Fly Europe From $27
Date: 08/29/2007Breaking news from the European front: The revolution won't be taking place in the streets--it is happening in the air! Right now, thousands of people all over Europe are flying for less.
In search of a convenient, inexpensive way to get from Barcelona to our home on the Costa del Sol after the Live and Prosper in Europe conference (starting in just three days), we searched two discount websites: www.clickair.com and www.vueling.com/EN/index.php. From one day to the next, Click's price increased from 20 euro ($27) to 30 euro ($40), but Vueling held firm at 20 euro, so the choice was obvious.
But what if you don't already have a home elsewhere in Europe? There's good news on two counts: You have plenty of affordable options all over The Continent, and you can get there for next to nothing. Here are some of the great deals we found on several different European discount fliers for Wednesday, Sept. 5, the day after IL's conference:
If you're heading off to Eastern Europe in search of your dream home, you can fly Click to Dubrovnik for 130 euro ($177) or to Budapest for 100 euro ($136). You can't get to Bucharest on a Wednesday, but there are regularly scheduled flights on Tuesday and Thursday, also priced at 100 euro. While you're on Click's site, if you have been inspired to check out the shores of sunny Portugal, a flight to Lisbon will only set you back 25 euro ($34). If your heart is yearning for Italy, Click can get you to Rome for 35 euro ($48) or to Venice for a mere 20 euro ($27). Click's site is easy to navigate, and they fly into every European city from Amsterdam to Zurich.
In addition to the amazing deal we got to Malaga, on that same date Vueling can get you to Athens for 80 euro ($109) or to Paris for 100 euro. If you're thinking of heading off to England, Easy Jet offers journeys to London for £42 ($84) or to Liverpool for £71 ($142).
Another inexpensive alternative is Ryan Air. On Ryanair, you can fly for pennies: Listings on Wednesday, Sept. 5 include flights to Brussels, Dublin, and Bologna for 0.01 euro (1 cent). Even with taxes and carrying charges, these trips fare out to 16.42 euro ($22), about the same price as bus fare from New York to Atlantic City!
One of the many pleasures of living in Europe is that with a little creativity, you can get from just about anywhere to almost anywhere else. Planning a trip to Sicily for later this year, we discovered that we can get from Malaga to Barcelona for 20 euro ($27) on Click or Vueling, and then from Barcelona to Trapani on Ryanair for 15 euro ($20). Another airline, TUI doesn't fly into or out of Barcelona, but from Malaga we can get to Stuttgart, and from there we have a host of locations to visit, including the beaches of Greece, Turkey, or Morocco, with flights starting at 19 euro ($26) each way. The shortest distance between two points may be a straight line, but with an eye on the bottom line, you can get wherever your heart desires while making the smallest dent in your wallet.
Mike DeSimone
For International Living
Editor's note: There's still time to join Mike and our assembled experts in Barcelona at our Live and Prosper in Europe Seminar. Twelve countries represented, one goal: to get you set up in your own European bolt hole as soon as possible. Tel. 1 866-381-8446 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada) or e-mail events@internationalliving.com to make a last-minute reservation.
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