2286

Hi,

somebody recommended this forum to me saying sometimes you'll get tips for unbelievably cheap plane tickets and hotel bookings here.

I would like to go to Ireland or England some times this year. When it comes to dates, I am pretty flexible. Anything between August and Mid December is fine.

Location does not matter to me that much either, as long as it is in reasonable distance to an airport.
Duration: at least 7 days, max. 21 days (unless staying even longer would be ridiculously affordable).

I have been doing tons of searches on my own already, but either the flights cost too much or hotel fees are too expensive, it never combines the right way. Maybe somebody on here has a suggestion for me?

I'd prefer to fly from LBC (Lübeck Airport), HAM (Hamburg Airport), or BRE (Bremen Airport), all of which are in Northern Germany. If there'd be a really great deal, I'd fly from some other airport as well.

Thanks in advance =)

UAPremExecflyer

Welcome to FT!
Are you sure you were sent here "for unbelievably cheap airfares"?
I think you need to give more details about what you want to do -- what you are interested in? what is your budget etc?
FT members will help you with advice if you suggest an itinerary or want to compare several itineraries. But you need to do some work yourself. This is not a travel agency.

stut

Hi 2286 and welcome to Flyertalk.

It's really hard to give you any precise recommendations here, as there's simply so many variables involved in finding cheap fares - not least your own flexibility.

However... I would recommend looking at sites like skyscanner.net, which will compare prices of all the airlines, including low-cost ones, allowing you to view fares for multiple airports.

You could also consider alternative forms of transport. DB have fares on the ICE/Eurostar via Brussels starting at €49 each way, and that will also avoid low-cost airline fees and airport transfer costs. Then, if you can easily get yourself to the Netherlands, there are excellent fares via the Hoek van Holland - Harwich ferry, which will also save you a night's accommodation.

Have a look at what's available, and feel free to ask if you have questions on the options available.

Aviatrix

Welcome to Flyertalk, 2286.

You won't be able to fly to London from LBC because Ryanair discontinued the route last year (in fact you may soon not be able to fly from LBC to anywhere, but that's a different story)

From HAM you have LH, BA and Easyjet.

BRE is a Ryanair hub, Ryanair's web site will tell you whether or not they fly from there to any of the London airports.

The Hoek van Holland train/ferry route, suggested by stut, isn't really a terribly good option any more (oh for the good old days of the Holland-Skandinavien-Express, direct train to Copenhagen straight from the ferry...). I did it once, during the Volcanic Ash incident two years ago, and it took all day and involved multiple changes.

MoreMilesPlease

London airports have very high taxes. Ireland airports are usually cheaper to fly to because of the lower taxes.

Hotels will be expensive no matter where you pick if you wat the city. If you can travel after the local school year starts things will be cheaper. When schools are out the prices go up.

2286

Thanks for the info everyone

@UAPremExecflyer: I am simply interested in an affordable vacation in either Ireland or England. I don't mind when exactly it will be, nor for a particular destination over there. Budget-wise I'd say EUR 800 tops (including flight and hotel for about two weeks), if that is somehow possible.

@stut: I am completely flexible. Starting August, I could book almost every flight, even on very short notice. Skyscanner looks great, I've found flights for around 80 bucks already. Unless I didn't search right, train rates can't compete with that (Brussels - London is 44 EUR but I'd have to get to Brussels somehow, too)...

@Aviatrix: Bremen - London Stansted via Ryanair is nuts. They want 30 EUR for a a roundtrip ticket. Either that is a glitch on their website or it's the best offer ever.

I gotta do some googling though, from what I hear, that one is not the best airport to fly to if you want to go to London.

@MoreMilesPlease: great, thank you. I'll keep that in mind.

stut

You should be able to book certain journeys all-in from bahn.de, but yes, the €49 tickets are hard to come by these days.

That's not unusual for a Ryanair offer - the headline price is often far, far less. Just bear in mind that there are many additional fees for anything from credit card payments to checked luggage, and don't believe the price until you have to click to charge it to your card.

Stansted isn't bad, as there's an express train to London every 15 minutes, taking 47 minutes, and a coach (bus) service if you want to save some money. I certainly wouldn't pay over the odds to go somewhere else, but of course, you need to factor the cost of the train/bus into the overall price.

Of course, you don't have to go from Stansted direct to London, if that's not the immediate focus of your journey, as it's also linked to Cambridge. But I would be surprised if you wanted to miss out London.

big_mac

I think it's a little odd to not care where you are going to stay; would you really be happy spending two weeks in Middlesbrough? What do you intend to do with your time?

Travelling around the country can be cheap, but generally needs to be booked in advance to get the lowest fares.

