didn't spend all your money on DVDs and $150 headphones, you'd have more to spend on travel. Just a thought.
Dude. They were $70 headphones. The last dvd I bought was "Babe" (the one about the talking pig) and it cost me five bucks.
But that's not the issue. I've cut way back on expenditures, and budgeted all the other stuff in. I can only afford to spend about $600 on travel this year. All year. And flights to Alabama don't come cheap.
-t
tom
here is my suggestion: if you are worried about money, then i guess you're going to have to sacrifice staying at a really nice hotel and macking it with your girlfriend. there are other places to mack it (bathrooms, for instance...)
you two are welcome to stay at my place as early as Friday night (12/29/06) and as late as Tuesday night (1/2/06). that is five whole stinking nights. our place is not big but our floors are clean. and we keep a lot of pasta on hand.
A possibility would be to get a hotel room for just ONE night (for new years) and stay with us the duration of your stay. Sam is of course welcome as well.
you should definitely drive down versus fly because it is a five hour drive and it is really very easy. plus, if it is snowing/raining, you'll be stuck in the airport anyway. and well YOU HAVE A TRUCK so that reasoning is void. of course, if you're hell bent on not driving, the train is a really good second option but I still say just suck it up and drive.
gas is under two bucks now, so that is no excuse. and parking is possibly my favorite stupidest excuse, considering that you can park your car ONCE for FREE (in front of my apartment) and not move it until you leave.
so basically you are coming to philoney and that is that.
Thanks for that, Adina.
Also, if you do decide to drive the truck you bought specifically for driving in the snow, you can take me and others from Boston who I am sure are more than willing to split gas money. That would definitely beat being stuck in the airport for 7 hours because you decided to visit the ONE weekend there was a blizzard in Philadelphia ever.
P.S. you've known about this all year. And half of your friends make the trip to Boston last year with minimal complaints so now it is our turn. It is only fair. And it's going to be a damn good time.
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