worldtraveler87

I found 2 airfares to europe. One to london and one to Paris. Paris is my final destination but i will be saving about $120 flying to London instead. What are my options on going from London, to my Hotel in Paris. Could I take a flight? Or the chunnel? And after all expenses would going to london to save 120 bucks be too much trouble and not worth it? PLEASE HELP!!

worldtraveler87

oh sorry i forgot. If anyone needs to know when i'm going it's June 1st through July!

JonJon

OK, for the sake of discussion let's say you fly into London and decide to take the Eurostar to Paris. First, there will be the time spent (which may be impossible to put a monetary value on) going through Immigration, then Customs, then collecting the baggage.
Next, you have to spend money getting from the airport to Waterloo International. Then you have to check in and go back through Immigration, put ALL the baggage through the scanner, get on the train, take 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 hours getting to Paris and then unload and pay to get to your hotel.

Or, you can book a separate flight from London to Paris. If the two airlines (if the second one is different from the first, have a luggage agreement then you can check the bags through; otherwise see the scenario above; re-check the luggage, etc., etc. Fly over to Paris, go through Immigration, get the luggage, go through Customs, and pay to get to your hotel.

OR: you pay the additional $120 bucks up front, go through Customs and Immigration ONCE and pay once to get to the hotel.

Bottom line: sounds like a deal for $120 additional bucks to me.

JonJon

And that doesn't include the cost of the Eurostar...do yourself a favor...fly direct!

jody

I'm definitely with JonJOn here...If it were $300 or so then maybe but you'll spend more on taxi's or even the tube plus eurostar!

jody

Sory .you'll spend even more than 120 if you do taxis and eurostar plus your time!

worldtraveler87

Ok awesome!! I wasn't sure what I was going to do if everyone had different opinions. But you have made my decision for me. Thanks very much. But before I buy the direct to Paris flight, I want to ask u guys one more question. Does your opinion change if I am a backpacker and am not a wealthy traveler? Are the taxis and the eurostar that expensive that it will cost me $120?

Scarlett

The Eurostar will cost the same. You might take a shuttle or train and save taxi fare.
You will have such a good time!

Vincent

Judging by your post, you'll be in Europe for quite a while: don't you want to spend some time in the UK too? (sorry, maybe a silly question, you might know the country already, but just in case... )

leslie

Don't forget to add in the fact that you're going to be tired upon arrival in either London or Paris. The additional $120 is roundtrip for the flight. If you end your flight in London, you'll still need to pay for two taxi rides in London (departing and returning), and you've got to adhere to a schedule returning from Paris to London to catch your return flight from Heathrow or Gatwick. Make it easy on yourself, buy a roundtrip ticket to Paris.

worldtraveler87

to answer your questions, Yes I would like to spend time in England. But London is last on my list. I want to see northern England and Scotland. When I'm in Europe I will be visiting France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Marocco. Yes i know it's alot but I want to see it all.

Good point about the time zone difference in France and England. I forgot about that.
Thanks for your help!!

Nidwaldner_Chris

Do you absolutely have to go to Paris first? London is a great place to start and end your travels from because of all the no-frills flights that originate there (easyjet, ryanair). For example, you could spend a few days in London, fly to Italy, Spain, or souther France, and continue by train or other cheap flight around the continent. On Easyjet you can fly Nice-Paris, Rome-London, Milan-Paris, Barcelona-New Castle, Barcelona-Paris, Geneva-London, Zurich-London, Geneva-Malaga, Geneva-Paris, etc. The prices are incredible if you book early. There are numerous possibilities. Also maybe look into an "Open-Jaw" ticket having you fly into Paris and out of London (or vice versa) perhaps. This is often very nearly the same price and since you want to go to Scotland will save you backtracking to Paris.

worldtraveler87

The thing is, I really don't want to spend any more than a day in london. And because my time is very limited this trip, I decided to do France, Spain Italy etc. On my next trip I want to do England, Scotland, and Ireland. But that will have to wait for a year or so. But the cheap airlines sound good, i'll look into them! thanks!
Anyone else?

GSteed

Suggestion: Do a complete budget. I expect that you will learn the access flight is a tiny part of your overall trip cost. Be sure to include all miscellaneous expenses such as visas. I understand you will be on a 60 day trip. At $50 a day this amounts to $3000. Can you travel for that amount? Don't neglect exchange rates. By summer the Euro may be at 1.5!

bardo

First off, you will NOT save money by flying into London on a flight that is $120 less. Secondly, based on your comments so far, I would save England for another day. Also, if you're really pinching pennies, you could even hitchhike between France and Spain or Italy (are you male?).

victorious

Hey I'm going to fly out of Atlanta too. But I'm flying next month. Yeah I'd say fly into Paris and skip London.

I'd fly into Paris and then fly out of my final city instead of doing a roundtrip leaving and arriving from Paris. That's what I'm doing.

I'm flying into London and out of Berlin. It's about $100 more than the roundtrip from Atlanta to London. But I think it's worth it because I'm not wasting time flying back to London to catch a flight. I'd suggest taking the time to look at all your options but don't fly into cities you're not intersted in just to leave the next day.

Terrence

victorious

dang I didnt' even look at the date. I"m like what 2 1/2 years late! haha

mariacallas

Having just been through a three-day ordeal to get airfare, I can only refer to my experience but...I found that for me, doing an open jaw trip through London to Nice and flying out of Marseille was $500 less than a roundtrip to and out of Paris from Houston. I was floored.

I found it on ultimate fares. I tried absolutely every discount air link I could find. It was tons cheaper to do this open jaw trip. So just sit on the puter awhile and hammer those keys. And the MINUTE you see the price drop, buy it and don't wait 5 minutes or it will get snatched up. That happened to me several times.

Big sympathy,
MC

withkids

I was intrigued to see this post.
I had never heard of Ultimate Fares, but just went to the website and couldn't see how you could have entered any of this information.

Can you explain this to me? How did you enter the open jaw information? How did additional information pop up? Am I on the right website, at http://www.ultimatefares.com/


Thanks. We love to travel, but with kids, we are always looking for a great website.

Thanks!

Mimar

www.ultimatefares.com looks pretty good for air tickets. Failed utterly at finding a hotel room in New York.

To withkids, you choose the Multiple Destinations button for open jaws reservations.