Budget Flights in Europe

Domestic European flights are on the rise as cheap airlines have flooded the European market. You can get a one way ticket for $25-$250!

In the United States domestic flights may leave our pockets empty and keep us weary of flying. However, by using a low-cost, one way ticket to different destinations in Europe flying can by a more bearable option.  While planning my 10 day trip through Europe I looked at a Eurail pass, but it was more expensive and more of a hassle to go by train to different parts of the continent in a short period of time.

While I was abroad I took two flights and three train rides to total my transportation costs of around $300-$500. That is less than or equal to one domestic flight within the United States.  If you check your options of different types of transportation and companies, then you can find some cheap deals.

Some websites I used to check flights are skyscanner.com, ryannair.com, and rumbo.es.

Be cautious when using these cheap airlines because the cost reflects the quality which is not high. The tickets are inexpensive so the airlines will tack on many extras including expensive baggage costs, high priced food and more money for priority seating. The way to get around these extras is to bring one bag that can be used as a carry on, such as a backpack, and be as low maintenance as possible.

Another thing to watch is delays. The airline is not making much money off your ticket so they are less invested if you arrive late or something happens. You need to be ready and allow yourself time to be ahead of schedule and prepared for takeoff.

The last thing to keep your eye on is the website you use to book the flight. When booking my flight from Barcelona to London I thought the website confirmed the ticket and the email was faulty. However, the email said that the tickets had not been purchased, so when we arrived at the airport we didn’t have a flight and had to pay for a ticket on the spot which was not cheap.

Europe offers many opportunities for you to explore inexpensively with various means of transportation including Inter European flights. You merely need to find them and know what to expect.

Mind the Gap

Don't waste your money on a taxi or rental car when public transportation is just around every corner. In England, Germany, Italy, France, etc. there is the tube, u-bahn, metro, and/or métro. These public transportation trains can be compared to the D.C. metro or the NY subway system.

Not only are there several stations spread through every part of major cities, but they are almost always conveniently located next to major tourist destinations. In London to see the Queen? Try the Green Park station next to Buckingham Palace. In Rome and in need of a stroll through the Colosseum? Try the Colosseo, Line B of the Rome Metro. A traveler can navigate from the airport to the entrance of Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany or navigate through Paris, France to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Louvre using their Métro lines.

These trains all provide visitor rail passes, resident passes, day passes, or one way tickets. They are flexible to a traveler's stay, and most are open from early morning to later at night. Countries are making it more convenient to commute this way, and these commute methods are quick and efficient. Check out their individual sites for ticket pricing, and consider this as a primary travel method when overseas. 

So next time you're abroad, if you need to get somewhere a little too far for a walk or want to arrive quickly, take the trains. 

What Annoys You?- Airplane Edition →

http://poll.fm/4qgcm

Ready, Set, Roam wants to know; what annoys you the most while flying? Is it crying babies, smelly people, snorers, drunks, or something else?

Follow the link above to let us know and comment on the post with your worst travel horror story! 

MH370: The Importance of Finding "Black Box"

A story that has recently been all over the news is the search for Malaysia Airlines plane MH370. The search is now relying on an unmanned submarine as fears grow that the batteries for the black box may have failed. No signal has been received from the box since Sunday, April 6th. A 16.2 feet unmanned submarine is now being considered to look for the plane in the main search area, but it can only cover 80 miles a day, traveling at about 5 miles per hour. This will lengthen the period of the search, and it supports the idea of why a black box is important and should be improved.

What is a black box? A black box or flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed on aircrafts for the purpose of aiding in the investigation of aviation incidents and accidents that may occur. There are two common types of the flight recorder or black box, the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). These two recorders can also be combined in a single unit. They are required to survive the conditions of a severe accident. They can withstand an impact of 3400 g and temperatures of over 1,000 °C (1,832 °F).

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing in the early hours of March 8, over 30 days ago. The box locator pinger's battery life was expected to fail after around 30 days. A black box and the plane use a radar based tracking system, which can be picked up via radio waves, but has a limited distance from the device. The radar tracks well when traveling over land or coastal areas, but over oceans radar does not work as it relies on line-of-sight tracking from a ground station.

