Europe Without Plans???
 

Hey everybody, I need advice. I want to trade in some frequent-flier miles and go to Europe in June. I want to go fly to London and just see where I want to go – Paris, Barcelona, Venice, etc. I don’t really want to book the flight back because I don’t know how long I’ll wish to stay.

Is such a thing even possible? I don’t have unlimited funds and I’d like to do this as cheaply as possible – stay in hostels and such. Can I buy open-ended tickets from the airlines? If so, what is the cheapest way to travel around Europe on the spur-of-the-moment (especially crossing the channel) – train, boat, or cheap airline.

Apologizing in advance for the broadness and foolishness of this post.

In general, you get much better fares on Eurostar and discount airlines if you book well in advance. As a matter of fact, it's end of May so the lowest priced seats could have been sold out already.

Another aspect to consider is how long you can stay in each countries on a tourist visa. Also, London immigration officers are known to be harsh on those flying without confirmed return tickets. (You can circumvent this by booking a flight/train out of UK to your next continental detination.)

School holidays in Europe start early June and end early September. Not only are tourist sites busy but transport and hotel rooms start filling up, starting with the cheapest tickets and rooms first.

For what you want to do, you really need to travel out of season (September till May). You can still do it in June but I would advise on booking things when possible. Some flights/accommodation will already be booked up.

<If so, what is the cheapest way to travel around Europe on the spur-of-the-moment (especially crossing the channel) – train, boat, or cheap airline.>

discount airlines would be cheapest but what do you see besides airports and big cities

trains are fantastic and you see the lay of the land in between and if a wide-ranging itinerary then consider some kind of railpass. Two sites i always recommend for giving you lots of info on european trains and passes - more than the usual listing of pass prices and an 'add to cart' button are: www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - the former also has a listing of discount European airlines and bits on bus travel (limited compared to rail in Europe) and the latter's home page offers you their free European Planning & Rail Guide which is a good primer on using European trains, railpasses, etc.

Sure it can be done. People do it all the time. A great place to start is Lonely Planet's website forum The Thorn Tree, Europe forum.

Since you're talking FF miles I would look into a round-trip ticket, and check the fees for changing the return date. A one-way ticket home when you're already in Europe is NOT the way to economize.

Travel around on a combination of budget carriers and trains.

Even going without a plan, I think you want to do some research ahead of time. Get a pile of guidebooks from the library for free. Figure out which places you want to go, have a list of accomodations in your price range.

For instance, you aren't likely to just wander into a place like Venice unannounced in June and find a cheap hostel to stay in, that ain't gonna happen.

There is a hostel 'circuit' I'll call it, with possibilty of making an internet reservation from one hostel/city to the next hostel/city. Know that hostels can be terrific or terrible. Just like great hotel bargains, the best ones may be full if you don't make plans in advance.

You don't need to apologize and I don't think it's a foolish idea.

June is quiet in most European countries. The peak season in most countries is in July and August; in Scandinavia, the peak season starts at midsummer.
I have been to many countries in June and never book hotels in advance. It really isn't as difficult as some people on this forum claim.
Crossing the English Channel is cheap by train and ship, and doesn't need to be booked in advance: lots of trains from London to Dover, frequent ferries to Calais and cheap trains on the other side - and there are lots of other ferry routes which don't need advance bookings.

Thanks a lot everybody! It's been very informative so far. Keep the advice coming. I'm getting excited already!

<i>June is quiet in most European countries.</i>

Perhaps &quot;quiet&quot; is a relative term, but I have not found this to be true. In fact, we traveled last June to Rome and it was mobbed. May in Venice was not too bad, but I wouldn't call it &quot;quiet.&quot; I wouldn't touch Florence this time of year.

This June we'll go to Paris, Normandy, and London and already I had trouble getting the mid-range accommodations I wanted.

If you can go another time, you might have a better chance of getting reasonable and good accommodations. If not, I would at least get some idea before you go of prices, and perhaps make some reservations, so you are not surprised once you are here.

Have a good journey...

gruezi

June is quiet except at the big draws. So Prague/Rome/Venice is always goning to be tough in June till Oct.

London is so big you can still see it as quiet (it just seems packed), similarly Paris seems to soak people up but even here I would book ahead. Then you have the second tier Europe of Barcelona/Madrid/Lyon/Amsterdam/Dublin all of which will be a bit easier and then the lowest might be &quot;along the Loire&quot; or Alsace or Helsinki which will still be quiet.

Trains and Planes is your next focus and languages I have always wanted to stumble by in

If going using FF miles, then you need to do better planning and set a RT plan. Otherwise, this could very well cost you more than what you would had paid using reg tckt.

I just checked with the airline and they said that, as long as there's a seat and the destination city remains the same, they don't charge you for changing flights.

Also, I bought Lonely Planet's Europe on a Shoestring, which has a lot of helpful tips.

I am a teacher, so I can only travel in summer or January. So far, I've never seen Europe in the summer.

Cheapest way from London to Europe I know of is

London to Hook of Holland, &pound;25 - www.dutchflyer.com

Some of the ferries to France are cheaper, but getting to the UK port makes the total from London more than DutchFlyer.

Which airline is that generous? I'd really like to know. I am going to Europe in July (also a teacher) on Delta Skymiles, but paid for my daughter's trip. Delta put me on Continental, but she is on Delta and on an earlier return flight than mine by a couple of hours. I called yesterday and asked if I could be waitlisted for her flight. They agreed, but said it would be $100 change fee...since the unaccompanied minor fee is also $100 (she's 14), I figured it is 6 of one, half dozen of another and set it up. Sounds like I should start building FF miles on your airline instead!

I fly American. Of course they warned me that if I had to cancel my regularly scheduled flight, there'd be no guarantee that I could get on another flight anytime soon. They said the most I'd have to wait is about a week. (I guess this really means that you can extend your trip, but shortening it might be tricky.)

Also, American Airlines has different types of frequent flier seats. So, if I were to redeem an economy ticket (60,000 miles) I'd have to wait for another economy seat to open up. There'd be no way to convert them to another type of ticket.

Of course, the person at American told me that London would be the best destination city for your ticket. It is the cheapest ticket and has the greatest number of flights.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that the new $15 luggage charge only applies to domestic flights.

The ferry Robespierre mentions goes to Hook of Holland, which is only a few hours from Amsterdam by train - so a novel, cheap and fairly fast way to go as an alternative to planes - experience crossing the Channel then the train from Hook of Holland plies by miles of Europe's biggest port along the Maas to rotterdam then thru the signature windmill, humpbacked drawbridges and beflowered Dutch countryside.
Trains go from Liverpool Street Station in London right to the dock in Harwich and trains right from the dock in Hook - few steps to walk

Excellent - getting LP's guidebook that is!

Other than getting your plane ticket worked out, and figuring out how you'll handle money (ATM, etc.), that really is enough planning to pull off the trip you describe imo.

I love LP books too but find their accommodations info, esp on budget digs to be paltry - if looking for economical places to stay you'll need other sources.

but a wealth of info otherwise

For budget accommodations guides Let's Go Europe IMO can't be beat - for any age traveler - apart from hostels they list zillions of budget hotels, pensions, B&amp;Bs, etc.