World Cup Calling
May 16, 2006 6:24 AM Subscribe
I am headed to World Cup for the Trinidad vs. Paraguay game. I will be flying into London from Bermuda. I am planning on heading to Germany for the game, and then heading to Italy for a few days, and then to Madrid for a few more, ultimately going back to London and then onto Bermuda. What is the best / cheapest way to get to these countries once I am into London. Should I fly, take a train? Use a ticket broker like AirTreks. Look at RyanAir??
Hm. Tricky.
I'd probably look for a cheap flight from London to the continent and back again, and a EuRail SelectPass for Germany-Italy-France-Spain. If you're under 26, the prices are especially good.
Flights to Germany are going to be in heavy demand, and Kaiserslautern doesn't have a big airport, so you'd be better off getting any flight to Germany (or France, for that matter) that's available and taking the train, then going with EasyJet back from Madrid.
posted by holgate at 6:44 AM on May 16, 2006
I'd probably look for a cheap flight from London to the continent and back again, and a EuRail SelectPass for Germany-Italy-France-Spain. If you're under 26, the prices are especially good.
Flights to Germany are going to be in heavy demand, and Kaiserslautern doesn't have a big airport, so you'd be better off getting any flight to Germany (or France, for that matter) that's available and taking the train, then going with EasyJet back from Madrid.
posted by holgate at 6:44 AM on May 16, 2006
More on the SelectPass courtesy of Rick Steve's site. You could get by with a Germany-Italy-Spain pass, but you'd need to take the ferry from Italy to Spain (about EUR40), which is the same as paying for the French part of the overland route. Either way, it gives you a certain amount of freedom when travelling that the air schedules probably won't.
posted by holgate at 7:00 AM on May 16, 2006
posted by holgate at 7:00 AM on May 16, 2006
Oh, and I'm hogging the thread, but I messed up: you'd probably need a France-Germany-Switzerland-Italy-Spain pass, which is $473 or $306 depending on your age.
posted by holgate at 7:05 AM on May 16, 2006
posted by holgate at 7:05 AM on May 16, 2006
I'm gonna be all crazy and suggest National Express as the cheapest way to get off the island of Britain.
For a hypothetical July 1 departure, London (Victoria Coach Terminal) to Amsterdam on a coach/ferry combo (National Express) will run you GBP 25. I did a night bus run from Victoria to Paris with them and they got the job done. And that's city center to city center, too, so no airport/tube shenanigans. Flights probably exist, maybe for not a lot of money, but I was travelling on Christmas Eve Eve (?) and they were a fifth the cost of flying or Eurostar.
Rail Europe will try to sell you passes, but you really want their handy point-to-point ticket search engine to give you an idea of whether a pass or individual tickets will be a better value.
Die Bahn will give you schedules for all of Europe. For me, buying a bunch of point-to-point tickets was about the same cost as a rail pass, if not less. And not having to jigger the itinerary to make the pass "good value" or something would be nice.
Fly from Italy to Spain on Vueling. Hypothetical Milan-Barcelona flight on June 30 was €53 with taxes.
posted by mdonley at 8:05 AM on May 16, 2006
For a hypothetical July 1 departure, London (Victoria Coach Terminal) to Amsterdam on a coach/ferry combo (National Express) will run you GBP 25. I did a night bus run from Victoria to Paris with them and they got the job done. And that's city center to city center, too, so no airport/tube shenanigans. Flights probably exist, maybe for not a lot of money, but I was travelling on Christmas Eve Eve (?) and they were a fifth the cost of flying or Eurostar.
Rail Europe will try to sell you passes, but you really want their handy point-to-point ticket search engine to give you an idea of whether a pass or individual tickets will be a better value.
Die Bahn will give you schedules for all of Europe. For me, buying a bunch of point-to-point tickets was about the same cost as a rail pass, if not less. And not having to jigger the itinerary to make the pass "good value" or something would be nice.
Fly from Italy to Spain on Vueling. Hypothetical Milan-Barcelona flight on June 30 was €53 with taxes.
posted by mdonley at 8:05 AM on May 16, 2006
What is the best / cheapest
Of course, best != cheapest.
Given the amount of travel within your time limits, you might want to investigate sleeper trains. You save hotel bills and it cuts your travelling time to essentially zero. This site may help you find one and is generally useful for worldwide train travel.
Budget airlines can be very cheap, but make sure you factor in the cost and time to travel to and from the rather obscure and remote airports most of them use.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 6:18 AM on May 17, 2006
Of course, best != cheapest.
Given the amount of travel within your time limits, you might want to investigate sleeper trains. You save hotel bills and it cuts your travelling time to essentially zero. This site may help you find one and is generally useful for worldwide train travel.
Budget airlines can be very cheap, but make sure you factor in the cost and time to travel to and from the rather obscure and remote airports most of them use.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 6:18 AM on May 17, 2006
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posted by biffa at 6:43 AM on May 16, 2006