Getting to Europe on the cheap?

[KatintheHat]

I'm seriously considering taking the summer off to travel/work in Europe - specifically, work in England, and take some time to travel around France/Spain. (I've got dual Canadian/British citizenship,) - The thing is, the cheapest flights I can find are over $1200 - from Vancouver, and that's a *lot* of money, especially for a student. Am I looking wrong? are there any cheaper ways to get to Europe?
(Normally, I wouldn't have a problem asking family to chip in, but I know one of my aunts has payed for my mom to go visit this spring, so it would be rude to ask)

 

[landpirate]

you could try getting a non direct flight. They are sometimes cheaper, for example I flew to mexico city from london, via frankfurt and it was £200 cheaper than a direct flight. Also, it might be cheaper to fly to an airport here in the UK that isn't one of the London airports. just a suggestion. $1200 seems a lot of money.

 

[Winston Smith]

I've heard going by boat is cheap, either working with the crew (for freight or cruise) or last minute cruise ship deals

 

[KatintheHat]

@Winston Smith - I've also heard of this, but I've also heard that getting on as crew is difficult,

 

[Winston Smith]

yeah apparently you have to be there at the right time (seasonal) and probably a lot of asking around. A friend has gotten tickets on cruise ships at the last minute by waiting on the docks and asking to be put on the stand by list. It was only a couple hundred or so (not really cheap, but less than 1200) and you get free food, this was on the west coast, but I imagine it's not too much different on the east.

 

[scatwomb]

Hitchhike to NYC and get a flight from JFK - it's 575$ one way for late May.

 

[barefootinbabylon]

Iceland Air also has super-cheap flights; don't know how long they will continue them, b/c I think it's in large part b/c of the volcano-business that went down there a while ago. I spend massive amounts of time seeing just how cheaply I could fly to various places, and found flights from (I think) NYC or Newark for somewheres around $430; that included the potential of a stop-over in Iceland for up to a week. Pretty bad-ass, if I do say so meself.

 

[RockerBilly]

I'm seriously considering taking the summer off to travel/work in Europe - specifically, work in England, and take some time to travel around France/Spain. (I've got dual Canadian/British citizenship,) - The thing is, the cheapest flights I can find are over $1200 - from Vancouver, and that's a *lot* of money, especially for a student. Am I looking wrong? are there any cheaper ways to get to Europe?
(Normally, I wouldn't have a problem asking family to chip in, but I know one of my aunts has payed for my mom to go visit this spring, so it would be rude to ask)

I've done Seattle to London and back about 20 times in my life. There is no way you can do it for cheap unless you get a load of airmiles from signing up for some credit card or whatever. Best bet is to get yourself over to the East Coast by land for free, one way or another. Then fly out from NYC or whatever, its about half the price on the east coast. also skyscanner.com or kayak.com are good places to look

 

[Cardboard]

Iceland air also flies out of seattle, cheap flights from there to london. Make sure you have your british papaers, heathrow is really hard on customs.

 

[DregeDE]

where is customs non existent? like skimping on buying a passport state side, just waltz in like 'whatever, I do what I want'

 

[Cardboard]

where is customs non existent? like skimping on buying a passport state side, just waltz in like 'whatever, I do what I want'

Customs hardly exists inside of the schengen area. There are rarely (almost never) controls, you would need a passport to board the plane, but once in, western europe (excluding the UK, and some microstates), is more or less free range.

 

[scatwomb]

Customs hardly exists inside of the schengen area. There are rarely (almost never) controls, you would need a passport to board the plane, but once in, western europe (excluding the UK, and some microstates), is more or less free range.

The key to this statement is ONCE YOU GET TO THERE things are free range. EU customs from outside the EU is just as bad as anywhere else. I have traveled all over the developed and developing worlds, and, I have never experienced an airport customs that wasn't strict about passports. I did, however, get into Morocco and Syria without anyone checking my passport.