Ren's Steemfest Quest!

Hello my lovely readers! I wanted to catch you up on my travel plans for steemfest! I am so excited to go and meet some amazing steemians and hear them speak. It is just around the corner and it doesn't feel real yet. I have the first things that I need plane ticket, passport and sleeping arrangements.

In order to get my passport I needed to have an itinerary showing travel within two weeks. Which meant that the time for ticket buying was now. I had been watching the prices of tickets for the last few days, the prices on airfare has been steady. The ticket was going to be $775 out the door.

We gathered things to sell, and went around town selling and bargaining, coming home triumphant in our victory, leaving the town with the impression that we had picked up a drug habit.

I came home woke up my computer, racing to the ticket and............... It was gone!

The ticket left was $850 with two 18 hour layovers in Istanbul. I wasn't sure about that long in Istanbul traveling alone. All other tickets where over a grand, and I just didn't have enough.

So I made a cup of tea and got comfortable, I was bound and determined to find a way there with the money I had now. The latest I could apply for the expedited passport was the next morning, then my fate was sealed. I tried different combinations, of planes, trains, buses and boats. Until I found tickets to Barcelona where noticeably cheaper. I remembered that they are going through some political shifts and that protests where going on. A secession was being debated. I would love to go to Barcelona and the political climate interests me because the state I am living in currently has been discussing the same thing. The ticket to Barcelona was $508 with taxes! I looked at trains and buses, then flights. I found a flight from Barcelona to Lisbon and back within a good time frame that costed $125. It extended my trip a few days, but no bad layovers. That brought my ticket to $633, now that I could work with! I was ready for my passport meeting tomorrow in San Francisco. I booked it.

Now I wont bore you with the details of hours of hostel search, but what I will tell you is I was looking for female dorms under $20 a night with breakfast included. Lisbon was easy, I found all my nights I large female dorms with breakfast for $16 or under a night. All had showers, fast internet, lockers for storage, kitchen for cooking and making tea and coffee, and a little cafe. In Barcelona I found my nights for $19 a night without breakfast. But that works great, they have kitchens and its fun cooking with other traveler. I will have time those days because it will be before steemfest.

@happymoneyman and I made a successful trip to get my passport settled, It is official. I am going to steemfest! It is going to be creamy and delicious!

Big Love.
Ren