Obsession, isn’t that a cologne? Do they even make that anymore? My wife is a really really good sport. I spend a few minutes every day scheming, scheming for where to go next. And no I don’t mean where to go tomorrow or next week, but where to go on vacation or take a quick weekend trip too. Why? Well, when you have miles to spend and there are deals to be had I just have to see what and where I/we should go.

Take for instance the AMAZING deal to Europe that United had out there twice this week. During the heart of the summer you could fly virtually anywhere in the US to Europe in business class for $1300-1600 roundtrip. Now why is this AMAZING? We’ll when during the peak summer months a middle isle seat in the last row of coach can set you $1700 or more, I paid more than this business deal going to Europe last September in coach. So spending less than that for a seat at the font of the plane is just ridiculous. Also take into account that most business class fares can run from 4-7k for the same time period and you’ve got yourself a pretty damn good deal. Sadly don’t bother searching for this fare because as of about noon on Friday that fare was gone, but stay tuned, because it may come back. As I said it was live twice this week and may come back, check out the flight deal if you want to get instant notification on fares like this or others. It is the best site for mistake fares, special limited deals and just a freaking good site.

So let’s get back to me, and why I’m obsessed. When I found out about this deal I had to scheme. What if I could get a good deal to Paris, Amsterdam or Venice could I go? Now I’ve taken my fair share of good deals solo, but this would have to be with at least my better half and maybe the kid. Her birthday is in August and what better way than to celebrate it then in Paris? Plus check out what she did for my 40th birthday last year. It’s my turn to do her a solid. So I spent most of the evening and late night looking for the best options and in fact put several on hold, but there were complications. Do we take the kid, if not who will watch her? Can we really spend the money? Is it worth it? Well the last one is easy. Yes. The rest of them are very hard and complicated to answer. Plus we really don’t have much free time this summer and into the fall. Between our trips to Disney World, Hawaii and Thailand, and then my baseball trip to Chicago and my wife’s back to Disney World to complete her coast to coast ½ marathons we’re a little busy.

Even if we could swing the trip came the complicated part. Do I just buy the tickets and then surprise my wife sometime in the future or book and deal with the consequences later. I’ve done that in the past and frankly the results have not been positive, and why should they. When the conversation goes something like this.

Me: “Hey guess what next weekend I’m going to Dubai.”

The wife: “What?”

Me: “Um yeah. You see there was this really really great deal.”

The wife: Steam coming from her ears “Did you already book the ticket? Can you refund it?”

Me: “Yes. No. Oh and I booked two more trips over the next four weeks.”

You get the idea, I’m not exactly playing with a full deck. I see a deal, buy it and then let the chips fall. There are many times that the tickets can be cancelled and I’ve probably cancelled as many trips as I’ve actually taken, plus I’ve really tamed down the amount of side trips I take. But that being said I’m always looking for the next “fix”. So when it came to this particular deal although really really great, and something that if the timing was right I just would have booked, was just not part of the summer plans. So I just had to let it go, no matter how bummed I was.

But that gets me back to the topic at hand, I’m obsessed. Whenever I have free time what do I do, look for a good airfare deal or hotel deal so I can satisfy my obsession. Sure we’re not made of money but when you can get a great “deal” or find a way to use miles for the normally unattainable trip what do you do. Again here I’ve booked more vacations we’ve never taken then ones we have but, you strike while you can and then decide later.

So even though I didn’t book the trip to Paris or Venice like I wanted, and no I’m not bitter. Because I did book a one-way to Buenos Aries for next year, and if you’re all lucky I’ll even come back. Yes I asked the wife if we could all go first and even though we haven’t taken our vacations this year, nor asked for the time off next year I have to keep looking for what’s next. How else can I keep the obsession at check if I don’t keep looking for something to do?