The month of December saw me going to a lot of great places like London, Paris, Berlin, and Switzerland. These places normally stand out in people's minds as being fairly expensive places but I was actually able to collect a lot of really great deals and money saving tips that made my trips relatively inexpensive. My experiences have also enabled me to cultivate a greater understanding of the most efficient ways to travel so I thought I would share these experiences.
Money Saving:
1) Sky Scanner
Sky Scanner is the by far the best flights website I have encountered - and I've looked through many. The worst thing you can do is go directly to an airline company's website. They will gauge you for airfare. Sky Scanner, in a matter of seconds, literally scans every airline that flies to your desired destination and shows you the best deals.
I live in Southampton which has its own small airport but I used to think the prices would be too expensive so I'd been travelling into London to fly out. However, Sky Scanner should be some really great deals in both Southampton and London. Here's some examples of amazing flight deals I've gotten:
* A flight from Southampton to Paris for 48£ (86$ Canadian)
* A flight from Paris to Berlin for 35£ (63$ Canadian) - that's cheaper than any other mode of transportation between Paris and Berlin
* A flight from Berlin to London from
* Return trip Southampton to Geneva for 148£
I'm considering going back to Scotland in the spring and the flight deals are less expensive than taking the train or renting a car and driving. Flying is obviously the quickest way to get somewhere so its crucial to take advantage of good deals. If you're willing to fly in the early morning or at night, you'll be able to take advantage of really cheap deals.
2) Hotwire
Everyone knows that sleeping in hostels is a great option for travelling on a budget. But it doesn't have to be your only option. Matthew and I wanted a romantic trip so we were not really looking to stay in a hostel. Instead, we were able to stay in hotels in downtown Paris and downtown Berlin for excellent pricing. Go to hotwire.com and you'll see why. The website essentially lets you choose a region you'd be willing to stay in as well as a star range. One you select that it shows you price points for the region you've picked and you just nab one. You won't know what hotel it is until after you've paid, but it shows you an option of about four or five that could be possibilities. After you pay, the website contacts those hotels and whichever one has a room confirms. You then get an email confirmation stating which hotel you will be at. Paris is known as being very expensive for hotels, but Hotwire found us a four and a half star hotel a 7 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower for only $120 Canadian a night (Novotel Tour D'Eiffel Paris). On top of that we were given a free upgrade to a superior room that was absolutely massive and very fancy. The hotel was so elegant and modern; it was such a treat to stay there. We went on the website and discovered that it normally costs well over $250 a night to stay at that hotel! Berlin was even better. We stayed at a four star Holiday Inn that was located right in the city centre and it only cost us 80$ Canadian a night. The room there was one of the nicest I've ever been to. Definitely use Hotwire if you're budget falls somewhere in between hostel and five star hotels!
3) Transportation
People often get intimidated travelling in foreign cities and just opt to take the only thing they know - taxis. Taxis are so expensive that it's really not worth the hassle of finding them or arranging for the hotel to call one for you. Instead, try travelling like a local. This requires only minimal effort and research from you before leaving and you'll be able to travel around cities like a pro. London is one of the biggest cities I have ever imagined. However, Matthew and I were able to whizz around from one far east corner of the city to another location north west. Taxis would have meant sitting in traffic and paying shocking prices. Instead we went underground to join the millions of people who utilize this amazing system. It costs only 7£ to get a day pass for the tube. That's it! The metro trains come every 2-3 minutes and go so fast that taking a taxi is laughable. The London underground even services Heathrow airport so that's how Matthew and I travelled back to our hotel in central London after he landed from Canada. In Paris, we did the same thing. I had printed a metro map of Paris before we left and it definitely came in handy. Once again though, the all day tickets only cost us about 6 Euros and we were able to go to 5 major tourist attractions in one day. When I told my sister what we had done in Paris she said "holy crap did you guys leave at 4am?" Not even close! We didn't leave our hotel until 11am! The underground system is just so cheap and fast that it really opens up all kinds of possibilities. In Berlin we opted for walking because it was a great way to see the city. Don't be afraid of getting lost! Matthew and I were so surprised by how well people spoke English in Berlin. Our waiter one night was fluent and everyone we were buying from at the Christmas markets could speak back to us in English. Locals will be able to help you if you get lost. Walking was fun because it was free, we got exercise, we got to see the city, and we learned how to navigate the paper map really well. The only time taking a taxi is reasonable is when you use a company that only takes bookings in advance and is not affiliated with the city. For instance, I have found an excellent taxi company based in London that will make the hour and a bit drive to Southampton for only 80£. When travelling with 2 or 3 people and you split that cost, it's really not bad. Each city should have its own airport transfer type prebook taxi company so explore those as well.
