Airfare

Deciding you are going to go somewhere is great—but how to get there? That can be a bit more complicated. There are multiple airlines out there: Arab Emirates, British Airways, Continental, Delta…you get the idea. Considering the length of my stay, my friend, Sharon, thought flexible tickets would be wise. Well, flexible tickets might be wise, but they aren’t cheap. Check this out to get an idea: Departure April 9, 2013 and Return August 5, 2013. Just in case the link doesn’t work, the total came to $5,952.02.

$5,952.02—can we say cost prohibitive?

Well, I shared my frustrations with my mom; there was no way this trip could happen at that kind of price-tag. In 2010 my parents volunteered at Port au Prince, Haiti following the earthquake. Mom remembered that some airlines were giving special humanitarian/NGO/mission airfare. “Since Friends of the Street Children is an NGO, why don’t you look into that, Stephanie?”

A search brought up Golden Rule Travel.  Multiple emails later with Davy Mast—thank you, again!—I finally have tickets in hand. The cost?

$1,720.86.

Now, this isn’t the airfare for multiple red-eye flights. No, these are single-connection fares. My final inbound is no longer even available. Not only that, British Airways is allowing 3 FREE fifty-pound bags. I really want to encourage those of you out there who go on mission-trips etc. to check out what Golden Rule Travel can offer.

Airfare isn't totally taken care of yet since there was a bit of a booking error (not Golden Rule Travel's) and I now need to figure out how to get to Seattle and then purchase tickets for my three bags--but still, $1,720.80?

Thank you, Sharon, for encouraging me to look into flexible flights; thank you, Mom, for remembering/encouraging me to look farther; and thank you, God, for placing these two women—and Davy!—in my life!