So, I am going to a wedding in Avignon, France (from Newport News, Virginia) and airline tickets are looking hellaciously expensive, particularly since it is over Memorial Day weekend. Anybody have any ideas on how to make this a bit cheaper?
Oh, and it has been a while since I have been to Europe, any ideas on how to make the stay there a little easier on the wallet?
This is going to be a great time, but the expense means I may have to go alone rather than having my GF with me, so any suggestions on how to make it affordable for both of us would be great, thanks.
Getting there might be cheaper if you fly to London, then get a cheapy flight within Europe to near Avignon. You can pick flights up from Ryanair, BMI Baby, or EasyJet, literally for pennies (plus tax). Leave about half a day to get from the major airport to the minor one, though.
(I recently got caught out on this getting to Phuket in Thailand. I booked a straight-through flight with a change at Singapore. If I’d have booked just a Singapore flight, then a separate flight with Tiger Airways, I’d have saved about £200.)
You might also be able to do this through Dublin. Find out which is the cheapest destination, then investigate cut-price European airlines.
While there, see if you can book a gite - a self-catering cottage, usually at a farm - rather than a hotel. Also, look into hostels, as some of them have double rooms and are very nice indeed, for a fraction of the cost.
Eating out in France is great, but the produce you can get in the markets and supermarkets is both cheap and of fantastic quality. Not to mention the wine…
Going via London is certainly a way to reduce the cost, if you don’t mind the extra hassle. Travelling on to Avignon by train would be a simple option, or get a flight to any number of tiny French airports - look at www.whichbudget.com for routes.
However, a lot of the costs are going to be high no matter what, because the 26th May is a public holiday in the UK (and possibly elsewhere, too).
Go someplace where there are a lot of Bush lovers. Announce what a poor job the President is doing, that we should get out of Iraq, that we never should have invaded Iraq in the first place, etc.
When someone says, 'Why don’t you go back to France! :mad: ’ tell him that you will if he buys you a ticket.
Gites are great, and I would certainly also recommand them, but they’re situated in the countryside, which isn’t very convenient if the OP needs to spend most of his time in Avignon. Also, he will need a car. And generally, they’re rented by the week, and maybe the OP doesn’t intend to stay that long.
On the other hand, if he intends to stay for some time, and to visit the region while he’s there, I would certainly advise him to rent a car anyway, so a gite would certainly be a good idea, and they rarely are dissapointing.
Hmmm… The youth hostel site I linked to above is useless, since apparently, they have no hostel in Avignon. A quick google search shows there seem to be a couple hostels there, though. But probably privately owned, which means they might be a little more costly and might have an upper age limit.
Actually, looking more closely, I’m not sure that these “hostels” are all really hostels. The prices at least seem significantly higher that what should be expected in an hostel. Maybe actually cheap hotels?
It’s been two years, but with regard to the staying in France, look for a chain like Nuit d’Hotel. Formule 1 is very much on the basic side but cheap and really for overnight stops only. There is typically little if any extra cost for two. With most towns in France, you can simply locate the local Syndicat D’Initiative and get a list of local hotels, though you need to beware of the problem of the local conference! In your case, I’d suggest getting someone local to book you a hotel: if you’re not the only ones coming from afar, they may be able to get a group discount. Or get one of the other guests to put you up.
As for getting there, as you’ve noted, it’s a holiday. So why not make it one? Go early, come back late.
Another option:
Check this site for cheap airfare: ITA
Once you have found desirable airfare (which might be troublesome at this late date for that time period) either book on the airline’s site or call them directly.
Easyjet flies from London Stansted to Lyon for as much as 60 pounds one way to as little as 16–depending on which day you fly. For similar airfare, Easyjet also flies from London to Toulouse. You can get to Avignon from these cities without too much fuss or trouble by car or train.
You’ll hear the same suggestion about any number of hub airports (Amsterdam is another common one). The reality is never that simple - if one airline was consistently cheaper than the others in such an obvious way, the rest would be bankrupt.
Yes.
Another one is Frankfurt. In terms of getting to Avignon, I actually think that London (with its various airports) is not a bad connection to look into.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will crunch the numbers on some of the ideas like routing through London tonight.
We were planning on making it a small vacation. We were thinking of Wednesday through Wednesday. That way we get a little time there and get the cheaper mid-week fares.
We were thinking we would rent a car from Paris or wherever we landed rather than fly or take the train. It actually looks to be significantly cheaper, even when you factor in gas. I will have to look into the cheap flights from London first though.
I very much doubt driving a hire car from Paris would work out much cheaper, if at all. 900 miles, with petrol costing over twice American prices, plus motorway tolls which I think will be around the €100 mark?
We found http://www.venere.com/ to be helpful in finding places to stay while over there. You can search by price/area. They’ll provide quotes for hotels, hostels, privately owned apartments, etc.
If your schedule is somewhat flexible, you may want to see if you can set up a courier arrangement.
Price itineraries direct from a major airport (NY, Dulles, Atlanta) and make separate arrangements for getting there on a discount carrier or via car.
You could also fly to any decent sized city (France or otherwise) and train it to Avignon. I believe Frankfort, Germany is generally one of the cheapest European cities to fly to. The rail tickets should not be too pricey, but make sure you plan/reserve the train ride ahead of time.
If tickets are really expensive, check to see if the price difference for a fully refundable fare is close to your original quote (it may not be too much more than a non-refundable). You can then check for last minute deals and cancel your original flight without penalty.
This month’s Budget Travel magazine had an ad for a one week round-trip fare for $759 which included 7 vouchers for hotel stays/B&Bs. I think it covered France/Italy - you can see if will work for you.
I saw this online (you can train it from Paris to Avignon):
