Travelling to 4 cities in 3 countries for 110 euros: Budget travel

Two springs ago, a student received an opportunity to attend a conference in Budapest and receive an award.She was excited beyond words to attend the event and visit a new city! However,there was a problem. Flights from Switzerland to Budapest were costing at least 250 Euros and she was broke.As broke as one could be. And if you’ve ever been in that condition, you would know how much it would pinch to spend 250 Euros on flights to a single city alone! The event was important and an affordable plan was needed.Urgently.

So, with that,she set off on a new mission to find an alternative plan.One that would let her spend less and see more. The result: as evident from the title of this post, it was possible to spend less than half the amount on transport AND see three additional cities too!Now that you’ve got the basic picture, I will stop talking about myself in the third person and get on with the details. Yes,of course the broke student was me,and at the end of the trip,I was, in fact, very very happy. Both, for myself, and my bank account.

 

So,I was set to travel in May and was trying to book tickets more than two months in advance.The only direct easyjet flight was fully booked, which is why,the next best option seemed to be taking a connection via Amsterdam and spending the large amount on the return trip.Yes,I did look up trains but the long 12 hour one way journey didn’t seem to be a cheaper choice. But, then, it struck me.Why don’t I split my journey at a point from where I could get a cheap connection to Budapest?Surely there had to be a way. And thus began my quest of continuously looking up airfare search engines, train and carpooling websites to find that perfect halt.

Somehow,during the process, Milan came up as an option and I ran the usual search on Skyscanner to get an idea of the options available. When I looked back at the screen, I could not believe the first option I saw. Could there really be a flight from Milan to Budapest for 10 euros? Turned out it was legit! That was how I got introduced to WizzAir, one of the low cost airlines in Europe,and I went on their website to make sure the fare was not an error. As with other low cost airlines like easyjet,RyanAir,etc, you could only have a single carry-on bag, and would have to pay for anything extra you carried. Fine, I thought. Next I had to find a cheap option to get to Milan from Basel. Several searches later, I did find a savings, non-refundable train fare for 20 Euros on sbb.ch (the Swiss train website)! So, there I was, sorted for one half of the journey. 30 Euros to get to Hungary from Switzerland. Not bad,I told myself! This would give me a day’s break in Milan, and I managed to find an adorable Couchsurfing host in the city for a night too:)

Throwback to #milano – Duomo, Galleria, the architecture everywhere, the food and the castle!

A photo posted by Menorca@EuropeDiaries (@menorca_c) on Dec 18, 2015 at 9:32pm PST

While I was at it, I also found two other hosts in Budapest who were happy to host me. I planned to stay in Budapest for four or five days, and my next task was to plan the return trip, and if possible, see a new place too.

Once again, I started looking at outbound flights,trains,buses from Budapest and evaluating my options. A friend had recently moved to Belgium and visiting her had been at the back of my mind for quite a few days. So, when I came across a 20 Euro Wizz Air flight to get to Brussels Charleroi, I was really excited! She was living in Ghent,and I figured I could spend a weekend with her and then use atleast a day to go around Brussels,before taking a late night Eurolines bus back to Basel.I was really glad to find this bus for 31 Euros,and this meant that I could be home at a good time in the morning the next day.

Sure,I would have loved to spend more time in Belgium, devouring more waffles,chocolates,crepes and sampling their beer as well as chocolate. But,I was in the midst of writing my thesis and had to get back to work after a week’s break and lots of new experiences.

 

 

 

To summarize all my transport expenditure, this is what I spent:

Basel->Milan- Train- 20 Eur

Milan city-> Malpensa Airport – Bus- 8 Eur

Milan Malpensa->Budapest- Flight- 10 Eur

Budapest-> Brussels Charleroi-Flight- 22 Eur

Charleroi -> Brussels Railway station – Shuttle Bus – 5 Eur

Brussels-> Ghent-Train-  8 Eur

Ghent -> Brussels-Train – 5 Eur (discounted bulk tickets)

Brussels -> Basel-Bus- 31 Eur

Total:109 Eur

 

So, overall, what I can suggest is:

• Try breaking your journey and finding cheaper modes of transport, if direct connections seem to be very expensive.
• Scour the web for budget airlines as well as train offers in different countries.Trains with more changes often cost cheaper, more so if you are under 25 years of age.
• Switzerland has something known as a ‘Super saver fare’, which offers great reductions on different tickets  about two weeks in advance. Similarly, Deutsche Bahn (Germany) has several offers for each state as well as for travelling across the country, in a group, etc. Infact, if you are more than 5 people, you could pay only half the price . For closer distances, I love using carpooling.Check out mitfahrgelegenheit  or blablacar for an idea.
• Have not really found buses in Switzerland. Meinfernbus and Eurolines run from Basel(Lorrach in Germany) and Zurich to different countries. So, you can check out that option too.

I visited Milan again two months ago and spent a few days there this time. I loved trying out all the food along with drinks like Limoncello and Avarna. However, what I really liked too and could recommend is the Milan City Card.I was able to have a free Pizza meal,get access for free to the rooftop of the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel,get discounts to museums, get two Uber rides and also had the possibility to have a free boat ride, free dessert and more!It costs 7 Euros for one day,13 for 2 and 19 for 3 days.

If you visit Italy soon, do bring back a bottle of Limoncello for me!

As of now, I’m longing for the thermal bath that I had visited in Budapest.Sigh!

Please do give this post a share on social media and if any of your friends might be planning a Europe budget trip soon, do send it to them too for ideas!  You can also pin it for easy reference later.

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