#seen my friends after four months abroad alert!!!

[sunsbleeding]

Strange and beautiful how one afternoon with friends equals the desire to live for a million brilliant years

[httpswwwtbhkcom]

Do You Wanna Feel Safe Too?

[Oneshot/Imagine]

Pairing: Tenya Iida x Reader, Neito Monoma x Reader(Platonic)

[@httpswwwtbhkcom’s masterlist]

Summary: Iida was always jealous of you and Monoma, he always tries to keep him away from you as possible. He wanted your attention, he needs your affection. He needs to keep you away from those bad examples(Were not talking about his friends and family). He planned to kidnap you instead! On a beautiful bed in the basement. It was full with expensive things. He locked you away from the real world. But when you made a mistake on leaving or making him disappointed? You’ll have a punishment. And maybe try to comfort you after.

Warnings: some wrong grammars, mentions of kidnapping, possessive yandere Iida, mentions of killing, mentions of blood, cringe,

Genre: Some fluff, angst, yandere Iida 

Keys:

Y/n- your name,

A/n: This is supposed to be for his birthday and i was late, anyways, Happy late birthday Tenya Iida!

I’m not really good at Yandere things so i’m sorry!

Reader: Neutral

Edited: 29/08/2020

Made by:  ad astra on Weheartit! Click here to see the fanart!

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

He hated when you talk to Monoma so much. He knew that you and Monoma were friends before joining UA.

He kept distracting you with various questions even though he knew the answers. Iida never wanted you to be near to a bad example just as Monoma. 

“Good morning Y/n.” He greeted. You’re always the first one to have his greeting at the morning. It means your special to him. He wanted to have you so badly! But he knew he needs to be patient when he wants you to be with him forever. 

“Good morning Iida!” You smiled. Ah yes, your fresh smile. The thing that makes him soar up in the sky. He loves it. And your angelic voice, it was the source of his energy. Whenever he hears your voice, i bet he can run farther than anyone can. But when you compliment him? Oh i bet he can also jump higher than Miruko.

He will kill for you. Only if you knew that was true though. 

Yes, he is strict. But he resists shouting and scolding for whatever you’ve done. It sometimes made the others envy you. Sometimes, the dekusquad teases him for it. Todoroki asking him what love felt like. He answers with:

“It feels like you have a connection with them, even if they haven’t noticed it yet. It feels like you will kill anyone for them and only them.” 

Todoroki nodded at every word he says. Even though Todoroki didn’t like the killing part. Little did he know, Every part of whatever Iida said was true.

Iida saw you with Monoma chatting again, it made him furious. That smirk in his face. It feels like Monoma was mocking him. He went to you without thinking. 

“Hey Y/n, we need to go back to class. We might get late.” He softly scolded. You nodded and exchanges goodbye’s with Monoma before leaving. Iida gave him a dirty look before talking to you. 

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

All of the Class 1A students were hanging out in the mall until they saw a nearby villain attack. 

You used your quirk to help civilians retreat and go to safe place. While the others were trying to apprehend the villains. One of the villains saw you unarmed and unalerted, They blasted you with their quirk. You quickly noticed it and you tried to escape it in the last second, but instead of feeling pain, you felt a pair of strong of arms around you.

You looked at the hero who saved you. Your eyes widened when you saw Iida saved you. You hugged your hero “Thank you for saving me Iida! I almost died!” You felt his heart pace faster as he stiffened, so you putted your arms beside you instead. 

“O-oh, Your welcome Y/n.” He stuttered. Right after that, Heroes and the police finally arrived. Your classmates came to you, “Omg, Are you ok Y/n?!” Mina asked, checking if you have any injuries. “Yes, I’m fine Mina. Thanks to Iida.” You reassured. 

All of you were scolded and thanked for saving. Then went back to the dorm. It was worth it either way, if you watched them die, the villains would escape and the people nearby would get injured or maybe die. 

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

You promised Iida that you would save him back. And you did.

When the hero heard there were a villain attack, They told all of you to be alerted and to save the civilians. Helping people is the #1 priority. 

You saw the heroes fighting and saving some people. You saw the hero, Manual. You checked around if you saw Iida or anybody else you knew. But all you saw was Heroes and none of your classmates. 

You told your leader that you were going to check the surroundings. They nodded and went back to saving people. 

You went deeper and deeper the place, and you saw Midoriya, Todoroki and Iida fighting a hero killer. 

You saved them and used your quirk to reprimand him. “Ugh, Get off me!” Stain yelled. You ignored his complaints as you four wait for the heroes to arrive.

Again, You all were scolded by the police department and the heroes. Iida sighed in relief as you were not hurt. Cause if you were, He’d be the one avenging for you and his brother. 

“Iida, Are you ok?” You worriedly asked. He slightly blushed at how you held his hand. “Y-yes. I’m fine Y/n.” He answered, looking at the two who was chatting.

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

Everyday, you started to chat with him more than Monoma. You were worried for Iida since he was the one more hurt. Well you think that he was the one who was more hurt.

And everyday, he fell more and more inlove with you. He wanted to have you all for himself. He thought of plans, killing everybody who comes to you? No, many responsibilities. Isolating you at his basement instead? Sure, but he has to live in his house again. It’s worth it. He has to keep you! He’ll have infinite love and affection from you! ‘I guess kidnapping my love will do.’ He murmured. 

He planned it smoothly. First, he’ll make the basement into a bedroom instead. Second, He’ll take you from the dorms while everyone was sleeping and slowly put you inside the basement and wait for you to leave, Last, affections!

Everything had got to plan, Everyone went to sleep faster than usual. Which helps Iida. 

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

You woke up in an unfamiliar room. Everything looked, Expensive. 

“Good morning Love~” Iida cooed. You yelped at the voice. You went into a far distance and looked at the person who took you. “Iida?” You stuttered. “Yes, darling?” His eyes bore into you. You swore you saw hearts in his eyes. You looked at him scared, ‘What am i doing here? Why am i here?’ You asked yourself. 

“What am i doing here?!” You asked, staying in your place. He looked at you smirking. “Darling, I helped you.” He said coldly. Without thinking, you stood and ran to the door, trying to open it but failed. Behind you, you heard Iida laughed maniacally. Then you felt him behind you. You shivered at the contact when he hugged you. “Y/n, you can’t leave. I want to help you from those people! Their bad for you!” He explained. You jerked him away. “Your kidnapping me Iida, This is wrong!” You yelled. He only smirked at you. Before he left he warned:

“This wall is soundproof, so if your going to yell for help, No one will try and help you.” His voice full with venom. 

You went to the bed and cried yourself to sleep.

Few months had passed and Iida had visited you few hours a day. Craving for Affection. If you won’t give him any cuddles when he’s tired, he’ll be the big spoon and hug you instead.

“I’m back darling~” He notified you, opening the door. “I have a surprise for you.” And that made you look at him in a blink of an eye. He grinned at the action 

“Since you were a good pet, I thought that you should leave this room and sleep in my bedroom instead.” You frowned at the statement. Until you thought that you had a chance to escape! You quickly went to him and nodded, faking a smile. He pecked your lips and held your hand to refrain you from leaving him. 

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

The night was the same, cuddling him. 

You waited as he left. Then that’s your chance. The windows were closed. But the door was surprisingly open. You ran out the house. You took a deep breath, the place looks more beautiful than before. Than you run to an alleyway, Sadly, Iida saw you running out the house when he forgot to lock the door. He chased you and easily caught you. 

“Doll, i thought you can finally love me. But you clearly don’t..” Iida frowned. “I guess i’ll have to stay home today.” He sighed, harshly gripping your wrists while you sobbed.

 After some punishments, The bruises, cuts and many more gave you pain. Tears leaving your eyes as you cry at the pain. 

Instead of bandaging the injury he gave you, He just comforted you and hugged you. You tried to jerk him away from you but failed. You were too weak. You knew you can’t go outside and leave anymore. 

“If you weren’t bad today, I could’ve let you live upstairs. But your staying here until you realized your mistake.” Iida stood and went infront of the door. 

“Those people had corrupted you so badly! I should’ve done this sooner.” 

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

Bonus:

A few months before, Todoroki was the first one who got extremely worried about your sudden disappearance. Everyone thought you were sick, so they let it slide.

“Hey, where’s Y/n? We haven’t seen them for weeks.” He decided to speak up. The others became worried after what he said. 

“Y/n must be with her parents abroad. They dropped out school since their parents needed Y/n to help them in their business.” Iida lied. 

“What do you mean? We’ve been trying to contact them but they haven’t answered!” Uraraka raised her voice. 

“Y/n didn’t have time to tell all of you, but i forgot to update all of you. I deeply apologize.” He said, his voice  was cracking a bit but they haven’t noticed it yet. 

He went home smiling wickedly to look at his prized possession. 

[dark-and-twisty-01]

'Nice Guy' Glenn kept bodies in barrels

We can imagine the scene. Andrew Cherewka, 24, sat in front of his probation officer. It was was shortly before Christmas, 2015, in Waterloo, west of Toronto. The officer had marked the holiday with a bent six-inch plastic tree on her desk and a few scattered cards. Outside, it was snowing. The wan light of early winter crept through the cracks in the blind. 'Good to be outside?' Andrew smiled. He was free, free, free at least in the psychical sense. He'd served 30 months for a road traffic accident in which his friend, a passenger in his car, died - something he could never be free. He carried the chains of remorse with him wherever he went. 'Just some formalities,' the officer said. She ruffled the pages of a form.

'Next of kin?' 'My mother and sister, I guess.' 'Address?' 'I don't know' 'You don't know?' Andrew explained that he'd last seen his mother, Linda Daniel, 48, and sister Cheyanne, 13, in July 2011, when he called on the home they shared with Linda's boyfriend, Glenn Beauman, 37, a truck driver, in rural St. Clements. Bauman told him Linda and Cheyanne, a keen horse rider, had cleared out his savings and maxed his credit card, just like that. Andrew never heard from them again.

'You didn't report it?' The probation officer leaned in her chair. Andrew shrugged.

'Mom kept very much to herself. She had few friends and hardly liked anyone. I was surprised but wasn't, if you know what I mean. I thought mom took Cheyanne to start a new life somewhere.'

'You tried to contact them?' 'You bet, I sent texts and messages but they never replied.' The officer considered what he said. 'You should report it, in case.' 'In case?' 'This Bauman character, you know?' 'Glenn? God, no he's the nicest guy you could meet. I've never seen him raise his voice or lose his temper. He treated Cheyanne like his own daughter.' He so, keen to keep in with his probation officer, Andrew reported the pair missing - four years after they disappeared. And then all hell broke lose.

As a matter of routine, police searched Bauman's old home on Hessen Strasse in Wellesley Township. There they found two 45 gallon steel barrels in the backyard that contained ash - about two person's worth. Worse, one of the barrels contained human teeth and what was believed to be human bone fragments. Inside the home, blood was observed to have seeped through two layers of flooring in the master bedroom that was once shared by Linda Daniel and Glenn Bauman. In the meantime, Bauman had moved from Ontario to Alberta. Alerted to the concerns of their colleagues, the RCMP in Alberta sent two officers undercover to find out what they could. The first played the role of a private investigator looking into the disappearance of the mother and daughter, He approached Bauman full on and accused him of killing the pair: 'I don't know what to tell you, man, cause you're a killer.' 'I didn't do anything to them, other than provide a roof over their heads and a life,' Bauman replied. He climbed into his truck. The officer heard Bauman talking out loud to himself - weird. Bauman was rattled and turned to his new friend, not knowing the new friend was also an undercover cop. Their conversation was recorded. Bauman talked about killing the private detective and burning his body in a barrel. Was he serious? 'He gets cooked in a fucking barrel, and then you keep burning and burning and burning and burning and burning until there's nothing left,' Bauman said. That was pretty serious. 'Won't that leave bone behind?' the new friend asked. 'Naw,' Bauman replied with a strange confidence. 'The heat's strong enough to get rid of the bones. The only thing that won't burn is teeth.; The undercover officer drove around with Bauman in his truck as they looked for a place to purchase a suitable barrel. 'We can transport him somewhere else in that,' Bauman said. Yeah, he was serious.

