Saving Money on International Travel

When booking international travel, pay the extra three hundred dollars. You can expect to pay more when booking through an actual airline rather than a discount website but the peace of mind is priceless. No one expects to change their reservation but unforeseen things happen. I expected to leave today but Florida Coastal's financial aid department is apparently run by the same people who run your local DMV so I have no money. My incredible parents have been kind enough to loan me some money to get by but "get by" money is not what I am looking for when traveling to Europe for three months. The problem is that changing a flight booked through an online travel agent such as, ahem, Vayama.com, is next to impossible because they can only change your ticket to one exactly like the one you already had but on a different date. That means they have to find a "negotiated fare", on the same airline, through the same airports, and you have to pay any difference in fare plus two steep fees. Amazingly, I was able to complete the change after several hours on the phone (hold) with Vayama and consequently I am (technically) leaving America next Wednesday (I say technically because I am in New York which is not really America).