Hi Rick,
I read your book regarding Europe.. awesome book by the way.. i'm thinking of backpacking to EUrope for two months but not sure what airport to fly into from MIA.. I saw swiss being pretty cheap.. I don't plann on visiting london. advise please.
Not sure the Big Guy had time to read the Forum but I'm sure he appreciates your compliment.
Where are you going in Europe? Just Italy? Italy, Spain, France? If you'll provide some more specific information I'm certain we volunteer posters will be happy to reply.
Are you considering flying open jaw (into one city and out of another)? Looking to get the best airfare?
Let's us know your plans and I know will come up with some suggestions.
Maria - My family and I went over for a month and cost was a big concern for us. We covered a lot of ground (5 countries - Netherlands, Brussels, Germany, Austria, and Italy) and had Eurail passes for Benelux/Germany/Austria/Italy. Our approach when looking for airfare was to find the cheapest most convenient tickets somewhere in those 5 countries or where our rail passes would work. We ended up flying rountrip into/out of Amsterdam as it was the cheapest by at least $600 per person at the time. While we appreciated the convenience of open jaw we could not afford to do that as it would have been about $1000 more per person. So we flew into Amsterdam; spent a wonderful four weeks in five countries; and flew a local european airline from Rome so that we could fly home from Amsterdam. We saved quite a bit on airfare which allowed us to spend more on the rest of the trip. It was awesome!
If you have no preference of destinations, I would search the web for discount fares to the major cities such as Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, but not London and keep searching every day until you find a low fare.
Remember that fares change daily; so you should search as often as you can for as long as you can. The more time you search the better your chances.
Call a few airlines and ask an agent about current and future fares. Leave your dates and destination open.