It was enough for Bauman to be picked up on August 19th 2016, in Valleyview on Highway 43, north-west of Edmonton. There was a barrel in the back of his pickup truck. It was a shock to one of Glenn Bauman's old friends, Jonas Martin. He said Bauman was raised in an Old Order Mennonite farm family - no smoking, drinking or sex before marriage - a really nice guy. He met Linda through a dating site in 2003 and loved her daughter, Cheyanne. 'He loved her, absolutely loved her.' If it meant doing extra runs or working extra hours so that he could pay to do something for her, that wasn't even a question.' Like the Amish, Old Order Mennonites, of Swiss-German origin, follow a strict code that focuses on a traditional way of life although vary from group to group. Three thousand five hundred OOMs remain in Ontario. Membership is voluntary, and Bauman had left the order when he was 19. Bauman was brought before a seven-man, seven-woman jury in April 2019 for a four-month trial. Crown Prosecutor Ashley Warne told the court that for years Bauman 'gave explanations for the whereabouts of Linda and Cheyanne Daniel.' He was so plausible, no one questioned it. Bauman had told Andrew he'd reported the pair's absence to the police in Elmira but the police had said, 'Don't go looking for them.' This was untrue, although Bauman did approach police earlier to say his relationship was on the rocks. 'He was seeking help about how to get out of his domestic situation,' a police sergeant confirmed. It was unclear what he thought the police could do about it. Bank records from the period showed Bauman struggled with money. He was unemployed and under pressure at the time Linda and Cheyanne disappeared. Andrew repeated the tale of how his interview with his probation officer produced a 'light-bulb moment' in his head that led to him reporting the disappearance. 'She asked me if I had ever reported them to the police and I said 'no' and she was very surprised by that.I guess I was surprised at how surprised she was.' After he removed Linda and Cheyanne from his life, Crown Prosecutor Warne said, Bauman 'began making efforts to start a new life with a woman.' He met the woman, a Nigerian, on the internet. He wanted to send her $3,000 but Western Union stopped the international transfer to Nigeria as part of a clampdown on scams. Bauman complained to the police. 'I've sent her a plane ticket,' he said plaintively. Two days later after Linda and Cheyanne disappeared, Bauman cashed in Cheyanne's education savings plan. A few months later, he received the $3,100 that rested in the plan. When Bauman was arrested, his current partner asked him point-blank if Linda and Cheyanne were still alive. 'He gritted his teeth,' she told the court. 'With a tear in his eye, he shook his head and said, 'No, and I don't want to talk about it anymore.' A friend of Cheyanne's from Linwood Public School had posted a message on Cheyanne's social media page. 'Why were you not at the first day of school?' There was no reply. The defence argued that Bauman had no case to answer because Linda and Cheyanne were still alive, having started a new life somewhere else - abroad maybe.

Bauman didn't take the stand in his own defence but a witness was called - Roxanne Ratthe, another friend of Cheyanne. She claimed Cheyanne had called her after they left Bauman's home - something the prosecution claimed never happened because Bauman killed them at home and burned their remains in a barrel.

'She called me a while after and just said, 'Hey,' I was like, 'Hey, How's it going? Where are you?' She said, 'I can't tell you.' I was like, 'Well, seriously, where are you?' She just kept saying that she couldn't tell me. I asked her once more - 'Where are you?' - and she just hung up and I never heard from her ever again.'

Defence lawyer Terence Luscombe asked how Cheyanne sounded. 'She sounded normal. She always had kind of a bubbly personality. She sounded excited. She was happy, or it seemed that she was happy. Crown prosecutor Dominique Kennedy said she was confused.

'So your understanding is that your conversation with Cheyanne was not after she is alleged to have been killed?' 'Yeah. She did not call me after she had been allegedly killed. It was before all this happened..' 'Because if Cheyanne called you and you were the only person in the whole universe to hear from Cheyanne after the day that she is alleged to have been killed, that would be very bizarre, right?' 'Yeah.' 'Like unbelievable, right?' 'Yeah.'

In closing arguments, Dominique Kennedy rejected the notion that the pair were still alive elsewhere. 'They had no passports or other travel documents. They didn't change their name. They aren't in the witness protection program. They never crossed into the U.S. Linda and Cheyanne always lived in southern Ontario. It's not reasonable to suggest that Linda and Cheyanne stowed away to a foreign country unbeknownst to all.' After deliberating for a day, the jury found Glenn Beauman guilty of first-degree murder even though nobody could explain how or why he did it - was it really because of financial pressure? Don't all families suffer like that?

In August 2019, Bauman was sentenced to life with a minimum of 25 years for each murder. The sentences will run concurrently as the deaths occurred months before a change in Canadian law that allowed for consecutive sentences in multiple deaths. Asked if he had anything to say before he was taken away, Bauman politely replied. 'No, Sir.'

[daesungindistress]

Sorry for bothering you. I have some questions. I'm new in this fandom. At fist I supported Seungri but now I doubt him. Some vips say that he is victim of media, he run only Aori ramen and Kmedia is lying. I see posts claiming that OT4 won't go on without him. There are so much conflicting information. What exactly did he do? If OT4 had problems with Seungri why were they so nice to him during Last dance tour? Again sorry for bothering I just want to know the whole story.

I’m sorry, I’ve gone over this at length so many times over the last six plus months… do I have the energy to hash it out again in detail? It’s true that there is still confusion over his case, let’s face it, there always will be. It’s also true that there has been misinformation spread on both sides, both for and against him. Accusations that came and went, some that stuck, some that didn’t. All you need to know is that right now, based on the results of the police investigation he underwent this spring, he is currently facing 7 charges (from this article):

Solicitation of prostitution (for himself)

Prostitution mediation (for his foreign investors)

Occupational embezzlement of Burning Sun funds

Occupational embezzlement of attorney’s fees

Instigating destruction of evidence

Violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes (sharing a photo believed to be molka)

Violation of the Food Sanitation Act (this is related to Monkey Museum)

He is also currently under investigation for suspicions of gambling while abroad (which, though few fans seem to have a problem with it, is illegal for Koreans) and violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act (raising gambling funds through “hwanchigi,” a term that refers to illegal practices surrounding foreign exchange transactions). So if you see people saying he’s facing up to 9 charges, that’s where that number comes from. The first 7 charges are currently in the hands of the prosecution. Police have recommended indictment on all 7, however, it’s up to the prosecution to conduct their own supplementary investigation and decide whether or not to formally press charges against him (i.e., indict him), after which, if indicted, his case will go to court. This is just a thought, but they may be waiting for police to finish up their investigation on the gambling suspicions so that they can make a decision on all charges at once. In the meantime, it seems his enlistment has been postponed indefinitely.

For the record, most VIPs defended Seungri against the Burning Sun allegations (not gonna get into that here, but it’s pretty horrific stuff). The Burning Sun situation is still murky, and probably always will be, but it’s worth noting that Seungri was never booked or earnestly investigated on anything related to the club besides embezzlement of club funds. Then, in late February the prostitution chats were released – chats which appear to show him and his business partners arranging for prostitutes for their foreign investors visiting Korea back in late 2015 – and he was officially booked as a suspect for that. Then, as if things weren’t bad enough for him already, there came the molka/spycam chats, in which women were filmed in sex acts without their permission and their photos and videos secretly shared among friends. We later learned that some of these women had been drugged and raped. Besides that, the text content of the chats themselves and they way these men spoke about the women they’d slept with was just vile.

Based on the very limited evidence we have available to us, Seungri’s involvement in those molka chats was admittedly minimal (at least when compared to the other chat members, many of whom are currently standing trial on rape charges). However, some of these men were close friends of his, and for many people, his knowledge of their despicable acts toward these women and his complacency (in neglecting to report, or at the very least condemn them for it) was enough. We know he viewed at least one molka video and seemed unbothered by it, even laughing at it. That was the point at which many (I would argue most) people dropped his ass like a hot potato, horrified that he’d had any part in it at all.

Everyone has to draw the line somewhere. For many, that was the line. As for me? I remember the first time I saw that headline, and how my heart sank. I was still on his side back then, perhaps not yet realizing just how serious the situation had become, but even so, I knew in my heart that it was the end for him. And sure enough, it was later that same day when he announced his retirement from the entertainment industry.

His supporters will swear up and down that he had nothing to do with it, but from his own mouth, in his Chosun Ilbo interview, he knew. And not only that, he apparently helped them dispose of evidence when the news broke by alerting them that they were in trouble and instructing them to change their phones (hence the “instigating destruction of evidence” charge). And this is to say nothing of the ridiculous explanation he came up with for the prostitution chats: that he was just providing girls for his female friend to party and go shopping with, an explanation that was shot down by that very friend who he tried to use as an alibi. So when you said “now I doubt him”? Yeah. Us too.

There’s so much more to this saga. So much more. And it’s ongoing. But I’m so tired of going over it again and again and again. The fact is, Seungri asked to have his contract with YG terminated and announced his withdrawal from the industry. So whether you like him or not, continuing to pledge your support to him is just a massive waste of time. Seungri has been a retired singer for six months now, and the cold hard reality is that since March 2019 Big Bang has been four members. G-Dragon, TOP, Taeyang, Daesung. They are still with us. They are who will stand on the stage before us again. They are who will bring us new music and feature in new videos. They are our future as a fandom. If we want more of Big Bang, if we want to see the band continue on at all, we have to express a willingness to support them as they are, now and for the foreseeable future. Otherwise, it’s like Youngbae said during Last Dance: it will be goodbye for real. And who wants that?

Seungri has been locked in an intense media and legal battle for almost all of 2019 – nearly nine months now. And I don’t see things getting better for him anytime soon. This could easily drag on for another three months, until the end of this year. It could go on for six. It could even stretch on for twelve, if he’s indicted on all charges and his case goes to trial. When you factor in enlistment, the absolute soonest Seungri can even think about being active again as an entertainer is in 2-3 years’ time. It has already been almost 3 years since BB’s last comeback. Does anyone really think they’re going to make themselves and us endure another 2-3 year wait (at best!) for a retired member to return to them before they'll release new music again as a group? When they wanted him to enlist alongside them, but he chose not to? And then became the center of the biggest controversy in kpop history? After they begged him not to get in trouble while they were away?

“If OT4 had problems with Seungri why were they so nice to him during Last dance tour?”

I don’t want you guys to think I’m spreading the message that BB ever hated Seungri. It’s more complex than that. I think they cared for him, but I think they were also frustrated with him. I think they wanted what was best for him and were concerned for him. I think they wanted to put their trust in him, knowing that he alone would be carrying the name Big Bang in their absence, but given how distant he’d become and the questionable connections he’d made, couldn’t help being wary of him.

And more than anything? I think they felt they’d lost him. For several years now. And it’s so damn sad.

Somehow, somewhere along the way, to someone (those friends of his) or to something (money and fame, greed and pride, power and envy, you name it), he slipped through their fingers. It wasn’t always this way between them, I’m sure of it. But sometimes people change, often as a result of their changing circumstances. Seungri, unhappy with his present situation (circa 2015, maybe even earlier), found a new passion and a new social circle (a problematic one)… and the closer he grew to them, the farther he drifted from BB. They said they only ever saw him onstage. Said they made plans together but he’d often cancel at the last minute. Said he was always overseas with his other friends and business associates. Said he was “totally a businessman” and that he “didn’t want to work [as a singer] anymore.” They said it seemed that Big Bang had become “business” to him and that all he ever talked about with them was money. I think they felt that though he stayed with them, he did so for all the wrong reasons, reasons that no longer included a passion for music. He didn’t even invite them to his last birthday party before they all enlisted, his big island resort birthday bash in the Philippines (and we’ve all seen that Last Dance tour behind-the-scenes clip in which GD scolded him harshly for it. In hindsight, they dodged a bullet by not being there, seeing as that party was under scrutiny this year for suspicions of prostitution mediation).

