There is something deeply unhinged — in the best possible way — about realizing nobody is waiting for you to ask permission.
I’m single. My kid is grown. It’s my birthday week. And when a friend basically said, “Hey, there’s an extra bed in a hotel room in California if you want it,” I did not open a spreadsheet and spend six weeks overthinking it.
I found a flight.
And somehow I found a $194 round-trip nonstop flight from Colorado Springs to Orange County.
So I booked it.
Apparently this is who I am now
I am flying Allegiant, which means the $194 fare is only truly $194 if I resist every little add-on they put in front of me. My reservation includes one free personal item. No checked bag. No overhead carry-on. No paid seat assignment.
And honestly? I have decided to treat that like a challenge.
Allegiant says the free personal item can be up to 8 x 14 x 18 inches and has to fit completely under the seat. If I can fit several days of birthday chaos into that tiny rectangle, I keep the absurd fare intact.
The plan: do not give the airline another dollar
I’m packing a soft-sided personal-item bag, wearing the bulky stuff, keeping toiletries tiny, bringing an empty water bottle through security, and letting Allegiant assign my seat for free.
Allegiant opens online and app check-in 24 hours before departure. Their current policy says passengers have to be checked in at least 45 minutes before departure, and the airline recommends buying any bags before getting to the airport because airport baggage pricing is higher.
That is the game: know the rules before you get there.
But this story is not actually about a cheap flight
The flight is the funny part.
The real part is that I can just go.
There was a version of my life where a last-minute invitation required logistics and negotiations and a thousand reasons why it probably wasn’t practical.
And now somebody can text me, “There’s an extra bed. Want to come?” and I can say yes.
That feels enormous.
I’m going to report back after I fly
After the outbound flight, I’ll update this with whether Allegiant actually measured the personal item, what seat I got for free, how the app and check-in process went, whether any surprise fees appeared, and what the COS-to-SNA flight was actually like.
After the trip, I’ll add what I really packed, what I wished I had brought, whether traveling with one under-seat bag was brilliant or ridiculous, and whether I would book Allegiant again at this price.
For now, I have a $194 ticket, one very small bag, and absolutely no responsible-adult reason not to go.
Happy birthday to me.
