Today, I'd like you, dear (s) readers, a technique that will allow you to travel far for cheap, a technique I use for a while now ...!
But first, let me tell you how I discovered this trick, which in the end is very logical ..
Note: (cover photo of the item my friend Bjorn who is going through the Canadian minivan Feel free to contact him via his Facebook page if you want to join and make a stretch of road with him!)
When I asked how I was going to be able to go to Berlin (where I currently live as you know) in Ulcinj, Montenegro, the first city in the Balkans that I intended to visit on my next visit to this region, I started by looking at the price of airline tickets.
I thought that taking a plane to get there was the least complicated solution no doubt, and given the distance, admittedly high, but still reasonable, separating the two cities, the trip could not be so expensive that it, though?
It turned out that if: airfare between Berlin and Ulcinj was extremely expensive.
The price of single tickets that I found was around 350 euros (I did not need a return ticket, as I intended to explore the Balkans and then visit Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and Bulgaria).
And not only the tickets that were offered were costing me 350 euros or more, but that trip also included a couple of stops and lasted between ten and twenty-three hours.
It was time to think of a plan B.
PLAN B - FIND MORE AIRPORTS
Having looked at the map of the Balkans, I've realized that I could land in several other airports in the Montenegrin coast and not too far from my goal.
So I inquired about the price of flights from Berlin to Tivat (Montenegro) between Berlin and Mostar (Bosnia) and between Berlin and Dubrovnik (Croatia).
Without much success. The go to Mostar is the most affordable ticket cost 300 euros and included a stopover eleven in Vienna, Austria.
Be patient ... You will soon understand where I am coming from.
PLAN C - ROUND TRIP TICKET
Knowing that in some cases, a return ticket may be cheaper than a single, I inquired about the price of round-trip tickets for journeys mentioned above, but failed to find anything that is worth the money.
(you can find more tips in relation to airline tickets in this article: 7 tips for finding a cheap air ticket not
PLAN - A JOURNEY BY BUS AND TRAIN
I thought that it might be time to give up hope of traveling to Montenegro by plane and I started looking at the possibilities offered by bus and train. I found two that seemed somewhat reasonable.
FIRST SOLUTION WAS TO TAKE A TRAIN ...
... Between Berlin and Vienna (Austria) and then a bus or an overnight train that would take me in thirteen hours to the capital of Montenegro. That would be my total income to 93 euros and lasted thirty-three hours.
However, I was shocked to see that the train between Berlin and Vienna had stopped for a while because of work.
SECOND OPTION WHICH OFFERED TO ME WAS TO TAKE THE BUS ...
Berlin ... and spend the Hungarian border to the city of Budapest.
Once in Budapest, I would have had to take the bus in the afternoon to Belgrade (Serbia), which lasted about five hours and allowed me to take a minibus traveling from Belgrade to Podgorica (Montenegro), in about eighteen hours. The trip would have cost about 93 euros in total and lasted about 30 hours, provided you do not wait too long between each trip.
This second option seemed quite possible, however, my enthusiasm faded as soon as I learned that the waiting time between each ride was in fact quite high because no harmonization of schedules of different cars n 'had been undertaken. The trip as a whole rather might last 48 hours!
After all this research, I had no idea what I should do so I have suspended all activity for about two days so as not to upset me and destroy my computer with a mawashi-geri.
But once calmed and after spending two days without doing any research, I suddenly became aware that I had less than a week to find a solution.
PLAN E - GETTING BACK TO CHANCE!
BudapestPris trip to a sudden impulse, I decided to find out the last time the price of airline tickets, hoping that any airline would offer tickets at ridiculously low prices for the trip that I wanted to undertake (journey, date and times to match).
Instead of typing "Berlin" in the box corresponding to the departure airport, I was wrong and I accidentally wrote "Belgrade". I did not realize my mistake until the results of my research began to appear.
Seeing those results, I've realized that this careless mistake was the best mistake I had committed long ago.
I had before me a proposal for a flight between Belgrade and Podgorica (Montenegro), Montenegro Airlines, for an amount of 45 euros instead of thirteen hours because I could take a plane trip to forty minutes, and this for 30 euros more than the ticket price for. Interesting!
After a few more minutes of research, I learned that a private bus company had set up a shuttle service between Budapest (Hungary) and Belgrade (Serbia), who had you up and deposited at the place you wanted to know in each of these cities.
Inn BelgradeJ'ai eventually found a night train between Berlin and Budapest in Budapest arrive in time so I can take the shuttle bus to Belgrade. Pitch perfect!
The only problem with this plan was the fact that I would arrive around midnight in Belgrade on March 5 and my plane would not take off before 6 in the morning. But if spend almost a day and a night in Belgrade is the worst problem that presents itself, I'm game!
My path would therefore take the following form:
Night train between Berlin and Budapest (Hungary) - 9:00, 33 euros
Bus from Budapest to Belgrade (Serbia) - half past three, 19 euros
Overnight in Belgrade - 9 euros for the room in a hostel
Morning flight between Belgrade and Podgorica (Montenegro) - 40 minutes, 45 euros
Bus ride an hour and a half from Podgorica to Ulcinj - half past one, 4 euros
And although the trip lasted 35 hours, I would have the opportunity to sleep in a sleeper night train and spend almost a full day and a night in a hostel in Belgrade, before taking a short flight and cheap for Montenegro.
My journey eventually cost me about 110 euros, a sum well below the 350 euros I would have had to pay me if I had taken a flight of fifteen hours, and solution just 15 euros more expensive than the bus trip, this that would have taken me much longer.
Deal!
BE CREATIVE!
What is the message of this article? Just be creative when planning your travels. That way you can save a substantial amount while choosing the most appropriate solutions for your business.
Learn about flights to other airports than where you want to go, as well as round trips available, even if you do not expect to return to your starting place. For example, use the site Easyvols, or you can find lots of offers for air tickets cheap (look at my other article How to travel cheap around the world and I give some very good comparators flights, buses etc. ..)
Voyager LoinDivisez journey in stages and forth looking for two tickets. Think of all the possible combinations: car / train / plane / bus / carpool.
See what the low cost airlines offer flights or regional related to your journey and go directly to their website. Do not set a specific date, be flexible.
Do not hesitate to spend a night in a place-step in the middle of your trip, this will allow you to relax and discover a city other than where you want to go.
It does make your trip more memorable because you will feel like you have seen many things, and you'll see a lot of things!
I am often asked how it is that I have enough ways to travel around the world. Flying is expensive, is not it?
My answer lies in the above explanations on how I prepared my trip to the Balkans.
You do not have to spend hundreds and thousands, as long as you are willing to show you creative!