Sorry. At this point I’m just rambling. You say you want to know the whole story? Yeah, well, so do the rest of us. But for now, the best we can hope for is that it’s not over for Big Bang. So please, let’s give all our love to the four who remain.

[thatmultifandomhoe]

Strawberry Cream and BBQ - 6

Pairing: Hybrid Hoseok and Human Reader

Overview: Your best friend knows she can count on you for anything, so when she asks you to watch her hybrid while she’s gone for a study abroad trip for four months, you can’t say no. But when these four months are over, things have changed in a way no one expected.

Word Count: 1,782

Genre: Hybrid AU, Fluff, Future smut, Angst, Best friends to Lovers

Warning: None, except for a visit made by Namjoon.

Master List

Sneak Peak - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21 - Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 (Final) - Move in Day: A SC&BBQ Drabble

©thatmultifandomhoe Do not repost, translate, or use my stories without permission.

Over the course of the next couple weeks, Hoseok and you had fallen into an easy and comfortable routine. He got up early to go teach dance over at the Dance Studio, and on the two days when he didn’t have to go in, he either lounged at the apartment or hung out with his friends while you were at class or the shop. Sometimes he joined you at the bookstore to help out. He called it helping, you considered it another place for him to stretch out.

Today, he was at the Dance Studio. This time he was teaching a group of college students who wanted to learn about street dancing. It had him all excited since street dance was one of his passions and specialties.

You were sitting behind the counter at the bookstore you worked at. It was slow and nobody had entered the store in the last few hours, so you were sitting back and catching up on the reading. The semester recently started back up and you were already behind.

Sue had sent a text saying she safely landed and was in her bed two days after her flight. Apparently, the plane ride went smoothly, but there had been some babies on board that cried the entire time and as soon as she got to her host family’s home, she crashed on her bed and didn’t wake up until the next day. Jet lag was a bitch.

The text, while short, had relaxed Hoseok greatly. Now that he knew she was there and safe, he was able to focus with one less thing to worry about.

The silver Christmas bells that were hung above the door jingled in the small bookstore, capturing your attention. When the familiar face came into view, you smiled. Namjoon headed towards you with a soft smile, his ears alert while his tail lazily went back and forth.

“Morning Joonie,” you greeted, setting your text book down as he reached the counter.

His smile revealed his deep dimples, his light brown hair styled so it was off his forehead. “Afternoon, bookworm.”

You teasingly rolled your eyes and leaned back in your chair as you crossed your arms under your chest. With a quick look at the table clock, it wasn’t surprising to learn that it was two in the afternoon. Time passed either at snail’s pace or as fast as a whirlwind at the bookstore. “Are we really going to argue about who’s the bigger bookworm in this room?”

Namjoon merely shrugged, glancing around the store. “Who let the wolf out of the bag?” He asked, his brown eyes glinting in amusement.

You laughed, and Namjoon’s own soft giggles joined in. It had taken a long time for the wolf hybrid to be comfortable about making jokes that reflected on himself. It wasn’t too long ago when he first joined your group of friends. Back then, you had wondered if he was ever going to accept everyone. It had taken some time, but he eventually found his home with everyone.

“What can I help you with hun?” You finally asked.

“Do you have any more sonnets in stock?” He sheepishly asked, his head ducking down in a cute manner.

Pressing your lips together, you shook the computer mouse to wake up the screen. “Let me check.”

“Thank you.”

Searching for what Namjoon was looking for, you groaned as the computer screen froze, making your shoulders slump. “I swear we need better internet. Dare I even say, a better system. Let me check the bookcase for them, and if they’re not there I can go down to the basement.”

His ears perked up, chuckling as he led the way. He had that path to the bookcase that held his beloved sonnets memorized after his first trip to the bookstore. At the time, he hadn’t known that you worked at the bookstore and had been almost embarrassed when he set the books he found on the counter. You thought it had been sweet to see the alpha wolf hybrid to be purchasing them.

“It’s nice to see that someone else still loves to read sonnets,” you told Namjoon. Scanning the books, you gently smiled when his ears perked up.

“They’re…hard to come by.” Namjoon had softly spoke, watching as you placed them in the bag. “Everyone just likes reading poetry these days.”

Nodding, you swiped his card. “True. Both are pretty great, but there’s something about a sonnet that just seems more romantic. If you’re interested, I can keep an eye out for them or I can order them if you have a specific title in mind.”

He had been signing the receipt when you spoke, his hand pausing as he looked at you. He was still weary of you, of everyone in fact, but after a few moments, he had nodded. “I appreciate that. Thank you.”

It didn’t seem like much, but for Namjoon it was progress in the right direction. After that, he made a habit to come into the bookstore once every few weeks, always finding a book to take home as he tried to make small talk. Eventually, he worked his way up to where he is now, coming into the store once or twice a week and completely at ease.

Once you reached the bookcase, you tilted your head a little to read the titles, your finger gently trailing on the spines. “Hm. There’s a couple here, but it looks like the majority is just regular poetry. But I can check down in the basement if you want.”

Namjoon shook his head though. “No that’s alright. You don’t need to go through that trouble for me. I’m going to look at these though.”

“Okay,” you rubbed his shoulder and informed him that you’d be at the counter if he needed anything else. He nodded, but his attention was already focused on the books in front of him. With your back to him, you pressed your lips together to hide a smile. You knew the minute once you sat back down, he’d be asking if you could sit with him. He did it every time he came in.

“Hey, bookworm?” He hesitantly called out.

Without speaking, you went back to where you had left him. Namjoon’s ears were flat against his head but quickly went back up as he watched you sit next to him. “So, what’s new with you?”

He shrugged. “Not much. I just came from visiting Hobi at the Dance Studio.”

“I thought he was teaching street dance today?” You asked.

“That was this morning,” Namjoon explained, looking up from one of the books he was inspecting. The cover was green with no design on it, not even a title. The pages were yellowed with age and was small enough to fit in one’s pocket with no problem. “He’s been free since noon. Although he’s staying at the studio to practice for the upcoming show they’re hosting. He has a solo this year.”

At the mention of the show, bells went off in your mind. The Dance Studio put on an annual show every May to showcase the hard work that the students put in to their dancing that year.

The show was always a hit, especially since the company had students ranging anywhere from six-years-old to their late twenties. Even the employees got the chance to perform in group performances, but solos were hard to get. Any money made from ticket sales, as well as from any fundraising that happened, went back to the studio to pay for travel costs for competitions, new equipment, and any repairs that the building needed.

“I knew about the show of course, but he never said he was in it.”

The studio was Hoseok’s life. He had been going there long before Sue even adopted him. From what he’s told you, after she adopted him, he started helping out at the Dance Studio every chance he had, first as a volunteer and then a part time employee. He took classes whenever he could and then one day, the company hired him as a full-time dance instructor.

That caught Namjoon’s attention, closing the book he had been reading as he straightened up. “That’s odd. Usually he can’t stop talking about it, especially since he has such an important part.”

“Did he just recently find out about the solo?”

Namjoon shook his head though. “No, he’s known for months.” He frowned and chewed on his bottom lip. “You sure he never said anything? I know the two of you are almost as close mates.”

Your eyes widened at Namjoon’s last comment, making you completely forget about Hoseok’s solo for the time being. Mates were not a topic that was just casually thrown around. It was an intimate bond that was seen in hybrids; it was the equivalent of marriage for them, except it couldn’t be broken. Usually they mated with their own kind, but there were plenty who took humans as their mates too.

But you…as Hoseok’s mate?

“No, no, no,” you rushed to get out, your cheeks turning a light pink. “Hoseok and I…we’re just best friends Joonie.”

The wolf hybrid released a chuckle that resembled a bark, making your cheeks flush a little more. “Sure thing, bookworm.”

Raising an eyebrow, you merely licked your lips before standing, stuttering something out about checking out the books in the basement before getting out of there. His chuckles echoed in your mind as he let you go, whether it was to give you space to clear your mind, or for the possibility of you finding more sonnets for him. You didn’t really care which it was really.

Digging through the boxes your boss had thrown down here filled with books made you sigh. You and Hoseok told each other everything, so why didn’t he mention having a solo? Maybe he figured that Sue had told you at some point? But that didn’t feel right either. She would have called you up if she couldn’t tell you in person.

So why didn’t he say anything?

You ran a hand through your hair, coughing as you breathed in the musty smell that always lingered in the basement. No matter how many candles you burned or cans of Febreze you sprayed, the smell never really went away.

By the time you went back upstairs, you had found three other books of sonnets for Namjoon and set them on the counter for when he was ready to ring up his purchases. Meanwhile, you couldn’t help but wonder about what he said.

Did you and Hoseok really appear to be that close to each other? And did he know?

[princeinc]

It's Beautiful We Met Like This (But I Still Hate You): Chapter 1

Pairing: OiSemi Words: 1,347 Rating: T Ao3 Link

Chapters: (1) (2)

Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Competitiveness, French Major Semi, Astrophysics Major Oikawa, tbh semi has a langblr, Not Beta Read, They/Them pronouns for Iwa, Requited Unrequited Love, they really like each other but they dont even know that they do themselves and they just think its competitiveness

Oikawa gets a new roommates, screws up their first conversation and tries to make it better while falling in love in the process.

or

The “I was abroad last semester and forgot to fill out the housing form, but your old roommate dropped out so hi, hey, how’s it going, I guess we live together now” AU no one wanted

“Hey, uh, excuse me this is room 14B right?” A voice spoke behind Oikawa. Turning away from his unpacking, Oikawa was met with light blonde hair and warm, bored looking brown eyes.

“Yeah it is, I am Oikawa, your roommate I guess, nice to meet you!” He greeted cheerily.

The newcomer smiled lightly before stating his name, “Semi Eita.” He walked into the dorm and placed his bag on the other bed. Oikawa went back to unpacking but watched his new roommate out the corner of his eye. He seemed to be fairly organized and well-kept, which was good for Oikawa who couldn’t stand having a messy living space. He had long, slender fingers with neatly trimmed finger nails. Semi also seemed to keep things minimal.

“So,” Oikawa said, breaking the silence, “what’s your major?”

“Foreign languages with a track in French Language and Culture, I studied abroad in France last semester, which is why I’m your new roommate on such short notice. What about you?” Semi responded, going over to the small closet to hang up his clothes.

“Astrophysics,” Oikawa responded before standing, “I’m going to head out.” Semi nodded in recognition but just continued unpacking.

Oikawa doesn’t know what it was, but he already felt the need to prove himself better than Semi.

~

All Us Single Boys Chat

Oikawa: Meet me at the coffee shop asap!!!

Makki: We really need to change the name of this chat

Mattsun: Yeah, Oikawa’s the only single one now

Makki: Lmao

Mattsun: Lmao

Oikawa: Guys seriously, it’s urgent!!

Iwa: Already there

Mattsun: I’ll go on break early

Makki changed chat name to Oikawa Is Independent And Don’t Need No Man

~

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Mattsun asked, bringing over four cups of coffee, still in his apron.

“My new roommate. That guy is trying to one up me, but I’ll let you know, it’s not going to happen!” Oikawa declared loudly

“I seriously doubt that’s what’s happening but okay,” Iwa said, shrugging and taking a sip of their coffee. “It doesn’t even sound like you had a real conversation, all you know is his major and his name.”

“And that he studied abroad in France. Why else would he say that if not trying to one up me?”

Hanamaki nodded, “Yeah, it’s not like he was trying to make conversation or anything because you’ll be living together for the next semester.”

“If you really don’t like him, just don’t talk to him. You’re making a big deal out of nothing. Maybe talk to him more before classes start?” Iwa concluded.

“Yeah, I agree, and as much as I would love to continue this stimulating conversation, I must go back to work,” Mattsun got up to leave, kissing Makki on the cheek while whispering ‘no homo though’.

“Gross,” Iwaizumi commented.

“Oh really? As if you and Suga are any better!” Makki retaliated. Oikawa let out a light laugh as he watched his friends.

“I’m gonna head out too,” Oikawa said, waving back at his friends. He knew they were probably right, that he was overreacting. However, he was still intrigued to say the least, just based off his possessions. Oikawa had noticed many language books and organized notebooks, so it’s obvious he took his studies seriously and found them at least enjoyable. He had also seen some work out clothes and photographs, so he must have other hobbies as well. Maybe they could get along after all.

