Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Travelling on budget from Scandinavia

Unlike London, there are not many budget airlines that service among the Scandinavian airports. However, there is still hope in finding one :)
I like to search for reasonable tickets (with reasonable travel time) via Skyscanner. Not only that it is restricted to searching flights, you can use it to search for hotels too. It is my favourite site when come to planning for vacations.

Norwegian Air is probably the airline that I fly with frequently during my stay in Denmark. It is reliable and the price is rather reasonable. I find that at times, it is cheaper than Easyjet. I notice that Easyjet is getting more expensive over the time (like Air Asia). I am not sure if it is only for flights from and to Denmark.



Next, I had flown a few times via Cimber Sterling. There wasn't any unpleasant experience except that it had declared bankruptcy last year!! Exactly on the day before our planned vacation to Nice, France!! -.-
We had bought our flight with Cimber Sterling and booked the hotels. Fortunately, we hadn't rented a car.
Well, I guess it was a blessing in disguise. We got to know it right on time to cancel our hotel bookings and managed to get a refund. A tip here. Some hotels offer free cancellations up to 24 hours before your arrival date.

The unfortunate part was we could not get our flight fares refunded because we paid using a debit card instead of a credit card.
Another tip here. Do pay your flights via credit card so that you could file for refund should there be any flight delays, cancellations or in our case, bankruptcy!

Austrian Air is worth mentioning, though it is not categorised as a budget airline. They do offer special fares from time to time and I must say the price is not a far cry from Easyjet. Plus, they serve refreshments (drinks and pastries/cakes/sandwiches) and the portion is generous even though it is a short journey.



Apart from flights, you could travel via train (intercity trains between Denmark or cross border trains from Denmark). If you are a tourist without residential visa which you had held for 6 months, you may go with Eurail should you plan to travel within European countries via train.
If you hold a European residential visa for 6 months (eg: you have been living in Europe for at least 6 months with a valid residential visa from the date you will travel) or more, then go with InterRail.
The latter offers a discounted fare of 35% on 2nd class passes for young travellers (age 25 or below on the first day of travel).

Do remember to bring your work/study visa and/or passport when you purchase the tickets (though you can always purchase it online) and when you are travelling. You will need to provide evidence to the train officer that you are indeed an European resident.
Second thing to note is, the pass is not valid in your country of residence. For example, I was living in Denmark. I could not use the pass I bought to travel in Denmark without buying a regular ticket although the rail network is covered under InterRail. However, there may be a discounted rate for Interrail pass holders.

I quite enjoy travelling via train though it certainly takes longer time to reach than a flight. You get to enjoy the beautiful scenery throughout your journey and it gives you space to spend a relaxing time with your travel companion(s). Not to mention, there is no restriction on the amount of liquid you could carry with you as you do in flights.

Travelling between Austria, Switzerland, France (probably the southern part which is adjacent to Switzerland and Italy) and Italy via train is highly recommended because you can admire the alps and the beautiful nature those countries have to offer.

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