Flying to London/Travelling Europe - Tips?

mattoo on 29/04/2017 - 14:55
Last edited 29/04/2017 - 14:55

Hi,

I'm going to be studying in England in September but was planning to do some travel around Europe first (starting late July) and so I wanted to ask the Ozbargain community for any tips for saving money on this trip. Advice on the any of following would be greatly appreciated.
- Getting around Europe cheaply (was thinking about Eurorail pass).
- Where is it cheapest to land coming from Sydney (was planning on landing in London and then heading to Europe using Europass).
- Best time to buy flights (probably now tbh) and best time to exchange money.
- Any general advice would be great - I have done some research but still wanted to put this out.

Thanks guys!

Travel

Comments

  • Randxyz123 on 29/04/2017 - 15:15
    +2

    Euro rail pass is good if you are using it for enough countries. Otherwise just get a international student card and buy individual tickets.

    Get a 3 UK SIM card.

    Buy flights asap

    It's 2017 you don't need to change cash… Get a Citibank card.

    • mattoo on 30/04/2017 - 00:13

      I had no idea 3 was from the UK!

      Yeh I will definitely buy flights within the next 2 weeks. Cannot afford to wait for any deals on here.

      Are the international student cards free? Is it called ISIC?

      • Randxyz123 on 30/04/2017 - 12:29

        Yeah ISIC cards.

        If you are doing a student exchange through your university you should be able to get one for free through The Global Society. They also have a pretty good travel insurance deal. Also booking through STA you can get one for free a lot of the time.

        May I ask what sort of studying are you doing? A student exchange?

        • mattoo on 30/04/2017 - 17:46

          Yep student exchange - studying abroad for 1 semester!

          Thanks I'll look into getting an ISIC card. EDIT: My uni (UNSW) is actually not one of the partners for Global Society. Very surprising considering they are partnered with most other big unis.

        • Randxyz123 on 30/04/2017 - 19:32

          @mattoo: My Uni isn't listed as global society either partner so I'd send your exchange office a email asking about it.

          I would buy Flexi flights. You're gonna be finishing up in December and will have time to travel. By that time you'll have heaps of new friends so you might decide to stay for longer and travel.

          I would NOT buy a flight until you have a visa etc

          Note: Heathrow have pretty bad airport taxes. You might want to look into flying into somewhere else if it saves a decent amount of money. Obviously that isn't worth it if say a flight to Geneva is $900 and a flight to London is say $1100 but the Geneva to London flight is $180.

        • mattoo on 01/05/2017 - 18:29

          @knick007: I won't need a (tier 4) visa since I'm there for less than half a year.

          Oh and it turns out my uni is partnered with them and I've just lodged my application for an ISIC card!

          Yeh I've been looking at landing at different countries - haven't found any significant discounts worth the trouble of changing though.

  • captobvious on 29/04/2017 - 16:26

    Land anywhere in europe the whole place is interconnected by trains. Rail passes are cheaper if you plan ahead
    Vodafail works well in europe on the international plan. Free wifi everywhere so data not an issue. Live your life on credit, eastern europe is still a cash economy facilities are available at hotels etc.

    • Randxyz123 on 30/04/2017 - 19:34

      Vodafail $5/ day international deal would be pretty expensive for 3-4 months abroad….

      The 3 UK unlimited is like £25 for unlimted data and free roaming in most countries in Europe. Getting free wifi is a pain. I'd get a local sim if you are there for that long.

      • tobyjc3 on 05/05/2017 - 23:56

        Hi, is that £25 a month? Would you be able to link to the site to purchase this if that's okay

  • dasher86 on 29/04/2017 - 18:19

    A lot of places are actually cheaper to get to by bus. But be prepared to plan ahead and book on non English sites

    • KEPPERS on 01/05/2017 - 08:25

      Agree with the buses being cheaper than trains more often although they may take a little bit longer. I haven't had any issues booking buses as most websites seem to have English these days. Eurail passes are only worth it if travelling frequently, do the maths before purchasing and certain trains incur extra fees. Scoot have cheap flights to Athens quite often from around $350.

  • capslock on 29/04/2017 - 18:26

    Lots of budget airlines whizzing all around Europe. Check regularly for sale fares.