A proposal to prevent this loss of location for the future of airline travels it to upgrade from radar to satellite. That way if a plane went off course over an ocean, it wouldn't be an issue to track it. This satellite would allow air traffic control to know where a plane is at all times. A new system named NextGen, has been implemented by  U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, in which GPS signals would transmit an aircraft's precise location to air traffic controllers via ground receivers. The expense of outfitting planes with GPS is beat by the cost to upgrade from radar to satellite tracking of planes. On cnn.com/technology in a story entitled, "Why satellites didn't find missing plane," by Dean Irvine, Irvine quotes that, "According to a 2006 FAA report, it would cost $4.6 billion to change to a satellite-based system in the U.S."

It may be expensive to upgrade, but if it could have the potential to save future airlines during crisis, then it would be worth it. A black box is good for now, but good may not be good enough. In the future, it should be mandatory to have the satellite tracking system.

All Aboard Air Twitter

In today's world, technology and social media can give huge benefits to many companies, including airlines. United Airlines recently committed to heavily utilizing Facebook and Twitter as means of communicating with their passengers.

On March 21, passenger Marybeth Cadotte was aboard a United airplane when the plane experienced mechanical issues. She tweeted the predicament at United's twitter handle and received a reply minutes later. They tweeted, “We hope to have you on your way soon.” United followed her case to ensure she had a successful end result. Soon after a mechanic showed up to the scene and Cadotte was off to catch her connecting flight. “The United app crashed, and people were on their phones talking to United. Twitter was definitely the way to go", said Cadotte.

This is just the beginning of large companies adopting social media as a way to connect with their consumers. Social media platforms provide customers with a magnified voice that can have a huge impact on a company's reputation.

University Writing Center Travel Writing Panel

James Madison University's University Writing Center (UWC) will be holding their first travel writing panel to educate and provide an opportunity to practice this genre of professional writing. The panel is on Wednesday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Harrison 1261. The event is hosted by the University Writing Center and the Office of International Studies. Several JMU professors from a variety of departments will share their travel experiences and give advice on how to write about traveling. 

Ready, Set, Roam believes this is a great opportunity to engage with experienced writers and travelers. On a daily basis, we post blogs about a variety of travel topics from transportation methods abroad to how to stay safe. At James Madison University, there are many resources that help students become better writers. The UWC aims to help students improve as writers, not to edit or proofread papers. They transfer their skills, provide resources and offer great responses and feedback. They coordinate events on campus to encourage students to utilize their services and even have walk in hours. For more information, visit their website at www.jmu.edu/uwc.

Boutique hotels?

Prior to going abroad, I had never been exposed to the term “boutique hotel” and certainly had never stayed in one before. Boutique hotel is a term used to describe a hotel with anywhere from 10-100 rooms that is focused on offering services in a comfortable and welcoming setting. Although boutique hotels are present around the United States, boutique hotels are much more prominent in Europe.

Seeing as I studied abroad on a very limited college budget, hotel accommodations were always a struggle when planning our next adventure. As you know, hostels are typically the cheapest bet, but after weeks and weeks of traveling, hostels didn’t always cut it. With that in mind, most well-known and popular hotels were consistently way out of our price range.

However, after doing some research on hotels in Turkey, my friends and I stumbled upon a few boutique hotels that appeared much more reasonably priced than any of the other hotels we had found. None of us were familiar with a boutique hotel, but with funds running low, we figured we would give it a shot!

Upon arriving in Antalya, Turkey, we hailed a cab to the Déjà Vu boutique hotel, where a bunch of our friends had booked rooms. We were blown away at the luxury of the individual rooms and the hotel in general. Déjà Vu only had about 15 rooms and the hotel staff was extremely nice and accommodating, making our stay better than we could’ve imagined.

All in all, boutique hotels were certainly a saving grace during my time abroad. Each boutique hotel left us with a new and unique experience that I know we would have never received from a typical hotel.

