Bought my plane ticket for the EntConnect conference

Since the EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference does not start until Thursday, March 27, I wasn't planning on buying my plane ticket for another two weeks or so, but I figured I should check the prices to get a handle on my budget. I was even thinking of using the "Name Your Own Price" feature of Priceline to get an even cheaper fare. I checked Expedia to get a ballpark view of air fares from Seattle to Denver. I could get a round-trip for a decent schedule for $247. Priceline is a little cheaper, typically about $5, and came in at $243 (tax and fees included) for the same flight schedule times. With prices this cheap, it hardly seemed worth the trouble to get involved in a bidding process that would likely end up with schedule times that would not be optimal for me and I figured prices would probably move up over the next week or two. So, I went ahead and booked the flight directly on Priceline at their published price of $243. Actually, Priceline showed me a fare of $221, but then told be it was no longer available. Ditto for $241 and $242. Then it finally gave me the fare for $243. This morning I see that my flight is priced up in the $270 to $290 range.

My flight from Seattle is very early, at 7:20 a.m. I will just barely be able to make it taking the earliest bus at 5:09 a.m. that gets to Sea-Tac airport at 5:46 a.m. I usually do not like to cut flights that close, especially since even a modest traffic problem can cause a significant delay, but at that hour there is unlikely to be any significant traffic issues on the way to the airport. The flight arrives in Denver at 11:00 a.m. I haven't decided whether I will wander around Denver for the afternoon or go up to Boulder for a few hours. My plan was to go up to Boulder on Friday.

My return flight is on Monday morning, at 4:07 p.m. That allows me to enjoy Sunday afternoon and evening and part of Monday in Colorado and take my time getting to the airport. I may in fact go to the airport a little early and then hang out in the Continental President's Club to catch up on email and news with their free Wi-Fi (and breakfast as well.) Monday is another possibility for my desired visit to Boulder if I choose alternate plans on Friday.

Now on to the hotel reservation. The conference hotel has a very cheap conference rate of $75, so it is simply not worthwhile looking around and getting a hotel that is less convenient.

-- Jack Krupansky