You may need to specify a stopover time in Brussels on bahn.de to get a good fare. It will not offer the special fare for connections on Thalys, but will on the ICE, so by changing the time spent in Brussels you can change the connections you are offered.

Cheap flights will probably cost less than a train ticket, but be careful. Especially with Ryanair, making a simple mistake can be very expensive. If, for instance, you notice with 4 hours to go that you can't find your printout, then this will cost you £60. Their hand luggage size is non-standard, and if yours doesn't fit this could cost you £100. etc. etc.

Hotels can be had cheaply, particularly if booked in advance.
See, e.g., travelodge.co.uk, laterooms.com
University accommodation may be available over summer as well
university-rooms.com

Reason077

It's definitely worth checking on bahn.de for the €49 "london special" fare. It's available from any station in Germany.

These fares are pretty well hidden, but they do exist! The trick to finding them is to vary the length of your connection in Brussels, using the "Enter stopovers" option. If you're flexible and prepared to stay overnight in Brussels, it's usually possible to find them if you're booking at least a few weeks in advance.

Another tip: you're allowed 2 free stopovers with this fare, of up to 48 hours each. So it's a good cheap way to get a mini-tour of Germany if that's what you're interested in.

There's also a €99 first class version which I did just a few weeks ago - great bargain, and great service on DB!

trueblu

Welcome to FT! However, I do think your budget is extremely unrealistic. For two weeks, E800, just for hotels, equates to less than GBP50/ night. That's just about possible if you avoid london, and are willing to do youth hostels. If you factor in E100 total minimum cost for flights, it squeezes you even more, and we're not even talking about intra-UK/Ireland transport, food, and attractions.

tb

stut

That kind of price is easily done outside of London, either with pre-booked rates in the likes of Premier Inn, or B&Bs. Inside London, though... You'll struggle. There are ways, though - staying slightly out of the centre, or, as mentioned, taking single rooms in Youth Hostels. There's also chains like Tune Hotels and easyHotel, who provide much better value than the Kings Cross and Paddington fleapit hotels.

Once you have a clearer idea of dates and destinations, we can direct advice a bit more specifically.

trueblu

Agree it's theoretically possible, but not really desirable. Apart from youth hostels, which can provide decent value, even b&bs etc in desirable locations that don't require a car (e.g. not a motorway service station) to get to/from seem to run significantly dearer than that these days. Of course, I've not done a comprehensive survey. However, if the E800 is the 'all-in' budget, including transport and food, for 2 weeks, it's going to be a real struggle.

tb

stut

I dunno, I regularly stayed in hotels of well under £50 when I was unemployed last year and wanted to take myself away for a bit.

For example, I can see several of the decent London Travelodges at £25.50 for just after the Olympic Circus has packed up and left, easyHotels like Edinburgh for £25.65 once the festival is over, plenty of Etap hotel deals at £18/28 in late August (e.g. Salford Quays, Glasgow)... All easy walk/bus/train locations, and decent hotels for the money.

Similarly, I can see trains from London to York for a tenner, York to Edinburgh for £15, even trips down to Cornwall for £30. Take Megabus for less still. Just don't pour any liquids into boxes while you're there...

Food, well, get yourself some Oatso Simple porridge pots for in-hotel breakfasts, DIY supermarket sandwiches for lunch, and load yourself up with vouchers for chain restaurants in the evening, or find a decent local pub.

Attractions - the best ones are free! All the big London museums are, for starters, and just look at all the wonderful national parks and coastline dotted around.

It won't be simple, but I've been on this kind of budget recently, and, with a decent amount of planning and flexibility, it's very doable!

railways

I agree totally with this (in principle! I don’t often stay in London hotels). On train travels around the continent, €50 is my datapoint – at cities like Brussels, Munich and Vienna, for example, so not cheap places. This is for moderate, well-located hotels (not dumps), but you need to dig around – and don’t ignore the traditional route of TAs: you can still occasionally get great bargains through their wholesalers. I’d say I use that route about 1-in-3 times.

Back to London – I had the opportunity of being tourist and tour guide (to a continental European friend of mine) in May.

By far one of the best bargains was the £4 (with any kind of travelcard) boat journey from Greenwich to Westminster Bridge on Thames Clippers – a great way to see the sights, especially for a first-timer, in the front row of the catamaran.

railways

This is a great tip, and can be even better in the reverse direction.

Couple of things which may be of interest:
1. The tickets are priced on the basis of demand on the ICE to/from Brussels, not Eurostar (you can usually choose the train you want);
2. If you build in local trains (mainly RE/RB) into the schedule, then for this part of the journey, the ticket is not train-specific: it can be used on any local train on that day between the relevant stations.