When it comes to European travel, things can get a little expensive unless you decide to do it for cheap and fly around Europe. Wait what? Flying around Europe and cheap don’t belong in the same sentence, do they? It’s actually cheaper than you might think with the help of a company named EasyJet. They have to do a few things differently than we are used to in the United States but here’s one of the most important things to note about EasyJet.
You are only allowed 1 single carry-on item and it must fit into their little test-fit baggage cage or else you will have to check your bag and pay an additional 50 Euros! My friend just learned this the hard way on our last trip through Europe and he got hit with an extra bag fee in LIS airport.
Here’s how I do it.
I buy a round trip plain ticket from wherever I am to somewhere in Europe that I can get a cheap plane ticket to. I then fly around Europe for 2 reasons. It’s cheap and it’s fast. I will do the trains when I’m old and have money in the bank and time to spend between cities. In Jan 2012, I went to 6 countries in Europe for $396 (with one checked bag on all 6 flights) on top of my $864 for a round trip flight to London from Denver. $1260 for 6 European countries from Denver. Not too bad considering you could pay that much for just a round trip plane ticket from Denver to London. I spent 2 hours searching on EasyJet booking those flights because it was my first time booking with them and I booked each flight separately because I was new to EasyJet. Book all of your flights at once to save a considerable amount of money on baggage charges.
A few months ago Airfare Watchdog sent me notifications for cheap flights to a number of European airports that I had pre selected. I wanted a slightly warmer trip so I opted to TRY to stick pretty far south and close to the Mediterranean Sea. I was either going to fly into Barcelona Spain or Milan Italy. Both tix were approx the same price for a round trip flight from Denver, Colorado. I waited a few days and ended up buying a ticket to Barcelona, Spain for $830.60 to instead of $796.00 a few days prior but if you snooze, you lose. I paid for this flight with my US airways master card that I earn rewards points for every dollar I spend (more on that later). The average price for such a ticket is around $1200 – $1500 if you just search for one online. I found out that I kind of screwed myself because EasyJet only has so many places that I can fly to from Barcelona. Here’s where EasyJet flies within Europe for 25 GBP (About $40 USD) or less.
EasyJet Flights from Barcelona
This isnt really that big of a deal except I have learned that it really limits the second to the last country that I visit because If I can only fly to Barcelona from 16 airports in Europe, then I am more restricted as to where I can wander. If I was flying in/out of Milan, I could be just about anywhere in Europe and catch a flight back to Milan for my flight back to the States but since I am flying into BCN, as the end of my trip gets closer, I need to be closer to an airport that can fly me back there.
See how much more freedom I would have had if I just flew into Milan? My flight options are much greater if I simply fly into a different airport.
The moral of this story is… When flying into Europe, attempt to fly into airports that EasyJet has larger hubs in so you have more flexibility during your travels.
EasyJet Flights from Milan
EasyJet’s largest hub (to the best of my knowledge) is the London Gatwick Airport which flies to over 80 European destinations for less than 40 GBP! You can fly all the way to Israel from London Gatwick for as little as $90 USD! Now if only you could get to Europe for cheap.
EasyJet flights from London, Gatwick
