FBLA State Competition in SF

[DisneyFan25863]

So, I placed at the regional FBLA competition and I'm heading off to State, up in SF. I'm working on my travel plans now (it will just be my Dad and I. No one else in my area qualified, and our advisor can't go). I'm looking at the prices for everything, and damn, this is gonna be expensive!

-3 Nights at the Hyatt Hotel where the convention is: $438.60
-2 Tickets via United, BUR to SFO and SFO to BUR: $376.80
-My Registration Fee: $75
-My Dad's Registration Fee: $5
-Trip to Oracle Systems Fee: $10

Total, taxes included: $905.40

OUCH!


Does anyone have any tips on how I can save some money on this? In order to qualify for school funding five students have to go, and I'm not sure if our Corp. Sponser (Wal*Mart) will pay for any of it, either, though I plan to call them up and ask.

[libraryvixen]

Have you tried Southwest (http://southwest.com/cgi-bin/buildItinerary2?hps=nb) for your tickets? Depending on when you travel, the tickets could be a little cheaper.

Or, you can try for a package deal on Expedia (http://www.expedia.com/Default.asp?CCheck=1&) or Travelocity (http://travelocity.com/) to help keep the costs low.

If the conference is in SF proper, you'll have to consider that SFO is about 15-20 minutes(with no traffic) away from the city itself, so you can take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) (http://www.bart.gov/index.asp), a shuttle service or a taxi (which is spendy) into the city. If you can, I think BART would be a better deal and it's a cushier ride. If you've never been to SF before, it's a great experience.

I hope this helps!

[mousepod]

Well, SF is pretty expensive in general. I notice that you haven't listed your food and shopping budget - I wouldn't ignore that.

However, I notice that the biggest chunk of your current budget is hotel and airfare.
Are you bound to the convention hotel? Are you getting convention rates? There are cheaper places to stay... PM me if you want me to check elsewhere for you.

In addition to libraryvixen's excellent suggestions, I'd also check airfare at cheaptickets.com and Yahoo!Travel. If you have too much luggage to deal with BART, you should also consider taking a SuperShuttle. No reservations necessary from airport --> hotel. It's relatively cheap door-to-door service.

Let me know when you'll be out and I can see if I can come up with something.

SF is a nice place to visit...

[Stan4dSteph]

You might look into flights into Oakland as well when looking at airfares.

Travelocity is cool. I <3 their :gnome:

[DisneyFan25863]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Southwest doesn't fly into SFO, and the hotel is providing free shuttle service from the airport to the hotel, so I'm pretty stuck there. I have to be at the hotel by 7 PM, but I can't fly out until 4, so I'm a little wary of flying into Oakland. The 142/night I'm getting at the Hyatt is a discounted price, and I have to stay there by conference rules.

I don't need to worry about food prices, since the 75 dollar registration fee I am paying covers all that. I won't be doing much sightseeing. I'll actually be in workshops and competitions most of the time, so shopping won't be an issue.


I'm basically locked into everything except the airfare, which is where I'm trying to save some money. I don't see why I can fly to Oakland for $100 round trip on SW, yet a roundtrip to SFO costs $200.


Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be there from April 28th to May 1st.

Sean

[Ghoulish Delight]

Landing fees and taxes is the short answer to the price difference.

You might want to look into flying out of LAX, it's often cheaper than Burbank, surprisingly.

[libraryvixen]

You might look into flights into Oakland as well when looking at airfares.

Travelocity is cool. I <3 their :gnome:

Steph, I love the :gnome: and I forgot that Southwest no longer flies out of San Francisco. Also, you can take the BART shuttle from the Oakland airport to the BART station. Here (http://bart.gov/guide/airport/oak.asp) is the transfer information for Oakland Airport to the BART station.

[DisneyFan25863]

Landing fees and taxes is the short answer to the price difference.

You might want to look into flying out of LAX, it's often cheaper than Burbank, surprisingly.

Yeah, I just looked it up, but I would only save like 2 dollars, so it's not worth it, since Burbank is so much closer and eaiser.

libraryvixen, if I were to take, say, a 4:15 flight out of Burbank to Oakland, do you think I could make it to the Hyatt Regency by 7? Apparently it's like 2 miles from SFO.

[libraryvixen]

You'd propbably be hitting rush hour traffic. I'd say no.

The distance from the Oakland Airport to SFO is similar to the letter "J". The part to the left of the "J" is the San Francisco Bay and you have to take the route all the way around to get from one point to another and there isn't a shortcut. Is the convention at the hotel near SFO? If so, I'd suggest SFO.

[mousepod]

Well, since April 28 is a Thursday (ie not a weekend), so you'll be going against rush hour traffic. I wouldn't sweat Oakland, actually.