• Menu
  • Menu

How to travel more often by finding Cheap Flights / Part 2

7 comments

Heads Up: Our posts may contain affiliate links! If you buy/book something through one of these links, you will not pay an extra penny, but we'll get a small commission, which keeps this blog up & running. Thank you!

How to Travel More Often by reducing your flights’ costs

Following part 1   on how to find cheap flights in Europe (mainly) let’s talk a bit more about tips that will take us a bit further and help us to travel more often! Of course, this topic goes beyond cheaper flights but since the flight cost is a big expense especially when it comes to international trips. Since this post, I have managed to write also about reducing accommodation costs; one more factor that puts us off travelling! Thankfully, we live in 2020 and the trips can be more affordable than ever! Keep reading cause we all want to travel more often!
travel often
Who doesn’t want to visit Petra in Jordan for example? Thanks to Ryanair this is now very budget-friendly!

5. Add an extra destination/ Be creative on your itinerary

A direct flight to Boston from Europe can cost around £550 when a stopover for 10-20 hours at Reykjavik can reduce the price at £400 or even less! More and more people nowadays consider the stopover option as they can save money (or, at least, do not spend more) and explore one more destination at the price they would have pad anyway! Be aware of visa restrictions (if applied) but some cities offer visa-free options for hours or even days under certain circumstances (Beijing, Saint-Petersburg etc.) or “transit-visas so why not to take advantage of it? Take into account the extra costs for accommodation (if staying overnight), the meals and the transportation from/to the airport and voila! Two cities (or even two countries!) are waiting for you!
germany stamps
Found myself discovering mini wooden stamps during a layover in Nuremberg (and its Christmas market!)!
If you are up for a stopover but for fewer hours (without leaving the airport) ensure that the second flight departs from the same airport (London has 6 airports for example!) and that you have plenty of time to transfer between the terminals (if more than 1); the airports’ websites usually have default minimum times for such transfers. Please don’t forget that if you miss your self-connecting flight it will be your responsibility to buy a new ticket – airlines have to refund/ offer a new ticket only if the two flights are bought under the same ticket.
how to travel more
This method requires time-consuming research regarding the cities that are connected with your final destination, the airlines that operate these routes, the dates and times that work for you etc. However, I definitely recommend this kind of travelling as I have saved hundreds (if not thousands!) of pounds/ euros since I moved to London – have you ever tried to travel to/from Athens in August or in December for example? Well, think twice if so! I have been to different cities in Turkey, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Poland etc. thanks to this addictive procedure!
Tip: This can be super tricky and stressful if you have check-in luggage. It’s better to travel with a carry-on only so have a look at the best travel backpacks out there!
Aquarium Copenhagen
Half-price ticket from Greece to the UK through Denmark and enough time to visit the aquarium in Copenhagen, Den Blå Planet, which we didn’t manage to visit on our first trip to Copenhagen! OH YEAH!!

6. Where to look for tickets

Everyone who has read Part 1 should have realised that I love Skyscanner! I consider it one of the most reliable search machines with amazing options (some of them have been already described thoroughly) and I always search on that first. However, as it comes with some cons, you should not rely on this one only. For example, you cannot find EVERY airline there -especially the low-cost or the small domestic ones- so you have to be careful and look for flights on other platforms too.

how to travel frequently

Momondo is another major flight searcher similar to Skyscanner but once more if you wish to travel in a country for the very first time, do your research online for every airline operating in that country and then visit their websites too. Sometimes the best deals come directly from the airlines as there is no middleman to grab a commission but that’s not always the case. Google flights is also a good tool, Kayak is very popular with many affiliate smaller websites and the App Hopper has been proved useful too – even if it’s not the common flight search machine. Last but not least, the seasonal deals are always welcome – I have subscribed to many airlines newsletters so far, thirsty for their next offer! Why don’t you do the same?
how to find cheap flights to anywhere

One more saving hack here: The offers from the airlines tend to follow the retail market rules– for example, Black Friday Deals, Mid-season Offers, Flash Sales, January Clearance etc. So, when your favourite store marks everything down, check the airlines’ websites too!

finding cheap flights

7. Time for Mile

Every airline (apart from some low-cost ones) has a loyalty members program for their clients and it offers points/miles etc. that can be spent on flights and products afterwards. Even if you don’t travel often you should have at least one account – collecting is actually free money in the long term! It’s not that difficult to collect points- in fact, many companies offer this option not only at flights purchases but at products and other services too; you can even have a partnered credit card to collect double points from products you would buy anyway! Don’t fall for buying unnecessary stuff though! In my case, I have about 5 accounts from major airlines that accumulate points from manyyyy different airlines worldwide and a Nectar card (UK) which is very useful as you can collect points from nearly everything (gas, Argos, eBay, supermarkets etc. ) and then spend them on holiday deals!

frequent traveller
My Shoes ready to travel Abroad!

8. Currency can be your friend

Being in Poland in 2015 with no return flight was such a pain (for my pocket!) but since I was unsure if I would have to go back to London or to Athens (being a freelance footwear designer can be quite unpredictable!) I had to book a flight very last minute. I was so desperate for the cheapest option for Athens that I was looking even on Polish websites that I didn’t know their existence before – and believe me, I don’t speak a word in Polish! Soon after, I realised that the same flights were slightly cheaper on the Polish websites even after the currency exchange and the bank fees! Finally, I booked the flight about £20 cheaper and since then, I have been checking websites with different currencies than Euro or GBP. For flights that are anyway cheap enough the difference after the fees is not worth the effort but for international and long-distance ones please consider this option too! Happy accidents sometimes lead to awesome findings!
travel the world on a budget

Need some reliable Travel Apps that will make your life easier? Travel Photographer Aastha Mahesari has the answer!

So far so good! Travel is happiness and how to travel more often tips can definitely lead to more chances of being happy! I started testing out these tips for European Flights (hence, the focused-on-Europe Part 1 of this guide) but as years go by I have realised that most of them are quite handy internationally. I will keep updating these posts with new findings, stay tuned! But what about you? Where have you been using the abovementioned (or similar) tips? Did you end up spending less? Exciting to learn about!

saving hacks flights

travel more frequent

 

Do you like my post as much as you like my designs? Sharing is caring ❣️❣️

Related posts

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

7 comments