He was very wrong. So wrong. Now, Oikawa was not a messy person in the slightest, but compared to Semi’s side of the room, it looked like Oikawa had never bothered to put his belongings away in the first place. Semi had all his books organized and straight on his desk, with a stack of flashcards neatly rubber banded together, and to top it all of, his calendar was color coordinated and listed each class and activity he had planned for the next month.

He was laying on his bed, already relaxed, with earbuds in and a books open. He had looked up at Oikawa with a questioning look.

“So, what are you reading?” Oikawa asked, taking Iwaizumi’s advice and actually making conversation.  

“ Le Fantôme de l'Opéra ,” Semi responded, taking one earbud out, “it’s for French Literature and Cinema.”

“Oh that’s… fun?” Oikawa said, kicking of his shoes, and going to change his shirt. He felt eyes on him, but when he looked over at Semi, he was still immersed in his book. Shrugging it off, he pulled a new shirt over his head and proceeded to lay down on his own bed with his laptop. Every now and then, he would sneak a glance at Semi to see if he was doing anything else, but he wasn’t, he just kept reading. His face was very relaxed, and he looked natural like this. His eyes followed the words on the page and he would sometimes mouth the words. Oikawa turned back to his blank laptop, unsure of what to do.

He heard a sigh and the sound of a book closing, Semi stretched, “I’m going to sleep.” He put the book into his bag and went to the bathroom to do his nightly routine.

The minute of silence was ended by a text alert.

~

Oikawa Is Independent And Don’t Need No Man

Makki: So, how is it going with Semi

Oikawa: It is not going, it’s so hard to talk to him

Makki: Maybe you’re not bringing up the right topics?

Mattsun: Or maybe he needs time?

Iwa: Or maybe he just doesn’t want to talk, crappykawa

Oikawa: But we’re roommates, we have to

Mattsun: I still just say give him time

Makki: I agree

Mattsun: Aw babe

~

“Goodnight,” Semi said, turning off his fairy lights, but leaving the lamp on for Oikawa, and crawling under his covers, leaving Oikawa to his own devices. Still staring at the browser, he finally decided what he wanted to search. ‘ Questions To Ask Your New Roommate’ .

The next morning (after Oikawa’s early morning jog) he wrote down the questions he planned to ask and waited for Semi to return. Did it seem desperate? Maybe, but Oikawa wouldn’t be able to stand awkwardness and no talking in his own home.

“Welcome back, Semi, go ahead, take a seat, make yourself at home!” Oikawa greeted, waiting for Semi to take a seat.

“Yes?’

“I have some questions I want to ask you,” Oikawa said, holding his notebook. “So, to start, do you have a job? And if you do, how late will you be out?”

“Right now I’m just a tutor, so I won’t be out too late. What about you?” Semi responded, deciding to humor Oikawa and get the questions over with.

“I’m a server at a restaurant down the street.” Oikawa was smiling, glad this was off to a good start. “How do you feel about guests?”

Semi shrugged, “I guess I don’t mind.”

“Do you smoke or drink? I don’t care if you do, I just want to know.”

“I mean, not on a regular basis? I just drink at parties sometimes.”

“How do you spend your free time?”

“I mostly just do photography, violin, or study, some times I’ll exercise.”

“And lastly, for now, are you involved in any sports or clubs?”

“Not yet, I was thinking about volleyball maybe.”

“Really? What position do you play?” Oikawa asked, intrigued.

“Setter.”

And with that, Oikawa got that much more competitive. He wasn’t going to let this kid beat him. “Oh, interesting, well, you see, I am currently a setter on the team so.”

“And? Your point?” Semi asked with an accusatory tone.

“My point is that I’m already the regular setter!”

“You know what,” Semi said standing up, “I wasn’t even a hundred percent sure I wanted to even try out, but now, I am definitely going to, and I’ll kick your ass.” And with that, he left.

Oikawa groaned and picked up his phone to send a text to his group.

Oikawa: I fucked up Iwa: What’s new? Makki: Lmao Mattsun: Lmao

[dreamsarefleeting]

KC and 14 "I thought you were dead"

Okay, you have no idea how hilarious receiving this prompt was. I literally came up with a scenario on skype that fits this prompt to the T, the day before I received this one.

KC + “I thought you were dead”

Caroline handed the assignments to several of the journalists. Right after she had graduated, she had accepted a job offer at the Mystic Falls courier, the local newspaper. For now, she was mostly still an assistant, but she had had the chance to write a few minor articles.

While she made sure that everyone got the assignments, she took a glance at the papers in her arms. ‘Weather reports’, ‘local news’, ‘sport section’, ‘obituaries’. She paused her round when a name in the first obituary caught her attention. Klaus Mikaelson.

She froze and quickly read the rest of the message. A few parts stuck out to her. Brother. Only 22. Tragic boating accident. She shivered when she finished reading. She couldn’t believe it. Klaus Mikaelson. Dead.

Of course, she hadn’t seen him in four years. They had been dating since they were juniors, but after their High Schoo graduation, Klaus had decided he had to leave Mystic Falls behind. Travelling abroad and living off his paintings instead of settling for a nearby college like she had. Her feelings for him had never changed, but she knew she couldn’t be the girl that waited in her hometown while Klaus was off who knew where. And now… now he was gone.

She bit back a sob. She still had her work laid out, but how was she going to work through her day, knowing what she knew. She couldn’t believe Rebekah or Kol hadn’t called her up and told her! Oh no, she instantly felt guilty, they had more to think about right now than one of Klaus his ex’s.

She quickly walked towards Mike’s office and when she noticed he wasn’t present, dropped the reports on his desk. He would know what to do with them when he returned. Right now, she needed a moment alone.

-

Ten minutes alone and she found herself crying, mourning the past she had had with Klaus. Yes, it had been ages since they had last seen each other, but it’s not like they ended things badly. They just had different plans for their future. Even with those differences, she hadn’t realized it until now, she still hadn’t closed their story. A part of her still cared, deeply.

She quickly sent out a text to her boss, explaining how she just heard a friend passed away and couldn’t continue her day. Luckily she got a message right away that she could have the day off, as long as she returned tomorrow. She didn’t know if she could, but at least she had today to grieve.

The first thing she would have to do was go to the supermarket. She needed ice cream. And tissues. And she would have to buy flowers for the Mikaelsons and- in her head she started making a list, trying to distract herself from her emotions.

While she was in the store, she kept going over that same list, making sure that she didn’t miss anything. She didn’t even notice when she bumped into someone.

“Caroline?” a familiar voice asked her. She bit back a sob, it sounded like Klaus. Oh no, now she was hearing things. “Love,” the voice tried again when she didn’t look up.

“Caroline,” a second amused voice asked her and she recognized it as Kol. Oh no! What was she going to say? He must be devastated! She looked up and noticed the grin on his face and looked around confused. The person next to him looked at her with concern and she took a step back in surprise.

“Klaus?” she swayed. “How- I- I thought you were dead,” she stammered and glanced at Kol bewildered. “The- the newspaper. How- I just say your obituary!” she cried out.

Klaus looked at her in confusion, “I don’t know about any of that, but I’m still very much alive,” he assured.

“Then how- who,” a guilty chuckle on her right alerted her to the culprit. “KOL!” she hit him on the head, “You can’t just send false obituary reports to the newspaper! That’s- What if they were published?”

“In my defense, if Klaus hadn’t arrived last night, it would probably be true. Rebekah was ready to murder him when he canceled once again. Luckily for all of us, he had a change of heart.”

“I don’t care why you did it! I almost had a heart-attack when I read it.” She took a deep breath and turned to Klaus, taking him in now that she knew he was really there. The years certainly had done him good. “Okay- okay so not dead,” she told Klaus. “Anything else I have to know before I murder your brother?”

“Virginia still offers the death penalty?” Klaus said, trying to break the tension.

“Right. Yeah, that would make it all a lot less tempting. Okay fine. Not murdering your brother.” She turned to Kol, “But you better call the paper right now to retract that obituary or I swear-”

“Yeah- yeah I know. Death and torture. Although the torture bit could still be fun...” he smirked at her before he ran off, “Nope? Okay seems like I have some calls to make.”

Klaus turned back to Caroline and stood closer to her, “So now that you know I’m not dead, and I’ve learned you work at the newspaper… want to get together and catch up on lost times?”

She looked up in surprise and smiled. “Yeah I would like that,” she admitted and caught his eye, “So first question. How long are you here for?”

“At least a couple of months,” he reassured her. “I have a show in New York in November and plenty of paintings to create before then.”

“Mmmh so all work and no fun?” Caroline teased while they walked towards the registers. It surprised her how easy it was to fall into old habits with him. Two days ago she had barely thought about him, an hour ago she was crying about having lost him, and here she was... teasing him.

“I think I can handle some fun in between,” Klaus said while he teasingly bumped against her hip. “So my turn.”

“Do your worst, Mikaelson,” she challenged while she paid for her groceries.

“Are you seeing anyone?” he asked, asking the only question he really cared about.

She let out a startled gasp and turned towards Klaus. “No,” she admitted. She felt butterflies when he moved a step towards her. “You?”

“Nope.” They shared a nervous smile while he leaned forward. He looked at her, making sure she was okay with his next movement and after her small nod, captured her lips with his.

She was the only thing he was looking forward to when he decided to return to Mystic Falls. He had never forgotten about her, and he hadn’t dared to assume they could just pick up where they had left, but when he saw her in that store, tears staining her cheek because she believed he had passed… He knew whatever was between them was still here. All they needed was the time to explore it all.

If you want me to write another prompt, take a look here and send me the number and ship!

[justfollowmyhansel]

Pre-Australia

When I was sitting on the bus coming back from Osaka to Tokyo, I asked myself whether I would do this again if I had the chance. Clearly coming to Japan to see John as Hedwig would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even if he played Japan again, seeing the show under the extraordinary circumstances that I did would be a once-in-a-lifetime event. And I didn’t regret coming for a single moment.

But I asked myself between attempting to sketch on a moving bus, reading a little more on the book I’d brought, and generally reflecting on what had gone down if I would basically pick up everything and run to see John as Hedwig again. Just seeing him perform as her was everything I had hoped it would be for over two years and more. Hearing him speak her words and sing her songs even within a framework where he didn’t speak the majority of the dialogue was absolutely entrancing. I’d follow him as her anywhere. But would I do the same for him? Out of drag, performing his own songs?

That one I had to sit and think a little bit more on. Despite wanting to see him perform pretty much anything for so long, I found myself questioning whether or not I’d travel any great distance to Korea or Argentina to go see him perform if he wasn’t as Her. Ultimately I compromised with ‘it depends on the place.’

When the shows were announced in February, I found the speed at which I was immediately on board and wanting to go to Australia surprised me. Not anyone in my immediate circle, who once concerns that I could afford it were dismissed, knew even quicker than I had that I would be packing my bags and going to Australia. After all, wasn’t that the entire point of switching from two jobs to one higher paying one? Wasn’t that the point of buying a matching luggage set so that when an opportunity like this arose again I could pack up a small amount of belongings , hop on a plane, and see my favourite performer?

Later that first day, as I stood behind the checkout counter at work, I used on of the little yellow legal pads I had bought to aid in my roleplaying to work out my potential expenses. Much like when I went to Japan, I budgeted the hotel rooms at around a hundred dollars a night, the food at around 200 a week, the plane ticket at two thousand…. I worked out a very high, but surprisingly makeable budget that would allow me to get there and stay, by my estimates for three weeks.

On my lunch break, I corrected/firmed up/adjusted the budget taking the flight cost from Kansas City to Sydney, booking six weeks out and adding $200 for price increases or seasonal changes. I then took a quick survey of hotels generally in Sydney, assessed that a room would cost me about the same per night as it had in Japan – or possibly less depending on where I stayed. I blocked out a potential three weeks of costs, figuring that it’d cost me at least $100 per day to eat, about $20 to do two loads of laundry, and about how much I estimated it would cost to take public transport for that amount of days. Then, after planning out the minutiae of the budget I was expecting, including an eBay budget based on my general spending habits the last few months, I looked at my expected payroll. It would be tight, but it would still be workable. And if I was smart, I could even come home and have some cash left over, like I had from Japan.

