Cheap travel

[Hans]

Hi,

As I personally tend to travel as cheap as possible (the less money I spend on one trip, the more trips I can make ), I've been compiling a list of internet sites to check when I'm going to travel.
As this list might be usefull to others I thought it might be a good idea to post it, also hoping you can help to expand.
First I'll start with the sites I check for airline tickets and (European) hotels, when I have the time I'll also try to compile a list for car rentals and out-of-Europe hotels.

note: Scramble or I personally are in no way related to any of those sites and companies. This list is only given as a reference, you use them at your own risk!

Airline tickets
http://www.kayak.com/
Relative new site, doing all the work for you by collecting fares from hundreds of other sites (including lots of airlines, Expedia.com, Orbitz etc)! Does not include (all) lowcost airlines or most European travel sites, but apart from that absolute great site!

http://www.lowcostairlines.nl/
Site aimed at the Dutch traveller, showing which lowcost-airlines fly to destinations from airports in the Netherlands, Belgium and northwest Germany. It doesn't show fares, but great place to start looking for cheap flights within Europe.

(note; airlines/sites covered by these two sites are not included in the listing below).

http://www.vliegwinkel.nl/
Dutch site. Not included in Kayak searches.

http://www.cheaptickets.nl/
http://www.cheaptickets.de/
Dutch and German sites of the same Netherlands-based company. Not included in Kayak searches. Think they are unrelated to Cheaptickets.com.

http://www.ebookers.com/
http://www.ebookers.nl/
http://www.ebookers.be/
etc.
European brand of Orbitz.com, UK based, with different localised variants.

http://www.expedia.nl/
http://www.expedia.co.uk/
etc.
Although European variants of Expedia.com, they give different results. Both are not included in the Kayak searches as far as I can tell.

http://www.whichbudget.com/
Basic site with a collection of lowcost fares.

http://wwww.skyscanner.net
Worth a check.

http://asiasrunways.com/
Low cost airlines in Asia and Middle East (excluding former Sovjet Union)


Hotels
Budget hotels;
Usually very basic ("functional") hotels with a double bed and a bunk or comparable and located outside the city center (mostly in or near industrial estates). All prices are for a two or three person bedroom unless otherwise noted.

Hotel Formule 1 (F1)
Probably the largest European chain of low cost hotels, with prices starting from around EUR30. Very basic (if you've seen one F1, you've seen them all) with shared toilets and showers, but in general clean - although exceptions exist (Marseille airport!). Also hotels in Australia, Japan, South Africa and Brazil.

Etap Hotel
Upgraded variant of the F1 (also part of the Accor group), with shower and toilet in the room, but same double bed and bunk. Pan European, with prices starting at around EUR40.

Villages Hôtel
Also part of the Accor group, but somehow also linked to the B&B Hôtels

Premiere Classe
French chain (part of the Louvre-hotels group) with hotels in France, Belgium and Poland, usually comparable with the Etaps, but in general more differences between room-settings in the different hotels. Prices start at around EUR35-EUR40.

B&B Hôtel
Hotels in France and Germany, around EUR50 per room.

Brit Hotel
French chain, mainly located near the Atlantic coast. Prices start at around EUR50.

FastHôtel
French chain. In contrast to most other chains usually with an indoor restaurant (but you need to check opening times!). Prices start at around EUR35.

Bonsaï Hôtels
Small French hotel chain with prices starting at ca EUR30. (they advertise with EUR25, but so far I've unable to get that rate )

Mister Bed
Another small French chain with prices starting at ca EUR30. Noteworthy here is you cannot book your hotel online, you have to phone or mail the hotel directly.

Quick Palace
And another small French chain, prices here start at ca EUR35.

Hotel Akena
Next in the row small French chains. Prices star at ca EUR35.

Best Hotel
And you thought France had enough small budget chains Prices start at ca EUR40.

Motel 1
German chain, with prices starting at EUR45 for a single or EUR55 for a double. Hotels are usually located in or near the city centre.

Travelodge
Hotels in the UK, Ireland and Spain. With early-booking discount (at least 21 days ahead) prices start at GBP19 (or EUR10 in Spain).

Premier Inn
British hotels, prices start at ca GBP50 in the weekend and ca GBP65 on weekdays.

Innkeeper's Lodge
Smaller UK chain with prices from ca GBP55.

Days Inn
US hotel chain, but with hotels worldwide, including 30+ in the UK. Prices start at ca USD60 (USA) or GBP55 (UK).

Holiday Inn Express


General booking sites
http://www.hostelworld.com/
http://www.booking.com/
http://www.hotels.com/
http://www.hotels.nl/ (unrelated to hotels.com)
There are many more comparable sites, but as far as I have noted, most of them use the same database of affiliated hotels.


