Getting to the big game isn’t cheap

You have to think about it.

Sure, the Patriots have been to two of the last three Super Bowls. But there is no guarantee they will be back in your lifetime. This could be it. I myself plan to live forever.

How much would it cost to go to Jacksonville, Fla., and watch the Patriots beat the Eagles without mercy?

Answer: a lot.

Start with the ticket. The cheapest tickets come off the press at $500 and $600. Forget it. You will never see one of those. Even the loyal Patriots season tickets holders were not guaranteed a Super Bowl ticket.

If you could find them from a scalper or in a travel package, they will cost you a minimum of $1,200 to $2,000-per single seat. One ad in the Globe classified section was selling a pair of “good tickets” for $7,500.

They better be good.

Tickets to the first Super Bowl at the Los Angeles Coliseum were priced at $6, $10 and $12 and they couldn’t give them away. (I remember it well. I was the world’s worst waiter, employed at Snow Lake Lodge in Vermont. My tables were furious that Sunday because I kept disappearing to watch the game. They had no sense of history.)

Of course, every hotel room is long gone. Don’t think about sleeping on the beach in Jacksonville. First of all, it’s too cold. The television sports crews were all dressed in winter clothing in early broadcasts.

Bring all of you money if you are shopping for a place to stay. A One bedroom condo in “walking distance” to the stadium was a cool $5,000 for three nights. A two-bedroom house on the beach was $850 a night (a night!) with a three-night minimum. A three-bedroom house (no beach mentioned) was a simple $1,000 a day.

Imagine.

A two-bedroom condo in St. Augustine, an alleged 30-minute drive from the stadium, was $2,000 a night. I would opt for a place closer to the stadium to save on gas.

I thought the best deal was the two-bedroom home with a pool and Jacuzzi, along with two game tickets, for a mere $2,000 a night and a five-night minimum. None of my credit cards will cover that idea. I will have to take all the bottles back to swing that one.

If you win the lottery before Sunday, you could opt for the 61-foot Hattaras yacht with three bedrooms for a mere $30,000 for the week. Yikes! I should have sailed the 31-foot Cobb Manor yacht, the mighty Daybreak, down to Jacksonville, then rented it for 30 large for the week. Of course, it sleeps only four (uncomfortably) and the engine overheats, but I doubt that the revelers would ever leave the dock.

I could put Cobb Manor on the market tomorrow, but that wouldn’t be enough time to sell it and get the money to Florida. Plus, there is that pesky outstanding mortgage to deal with.

On my budget, I would check out the “luxury RV” advertised for rent somewhere in the Jacksonville area. Undisclosed location and undisclosed price. But it sleeps seven. No Jacuzzi mentioned.

Well, you have to at least think about it.

Send complaints and compliments to Emmet Meara at emmetmeara@msn.com.