The biggest monkey wrench to the trip at that time was staying at the same job. Between starting to plan the Australia trip and my first sojourn to New York, I found myself facing sudden hour reductions which affected all non-managerial positions across the board and a newly intolerable middle manager because of whom I almost quit less than a week after the trip was announced. Seeing John was one thing, but having to be miserable the next four months to be able to do so? Probably not worth it.

Of course, I stayed at the job; the hours reduction was solved by a few members of staff choosing that time to leave for better options, the middle manager problem was solved by being scheduled almost exclusively with my favourite middle manager since I was one of her favourite people to work with too, and any potential money problem were solved by full heartedly jumping on any and all overtime possibilities such as staying late, coming in early, covering shifts, and missing as little time out that I was allowed to be working as possible. Instead of having to get a part time second job like I had considered, I found myself with enough surplus to take the second trip to New York, allowing me to see the David Bowie Is museum a second and final time.

Shortly after the trip itself was announced in an early afternoon Instagram post, the first show location and ticketing info was released to the public. I had signed up for the early sale alert fan page that John had linked to shortly after announcing the shows. I bought tickets for the best seats available at the time, second row,  and then began reconfiguring my trip for going to Brisbane.

Starting and ending in Brisbane was going to be six or seven hundred dollars more expensive than starting in Sydney no matter how it was budgeted. Brisbane wasn’t an international hub with the US and regardless of how I wanted it to be plotted either way, I’d be going through Sydney. The added expense had me second guessing my budget, but not my resolve.

But for only one show, the neither price list seemed worth it. I mentally went back and forth as to whether or not I wanted to spend that much and be on a plane for so long for one show.  The last time I had thought about going to Australia was when I was in high school and deep in the depths of my Hugo Weaving obsession. I had wanted to see him in a stage adaption of what ended up being one of my favourite all time books, Les liaisons dangeouse. But I wasn’t in high school and this wasn’t going to be a case of “this is the only place I’ll ever be able to see this man.” Worst came to worst, I started to prepare myself to give up the Brisbane ticket. No matter how painful not being in that room might be, the amount of money I’d spend on a single ticket and expenses down for Brisbane could get me four or five trips to New York to see him doing something else. And if he was doing a concert series abroad, a concert series at home certainly wasn’t out of the question.

Clearly, there had to be more shows announced, but this one…wasn’t selling well. I thought for sure that the whole thing would end up being cancelled and refunded as I continued to make minor adjustments to my budget and make early morning notes at the gas station across the street from my job to where in Brisbane I wanted to go just in case I was actually able to make it.

A little while later, the next show was announced for the end of June at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. I secured my tickets to that after having emailed the directors to find out when the tickets were due to go on sale to the public. Whoever was in charge of answering emails that day gave me the link to the presale and I got a front row seat. So far, that location one was winning out over Brisbane, if for no other reason than proximity to the performer. I’d seen John from the second row in Japan in a very fortuitous stroke of luck, but I’d never seen him from the front row before…. Still, with more shows promised I was reluctant to make a commitment to one show or the other, and as such, couldn’t buy the plane ticket.

At the end of March, I took my first domestic trip to see Mason Alexander Park, David Bowie Is, and my best friend. While I was waylaid getting back to Kansas City by airport construction and weather events, two more show dates were announced – Sydney on my mother’s birthday and Melbourne four days later on July 10th. As disappointed as I was to be missing my mom’s birthday, I was pleased that I would have a chance to see the Sydney Opera House. If John hadn’t announced a show in Sydney or had it not been at the Opera House, I would have had to have structured a separate time into my schedule to go see it specifically as it was the one thing in Australia I was most looking forward to seeing. Outside of John, of course.

Back in Kansas with an absurd amount of new Bowie merchandise, I reconfigured the trip some more. Adelaide would end up being the earliest date out on June 22nd and Brisbane the last one on July 17th. I had originally budgeted for three full weeks/21 days of being away from home. Extending it to nearly five weeks took me not only to the very edges of my monetary budget, but far beyond the amount of time I had ever spent by myself. The previous record, the now six months prior weeklong trip to Japan where I had the distinct advantage of knowing someone. And as much as I loved the experience, by the end of the week I was definitely ready to spend some time at home.

With the dates I had, there was no way to group it where I’d be spending less than three weeks in Australia to see the shows, but did I want the first three or the last? Based on John’s prior performances on Broadway and during the Japanese tour, I firmly decided that the last three shows would be the better performances to be at, especially for a show that wasn’t Hedwig where he’d have more time to find his rhythm and comfort zones within the material. I still wished I could go to the Adelaide performance ….

Late-April, I booked the flight to Australia now having committed to leaving MCI on the 3rd, arriving in Australia on the 4th and staying until the 19th, two days past when the last show was supposed to go on. I added an extra day past the last show in case something was added last minute to this trip like it had been in Japan. Booking the trip took longer than it should have since I kept typing my credit card number in wrong on United’s website, but I got it booked and somehow still made it to work on time.

Late-May when I was due to go out to see Risa and the Bowie museum again, the final show date was announced for John’s show —  July 4th. Canberra. Tickets already on sale.

I nearly threw up getting tickets, it was so stressful. Neither my laptop nor my phone would let me pay for the seats once I had them selected. They both gave me the error message that since I was coming from overseas, I couldn’t use a credit card, but gave me no other options to pay with. Finally trying my mother’s computer, I was able to get the PayPal screen to pop up. Now the question became how to work Canberra into a schedule that for nearly three months had not included it.

Adjusting the plane ticket would have been the easiest solution. Going through United’s site, it would have cost me somewhere between twice and three times the amount of money I had paid just to get to Sydney to adjust the ticket to now fly into Canberra. Backing out of that reservation completely, it would cost me almost four times as much and with worse air accommodations to book a completely new ticket as so much of my other travel was tied into that reservation. And getting a separate flight just to Canberra from Sydney would be almost a third of the ticket down. Just how important was Canberra in the scheme of the shows? Some thing was telling me it was very important to make it to Canberra.

I took a mental step back and put that as something to worry about once I got back to Kansas from visiting Risa. Hopefully, no other show dates would be announced after Canberra. Or if they were, hopefully they would slot into the times I’d at least already be in Australia.

Getting back to the matter at hand, I ruled that taking public transport was right out as it would take almost ten hours and cost nearly as much as the plane ticket. Plus since I couldn’t reasonably expect to get out of the airport before eight because of customs and baggage, I couldn’t guarantee that I could make it to the theatre in time. In a moment of inspiration, I remembered what Miya had recommended when I went from Tokyo to Osaka. Maybe there was a coach bus that could take me there….

And for $80AUS both ways, there was. Overall, it was the cheapest solution and by far the easiest given the options. They even had a stop at the airport that I could take that would go directly from there to Canberra. But now I had the problem of intending to bring two pieces of luggage that would have to be checked for the bus and another fee. Or I could book the Sydney hotel room, pay no fee, rid myself of my literal baggage for a day while I went to Canberra, but…. I’d have to worry about my stuff being in a completely different city for a night as well as the hotel expense for an additional night that would be about the same both ways to bring the luggage along.

Eventually, a much simpler solution presented itself – just nest the fucking luggage since the large one was going to be mostly empty by that point anyway!

By the time, I had already started to have the dreams. I’d never been away from home this long and I knew no one in Australia. If something happened that I needed help with, the majority of my support system was half a world away and the sole person in the general time zone I could contact would be potentially unreachable as I wouldn’t reasonably be able to give her the heads up for three weeks straight. What if my debit card never worked in Australia like it never worked in Japan and this time we couldn’t get it worked around? I should have signed up for a second credit card through a different provider….. I should take out more in cash-cash than relying on my cards…. What if I took out enough cash, but my money belt was stolen or accidentally left on a bus somewhere? What if my phone was stolen or dropped? What if I got lost somewhere overnight and nothing was open? Like nearly happened my last night in Tokyo because of an unforeseen curfew at the hotel. I had dreams of wandering a deserted, but otherwise oddly accurate dream depiction of Australia without one or more resources.

I had dreams of walking the Michaels stockroom talking to my former store manager Tina while she was on her way to a meeting and suddenly I was also in the meeting but our store was now an hour away in Independence and it wasn’t laid out like a Michaels, it was laid out like a warehouse version of Toys R Us where she had worked before Michaels and we were attending a seminar that was being held in an area of the store that was at once a cross between a Greek open air oratorium and a modern theatre like the one at NHK Broadcasting in Osaka all the while talking to her regional boss about whatever the upcoming meeting was going to be about.

The most interesting of these dreams was that I was back in Japan, about to ride the train system with Miya. We had gone to Mos Burger, like on my real first night in Tokyo, and now were getting ready to go see a performance of the original cast of If/Then, which was likely inspired by Miya’s If/Then t-shirt that she was wearing when we first met. In the dream, we got on the train at Tabata, which was looking more like a blend of a bunch of stations that were decidedly Not Tabata, but other parts of Tokyo or Osaka. Almost immediately in the nearly empty car, we spot Anthony Rapp.

I went over to talk to Anthony since I’d already met him when If/Then came to KC on its tour (in reality, I was too nervous to say anything beyond hi.) He greeted me with a friendly surprise at seeing me so far away from home and asked why I had come over and what my friend and I were doing that evening. I said something about having come over to see John performing as Hedwig and that it had been a lovely coincidence that he was going to be playing in If/Then in Japan since I had enjoyed seeing him a couple of years previous and Miya was a big fan and…. He stopped me there and asked if he had heard correctly that we were seeing JCM. I confirmed and he offered to introduce both of us as he and John were friends from way back. I was so excited I woke myself up, unable to recapture the dream when I lay back down to see what happened next.

Around June the dreams calmed down and I stopped waking up panicked and worrying that I was making the right choice in spending so much time and energy doing this. What was done was done.

I booked the rest of the hotels and the coach buses and the cross country train. I added a trip to the Australia Zoo where I would have the chance to meet three different types of animals up close. I fully finished one of the three cosplays I had started with the intention of dressing up at the shows, gave up on the custom Hedwig Funko figure for the time being, and packed my bags for the trip of a lifetime.

[worldwidemaggie]

Day 123

The final post everyone... I’ll be heading to the airport in just 3 ish short hours and starting my 28 hour journey home (bluh). I didn’t think there was anything more fitting for my last post than reminiscing on some of my favorite memories from the past four months. Favorite Moments Abroad: - Stumbling upon a Jewish festival in Copenhagen, and dancing with strangers in solitude - Drinking Belgian beer in Brussels with three Delta pilots, a travel agent in Berlin, and a Swiss army dude - Walking the Red Light District with three Brits, and two locals in Amsterdam - Singing “Whiskey In The Jar” with Mikala all through Northern Ireland - Translating entire menus in Romania because we had no idea what anything was - spoiler alert, it was pretty much all sausage - Living out my Cheetah Girl dreams in Barcelona by running through Park Güell singing “Strut” - Getting called up on stage at Oliver Plunkett’s to play the maracas, and genuinely impressing everyone with my mad skills that nobody expected - Meeting an unsuspected friend, June from Winnipeg, on a tour through the Scottish Highlands - Losing track of how many Irish castles I’ve actually seen - Riding camels on the beaches of Tangier in Morocco - Trying my very first Guinness with Mikala at the Guinness Storehouse itself - Miserably failing at bargaining in the street markets of Morocco - Getting to stand in the Pantheon in Rome while it rained (again) - Almost dying of joy when a monkey in Gibraltar put his hand on my shoulder - Taking four frustrating attempts to get the perfect Abbey Road photo - Every single night at An Brog - Getting the chance to show my family all of my favorite places in the country - Unknowingly staying in a “party hostel” in Budapest and having an absolute wild time with some amazing Australians - Seeing actual pages from Mozart’s “Requiem,” the song he died while writing, in Vienna - Partying until the sun came out in Paris with a Swiss Army Lieutenant, a local Parisian, and some random guy from Boston - Realizing I could live off of just potatoes - Turning in my last assignment and realizing that was the end of my undergraduate career and now I had a Bachelor’s Degree - Walking through the streets of Rome without any maps because I remembered where everything was - Fantasizing over Dracula at the Bran Castle in Transylvania - Driving the majority of the West Coast of Ireland with Hannah’s family (and only being terrified a few times from heights and water) - Actually shedding a tear at Loch Ness in Scotland from the sheer anticipation and admiration of a lifetime - Counting down the minutes to midnight on the days I could open another one of Caroline’s letters that she sent with me - Basically going to school in a castle - Traveling to 16 countries! (8 all alone) - Writing this list and realizing how much more confident I am and how much more self love I have for myself after doing all of this on my own. I’m so happy I did this blog throughout this experience and mostly kept up with the daily updates. It’ll be so nice to have this and to look back on in the future when I start to forget every little detail that happened. So farewell and so long Ireland (and Europe) - I have come to love this country so much and I’m already looking forward to coming back.

