Plan your range of date flexibility for a specific destination is step one in snagging an excellent flash deal with FCF’s Date & Deal Planner
In the 1973 film, Magnum Force, Detective Harry Callahan, better known as “Dirty Harry,” utters this memorable line: “A man’s gotta know his limitations.”
It certainly applies to women as well. And, as we discuss today, it can also apply to travel.
Simply put, flash deals go to those ready to catch them.
Any Which Way You Can
I was talking to my friend Mike the other day, and he was telling me about the three trips he’d like to take next year: Ireland, Tokyo, and Vietnam. I told him the first thing to do is figure out the dates he’s willing to travel to each destination. That puts the first constraint on the trips.
Then he casually dropped another one on me: “Bennett, I’m not going anywhere that’s not at least 70 degrees!” Mike and his wife Vivian live in San Diego, so I wasn’t surprised. That was his constraint No. 2.
Then Vivian raised a third constraint. “I’d rather not go anywhere in the high tourist season when it’s full of people from your own country.” Okay, that narrows the dates to low or “shoulder” tourist seasons. So I did a bit of research on dates, temperatures, and tourist seasons for the three countries.
For a Few Dollars More
Added to these limitations are very specific desires. Mike said, “Come to think of it, I’ve always wanted to go to the British Open. It’s not a must-do, but if it fits, hey, why not!? It’s relatively close to Ireland.” Sometimes your constraints are further defined by a particular event, like going to Japan to see the cherry blossoms in spring, or the Chelsea Flower Show in London. In this case, Mike’s British Open desire amounted to a potential bonus. So I plugged that into FCF’s Date & Deal Planner. If it could work, it had the makings of a dream trip.
Let’s say there’s a special event on January 22, and you want to be in the area for two weeks. You could either start the trip around the 10th, and end on the 24th, or arrive on the 20th, and depart the second week of February. If you can book with that kind of flexibility, it provides much better options, and options = potential deals.
FCF’s Dream Trip Deal-Ready Mindset
The bigger the haystack, the more needles you’ll find.
- Don’t procrastinate in determining your constraints, so you can be ready to pounce on a flash deal when it surfaces.
- The clearer your haystack constraints are at the outset, the quicker you’ll be able to recognize a relevant deal.
“Sometimes, if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.”
Clint Eastwood
FCF’s Date & Deal Planner
It is only after you have determined the dates you’re willing to travel, that you are ready to have an eye out for flash fare alerts, flash award availability, and other opportunities that are date-dependent–and are ready to have your travel agent or administrative assistant keep an eye out for, too.
I laid the trips out like this, in FCF’s Date & Deal Planner here:
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Now you have an idea of how you might spread the trips out over the year.
Without laying it out in advance, you’d be shooting in the dark when flash deals arrive.
Make It Fun
This forms a pretty handy travel tool. And it should be a fun process, too. You can make it a date night (or a flight night!) with your travel companion. Go out for a nice dinner and a glass of wine and chew over everything related to your trip. Check out destinations, learn about them, and get excited about planning it all. Travel is enjoyable, but planning travel can be too. And the research is clear on this: having a trip to look forward to is good for you.
Escape From Alcatraz*
In other words, look at your travel planning through a mindset of fun, rather than a high-pressure struggle when you see a flash deal and then frantically race around to see if you can make it work. Trip planning is a lovely hobby. Do this for all your top bucket list trips, so you’re always ready for a deal.
Escape the stress of all that. Instead, calmly take FCF’s Date & Deal Planner out of your pocket or bag and see if it fits your needs. When the deal strikes – which is often route and date specific – you won’t become paralyzed by anxiety. Instead, you just see if the deal aligns with your limitations — and book your dream trip if it does.
Better yet, give your date planner to your travel companion or assistant, and let them do the work for you.
*Keen spotters will see that some subheads today are Clint Eastwood films. Clint, an inspiration to FCF who lives in my hometown, turned 92 earlier this year.
