In this blog post I would like to focus on the transportation logistics of my break. Hopefully my anecdotes and reviews can help inspire and serve as a warning to others.
Trains
Originally we looked into taking Eurail. Everyone kept telling us how easy and affordable it was. However, it was more expensive than people made it out to be. We knew that we wanted to go to multiple countries in Eastern Europe. However, the most versatile pass: the Global Pass is 376 € per youth (12 – 27 years old). This was by far the most expensive option and it would be really slow. Even for closer destinations such as Milan, it made more sense for us to fly. For example, to go from Paris to Milan, the train is 7.5 hours and 80 € and a flight is 1.5 hours 50 €. Needless to say, we opted to fly.
Budget Airlines:
We booked flights 6 days before the date we were planning to travel, because we were not the most organized. If we were to plan better, the best prices are said to be 99 days before departure. We used Skyscanner and booked tickets for close to nothing. Budget airlines such as Wizz Air and Ryanair (the two we used) offer amazing deals which looked too good to be true.
For example, the flight I took from Milan to Brussels was 10 € through Ryanair and the flight from Paris to Brussels was 107 € through Wizz Air. However, there was a great deal of fine print and unexpected costs. The flight prices looked too good to be true in part because they were.
Baggage: To bring a standard size bag on the plane you must pay an extra 10-20 €. Most of the airlines do allow passengers one small piece of luggage. The maximum dimensions for the Ryanair free carry on was 35cm x 20cm x 10 cm and weight could be no more than 10 kg; basically the size of a school backpack. We had to pack light. For the whole trip I brought 1 extra pair of pants, 2 shirts, one sweater, and a few pairs of socks and underwear which I could wash at the hostels. I had to leave luxury items such as a hair brush, makeup, and a second pair of shoes at home. Make sure you check your bags weight and size beforehand. I saw many people at the airport panicking because their bags were too big or weighed too much!
Incognito: For the flights we took, we checked the prices on Skyscanner and used the incognito mode of Chrome. Internet browsers uses cookies and can track your browsing history. If the cookies in our browsers saw a pattern, such as, we keep looking up flights to Budapest, then the browsers know that we are thinking of going to Budapest. As a result they would artificially raise the price of tickets. Incognito mode helped to ensure that the browsers would not recognize what we were doing. While this may sound like a conspiracy theory, the prices of the tickets were different when I used incognito mode versus the standard browsing mode.
Check in: All the budget airlines we looked at forced us to check in online before the flight. If you do not check in beforehand and go to the airport you could incur a penalty fee of up to a 60€. This is what happened to us Friday morning when we showed up at the airport. Wizzair told us that there was no record of us checking in and so to get onto the plain we had to pay a 37€ fine per person.
However, checking in early is not a walk in the park. For our flight from Paris to Budapest (with a layover in Sofia) we used the booking site Kiwi.com, which required me (the ticket purchaser) to check in everyone 48 hours before the flight, but the airline (Wizz Air) would not let me check in that early. On Thursday (the day before the flight) I had to call Kiwi.com to explain the situation and that I spent over 2 hours on the phone working (i.e. arguing) with the man on the other end of the phone call to check in. Once I was done on the phone with the person who manually checked me in, he told me that I would receive the boarding passes via email in the next 4 – 6 hours. Why does it take 4 – 6 hours to send an email? I have no idea. Finally, the boarding passes were sent, but it was only for the second half of the flight (Sofia to Budapest). This of course was a huge problem. Since we were not checked in to the first half of the flight (Paris to Sofia), we incurred the penalty fee. We bit the bullet and paid the fine on the spot because there was nothing else we could do. When we tried to call Kiwi.com to explain this issue, they sent us on a wild goose chase which ended up with us filing an online complaint.
We were faced with similar difficulties when checking into our Ryanair flights. Oliver and John were on their phones and computers for an hour trying to check into their Ryanair flights from Milan to Paris. Their website and apps were far from user-friendly which makes sense. The airline makes more money if you are unable to check in.
Location of Airport: When booking flights, something which we did not consider was proximity of airport to their respective cities. Budget airlines (such as the ones for which we opted) do not use the normal, nice, and close to the city airports which are used by the bigger airlines (such as Delta, British Airways, etc). This got us every… single… time…
To start our vacation, we flew out of the Paris airport Aéroport de Paris-Beauvais-Tillé. I had no idea where this place was so I google mapped it. I was shocked to learn that it is located about an hour and a half away from where I live. I was in awe. In the United States, I live in Branford, Connecticut which is about one and a half hours away from New York City. Using the same logic as Aéroport de Paris-Beauvais-Tillé, I basically live in New York City.
To get to Aéroport de Paris-Beauvais-Tillé, we had to take a 15 € shuttle from Point-Maillot (a bus station about 40 minutes by metro away from where I live). While this does not sound like a lot, it adds a great deal of time and money to our trips. I cannot stress how aggravating it was to be slapped with 5-17 € shuttle fees and hours on a bus to the airport.
Even little cities like Brussels have the bait and switch airports i.e. Brussels Zaventem Airport (20 minutes away from the city) versus Brussels South Charleroi Airport (60 minutes away from the city).
Buses
Say after reading this post, you are turned off from taking the train and budget airlines, the bus is always an option. At Northeastern University, I use Megabus and Greyhound all the time to get home from school for the weekend. In Boston buses are a cheap way to travel. I thought taking a bus from Brussels to Paris would be as easy as taking a bus from South Station in Boston to New Haven (where I live). The the buses are comparable in price (20 € and $25) and were both about 4 hours long; this is where the similarities ended.
The Flixbus was a nightmare. I got to Bruxelles-Nord Station, where the bus was said to depart. I waited in the snow for 15 minutes before the bus even opened its doors. Inside was the bus driver standing on the stairs of the bus with a lit cigarette in hand. I asked him (in French) if this was the bus that goes to Paris and if I could get on. With a tone of annoyance he told me that I had to wait because they needed to change drivers. He then told us to form a line (in the middle of the road) and wait. This worked, up until another bus needed to pass by and we were all in the street. Once inside, the bus smelled of smoke and heavy perfumes that had been used in an attempt to mask the smell of the smoke. There were no outlets to charge phones and there was no bathroom. After this experience, I have decided that I would rather pay the little extra and fly, or take the train versus taking the bus.
Filing a Complaint:
If something does go wrong and you need to ask for help or file a complaint, be prepared for a long ride. Most of these Budget Airline and Bus companies have terrible records of customer service. We looked at the Facebook Page of Kiwi.com and it was littered with horrible reviews. So many in fact that the company regularly goes through and purges the cite. Whereas it sounds terrible, it makes sense. Wizz Air does not care about customer loyalty. The reality is that they offer some of the cheapest flights on the market and if you are not willing to buy from them, don’t worry someone will.
The truth of the matter is: I knew how terrible these airline and bus companies were and I used them anyway. I have a tight budget and need to pinch pennies. For me, it was between using these airlines and bus companies, or not traveling at all. I assume the opportunity cost is similar for most young adults. I write this blog post not to deter readers from using these means of transportation, I just want people to understand what using these companies really entails.