[fadingfartconnoisseur]

The Secret Sauce Behind Scott’s Cheap Flights

“Have you heard of Scott’s Cheap Flights? Should I use them?”

When friends and family far removed from the travel hacking/cheap flights space ask me about a website, I know its mainstream. While there are many good deal websites out there (The Flight Deal, Secret Flying, and Holiday Pirates are three of my favorites), Scott’s Cheap Flights seems to have broken through where others have not. Over 1 million people get his daily flight deals email. I’m a big fan of the website and their ability to often break airfare deals (I used one of their alerts to fly to South Africa). It turns out Scott is a fan of my website too so we sat down for an interview where I got him to spill the secret behind his website:

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself. How did you get into this? Scott: When I graduated college in 2009, I knew two things: (1) I wanted to travel the world and (2) I was never going to be wealthy. So if I wasn’t going to let #2 prevent #1, I knew I would have to figure out some creative ways to travel without spending my life savings. I began reading up on flight pricing economics, spending hours on various flight search engines, and learning various airfare patterns. Before long, I found an online community of fellow travel hackers and cheap-flight aficionados who enjoy not just travel but also the thrill of getting a great deal on flights.

Where did the idea of this website come from? Scott’s Cheap Flights has a weird origin story. In 2013, I got the best deal of my life: nonstop from NYC to Milan for $130 round-trip. Milan hadn’t even been on my radar as a place to visit, but for $130 round-trip, there’s no way I wouldn’t go. And it turned out to be amazing! I went skiing in the Alps, caught an AC Milan match, hiked Cinque Terre, hung out on Lake Como. It was divine.

When I got back, word spread among friends and coworkers about the deal I got, and dozens of them began asking me to let them know next time I found a fare like that so they could get in on it, too. So rather than try to remember to tell George and Esther and Aviva when a great deal popped up, I decided to start a simple little email list instead so I could alert everyone at once. Scott’s Cheap Flights was born.

For the first 18 months, though, it was just a little, fun hobby I did for my friends. It wasn’t until August 2015 that it had generated enough organic growth that it made sense to think about turning it into a business.

You’ve sort of blown up in the last year or so. What do you think have been the two biggest factors into your success? First off, thanks! We just hit one million subscribers — still hard for me to believe. The credit goes to two primary factors:

First, there’s an incredible team who runs Scott’s Cheap Flights. It’s not just me; we’re up to 25 folks on the team now. We have a team of flight searchers finding great deals around the world, and also a team of amazing customer support folks. On an average day we get well over 700 emails in our inbox, and most people get a response within a few hours, if not a few minutes. I think this is a major reason why more than 50% of people who sign up for Scott’s Cheap Flights found out about it via word of mouth.

Second, the startup itself had very serendipitous timing. Right around when Scott’s Cheap Flights became a business, international flight prices began to plummet, fueled by low oil prices and a bevy of new low-cost airlines like Norwegian and WOW jumping into the transatlantic market. Whereas in 2010 it was rare to see flights from the US to Europe under $900 round-trip, in 2015 (and through to today), it’s relatively common to see those same flights around $400 round-trip, if not less. We can’t force airlines to offer cheap flights, but we’ve been there to ride the wave these past few years and help subscribers pay half of what they used to to travel abroad.

Were there any media hits or high-profile features that really changed your trajectory? I remember hearing about you a few years ago, but now it seems everyone I know, even outside of travel, has heard of your newsletter. There was one in particular: a Business Insider article and I were taking in the summer of 2015. It helped take Scott’s Cheap Flights from a hobby to a full-fledged business by bringing in thousands of new subscribers. We’ve had hundreds of media hits in the two years since then, but as we’ve grown, each individual one has necessarily had a diminishing impact. Perhaps a Nomadic Matt interview will give a big new boost though!

How does your website work? How do you find these deals? Do you have team of people searching for deals? Is it an algorithm? One thing that surprises a lot of people is that we don’t have a bunch of computers running secret algorithms to find cheap flights. All of our fares are searched by hand. The secret sauce is hard work. Airfare changes by the hour, if not by the minute, and the best deals don’t tend to last very long, so finding out about them early is the key to booking them before they’re gone. Most people don’t want to spend all their free time searching for cheap flights; we love doing it and being subscribers’ early detection radar.

Another way to think of it is like this: Almost everybody is capable of cooking dinner at home, but that doesn’t prevent the existence of the restaurant industry. People don’t always want to put in the time and effort required to find cheap flights, so we’re happy to do it for them.

That seems super time-consuming. How do you decide what and where to search? Do you just randomly plugging in places and dates, or is there more of a method to the madness? There’s a bit of proprietary knowledge that goes into the process, but 95% of it is just the sheer legwork, day after day, searching various routes and seeing what pops up. There’s more of a skill aspect to the process than I would’ve guessed four years ago, whether that’s remembering certain esoteric routes that periodically go on sale, or knowing that a fare war out of one city likely indicates fare drops in other similar cities. For the most part, though, it’s just a small team of incredibly talented and dedicated flight searchers scouring through fares all day every day, disregarding 99% of them and skimming off the juiciest 1% to send to subscribers.

What are some of the biggest trends in flights you are seeing right now? In the last year or two we’ve seen far cheaper flights than in the past to India (before: $1,000+, now: ~$600), Italy and the Netherlands (before: $900, now: ~$350), and Hawaii (before: $800, now $350 from the West Coast, $550 from further east).

Unfortunately (though perhaps not surprisingly), we’re seeing a continued drought of cheap flights to popular destinations like Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.

In addition, we’re seeing a continued unbundling of airfare: more low-cost carriers and “budget economy” fares offered by full-service carriers that don’t include checked bags, seat selection, or meals.

Do you use your own deals or are you more of a points/miles-in-business-class kind of guy? Sure do! I’m personally not a business-class type of guy. I’m still young enough to be fine in coach for as long and far as a plane can fly. Ask me again in 20 years — but in general I’m uncomfortable being doted on in the premium section of the plane. I’m a simple guy. I don’t need much.

Will we see more business-class deals? Don’t wanna overpromise and underdeliver. Stay tuned!

Do you plan to go global and feature more non-US deals? Yes! We have a team of flight searchers finding cheap fares departing not just from the US but also Canada, the UK and mainland Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East (Sub-Saharan Africa coming soon!).

You get all these flight deals, but tell me some of your favorite travel experiences. What’s one of your favorite recent travel memories? Last year my wife and I took a trip to Belarus to visit her family. One of the days we took a trip to a “park” that consisted of a big open field filled with old discarded and retired Cold War–era Soviet weapons. Think machine guns, missiles, and tanks.

Mostly people would walk around and pose for selfies in front of these massive weapons, but at one point I saw a small group of tourists from Asia hand a park operator some cash and then start to climb on top of a WWII-era tank. I thought they were just going to take photos, but a few seconds later the tank started lurching forward before hitting a cool 25 miles per hour, zipping around the park. These tourists were having the time of their effing lives, and it gave me so much joy just to watch them.

Your deal website is great of course, but what about just everyday flights people need to see Grandma. What advice do you have based on your experience learning how airline pricing works? The single best trick to getting cheap airfare is flexibility. Being flexible not just with your dates but also your locations. For example, that NYC-Milan nonstop round-trip deal for $130 I mentioned at the top. I wasn’t living in NYC; I was living in DC. But for that fare it was well worth the short $20 bus ride up. I spent the weekend with friends in NYC and saved myself $650 off what fares would’ve been from DC to Milan.

The way most people approach getting a flight is this: (1) pick where they want to go; (2) pick their dates; and (3) see what prices are available. By prioritizing the fare lowest, they often end up with expensive tickets.

Instead, if getting a cheap flight is your priority, flip the order: (1) see what prices are available to various places are around the world; (2) decide which of the cheap destinations appeal to you; and (3) select the dates you like that have the cheap fares available.

What’s the craziest deal you ever got? In addition to that $130 nonstop NYC-Milan deal, my wife and I recently scored $169 round-trip flights to Japan — flippin’ love mistake fares. And team members have gotten similarly good deals to Hawaii, New Zealand, etc.

Finally, what’s one non-airfare-related travel piece of advice you’d give someone? Read more magazine articles and listen to more smart, informative podcasts. I’m a firm believer in the liberal arts approach of knowing a bit about everything (as opposed to everything about just one subject), not only as a way to be a well-rounded person but also as a social lubricant. If you can hold a conversation about anything from architecture to the stock market to Asian budget airlines, you’re far more likely to meet interesting people and develop deeper relationships.

Scott founded Scott’s Cheap Flights in a Denver coffeeshop. Scott is the flight searcher-in-chief, spending 8-12 hours a day on Google Flights as well as oversee daily operations. If you’re looking for flight deals, it’s one of the best.

The post The Secret Sauce Behind Scott’s Cheap Flights appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

via Travel Blogs http://ift.tt/2kmwvIQ

[touristguidebuzz]

The Secret Sauce Behind Scott’s Cheap Flights

“Have you heard of Scott’s Cheap Flights? Should I use them?”

When friends and family far removed from the travel hacking/cheap flights space ask me about a website, I know its mainstream. While there are many good deal websites out there (The Flight Deal, Secret Flying, and Holiday Pirates are three of my favorites), Scott’s Cheap Flights seems to have broken through where others have not. Over 1 million people get his daily flight deals email. I’m a big fan of the website and their ability to often break airfare deals (I used one of their alerts to fly to South Africa). It turns out Scott is a fan of my website too so we sat down for an interview where I got him to spill the secret behind his website:

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself. How did you get into this? Scott: When I graduated college in 2009, I knew two things: (1) I wanted to travel the world and (2) I was never going to be wealthy. So if I wasn’t going to let #2 prevent #1, I knew I would have to figure out some creative ways to travel without spending my life savings. I began reading up on flight pricing economics, spending hours on various flight search engines, and learning various airfare patterns. Before long, I found an online community of fellow travel hackers and cheap-flight aficionados who enjoy not just travel but also the thrill of getting a great deal on flights.

Where did the idea of this website come from? Scott’s Cheap Flights has a weird origin story. In 2013, I got the best deal of my life: nonstop from NYC to Milan for $130 round-trip. Milan hadn’t even been on my radar as a place to visit, but for $130 round-trip, there’s no way I wouldn’t go. And it turned out to be amazing! I went skiing in the Alps, caught an AC Milan match, hiked Cinque Terre, hung out on Lake Como. It was divine.

When I got back, word spread among friends and coworkers about the deal I got, and dozens of them began asking me to let them know next time I found a fare like that so they could get in on it, too. So rather than try to remember to tell George and Esther and Aviva when a great deal popped up, I decided to start a simple little email list instead so I could alert everyone at once. Scott’s Cheap Flights was born.

For the first 18 months, though, it was just a little, fun hobby I did for my friends. It wasn’t until August 2015 that it had generated enough organic growth that it made sense to think about turning it into a business.