4) Book in Advance
People who are organized enough to plan their trips in advance will benefit greatly. I have found that in Europe, last minute buyers are not rewarded as you can be back home, and instead the early bird will always get the worm here. Train commuting is fairly expensive in England and in any European country but most rail lines offer a sale on what they call "advance" tickets. Meaning that if you purchase your tickets more than a week in advance, they put out a certain amount of tickets for very reduced pricing. A normal train ride from Southampton to Gatwick Airport in London is about 32£. Ouch. But when I bought train tickets for Matthew and I to travel from Gatwick to Southampton after our Berlin trip, we paid a mere 5£!!! All because I bought the tickets 3 weeks in advance! Bus companies do the same thing. Even tourist attractions offer reduced sale ticket prices when you buy online and in advance.
5) Explore All Options
On the rare occasion that you can't find a good deal the way that you normally find deals - think outside the box! When Matthew came, I couldn't find any good train deals into London and I didn't want to pay the 80£ taxi fare by myself. Then it suddenly hit me - bussing! I found a bus that took me into London for 5£ and our return tickets were 7£. Amazing. I could not find a good Hotwire deal for when we stayed in London so I turned to google. When in doubt, always turn to google. If you type google flights in to the search bar, they perform a similar search as Sky Scanner. Gabel and I actually flew to England the first time for a mere $535 thanks to google flights. If you type google hotels, they will also compile some deals for you that are sometimes exclusive to google. London is probably one of the most expensive cities in the world to stay in, but we found a hotel in Kensington on Google for 80£ a night. Prior to that I had only been able to find prices around the 150£ range so we nabbed up that hotel right away and it was very decent!
6) Sign Up With Companies
Whenever I use a website that gets me good deals, like Sky Scanner and Hotwire, or even bus and train companies, I always sign up with the company or ask to receive promotions. Now, every time National Express (the England coach bus company) has a sale, I get notified of that sale and can take advantage of cheap prices for upcoming trips. I have taken a 2 hour coach bus ride from Southampton to London for FIVE POUNDS!! That's less than 10$ Canadian. Try to imagine right now going from Ottawa to Montreal for less than 10$. Southern Railways just emailed me to say they're having a sale on all tickets for journeys between now and April. I can now buy extremely cheap train tickets for two trips to London I have planned next month.
7) Get a map!
Besides the obvious benefits associated with a map, I have found that all the maps of London, Paris and Berlin I found in airports and hotels, were looooaaaaded with coupons. You can get large percentages of meals at certain restaurants, reduced entry into tourist attractions. Matthew and I eagerly used those coupons for our Globe Theatre tour and got great savings. If you know where to look you can get a deal on anything.
General Tips
* Travel with a carryon only. I mean it. When we went to Paris and Berlin for three days and three nights, we only had a carryon each. I didn't skimp on anything either. I had multiple outfits, two different boot options, hair appliances, my computer, all my toiletries. Learn how to pack efficiently and you can benefit from this as well. It means not having to wait in line at airports to check in a bag, it means not having to wait for it to appear on the conveyor belt. It means not having to haul a huge bag from airport to hotel to tourist attraction. Rolling is the new fad when it comes to packing and there's plenty of youtube videos that can teach you how to master this technique. It makes your clothes take up less space. Lots of places sell travel kits that offer small empty bottles of under 100mL so you can put all your toiletries in your carryon without breaking the liquids rule. [Gabel went to Switzerland and Ethiopia for a total of 3 weeks over the Christmas holidays and she only brought a carryon.
* Use trip advisor! Check reviews for every place you want to stay at and every place you want to go. Read enough reviews to make sure you're getting an unbiased viewpoint but definitely do your research. I was about to book at a cheap bed and breakfast in Scotland until Trip Advisor told me it had a 2% rating. And after you visit a place, you should always try to leave a review on Trip Advisor as well. Help out fellow travellers.
Hope you find this helpful! Now everyone reading this, come pack your bags and visit me and we'll do a very inexpensive tour of Europe together.
