Get ready for cheap travel in Europe this summer!

Greetings on a rainy day. That's what Spring is about, though, right? To get some moisture that makes the plants start growing like crazy and then we start to get beautiful weather and can enjoy a great summer. And hopefully this summer will be full of travel, right? It would be interesting to see if school was out during a different time of year if summer would still be the high travel time. I bet for many it would. You just don't go to the beach in December in most places and really enjoy it like you can in the warmer times of the year. Since we are focusing especially on Europe, that is really true. Swedish sea kayaking in November anyone? Didn't think so.

The high season means it's more difficult to find cheap travel to Europe, but not impossible. Since it's pretty late to try and get a jump on the game, if you are still planning to travel to Europe with cheap fares, you might have to be little cunning and patient now. Last minute travel deals will pop up depending on how poorly things are going for the travel companies. The economy is starting to shows signs of recovery, but this is not guaranteed and it's likely that the companies aren't going to be too hard-nosed about giving good deals to try and scare up as many customers as they possibly can this summer. Having said that, you have to keep your eyes out for some good deals, possibly some signs of frustration or desperation. In my recent checks on the "low fare" carriers of Europe--you probably know who they are, but if not, read through some of my other posts and I name a few--I am not seeing that they are desperate AT ALL. In fact my recent cheap fare in and out of London is a thing of the past. A pre-season give-me. They are definitely asking for more money this summer, with only a few exceptions.

Is all lost? NO WAY! Hold on a bit and buy some last minute tickets and I think you will find that there are going to be many good deals out there. This requires, of course, patience and flexibility.

So if you're going to Aunt Nellie's wedding in the old country and you absolutely have to be there on a particular date and you are planning on getting a super cheap airfare, you need to raise your price expectations and start looking like crazy to get the best fare you can, otherwise you may be needing to fly first-class to get a seat and that will definitely cost you about triple.

I have walked into an airport and looked at the board and tried to see an interesting place where I would like to go, but don't have to if the price isn't right. If this is you, you definitely have some exciting days ahead of you, because I think the airlines would rather have your money than have an empty seat and nobody bragging about getting a good deal...

Also, because the airlines that have made their name with cheap fares in Europe are starting to become more mainstream (and thus more expensive), the traditional airlines are seeing a chance and dropping some fares to lure people who don't want to pay 40 more Euros to bring a bag and 5 more to drink a coke on the flight... There is an opportunity to get very reasonable airfares with some European airlines who are giving out cheap flights to lure customers back from the bargain brands.

If you are new here, take a look back at some of the other entries here on my cheap travel to Europe blog and see some of the strategies and try them out for great deals and I wish you the best of luck and success finding cheap travel to Europe this summer!

Cheap travel to Europe on a busy weekend

Hello again!

Just got back from a great trip to England. Of course I got some cheap airline tickets and basically stayed with friends for next to nothing.... I have also mentioned couchsurfing.com in the past for a way to stay cheap, though I found a place through friends of friends this time... Not to bore you about me, but I basically bought flights for the week I could go and found out later that the ROYAL WEDDING was that week! Why is this a big deal at all? Because conventional wisdom would say that cheap travel to Europe, especially London would be hard to find on such an occasion, right? Apparently wrong. Yes, I did buy my tickets about 2 months early and planned ahead a bit, but our flights weren't jam packed and I would venture to guess that cheap travel to Europe wasn't too big of a challenge last week. But maybe I'm just lucky--it only rained two days out of seven when I was in London!! It's not high season yet, so tickets were cheaper and it's a great gateway city, London. My main problem was finding decent meals and paying for public transportation in one of the most expensive cities in the world, not to mention that the dollar isn't exactly worth much these days against European currencies. My other big challenge was finding people who could speak English (I'm not joking!). One of the few people I spoke with whose native language was English, I really had a hard time understanding until I figured out that both three and four start with an "f" for him!! Overall, though, cheap travel to Europe and especially cheap travel in Europe is not too difficult to do. I flew no-frills and took my own water on board to avoid paying big money there, but hey, the bathrooms are still free! Although some airlines are talking about charging for them in the future, most notably Ryanair (super cheap travel within Europe). My friend just got a decent flight roundtrip in May and returning July, so there are still some tickets to be had if you follow the directions out there and on here about getting cheap travel to Europe.