Work, travel, Haiti

[feuervogel]

Got my car inspected & had the oil changed. I just need to go to the DMV site and pay my registration fee to get my new stickers.

We got our plane tickets for our European adventures last night. I still need to get from Berlin to Vienna, but I can't do that through Delta, so I'll poke around on teh intarwebs a bit. Anybody have any experience with Air Berlin? I can get one-way to Vienna for about $100.

I submitted the registration form for the Institut last night. They'll send me information for the money transfer, probably Monday or Tuesday. Hidden in the registration form was a note that a security deposit is generally required when doing a homestay. DX That wasn't in the online info, and it's an unknown additional quantity of money I'll have to come up with (and I have no idea how quickly it's returned to me.)

Yeah, I decided to go with the homestay. Upon further reflection, living literally out of my suitcase for a month wasn't very appealing. Staying in a 4-er hostel means you don't get a dresser, just a locker, and, well... I didn't like that much. I just hope I get a room in a cool place that's fairly central. Kreuzberg would be nice, or Mitte, but Charlottenburg doesn't really appeal.

This whole working thing is really for the birds. I certainly appreciate the paycheck, and the people I'm working with are mostly nice, and the work itself isn't too bad... it's just cutting way too into my writing time.

help_haiti has collected over $50,000 as of yesterday evening, and if all the auction winners make their promised donations, they'll collect nearly $115,000. That's just awesome. Things like this make me proud to be a fan (even if I'm not In Fandom, and I don't even really *like* most media-fandom shows/movies.)

I need to figure out what to get for my winning donation! Argh.

And today we're going to see tigers at Carolina Tiger Rescue with my friend K from high school & a couple of her friends from UNCG. Tigers! At least today's going to be sunny, unlike the rest of the week.

Comments

[nebst.livejournal.com]

Air Berlin is great! I used them to get home over the holidays and they're brilliant for a low-budget airline. I've heard nothing but good things about them from friends, either.

And the help_haiti thing makes me really happy and proud to have contributed in a small way. ♥

[feuervogel]

Awesome! I wish I could go on Saturday the 29th, because air fare is about half what it is on Sunday, but the class doesn't end until 17:45 Saturday and the last flight was at 16:40. And there also might be Abschiedspartys Saturday evening, and I don't want to skip out on that. Is there a reason not to get the saver fare?

I looked into train travel, and it takes longer & costs more. Though the idea of traveling through the Czech Republic by train is vaguely romantic, I'd rather take 2 hours to fly and pay E80 than pay E180 to take a 10-hour train ride.

[nebst.livejournal.com]

Nah, not really. The only advantage you get with the more expensive fare is the option to reschedule your flight, but if it comes to that it's usually still cheaper to just buy a second ticket.

Oh, but if you're open to train travel, check out the Austrian rail service at www.oebb.at -- they have offers that the Germans don't have! It is a long journey, but if you book this far in advance, you might be able to get a ticket for €29 (one way). I think there might also be an option to travel over night, if you do want to leave on Saturday. (You can see the prices if you input the day you want to travel, then go to "Ticket & Preise". There should be various options.)

[feuervogel]

Wow, yeah, that *is* pretty cheap. But if we wanted to spend the day I get there seeing stuff, I'd want to get there fairly early (before 15:00, say), which train connexions kinda suck. Multiple Umstiege usw. Since Ben got his ticket to arrive the 29th, he'll be less jet-lagged when I get to Wien, so we can start trekking as soon as I deposit my Gepäck in the hotel.

I'm a bit tipsy right now. Hooray for Denglisch.