Vol 2 No 5, May, 2008
© 2008, Salt Lake Vienna Waltz Association
Greetings Waltzers,
Your next Viennese Ball is the San Diego Young Artists Symphony (SDYAS) Viennese Ball, Saturday,
June 21, 2008 at the Balboa Park Club in San Diego.
It's 750 miles to San Diego, so you'll need transportation to get there, a hotel room for Saturday night
after the ball, a car if you're not driving to San Diego, ancillary expenses such as meals, and, of
course, admission to the ball. How much is it going to cost?
Thinking let's go cheap and drive? It's 1500 miles round trip. Take the smaller car that gets 30 mpg,
pay an average of $3.85 per gallon, and you're going to pay $192.50 for gasoline, plus wear and
tear. The IRS currently gives you $.485 per business mile which calculates to a cost of $727.50. I'm
very diligent and
definitely not cheap with maintaining my very old car, and so, incur almost no repairs. I'd give myself
$.30 per mile, and calculate $450 to drive the distance. However, I used to regularly drive to Orange
County, CA, and after 12 hours in a car seat was in no mood to dance for four or five hours.
Therefore, add an extra night (Friday) in a hotel if you're driving.
Let's check the airlines. I looked at Delta, Jet Blue, and Southwest. Say your itinerary is to leave Salt
Lake City the morning of June 21 and return the afternoon of June 22. As of 6 p.m., May 18: two
people flying Delta can expect to pay $438 round trip;
Southwest charges $579; Jet Blue wins the price war with two for $358 (Jet Blue requires two
passengers (at that price).
Then you need one night at a hotel. I recommend go cheap, plus stay in or near Hotel Circle; it's
close to Balboa Park. Stay at the Super 8 for $123 and 3.4 miles to the Balboa Park Club. There's
also the Motel 6 for $108, four miles away. Farther out is the Quality Inn at $110, and at seven miles
out is the Econolodge for $85.
Of course, this being California, you'll need a car to get from Lindbergh Field airport to your motel to
the ball and back. For a one-day rental of the least expensive automatic transmission equipped
sub-compact, Hertz charges $34.21; Avis, $19.43; Budget, $50.78; Dollar, $23.80; National, $26.90.
If flying, add lunch and a light dinner Saturday, breakfast Sunday for another $80.
Plus, tickets to the ball are $110 per couple. You're looking at $686 to attend.
I should mention there's also the requested charitable donation to SDYAS. Here's to hoping you
itemize every April 15.
Wow, $686! That's a lot of money. Attending SDYAS is not something most of us can do on a whim.
This will be our second year, and we save for it, less than $60 per month. We consider it a
mini-vacation.
Consider the amount people spend for three days at Disneyland or Universal Studios. There's the
airfare, the hotel bill, the car rental, every day for three
days at the same place for, I grant you, a lot more than $110 per couple. And though you can have a
lot of fun at Disneyland, you get fun and a good workout at
the waltz.
I hope to see you in San Diego!
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