my vacation time is sort of approved, now I just need tickets

Let me start at the beginning. My friend Judy From Work (abbreviated to Judy from now on) told me a couple of months ago that she is going to India for two months this winter (Dec/Jan/early Feb). I, as always with other's vacations, was wildly covetous. I jokingly suggested that I should join her in January. Wait, let's go back a bit more. Judy is going to India because she has a friend, Priscilla, who has an apartment in Bangalore (in the south). Priscilla was going to India from August to (not sure of return date but 6 months or so) in order to sell her stuff and give up her apartment. Judy realized that this was likely her last chance to visit Priscilla in India so she took extra time off work, wangdangled her vacation days over two years (end of 2009, beginning of 2010 - so smart) and is booked to go. Now back to me and my very unsubtle hints about wanting to join in. Judy thought this was a fine idea. I had dinner with Priscilla, who read my previous travel blogs as a form of travel-companion resume, and she agreed that it would be ok if I showed up too. I have to say, very gracious of her since I will likely be crashing on her floor (apparently with the bugs and monkeys - MONKEYS! India is a whole different world). I plan to stay a week or so after Judy leaves and bum around wherever the mood strikes me.

Ok, so that is how and why I am off to India. It has taken me these two months to get my act together because of my recent job change. I had to wait to know which job I would be in so that I knew which boss/co-workers to ask for time off. I now have my new job and my lovely new boss said ok to time off in Jan/Feb and my colleagues were kind enough not to want the same time off. All good eggs.

So, here is what I have done so far. You can see my priorities from this.
First - bought India bird book. yeeeeeee (6 weeks ago)
Second - had vacation time verbally approved (two weeks ago)
Third - created Blog (last night)
Fourth - pre ordered new Lonely Planet India Book - due out Sept 15 (last night)
Fifth - tried to order airline tickets (today)

Which, to make a long preamble even longer, is the subject of my first blog entry: trying to redeem my RBC points to buy a plane ticket. Unfortunately, it will be an ongoing saga, I can tell already.

Let me say right off the bat, RBC ticket agents have so far been very helpful and friendly (I haven't forgotten you, Air Canada agent!). I called one of the RBC agents a week or two ago just to find out the lay of the land. I don't have the fancy dancy Avion card, I just have the regular gold card.

Not my actual card

I have approx $1200 worth of points toward a ticket (that only took 10 years) but I have to book my ticket through the RBC travel centre. I figured this would be the best time to use them since I will be flying alone. Mr. RBC said to find a ticket online and call them to book it. It sounded so easy but I know better than that. But one has to try. So today, work is over and I am staying late at the office to deal with this. RBC travel closes at 6 pm so no time to go home first.

A small digression: While searching for tickets I have discovered that flying into Bangalore involves three options. 1. arrive mid day but pay much more. 2. arrive middle of the night and pay less. 3. over night in Delhi - aacck - who cares what it costs - I don't want it.

Back to my ticket search. So I go online, find a connecting flight with Lufthansa through Toronto and Frankfurt, arriving at Bangalore at 1:30 AM for $1576. (Another kudos to Judy and Priscilla who are willing to meet me at the airport in the wee hours). This is good, no overnight and it will only cost me a few hundred bucks over the $1200 I have in points. So I call RBC, nice lady, who punches in the particulars of my desired flight. The price she gets (they have to go directly through the airline, not through Flight Network) is almost $3000! That would cost me all of my points and plus more actual cash than I would pay if I booked directly through flight network. So, a big NO on that. Ms. RBC looked around and found a ticket for $1700 but it included the dreaded overnight in Delhi. hmmmm. Now I have to think. But nice Ms. RBC suggested I call in the morning and ask about 'Consolidators'. What does this mean? I do not know. Apparently, there are agencies (?), people (?), airlines (?) who offer even cheaper tickets that RBC can purchase. Is anyone else imagining a guy in a black overcoat in the alley - "psst, psst, I have a ticket for you pretty lady, almost free". So, I will call tomorrow and see what I can buy out of some travel agent's Econovan with the stolen plates. What can go wrong!!