You’ve sort of blown up in the last year or so. What do you think have been the two biggest factors into your success? First off, thanks! We just hit one million subscribers — still hard for me to believe. The credit goes to two primary factors:

First, there’s an incredible team who runs Scott’s Cheap Flights. It’s not just me; we’re up to 25 folks on the team now. We have a team of flight searchers finding great deals around the world, and also a team of amazing customer support folks. On an average day we get well over 700 emails in our inbox, and most people get a response within a few hours, if not a few minutes. I think this is a major reason why more than 50% of people who sign up for Scott’s Cheap Flights found out about it via word of mouth.

Second, the startup itself had very serendipitous timing. Right around when Scott’s Cheap Flights became a business, international flight prices began to plummet, fueled by low oil prices and a bevy of new low-cost airlines like Norwegian and WOW jumping into the transatlantic market. Whereas in 2010 it was rare to see flights from the US to Europe under $900 round-trip, in 2015 (and through to today), it’s relatively common to see those same flights around $400 round-trip, if not less. We can’t force airlines to offer cheap flights, but we’ve been there to ride the wave these past few years and help subscribers pay half of what they used to to travel abroad.

Were there any media hits or high-profile features that really changed your trajectory? I remember hearing about you a few years ago, but now it seems everyone I know, even outside of travel, has heard of your newsletter. There was one in particular: a Business Insider article and I were taking in the summer of 2015. It helped take Scott’s Cheap Flights from a hobby to a full-fledged business by bringing in thousands of new subscribers. We’ve had hundreds of media hits in the two years since then, but as we’ve grown, each individual one has necessarily had a diminishing impact. Perhaps a Nomadic Matt interview will give a big new boost though!

How does your website work? How do you find these deals? Do you have team of people searching for deals? Is it an algorithm? One thing that surprises a lot of people is that we don’t have a bunch of computers running secret algorithms to find cheap flights. All of our fares are searched by hand. The secret sauce is hard work. Airfare changes by the hour, if not by the minute, and the best deals don’t tend to last very long, so finding out about them early is the key to booking them before they’re gone. Most people don’t want to spend all their free time searching for cheap flights; we love doing it and being subscribers’ early detection radar.

Another way to think of it is like this: Almost everybody is capable of cooking dinner at home, but that doesn’t prevent the existence of the restaurant industry. People don’t always want to put in the time and effort required to find cheap flights, so we’re happy to do it for them.

That seems super time-consuming. How do you decide what and where to search? Do you just randomly plugging in places and dates, or is there more of a method to the madness? There’s a bit of proprietary knowledge that goes into the process, but 95% of it is just the sheer legwork, day after day, searching various routes and seeing what pops up. There’s more of a skill aspect to the process than I would’ve guessed four years ago, whether that’s remembering certain esoteric routes that periodically go on sale, or knowing that a fare war out of one city likely indicates fare drops in other similar cities. For the most part, though, it’s just a small team of incredibly talented and dedicated flight searchers scouring through fares all day every day, disregarding 99% of them and skimming off the juiciest 1% to send to subscribers.

What are some of the biggest trends in flights you are seeing right now? In the last year or two we’ve seen far cheaper flights than in the past to India (before: $1,000+, now: ~$600), Italy and the Netherlands (before: $900, now: ~$350), and Hawaii (before: $800, now $350 from the West Coast, $550 from further east).

Unfortunately (though perhaps not surprisingly), we’re seeing a continued drought of cheap flights to popular destinations like Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.

In addition, we’re seeing a continued unbundling of airfare: more low-cost carriers and “budget economy” fares offered by full-service carriers that don’t include checked bags, seat selection, or meals.

Do you use your own deals or are you more of a points/miles-in-business-class kind of guy? Sure do! I’m personally not a business-class type of guy. I’m still young enough to be fine in coach for as long and far as a plane can fly. Ask me again in 20 years — but in general I’m uncomfortable being doted on in the premium section of the plane. I’m a simple guy. I don’t need much.

Will we see more business-class deals? Don’t wanna overpromise and underdeliver. Stay tuned!

Do you plan to go global and feature more non-US deals? Yes! We have a team of flight searchers finding cheap fares departing not just from the US but also Canada, the UK and mainland Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East (Sub-Saharan Africa coming soon!).

You get all these flight deals, but tell me some of your favorite travel experiences. What’s one of your favorite recent travel memories? Last year my wife and I took a trip to Belarus to visit her family. One of the days we took a trip to a “park” that consisted of a big open field filled with old discarded and retired Cold War–era Soviet weapons. Think machine guns, missiles, and tanks.

Mostly people would walk around and pose for selfies in front of these massive weapons, but at one point I saw a small group of tourists from Asia hand a park operator some cash and then start to climb on top of a WWII-era tank. I thought they were just going to take photos, but a few seconds later the tank started lurching forward before hitting a cool 25 miles per hour, zipping around the park. These tourists were having the time of their effing lives, and it gave me so much joy just to watch them.

Your deal website is great of course, but what about just everyday flights people need to see Grandma. What advice do you have based on your experience learning how airline pricing works? The single best trick to getting cheap airfare is flexibility. Being flexible not just with your dates but also your locations. For example, that NYC-Milan nonstop round-trip deal for $130 I mentioned at the top. I wasn’t living in NYC; I was living in DC. But for that fare it was well worth the short $20 bus ride up. I spent the weekend with friends in NYC and saved myself $650 off what fares would’ve been from DC to Milan.

The way most people approach getting a flight is this: (1) pick where they want to go; (2) pick their dates; and (3) see what prices are available. By prioritizing the fare lowest, they often end up with expensive tickets.

Instead, if getting a cheap flight is your priority, flip the order: (1) see what prices are available to various places are around the world; (2) decide which of the cheap destinations appeal to you; and (3) select the dates you like that have the cheap fares available.

What’s the craziest deal you ever got? In addition to that $130 nonstop NYC-Milan deal, my wife and I recently scored $169 round-trip flights to Japan — flippin’ love mistake fares. And team members have gotten similarly good deals to Hawaii, New Zealand, etc.

Finally, what’s one non-airfare-related travel piece of advice you’d give someone? Read more magazine articles and listen to more smart, informative podcasts. I’m a firm believer in the liberal arts approach of knowing a bit about everything (as opposed to everything about just one subject), not only as a way to be a well-rounded person but also as a social lubricant. If you can hold a conversation about anything from architecture to the stock market to Asian budget airlines, you’re far more likely to meet interesting people and develop deeper relationships.

Scott founded Scott’s Cheap Flights in a Denver coffeeshop. Scott is the flight searcher-in-chief, spending 8-12 hours a day on Google Flights as well as oversee daily operations. If you’re looking for flight deals, it’s one of the best.

The post The Secret Sauce Behind Scott’s Cheap Flights appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

[theladyjstyle]

“Have you heard of Scott’s Cheap Flights? Should I use them?”

When friends and family far removed from the travel hacking/cheap flights space ask me about a website, I know its mainstream. While there are many good deal websites out there (The Flight Deal, Secret Flying, and Holiday Pirates are three of my favorites), Scott’s Cheap Flights seems to have broken through where others have not. Over 1 million people get this daily flight deals email. I’m a big fan of the website and their ability to often break airfare deals (I used one of their alerts to fly to South Africa). It turns out Scott is fan of my website too so we sat down for an interview where I get him to spill the secret behind his website:

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself. How did you get into this? Scott: When I graduated college in 2009, I knew two things: (1) I wanted to travel the world and (2) I was never going to be wealthy. So if I wasn’t going to let #2 prevent #1, I knew I would have to figure out some creative ways to travel without spending my life savings. I began reading up on flight pricing economics, spending hours on various flight search engines, and learning various airfare patterns. Before long, I found an online community of fellow travel hackers and cheap-flight aficionados who enjoy not just travel but also the thrill of getting a great deal on flights.

Where did the idea of this website come from? Scott’s Cheap Flights has a weird origin story. In 2013, I got the best deal of my life: nonstop from NYC to Milan for $130 round-trip. Milan hadn’t even been on my radar as a place to visit, but for $130 round-trip, there’s no way I wouldn’t go. And it turned out to be amazing! I went skiing in the Alps, caught an AC Milan match, hiked Cinque Terre, hung out on Lake Como. It was divine.

When I got back, word spread among friends and coworkers about the deal I got, and dozens of them began asking me to let them know next time I found a fare like that so they could get in on it, too. So rather than try to remember to tell George and Esther and Aviva when a great deal popped up, I decided to start a simple little email list instead so I could alert everyone at once. Scott’s Cheap Flights was born.

For the first 18 months, though, it was just a little, fun hobby I did for my friends. It wasn’t until August 2015 that it had generated enough organic growth that it made sense to think about turning it into a business.

You’ve sort of blown up in the last year or so. What do you think have been the two biggest factors into your success? First off, thanks! We just hit one million subscribers — still hard for me to believe. The credit goes to two primary factors:

First, there’s an incredible team who runs Scott’s Cheap Flights. It’s not just me; we’re up to 25 folks on the team now. We have a team of flight searchers finding great deals around the world, and also a team of amazing customer support folks. On an average day we get well over 700 emails in our inbox, and most people get a response within a few hours, if not a few minutes. I think this is a major reason why more than 50% of people who sign up for Scott’s Cheap Flights found out about it via word of mouth.

Second, the startup itself had very serendipitous timing. Right around when Scott’s Cheap Flights became a business, international flight prices began to plummet, fueled by low oil prices and a bevy of new low-cost airlines like Norwegian and WOW jumping into the transatlantic market. Whereas in 2010 it was rare to see flights from the US to Europe under $900 round-trip, in 2015 (and through to today), it’s relatively common to see those same flights around $400 round-trip, if not less. We can’t force airlines to offer cheap flights, but we’ve been there to ride the wave these past few years and help subscribers pay half of what they used to to travel abroad.

Were there any media hits or high-profile features that really changed your trajectory? I remember hearing about you a few years ago, but now it seems everyone I know, even outside of travel, has heard of your newsletter. There was one in particular: a Business Insider article and I were taking in the summer of 2015. It helped take Scott’s Cheap Flights from a hobby to a full-fledged business by bringing in thousands of new subscribers. We’ve had hundreds of media hits in the two years since then, but as we’ve grown, each individual one has necessarily had a diminishing impact. Perhaps a Nomadic Matt interview will give a big new boost though!

How does your website work? How do you find these deals? Do you have team of people searching for deals? Is it an algorithm? One thing that surprises a lot of people is that we don’t have a bunch of computers running secret algorithms to find cheap flights. All of our fares are searched by hand. The secret sauce is hard work. Airfare changes by the hour, if not by the minute, and the best deals don’t tend to last very long, so finding out about them early is the key to booking them before they’re gone. Most people don’t want to spend all their free time searching for cheap flights; we love doing it and being subscribers’ early detection radar.

Another way to think of it is like this: Almost everybody is capable of cooking dinner at home, but that doesn’t prevent the existence of the restaurant industry. People don’t always want to put in the time and effort required to find cheap flights, so we’re happy to do it for them.

That seems super time-consuming. How do you decide what and where to search? Do you just randomly plugging in places and dates, or is there more of a method to the madness? There’s a bit of proprietary knowledge that goes into the process, but 95% of it is just the sheer legwork, day after day, searching various routes and seeing what pops up. There’s more of a skill aspect to the process than I would’ve guessed four years ago, whether that’s remembering certain esoteric routes that periodically go on sale, or knowing that a fare war out of one city likely indicates fare drops in other similar cities. For the most part, though, it’s just a small team of incredibly talented and dedicated flight searchers scouring through fares all day every day, disregarding 99% of them and skimming off the juiciest 1% to send to subscribers.

What are some of the biggest trends in flights you are seeing right now? In the last year or two we’ve seen far cheaper flights than in the past to India (before: $1,000+, now: ~$600), Italy and the Netherlands (before: $900, now: ~$350), and Hawaii (before: $800, now $350 from the West Coast, $550 from further east).

Unfortunately (though perhaps not surprisingly), we’re seeing a continued drought of cheap flights to popular destinations like Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.

In addition, we’re seeing a continued unbundling of airfare: more low-cost carriers and “budget economy” fares offered by full-service carriers that don’t include checked bags, seat selection, or meals.

