Flying to Europe

[In The Pink]

We were given 2 bonus weeks to be used in either Kent, England, Marbella, Spain, or Almeria, Spain. I'm thinking the most cost efficient way to take advantage of them would be to fly to one location and use one of the weeks, then take the train to one of the other locations and stay for the second week before returning home. I know less than nothing about international travel. I don't even know what airports I would need to fly in to.

I wonder if any of you have any suggestions as to what might be the most economical time of year to fly (The Prime season in Kent is weeks 12-42 and in Spain from weeks 8-46).

Secondarily, do you have any suggestions on buying airfare? Online? TA?

Thirdly, would a train have to be reserved/purchased in advance or do you just take care of that once you're in the country?

Thanks for ANY advice anybody has to offer.

[Linda74]

Winter of course, would be most economical but I don't think you would like the weather so I would suggest spring or summer. Why not fly to the UK and take an inexpensive airline to Spain...(check www.whichbudget.com) for fares. As for transatlantic fares, check www.kayak.com and www.mobissimo.com. These sites routinely search out the least expensive fares which I can't find anywhere else. As an alternative, you could forego the UK and just do two weeks in Spain. Sounds like a great vacation.

[nicklinneh]

when we were in europe we used ryanair a couple of times. they do have a flight to almeria from london (stansted) and they are very cheap. the biggest problems with them are inconvenient travel times and out-of-town airports. also plan on being there on time (desk CLOSES 40 min. before flight time) and not overweight (HUGE fees for each pound over and you can't apply underweight of one family member to another one's overweight). we stayed at the bridgefoot cattery at stansted the night before- expensive but very convenient (they'll pick-up and deliver you to the airport which is right beside them).
ken

[helenbarnett1963]

wouldn't recommend the train at all for getting from spain to england - you woudl need to pre-book seperately on 3 different rail systems - spanish, french and Eurostar - and it will definitely cost more than flying - and probably take you at least 2 days. - unless you are a train buff of course when it could be the trip of a lifetime!

I would recommend doing the transatlantic trip to/from london, even if you want to do both weeks in Spain - many more direct cheap options than trying to fly direct to Spain.
We fly each year from UK to USA - our strategy is to start looking at fares as soon as the become available 11 months out, then use Expedia.com and other travel websites to get an idea of prices.
We always book direct with the airline though, as its usually cheaper and is much easier to sort out any problems directly.

Avoiding US and UK holiday/vacation periods will get you much cheaper flights.

For flying from UK to Spain - again I would start with Expedia, but also look at Ryannair, Easyjet and other 'low cost' carriers. Depending on when you want to travel the major airlines (eg BA, Iberia) can be cheapest.

A word of warning though - you will need to travel light. You will be allowed two large items of hold baggage per person travelling from the USA, but ony one when flying economy class in Europe. Most airlines limit you to about 20kg per person, though some are much less (Ryannair is 15kg!) and charge a lot of money per kg or per extra bag (regardless of weight) for excess baggage. It is essential you check airline websites before booking or you could end up having to hand over all your 'spending money' at checkin!

You may find you have to transfer between London airports, but that is easy to do by train or bus or taxi, especially if you combine it with a couple of days sightseeing in the City.

As an alternative to London you could fly into Manchester or Birmingham or several other places in the UK and then get a connection on to Spain.

Have you been given specific places you have to stay at, or can you choose any? I ask because Kent is really too far from London to travel in to the city each day, and possibly also too far from most of the 'usual' sites which visitors to the UK want to see.
Having said that, virtually any tiem of year would be fine to visit Kent/southern England - April to End September would give you more chance (no guarantee though!) of fine weather.

If you want 2 weeks in Spain, then either part of Spain would be great. Both have beautiful beaches, gorgeous countryside/mountains etc interesting villages and fantastic cities to explore. What you want to do whilst there will determine the 'best' time of year. Winters can be 'cool', but spring and autumn are ideal for sightseeing. July and August are best for the beach - but can be very hot (and many places don't have airconditioning) and crowded during school vacation times. June or early spetember is a good compromise.

Its a long tiem since I travelled on a train in Spain, but generally European trains are comfortable and run on time - you would need to pre-book though, and may need to arrange car rental or taxi to get you from a city station to your resort - or you could rent a car and drive between resorts - Spanish roads are safe and the new motorway system is great for getting places fast.

Your best bet woudl be to get your accomodation sorted out, and then work your flights around that - even if you spend your 2 weeks in spain you can always add a couple of days in the UK 'between' flights.

Sorry to have burbled on for so long. Hope some of this is some help!

Helen

[scotlass]

I agree with the advice to fly to London and then to Spain. Check to see which airport you fly into, either London Heathrow (LHR) or London Gatwick (LGW) from your city. If it's LGW, you can get flights from there to Spain on EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) which would be the cheapest. Unfortunately, there are no cheap flights from LHR to Spain so you would have to take a coach to LGW which can take about 2-4 hours depending on traffic. Perhaps someone else may have different info on that, but that has been my experience.

I would also choose to spend a week in Kent and a week in Spain, but I am a real Anglofile so that explains my preference for England. We spent a week near Malaga Spain and really enjoyed that area also. We have been to both places offseason, in March, and found the weather to be quite comfortable and flights much cheaper.

[In The Pink]

Thank you all. That's very helpful. I'll be checking out those sites. I also found a site called "away.com" where you can put in a destination and it lists the nearest airports and the distances to them, then you can click on a link to "check flights" and it takes you to Orbitz, but it also has links to Expedia, Traveloity, Kayak, Priceline, and Cheap Tickets. It's a great little vacation guide though with things to do.

Anyway, according to that site, I should fly into Gatwick, which as you said Scotlass, would be best. I also would prefer to spend a week in England, and one in Spain as I've never been to Europe and would prefer to see two countries rather than one. Plus the Kent location is a castle!

Helen, you said I should fly to AND from England, rather than to England, then to Spain and from Spain home? And to answer your question, yes I have specific locations to stay in. These were bonus weeks for joining El Cid Vacation Club and they have a resort in each of these three locations.

Again, thank you all for your input.

[scotlass]

If you can get a round trip that goes to LGW and home from Spain, go for it. Then you can do a one-way on EasyJet. Or, better still, try for a round trip to Spain that stops in London and allows a week stopover. However, I don't know an airline that will have that route. Also be advised to check EasyJet to see what the times are for your destination. Sometimes the LCC's have schedules that can be inconvenient.