Saturday, June 13, 2015
The early bird gets the worm, but...
The second mouse gets the cheese. The problem is that you don't know which one you are.
When I saw the email for the next Simon Black conference in January, I could barely contain my glee. As usual, I got the email in office, and my coworkers still claim I squealed like a little girl. I denied it then; I deny it now. OK, I may have a small high-pitched "meep" like Beaker from the Muppets. But that's all. Getting a seat was simple. There would be a presentation later in the week, with the web address included. I confirmed my interest, and waited for the broadcast.
This may or may not have been the sound I made when I got the email:
Simon's presentation was probably unneeded. With the Internet-shaking success of the Chile fresh on all our minds, if he had simply said the address and stopped, it would have sold out immediately, no muss no fuss. Unfortunately (for others), that's not what happened. At some point, the connection cut out for some, though it was after the address to pay for the conference was given out - I think. My audio never stopped, so I'm not sure. Anyway, instead of awaiting further instructions, I went to the webpage and I froze. The price was $1500, and the dollar figure scared me. I had such fun in Santiago, but I hesitated. As for the timing, I felt I was safe. Late April is quiet in financial aid, so getting the days didn't seem like an issue. I entered all my info, gave them my credit card number, clicked, then decided to back out at the last minute. I had buyer's remorse, but it was too late. I checked my credit card balance, and lo and behold, I was charged. I was confirmed via email, and yes, I bought a seat. I suppose I could have gotten a refund; the seminar sold out in 15 minutes. Getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert is easier. In this case, I guess I was the bird. Once I knew I was going, my angst over the price lessened.
The hotel was another matter. One of the biggest lessons of Santiago was my needing to widen my gaze. Cancun is not cheap, and even with the conference discount, the price was $206 per night. I should note that hotel is staggeringly, astoundingly beautiful, right on the Gulf of Mexico. I wasn't getting ripped off in anyway at that price. It should have been $300 a night. I knew the rate would be available for a while, so I decided to do some digging. After a little research, I found the host hotel has another hotel attached to it, and this second hotel was cheaper. As a Marriott Rewards member, it was cheaper still, so I reserved my room while keeping my options open if the price fell.
The airfare required more decisive action. I first intended to use my miles to get a ticket, but the cost in miles was way out of proportion to the distance and the time of year. Late April is not a peak period that I know of, so 50,000 miles was crazy. This was especially true when I found a ticket would be $325 instead. I booked a little too quickly, as I found out much to my dismay later, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. So with my plans set, I awaited an overview of the presenters and tapped into my emergency fund for capital to open a bank account and hopefully get a Panamanian lawyer on retainer. I guessed the total for the trip would be around $2700, and that's a bit much for 5 days in total, but any time I felt doubt, I harkened back to Chile. Only time would tell if I was right.
When I saw the email for the next Simon Black conference in January, I could barely contain my glee. As usual, I got the email in office, and my coworkers still claim I squealed like a little girl. I denied it then; I deny it now. OK, I may have a small high-pitched "meep" like Beaker from the Muppets. But that's all. Getting a seat was simple. There would be a presentation later in the week, with the web address included. I confirmed my interest, and waited for the broadcast.
This may or may not have been the sound I made when I got the email:
Simon's presentation was probably unneeded. With the Internet-shaking success of the Chile fresh on all our minds, if he had simply said the address and stopped, it would have sold out immediately, no muss no fuss. Unfortunately (for others), that's not what happened. At some point, the connection cut out for some, though it was after the address to pay for the conference was given out - I think. My audio never stopped, so I'm not sure. Anyway, instead of awaiting further instructions, I went to the webpage and I froze. The price was $1500, and the dollar figure scared me. I had such fun in Santiago, but I hesitated. As for the timing, I felt I was safe. Late April is quiet in financial aid, so getting the days didn't seem like an issue. I entered all my info, gave them my credit card number, clicked, then decided to back out at the last minute. I had buyer's remorse, but it was too late. I checked my credit card balance, and lo and behold, I was charged. I was confirmed via email, and yes, I bought a seat. I suppose I could have gotten a refund; the seminar sold out in 15 minutes. Getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert is easier. In this case, I guess I was the bird. Once I knew I was going, my angst over the price lessened.
The hotel was another matter. One of the biggest lessons of Santiago was my needing to widen my gaze. Cancun is not cheap, and even with the conference discount, the price was $206 per night. I should note that hotel is staggeringly, astoundingly beautiful, right on the Gulf of Mexico. I wasn't getting ripped off in anyway at that price. It should have been $300 a night. I knew the rate would be available for a while, so I decided to do some digging. After a little research, I found the host hotel has another hotel attached to it, and this second hotel was cheaper. As a Marriott Rewards member, it was cheaper still, so I reserved my room while keeping my options open if the price fell.
The airfare required more decisive action. I first intended to use my miles to get a ticket, but the cost in miles was way out of proportion to the distance and the time of year. Late April is not a peak period that I know of, so 50,000 miles was crazy. This was especially true when I found a ticket would be $325 instead. I booked a little too quickly, as I found out much to my dismay later, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. So with my plans set, I awaited an overview of the presenters and tapped into my emergency fund for capital to open a bank account and hopefully get a Panamanian lawyer on retainer. I guessed the total for the trip would be around $2700, and that's a bit much for 5 days in total, but any time I felt doubt, I harkened back to Chile. Only time would tell if I was right.