Do you use your own deals or are you more of a points/miles-in-business-class kind of guy? Sure do! I’m personally not a business-class type of guy. I’m still young enough to be fine in coach for as long and far as a plane can fly. Ask me again in 20 years — but in general I’m uncomfortable being doted on in the premium section of the plane. I’m a simple guy. I don’t need much.

Will we see more business-class deals? Don’t wanna overpromise and underdeliver. Stay tuned!

Do you plan to go global and feature more non-US deals? Yes! We have a team of flight searchers finding cheap fares departing not just from the US but also Canada, the UK and mainland Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East (Sub-Saharan Africa coming soon!).

You get all these flight deals, but tell me some of your favorite travel experiences. What’s one of your favorite recent travel memories? Last year my wife and I took a trip to Belarus to visit her family. One of the days we took a trip to a “park” that consisted of a big open field filled with old discarded and retired Cold War–era Soviet weapons. Think machine guns, missiles, and tanks.

Mostly people would walk around and pose for selfies in front of these massive weapons, but at one point I saw a small group of tourists from Asia hand a park operator some cash and then start to climb on top of a WWII-era tank. I thought they were just going to take photos, but a few seconds later the tank started lurching forward before hitting a cool 25 miles per hour, zipping around the park. These tourists were having the time of their effing lives, and it gave me so much joy just to watch them.

Your deal website is great of course, but what about just everyday flights people need to see Grandma. What advice do you have based on your experience learning how airline pricing works? The single best trick to getting cheap airfare is flexibility. Being flexible not just with your dates but also your locations. For example, that NYC-Milan nonstop round-trip deal for $130 I mentioned at the top. I wasn’t living in NYC; I was living in DC. But for that fare it was well worth the short $20 bus ride up. I spent the weekend with friends in NYC and saved myself $650 off what fares would’ve been from DC to Milan.

The way most people approach getting a flight is this: (1) pick where they want to go; (2) pick their dates; and (3) see what prices are available. By prioritizing the fare lowest, they often end up with expensive tickets.

Instead, if getting a cheap flight is your priority, flip the order: (1) see what prices are available to various places are around the world; (2) decide which of the cheap destinations appeal to you; and (3) select the dates you like that have the cheap fares available.

What’s the craziest deal you ever got? In addition to that $130 nonstop NYC-Milan deal, my wife and I recently scored $169 round-trip flights to Japan — flippin’ love mistake fares. And team members have gotten similarly good deals to Hawaii, New Zealand, etc.

Finally, what’s one non-airfare-related travel piece of advice you’d give someone? Read more magazine articles and listen to more smart, informative podcasts. I’m a firm believer in the liberal arts approach of knowing a bit about everything (as opposed to everything about just one subject), not only as a way to be a well-rounded person but also as a social lubricant. If you can hold a conversation about anything from architecture to the stock market to Asian budget airlines, you’re far more likely to meet interesting people and develop deeper relationships.

Scott founded Scott’s Cheap Flights in a Denver coffeeshop. Scott is the flight searcher-in-chief, spending 8-12 hours a day on Google Flights as well as oversee daily operations. If you’re looking for flight deals, it’s one of the best.

The post The Secret Sauce Behind Scott’s Cheap Flights appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

The Secret Sauce Behind Scott’s Cheap Flights http://ift.tt/2kmwvIQ

[tamboradventure]

The Secret Sauce Behind Scott’s Cheap Flights

“Have you heard of Scott’s Cheap Flights? Should I use them?”

When friends and family far removed from the travel hacking/cheap flights space ask me about a website, I know its mainstream. While there are many good deal websites out there (The Flight Deal, Secret Flying, and Holiday Pirates are three of my favorites), Scott’s Cheap Flights seems to have broken through where others have not. Over 1 million people get this daily flight deals email. I’m a big fan of the website and their ability to often break airfare deals (I used one of their alerts to fly to South Africa). It turns out Scott is fan of my website too so we sat down for an interview where I get him to spill the secret behind his website:

Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself. How did you get into this? Scott: When I graduated college in 2009, I knew two things: (1) I wanted to travel the world and (2) I was never going to be wealthy. So if I wasn’t going to let #2 prevent #1, I knew I would have to figure out some creative ways to travel without spending my life savings. I began reading up on flight pricing economics, spending hours on various flight search engines, and learning various airfare patterns. Before long, I found an online community of fellow travel hackers and cheap-flight aficionados who enjoy not just travel but also the thrill of getting a great deal on flights.

Where did the idea of this website come from? Scott’s Cheap Flights has a weird origin story. In 2013, I got the best deal of my life: nonstop from NYC to Milan for $130 round-trip. Milan hadn’t even been on my radar as a place to visit, but for $130 round-trip, there’s no way I wouldn’t go. And it turned out to be amazing! I went skiing in the Alps, caught an AC Milan match, hiked Cinque Terre, hung out on Lake Como. It was divine.

When I got back, word spread among friends and coworkers about the deal I got, and dozens of them began asking me to let them know next time I found a fare like that so they could get in on it, too. So rather than try to remember to tell George and Esther and Aviva when a great deal popped up, I decided to start a simple little email list instead so I could alert everyone at once. Scott’s Cheap Flights was born.

For the first 18 months, though, it was just a little, fun hobby I did for my friends. It wasn’t until August 2015 that it had generated enough organic growth that it made sense to think about turning it into a business.

You’ve sort of blown up in the last year or so. What do you think have been the two biggest factors into your success? First off, thanks! We just hit one million subscribers — still hard for me to believe. The credit goes to two primary factors:

First, there’s an incredible team who runs Scott’s Cheap Flights. It’s not just me; we’re up to 25 folks on the team now. We have a team of flight searchers finding great deals around the world, and also a team of amazing customer support folks. On an average day we get well over 700 emails in our inbox, and most people get a response within a few hours, if not a few minutes. I think this is a major reason why more than 50% of people who sign up for Scott’s Cheap Flights found out about it via word of mouth.

Second, the startup itself had very serendipitous timing. Right around when Scott’s Cheap Flights became a business, international flight prices began to plummet, fueled by low oil prices and a bevy of new low-cost airlines like Norwegian and WOW jumping into the transatlantic market. Whereas in 2010 it was rare to see flights from the US to Europe under $900 round-trip, in 2015 (and through to today), it’s relatively common to see those same flights around $400 round-trip, if not less. We can’t force airlines to offer cheap flights, but we’ve been there to ride the wave these past few years and help subscribers pay half of what they used to to travel abroad.

Were there any media hits or high-profile features that really changed your trajectory? I remember hearing about you a few years ago, but now it seems everyone I know, even outside of travel, has heard of your newsletter. There was one in particular: a Business Insider article and I were taking in the summer of 2015. It helped take Scott’s Cheap Flights from a hobby to a full-fledged business by bringing in thousands of new subscribers. We’ve had hundreds of media hits in the two years since then, but as we’ve grown, each individual one has necessarily had a diminishing impact. Perhaps a Nomadic Matt interview will give a big new boost though!

How does your website work? How do you find these deals? Do you have team of people searching for deals? Is it an algorithm? One thing that surprises a lot of people is that we don’t have a bunch of computers running secret algorithms to find cheap flights. All of our fares are searched by hand. The secret sauce is hard work. Airfare changes by the hour, if not by the minute, and the best deals don’t tend to last very long, so finding out about them early is the key to booking them before they’re gone. Most people don’t want to spend all their free time searching for cheap flights; we love doing it and being subscribers’ early detection radar.

Another way to think of it is like this: Almost everybody is capable of cooking dinner at home, but that doesn’t prevent the existence of the restaurant industry. People don’t always want to put in the time and effort required to find cheap flights, so we’re happy to do it for them.

That seems super time-consuming. How do you decide what and where to search? Do you just randomly plugging in places and dates, or is there more of a method to the madness? There’s a bit of proprietary knowledge that goes into the process, but 95% of it is just the sheer legwork, day after day, searching various routes and seeing what pops up. There’s more of a skill aspect to the process than I would’ve guessed four years ago, whether that’s remembering certain esoteric routes that periodically go on sale, or knowing that a fare war out of one city likely indicates fare drops in other similar cities. For the most part, though, it’s just a small team of incredibly talented and dedicated flight searchers scouring through fares all day every day, disregarding 99% of them and skimming off the juiciest 1% to send to subscribers.

What are some of the biggest trends in flights you are seeing right now? In the last year or two we’ve seen far cheaper flights than in the past to India (before: $1,000+, now: ~$600), Italy and the Netherlands (before: $900, now: ~$350), and Hawaii (before: $800, now $350 from the West Coast, $550 from further east).

Unfortunately (though perhaps not surprisingly), we’re seeing a continued drought of cheap flights to popular destinations like Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.

In addition, we’re seeing a continued unbundling of airfare: more low-cost carriers and “budget economy” fares offered by full-service carriers that don’t include checked bags, seat selection, or meals.

Do you use your own deals or are you more of a points/miles-in-business-class kind of guy? Sure do! I’m personally not a business-class type of guy. I’m still young enough to be fine in coach for as long and far as a plane can fly. Ask me again in 20 years — but in general I’m uncomfortable being doted on in the premium section of the plane. I’m a simple guy. I don’t need much.

Will we see more business-class deals? Don’t wanna overpromise and underdeliver. Stay tuned!

Do you plan to go global and feature more non-US deals? Yes! We have a team of flight searchers finding cheap fares departing not just from the US but also Canada, the UK and mainland Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East (Sub-Saharan Africa coming soon!).

You get all these flight deals, but tell me some of your favorite travel experiences. What’s one of your favorite recent travel memories? Last year my wife and I took a trip to Belarus to visit her family. One of the days we took a trip to a “park” that consisted of a big open field filled with old discarded and retired Cold War–era Soviet weapons. Think machine guns, missiles, and tanks.

Mostly people would walk around and pose for selfies in front of these massive weapons, but at one point I saw a small group of tourists from Asia hand a park operator some cash and then start to climb on top of a WWII-era tank. I thought they were just going to take photos, but a few seconds later the tank started lurching forward before hitting a cool 25 miles per hour, zipping around the park. These tourists were having the time of their effing lives, and it gave me so much joy just to watch them.

Your deal website is great of course, but what about just everyday flights people need to see Grandma. What advice do you have based on your experience learning how airline pricing works? The single best trick to getting cheap airfare is flexibility. Being flexible not just with your dates but also your locations. For example, that NYC-Milan nonstop round-trip deal for $130 I mentioned at the top. I wasn’t living in NYC; I was living in DC. But for that fare it was well worth the short $20 bus ride up. I spent the weekend with friends in NYC and saved myself $650 off what fares would’ve been from DC to Milan.

The way most people approach getting a flight is this: (1) pick where they want to go; (2) pick their dates; and (3) see what prices are available. By prioritizing the fare lowest, they often end up with expensive tickets.

Instead, if getting a cheap flight is your priority, flip the order: (1) see what prices are available to various places are around the world; (2) decide which of the cheap destinations appeal to you; and (3) select the dates you like that have the cheap fares available.

What’s the craziest deal you ever got? In addition to that $130 nonstop NYC-Milan deal, my wife and I recently scored $169 round-trip flights to Japan — flippin’ love mistake fares. And team members have gotten similarly good deals to Hawaii, New Zealand, etc.

Finally, what’s one non-airfare-related travel piece of advice you’d give someone? Read more magazine articles and listen to more smart, informative podcasts. I’m a firm believer in the liberal arts approach of knowing a bit about everything (as opposed to everything about just one subject), not only as a way to be a well-rounded person but also as a social lubricant. If you can hold a conversation about anything from architecture to the stock market to Asian budget airlines, you’re far more likely to meet interesting people and develop deeper relationships.

Scott founded Scott’s Cheap Flights in a Denver coffeeshop. Scott is the flight searcher-in-chief, spending 8-12 hours a day on Google Flights as well as oversee daily operations. If you’re looking for flight deals, it’s one of the best.

The post The Secret Sauce Behind Scott’s Cheap Flights appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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