And So It Begins!

First leg of the journey…traveling from NC to CA.  I cannot believe that it was cheaper for me to do this:

Raleigh-Durham to John Wayne Airport, Orange County, CA – Southwest Airlines

LAX to Tokyo – Singapore Airlines

Tokyo to Singapore – Singapore Airlines

Singapore to Manila – Singapore Airlines

Manila to LAX – Singapore Airlines

Orange County to Raleigh – Southwest Airlines

Than to book a flight coming from RDU to go to Tokyo, Singapore, the Philippines and then back through any of the usual airline/travel booking companies online.  Is it really just that much cheaper to travel internationally through LAX than any of the other east coast international airports?  I would have thought that at least that a Regan National Airport departure would warrant some money saving tips!  Anyway, as it happens, even with the extra flight of having to go to CA, James and I still saved about $500 each to book Southwest and Singapore airlines ourselves.

Southwest Airlines is one of my favorite American airlines.  Bags still fly free and there is often entertainment to be had when the flight attendants get in the mood.  I’ve been in flights where there’ve been games and singing (singing not by me, you’d be happy to know).  So whenever I do travel domestic, I try to book Southwest.  Plus their mobile app is awesome.  Okay, I’m done advertising for them J

Despite my feeling that I forgot something, I think I actually do have everything I wanted to bring for this trip.  I had to send some last minute emails and instructions…but I think I’m good.  We’ll see when we get to Japan, heh?

James did forget to bring his thick jacket for our trip to Tokyo.  Currently in the process of deciding whether it is worth it for him to buy something at Ross when we get to California.  Also need to wash a couple of his hoodies…something he forgot to do last night.  And with our washer on the fritz, it’s not something we wanted to do last minute.  We didn’t need any flooding in the house the day of the trip.  This is why I have list and why I LOVE lists.