Cheap Travel, Priceless Memories: Europe on a Backpacking Budget (Part II)

Budget Airlines, Cheap Airfares: Off the Beaten Flight Path
by Emily R. Carter Cox

Text copyright 2005 (may be reproduced - see permission terms below)

(This is the second in a series offering budget travel advice for the backpacking tourist as well as anyone else seeking cheap travel tips.)

In this second installment, I will begin to share some of the knowledge I’ve acquired through trial and error while traveling on very little, very little, money in Europe. I like to call these Emily’s Personal Penny-saving Tips, or EPPTs.

(Interestingly, when "EPPT" is said aloud, it reminds me of the sound some Swedes make to express agreement, disagreement, to get someone’s attention at the dinner table, or to make a strong political statement, among other things.)

Anyhow, I have racked my noodle to come up with some tips regarding airplanes and air travel to and within Europe. The following could apply whether you are traveling alone or not).

EPPT #1: Grab European air travel deals when you see them online. Whether you can get a cheap ticket or not depends greatly on the time of year you want to travel (July tickets might as well be printed on pure gold; February tickets can rival prices of fancy Starbucks beverages). However, it is possible to stumble upon great deals for international travel any time of year. As far as flying within Europe goes, there are some unbelievable deals offered by budget airlines. For example, check out Ryanair for cheap airfares that, even after tax and fees are added, can total up to very few euros.

EPPT #2: If you are a vegetarian, order the vegetarian meal when traveling on an international flight. If you aren’t a vegetarian, order the vegetarian meal when traveling on an international flight. Seriously. You'll get much better value for your "free" in-flight meals. You can do this by calling the airline the week before your flight is scheduled to depart. My mother, a meat-eater on some occasions, would agree. On a European airline flight from Newark to Frankfurt, it only took once glance over at the suspicious brown lumps floating in green sauce atop the meat-eaters’ tray tables to convince us we had made a good decision. We were pretty thankful for the cheese and vegetable enchiladas occupying our own trays. (However, beware: some airlines still seem to have trouble finding vegetarian options for certain meals. For breakfast over Europe, we were served hummus sandwiches.)

EPPT #3: Remember, sometimes you get what you pay for. For example, I feel as if I have developed a close relationship with desk clerks working for Ryanair, because I hopped onto so many of their aircraft during my travels. Ryanair is a good choice for low-cost air travel throughout Europe. However—as some of us may have discovered already, the phrase ‘a perfect airline’ is an oxymoron. I don’t mean to complain about a way to get from Stockholm to Dublin for less than 50 USD. On the other hand, I think it is good to know what you’re getting into, when you travel on the cheap. I believe certain things should be illegal for airlines to do, such as: making announcements at the gate for passengers to line up, only to dash hopes by making them wait hours on end; or allowing passengers to risk their own lives by releasing them from the prison of the gate to flee in a mass rush across the tarmac into the plane, only to be elbowed, growled at, and nearly suffocated while fighting for a window seat. It's true that budget airlines in Europe hardly ever lose luggage; however, the reason luggage is never misplaced is because these airlines fly into tiny airports where theirs is the only flight arriving within a half-hour. Nevertheless, while not always convenient, flying on a tight budget in Europe is very doable and definitely provides good stories for jealous friends and family back at home.

Congratulations—you are one step closer to solo budget travel connoisseurship.

Next time: Trains, Buses, and Autobahns!

- Copyright, 2005 by Emily R. Carter Cox. May be reprinted with permission from Emily R. Carter Cox at Cat's Cradle Used, Rare and Out of Print Books - where travel is a passion, and used and vintage travel books abound.
_______________________________

About the author: This is the third in a series by Emily R. Carter Cox, a graduate of Furman University with a degree in art emphasizing art history. She received her Master's in Social Work from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She has traveled extensively in Europe both during and after her college years. She lives in Durham, North Carolina. Contact her if you are interested in her freelance writing services. Her travel writing is copyrighted, but may be distributed in print or on the Internet as long as the author's byline, copyright and permission statements are included exactly as they appear in her columns. She would appreciate knowing if you reproduce her work electronically or in print.