Hope this helps,

Regards,

Hans

[hmv]

http://www.wegolo.com?

[streep]

Cheaper than all the rest

http://www.sleepinginairports.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Hans]

http://www.wegolo.com?

Thx!

http://www.sleepinginairports.net/

Ouch.... completely forgot about that one!

Hans

[Paul]

Ha Hans,

I use http://www.flycheapo.com/ to look if an airport is available to fly to. When you know witch airport you want to go, this site give's you all information about lowcost companys that uses this airport...

Just have a look....

Regards, Paul.

[Homer]

Hi,

Not necessary related to airline tickets or hotels, but it pays of to subscribe to the "news letters" of those companies; several (eg Seafrance) regulary give discounts to recipients of those mails, while others (like Ryanair, SkyEurope) advise you of any promotions they have.

Just use a seperate (free) account for those

HTH,

H

[Hans]

Promised some time ago... car rentals;

Of course you have the 'regular' car rental firms (Herz, Avis, Budget, National etc etc), but the following links might be interesting too;

• Sunny Cars
  Broker who rents cars with the major rental firms worldwide. Original a German firm but with branches in several other countries.
  At first they may not look cheap, but their prices are all inclusive - including CDW/liability insurance, taxes, free mileage etc (only firm I'm aware of where you still can rent a car with free mileage rental in the Netherlands) which usually makes them cheaper then renting directly with the rental firm themselves.
  My personal experiences with Sunny Cars are good.
• Holiday Autos
  Another broker, this time from the USA, but also with branches in other countries. No personal experience with them. Anybody?

Anybody aware of similar firms?

Cheers, Hans

[mazzel]

Yes, check this one:

http://www.usareisen.de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We booked an Alamo car there last winter. They have great deals. Our mini-SUV booked there was the same price as a compact class car booked directly through http://www.alamo.nl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or alamo.com. No hassle with drop-off charges etc., all included or not even deemed necessary between a lot of states.

Their site is in German but but go compare their prices and the ones on the Alamo websites! They also offer rentals from other major companies.

[Hans Rolink]

Promised some time ago... car rentals;



Anybody aware of similar firms?

Cheers, Hans

Hi Hans,

http://www.holidaycars.nl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hans.

[JS50557]

Hi Hans,

thanks for the initiative.
A very good summary and overview how to get somewhere as cheap as possible and cheap lodging costs as well.

Joop

[MISOS]

Hi Hans (and everybody else),

At this moment it's possible to rent a car with Budget with unlimited mileage. And they are not expensive.

So now with HAT gone it's a "new"option for a nice trip.

Grtz Henk

mmmmm...I still remember the days that we rented a car at the "postoffice" (also Budget) with unlimited miles. A Ford Mondeo for one day was about 35 euro's .
The look on the face of the rental guys when they got there car back with almost 1900 km extra .....in one day

[Hans]

Hi,

www.usareisen.de

http://www.holidaycars.nl

Thanks!

At this moment it's possible to rent a car with Budget with unlimited mileage.

With pick-up in the Netherlands? Then they reversed that at some point, they used to have limited mileage (100km/day or something like that) in the past, just like all others...

Regards,

Hans

[Hans]

All,

Although usually not that cheap -mostly quite the opposite!- the next post might be useful for travel planning.

This is a list of (commercial) organisations which arrange tours. Note that I have no personal experience with any of them (I'm proud to say )

The Netherlands
4 Aviation
With Scramble ceasing their trips several years ago, and the recent demise of HAT, I'm only aware of this group doing tours from The Netherlands, although Onze Luchtmacht has its occasional bus trips - but those are for members only.

Belgium
spottertrips.eu, in cooperation with Dream Holidays/Malou Express
airshowtrips.com, cooperation with Staf Tours.
There also used to be another group from Walonie (Association de Fanatiques d'Aviation Militaire), but they seem to be out of business.


Germany
Air Events
I thought there were more, but can't find them anymore.

United Kingdom
Larger list, with tours ranging from small European trips to worldwide trips;
Aeroprints
The Aviation Society, Manchester
British Aviation Enthusiasts Society
Globemaster Tours
Ian Allan Tours
Nene Valley Aviation Tours
George Pick Travel
Staffs Aviation Tours
Touchdown News; I'm not aware of any "real" website for them, so you probably need to sign up with this Mailing Group for more information.

As usual, additions to this list are welcome.

Regards,

Hans

[Copter]

Another cheap car rental company is:

http://www.sixti.de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As far as I know this is the low budget part of the wel known company Sixt.

We rented a car with Sixti two times (in Switzerland and France) and had both times good experiences !

[aviodromefriend]

Germany
Air Events
I thought there were more, but can't find them anymore.

www.flugrevue.de for example?