So, regardless of whether your travel plans are in the United States or out of the country, be sure to look into the option of boutique hotels… They are way more common than you think! 

Find the best hotel deal!

It is no secret that money and planning are two huge factors that go into traveling. Researching to find the best deals possible can get very stressful and time consuming. Finding a cheap hotel can get tricky especially when reading the reviews and seeing that it is cheap for a reason. We all want to save some money on a hotel and spend it on better things, but at the same time we do not want to settle for a dingy hotel and even risk our safety just to save money.

Fortunately, there are tons of websites that are geared towards finding the best prices, while showing you not only the reviews, but how much you are actually saving in compared to the standard rates. The website lifehacker.com conducted a survey that asked readers what are the best and cheapest travel booking websites on there. The results showed the top 5 websites to visit are: Kayak, Hipmunk, Travelocity, ITA Software/Matrix, and Priceline. These companies all do a great amount of advertising that make their sites popular, legitimate and seem to be fairly easy to navigate. Here is the link to read more about the results: http://lifehacker.com/5795117/five-best-cheap-travel-booking-sites/all

So before you go directly to a hotel's website to book your room, try doing it through one of these booking sites and compare the prices. It is always better to do your research to ensure you are truly getting the best deal possible! Here are some links:

www.kayak.com

www.hipmunk.com

www.travelocity.com

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

www.pricline.com

Love and the Eiffel Tower

Celebrating 125 Years this week!

The Eiffel Tower was not supposed to be the symbol of love that is today according to the creator Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.  In the end he, and his bitterness, had to leave the city to avoid his creation.

However, in the span of 125 years love continues to surround the Eiffel Tower. During my time in Paris, the Eiffel Tower brought the best memories. On a beautiful Parisian night people set up blankets with their loved ones and sat in front of the sparkling Eiffel Tower.

When Hannah and I settled by the Eiffel Tower one night, we brought a bottle of wine and a baguette and reflected on our adventures together and how blessed our lives had been up to that point.  Under the glow of the Eiffel Tower time stopped and we were just with each other. Romantic love of Paris did not sweep us off our feet but the love of humanity, family and friends did.

So I would recommend to anyone visiting Paris to take time to live simply. All you need is a friend, a bottle of wine and a baguette to enjoy the Eiffel Tower.  Good company, good wine and a night under the symbol of Parisian love is a European experience that you should not miss.

Hostel Myths Debunked

Hostels are not scary. As Americans we like our space and luxury, and hostels totally defy that reality.

What is a hostel? According to hostelmanagement.com "A hostel is a budget oriented, shared "dormitory" accommodations that accepts individual travelers (typically backpackers) or groups for short-term stays, and that provide common areas and communal facilities".

Hannah, Stephanie, and I!

Cheap lodging and built in friends are established by hostels.The prices per person range from $15-$40 a night. It’s like a summer camp set up in your twenties in an exotic city. Get excited.

The people were the best part of the hostel experience. In London we (Hannah and I) met a girl from Holland who explored and toured London’s National Gallery with us.  I also translated for an Argentinian man in our hostel. In Amsterdam, we had the best time going out with three of our ten roommates, with their Australian and New Zealand accents. We did a walking tour in Paris with our sweet roommate, Andrea (he informed us that is a boy name in Italian) and witnessed love in Paris through the story of our Canadian roommate’s Parisian love affair.

Entering into each of our roommates adventures added to our own story. However, you shouldn't go blindly into a hostel.

1.      Get a padlock to lock up you locker or bag

2.      Stick with youth hostels because there will be more young people and the accommodations are targeted to you! Some chain hostels I used in Europe were:

St. Christopher’s Inn http://www.st-christophers.co.uk/hostels

I stayed at St.Christoper's Inn: London Bridge!

Generator Hostels http://generatorhostels.com/en/

3.      Hostel World was my best friend when looking up hostels. There are prices in American dollars and ratings! http://www.hostelworld.com/

4.      Book your hostel before you get there! If you book earlier then it will be cheaper. Also, it is not guaranteed that there will be open hostels or hotels when you arrive to your destination, especially during peak season. So book, and book now!