Allow me to elucidate.
My favourite airline decided to have a seat sale.
A seat sale that would allow me to fly to *mumble* theothersideofthecountry *mumble* if I so wanted to in August when I have some holiday time booked.
I stumbled upon this seat sale four days before it was over and I kind of went into overdrive.
I debated the merits of flying to the *cough* othersideofthecountry *cough* and I talked to Smith about it and then I continued wondering if it was a good idea and then I tried to figure out if I should or shouldn't but if I didn't would I regret it and shouldn't I live a little and what should I do because it was a BIG savings on a long, expensive flight that really I would need to save money on if I went but should I go and I have only how many days to decide?
I debated back and forth mentally for a while and two days before the deadline, I emailed my buddy (hi buddy!) and asked him what he thought. My buddy has done a long distance relationship before and my buddy flies a lot and my buddy is a guy and is therefore very sensible in his advice giving. Which I appreciate.
He told me, flat out, not to buy the tickets right now. He told me it would put too much pressure on the (non) relationship for the next two months and that he thought seat sales were a bit of a scam anyway. As I babbled on about WHY I thought I should, but really WHAT should I do, he then came up with a sanity saving offer.
"Don't buy the tickets now," he said. "What's the seat sale price?"
I told him.
"OK, here's what you do. If, in August, you still want to fly out there, you give me that amount and I'll get you the tickets through air miles." (Yes, he flies a lot. He is a flier. He's important and smart like but not technically a spy. He may become one though. We're still deciding if he's cool enough)
I was floored and flabbergasted and fantastically fappy. (That's "Happy". But it doesn't start with an "F". I had to improvise.)
Just like that, my buddy had taken my mental stress away. I was no longer worried about getting tickets in time to save money. I was no longer trying to figure out if this was something I actually wanted to do. The weight was off and the relief was palpable. (Damn, I'm just full of good words today!) It was amazing, and I'm so grateful.
I'm not sure I thanked him profusely enough, but in Smith's words, "You tell Buddy that he's a stand up guy."
He is indeed.
I am incredibly lucky... I have good people.
They keep me grounded.*
And sane.
Ish.
*Heh. Flight joke unintended, but funny!
14 comments:
that's a good friend...
Sho' is!
: )
I will go out on a limb and see if anyone else
finds this answer funny.
Phone them up and ask if they would sell you a
"call option". A call option is a contract to
buy a item at a later time at a fixed price. How
much should they charge you for this contract?
The answer lies in the Black-Scholes formula.
Fischer Black, Myron Scholes and Robert Merton
won the 1997 Nobel Prize for developing this
formula. If you argue that the prices of plane
tickets have a very low volatility and at
the current low price of the seat-sale, the
contract will cost effectively zero dollars!
(I did calculate it for the limiting case and
the call option is zero dollars.)
The biggest hurdle will either be
(1) the agreement in the volatility value or
(2) them saying "huh? ... huh?" and then hanging up.
You do have amazing friends and now the pressure is off this summer. Smart guy to tell that; smart you for listening.
That sure is a friend indeed.
I also wanted to say we just got back from Seattle and one night we were having dinner and I saw the Victoria Clipper coming in to dock. I thought of you across the water and gave you a wave. Did you see me? Maybe you were cruising by in your spy sub!
Another thing to note, your favourite airline has sales all the time. My sister is planning to go to Ottawa in Sept. and I noticed that they were having a "one-day only" 50% off sale for such flights. I immediately emailed her the info but she didn't check her email until the following day and missed the sale. Then a week later, they had the exact same sale. Apparently there was no need to panic. lol
So either way, you're covered. ;;)
I do think it's a good idea to check out the "other side of the country" and see if it really is that much worse than living in Vic. ;)
ynbf: Looks like I'm going to have to do my research so that when they argue the volatility value with me (or, alternately, go "huh?") I have an intelligent comeback! ; )
Jennifer: Yes, very smart of him to come up with that plan, and I'm very relieved not to have the pressure!
Tod: You didn't see me waving back??? ; )
Yvonne: good to know! And, maybe. It's an awful long flight just to "see" what it's like over there ;)
That is indeed one good friend. And he's right, seat sales are really not that rare as people think. My fiance travels to Montreal from Vancouver every two weeks, and prices are fairly predictable usually. Not a lot of up and down.
Your friend though, is a gem. How nice for you to have people like that in your life. We all need that.
Every two weeks, wow! That's a lot of flying : )
My friend is gem-like, indeed! I hope everyone has such good friends.
like the pun.
And very much like Buddy.
Good call.
:D
Thanks, londongirl!
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