  • Colin2905 on 29/04/2017 - 20:49

    Watch out for the UK airport departure taxes. It was cheaper for us to return to Australia by flying from Geneva via Heathrow than it would've been by departing from Heathrow, and we still would've had to get from Switzerland to the UK somehow anyway.

    • mattoo on 30/04/2017 - 00:14

      Thanks for the heads up!

  • jjjaar on 29/04/2017 - 22:20
    +1

    Megabus has like €1 bus fares across Europe (mostly Germany).

    Get a Citibank card.

    For internal flights that say "only one left at this price" doesn't mean the current price is cheaper. I booked London to Munich when one flight was left at that price and went straight back to look out of curiosity and it was cheaper.

    Hostels are amazing. HostelWorld is a great website. I find mixed dorms are better than single sex dorms (well, female).

    Do you have a shortlist of cities you want to visit? I can provide some city specific advice.

    • mattoo on 30/04/2017 - 00:06

      Yeh I definitely want to check out the hostel experience. Although I think I would like the hygiene and privacy of an Airbnb stay every now and then, so I may switch between hostels and Airbnb from place to place.

      Haven't created a list of cities yet but Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Prague are just a few I will (most) definitely visit. Country-wise I definitely want to check out Germany, Spain and Switzerland, but yeh I haven't researched enough to finalise a list yet.

      • jjjaar on 30/04/2017 - 08:52

        Hostels tend to have private rooms so you An book yourself a private room but still have the benefits of the hostel (ie people in the common room when you want to chat).

        Don't be fooled either, I've stayed in plenty of hostels that are far cleaner than some airbnbs. Always look at reviews.

        Munich is amazing so definitely aim for that if you can. Copenhagen is pretty cool but so expensive. Prague you have to visit the Jewish cemetery.

        Look up Sandemans walking tours (available in many cities including Copenhagen Amsterdam and Prague I believe). They're free walking tours that I love to do on my first day in a new city. Not only do you get a lot g historical information and background on the city, but i tend to get well oriented so I know where I am in the city and can go back. The tours are free, but I tend to tip €5-10 for each (or more if they're amazing).

        • mattoo on 30/04/2017 - 17:51

          Upon a more thorough look on Hostelworld, they definitely look very nice although not as cheap as I thought they'd be.

          Sandemans tours seem like a must-do. I'll definitely try to get on a few of them!

        • jjjaar on 30/04/2017 - 21:51
          +1

          @mattoo: yeah that's another thing too. Sometimes hotels are cheaper than dorms. I remember trying to book Venice solo and for four nights I was going to have to change rooms twice (so three rooms) and it was more expensive than a hotel room with a shared bathroom and breakfast.

          Sandemans also do a bunch of other paid tours too!

  • try2bhelpful on 30/04/2017 - 14:18

    Switzerland is expensive and the food is soso but the views are breathtaking. Interlakken is a good place to stay as there are some great train journeys around there. Definitely look into train travel around Europe - if you can afford it first class rail is really great over there. Certainly look into buying individual standard rail tickets as well, as they may well be cheaper. Checkout public holidays when you are travelling to make sure you aren't going to end up on enormously overcrowded trains.

    Have fun.

    • mattoo on 30/04/2017 - 17:56

      Thanks! I'm still weighing between using a Eurorail pass and just getting individual train tickets, since I'll only be travelling around for about 1-1.5 months and probably won't be able to visit too many different countries unless I rush them.

      • try2bhelpful on 30/04/2017 - 22:08

        There are Eurail tickets that give you individual days over a time period, e.g. 5 days in a 30 day period. Worth looking into this option if this is what you intend to do. It was a while back but we used this option when we took my mum to Europe. We took the train for individual trips between cities and then stayed a few days each time. We used it across Italy, Switzerland, France.

  • strawberrybug on 01/05/2017 - 20:30

    I would leave Switzerland off the list, it's so exxy and kinda boring but yes the views are breath-taking.
    Plus Hostels were amazing in Berlin and Florence a few years ago, they are a chain and really cool.
    Another vote for 3 UK it's definitely worth it for the comfort of having unlimited data on your mobile.

    Sandemans also do the walking tour in Berlin which was great from memory, and do a bicycle tour in Amsterdam. So fun! You'll have the best time!

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