# Travel deals when you don't know where to go
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 23, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174 "2010-08-23T16:55:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/1 "2010-08-23T16:55:22Z")
I’ve got two things- wanderlust and a week of vacation time. The girlfriend and I haven’t traveled anywhere since April and haven’t left the country in over a year. We want to go to Europe before winter but we’re having trouble finding deals.
We’re established CouchSurfers so we don’t need hotels. We need flights. And we’re getting tired of the hunt-and-peck methods that most travel sites use. We have a 3 month window for travel. We can travel from NY, DC, Philli, and anywhere in between. We can go to anywhere in Europe. That’s too many variables!
So how should I go about finding deals, considering the massive number of successful combinations and the even more massive number of unsuccessful ones? Anyone know any gee-wiz sites for people like me?
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/2 "2010-08-23T17:12:06Z")
Find a deal to Frankfurt. That is a major hub in Europe. From there, you can ride a train almost anywhere on the continent. You could go to Prague, Budapest, Amsterdam, Bratislava, or any combination on the excellen rail system and all of it is doable from Frankfurt.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/3 "2010-08-23T17:26:41Z")
Please have a look at Icelandic Air - their Saga class from Boston Logan to Frankfurt was $2000, when everybody else was in the $5000 range … only about $500 more than economy class!
And they are friendly and very competent - food in economy class sucks =) but not much airline food is really any good in economy class.
We did a great banzai vacation in Germany and Holland, we flew into Frankfurt, screwed around in Germany for 2 days, then ran off to Amsterdam for a couple days and then back to Frankfurt and back to the US.
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### Author:  [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/4 "2010-08-23T17:42:18Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> Please have a look at Icelandic Air
Do you mean [Icelandair](http://www.icelandair.com/)?
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### Author:  [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/5 "2010-08-23T18:44:57Z")
What is your flight budget?
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### Author:  [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/6 "2010-08-23T19:19:20Z")
I’d like to get to mainland Europe for $500 each.
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/7 "2010-08-23T19:21:06Z")
The best thing I’ve found is to use Kayak’s flexible dates search. It will show you a calendar that is populated with the lowest fares found for most days on the calendar, according to previous searches by other users.
So, for example, I searched for flights from “WAS” to Frankfurt within three days of October 20. Lo and behold, a calendar pops up that says that the cheapest flight on that date and the day after are $740, that if I left on the Sunday a few days prior it would cost $960, but if I departed on Oct 28, there are flights starting at $653 – and I can also get those fares if I left on Nov 1, 15, 23, or 24.
It still involves a lot of searching and re-searching, but less than most travel sites.
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### Author:  [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/8 "2010-08-23T19:51:59Z")
Best I’ve seen is $527 to Brussels from Newark, nonstop, on Brussels Air. Go to Orbitz and do a flexible dates search (option 3 lets you search different trip lenghts within a 30 day window) to figure out exact dates. Oct. 5-13 is one option.
I used [this map](http://www.farecompare.com/maps/myAirportCategoryMap.html?departure=NYC&category=Europe) to identify the cheapest cities to fly to and then use the month-long Orbitz search to see what’s really available. Be warned that sometimes the prices on this site don’t include taxes, so take what you see with a grain of salt. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is missing a couple hundred in fuel fees and taxes (but it still might be a good fare).
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### Author:  [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/9 "2010-08-24T03:49:51Z")
Fare Compare has a function that tweets out airfare changes from airports that you select.
Airfare Watchdog also sends out the lowest airfares from airports that you select.
Check the Mileage Run Deals forum at Flyertalk. You can find some nice deals out there as well.
All three have served me well. I got PHL-Madrid for $211 r/t last year, an open jaw PHL-Berlin, Munich-PHL the year before for $375. Further back, I nabbed JFK-Paris for $315. (After bump credits, that came out to a sweet $115 r/t all-in).
You have to be flexible and often you have to be quick. When that Madrid fare came up last year due an an error on Delta’s part, I asked some friends if they wanted to come along and they had to go home and run it through the Committee of the Whole before booking. By the time they got approval, the fare was gone.
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### Author:  [@steadierfooting](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steadierfooting)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/10 "2010-08-24T16:59:35Z")
Does those prices include taxes? I sign up for each major airlines e-deals newsletter. They aren’t amazing deals, but occasionally you can find one. I did Newark to Dublin for 450 R/T direct with taxes in April.
Also, play around with flying out thanksgiving eve if you can get away. Prices are lower then because there are a lot of americans flying in for the holiday, but not as many people leaving.
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### Author:  [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/11 "2010-08-24T17:09:09Z")
Mine included taxes. The airlines emails come up with some decent deals from time to time but seldom anything that blows my socks off.
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### Author:  [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/12 "2010-08-24T17:10:10Z")
The absolute best suggestion that I give to everyone is [Travel Zoo](http://www.travelzoo.com/). On the right hand side, sign up for their email Top 20 list. Once a week (I think it’s today), they send out the best travel deals. Insane shit- 15 days in Egypt, all air, food, 5 star hotels, tour guides, Nile Cruise, security blah blah for as low as $1199. Week trips to Ireland where you stay in a castle, get breakfast every day, a rental car, and air included for $499.
I think this would be great for you guys, if you have no particular place in mind. Just take your budget, then grab the deal that fits!
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### Author:  [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/13 "2010-08-24T17:28:47Z")
The $527 to Brussels is an all-in price.
**Neptunian Slug** is absolutely right about being flexible and quick to get the best prices. There have been some great airfare deals over the years and unless you check on sites like FlyerTalk almost every day you only hear about them when they make the news, like when an airline messes up and offers $0+tax to some exotic destination.
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/14 "2010-08-27T21:35:33Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#):
>
> Week trips to Ireland where you stay in a castle, get breakfast every day, a rental car, and air included for $499.
Did you actually see this deal? It sounds insanely cheap.
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### Author:  [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-deals-when-you-dont-know-where-to-go/551174/15 "2010-08-28T00:05:41Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#):
>
> > [@DiosaBellissima](#):
> >
> > Week trips to Ireland where you stay in a castle, get breakfast every day, a rental car, and air included for $499.
>
> Did you actually see this deal? It sounds insanely cheap.
Yup. This isn’t that exact one that I saw a few weeks ago and was referencing (that one’s expired), but [here’s a new, similar one.](http://www.travelzoo.com/vacations/europe/875354/?utm_source=top20_us&utm_medium=email_top20)