Flights
The Situation: Booking a flight for 1 person departing June 10-30, 2016(summer vacation) from SFO to Rome...The results of my research were pretty amazing. If you read my first blog post on Hawaii I mention about skiplagged.com and how it was able to produce one of the cheapest prices for the flight but this time didn't serve me to well. But luckily using the same process as my last post I did my extensive research.
So here are my findings... But keep in mind all prices are subjected to change. Also planning 8 months in advance may not be the optimal way of budgeting. Airlines tend to cut prices 2-3 months before you book your flight so try not to be too hasty prices will drop if you wait the perfect time. But that's a whole other topic to discuss. Now let's get back to cheap flights I have came across if I were to buy it now.
1. hipmunk.com
2. justfly.com
3. airfare.com
4. vayama.com
Sometimes the big popular websites may have a chance to offer better deals than other small travel agency websites. Even skiplagged.com didn't even make it on the list. Expected to be the first was now a slight disappointment but luckily I was able to find the cheapest one so far. This search took me about 30 min to find so it wasn't that hard to find the lowest prices. Now that I am able to share it to help fellow wanderlust travelers like myself serves me to help save a lil bit more money on the vacation. So the winner of this battle of cheap flights belongs to hipmunk.com adding more resources to the table. But REMEMBER timing is key! Don't wait too long nor too early just wait enough to see airlines begin to compete for lower prices then that's when you jump in the arena. Now that flights have been settled lets go to transportation and get out of the airport.
Transportation
So how do we venture without spending unnecessary amounts in Italy? Alright hypothetically we'll be arriving in Leonardo Da Vinci airport so most likely we would want to find our hotel/hostel or whatever once we land. So possible options of transportation I found is the use of the most economical way which is the bus transit and others include the train, shuttles and car. So lets dive into how to use the bus for money saving adventures.
Bus- Definitely one of the biggest slice of savings is taking the bus around Italy. Specifically in Rome you can ride buses depending on which ticket you buy you can either get a 75min, 1 day, 3 day, 1 week or 1 month bus tickets. Relatively inexpensive, the cost ranges from 1euro to 30euros which can save a whole lot of money for lavish romantic dinners in Rome. So if I were explore Rome, possibly I would purchase the 3 day ticket and the duration may be long but it won't hurt sightseeing through the beautiful city. For more information go to slowtrav.com.
Trains- When it comes to city-to-city travel I stumbled on walksofitaly.com they have greatly written a detailed organize article on train traveling but the post is 4 years old so prices may look cheap on their website.But they have the step by step sequence on what to do in the train station. So I am going to update on prices and keep our wallets fat as a cat. So a brief summary and my research I have came across another site seat61.com which provided train sites to purchase your tickets. First lets set up the destination, going from Rome to Florence on Oct 1st(I tried finding June 17th but it was too early to book so for price comparison I choose this date).
loco2.com
italiarail.com
Trains- When it comes to city-to-city travel I stumbled on walksofitaly.com they have greatly written a detailed organize article on train traveling but the post is 4 years old so prices may look cheap on their website.But they have the step by step sequence on what to do in the train station. So I am going to update on prices and keep our wallets fat as a cat. So a brief summary and my research I have came across another site seat61.com which provided train sites to purchase your tickets. First lets set up the destination, going from Rome to Florence on Oct 1st(I tried finding June 17th but it was too early to book so for price comparison I choose this date).
loco2.com
italiarail.com
For italiarail.com you would want to scroll down to look for cheaper prices or just click the lowest price category and sometimes if you're lucky enough find these tickets.
Definitely try considering these sites for traveling city to city in Italy. Most economical way to save money off of gas and time since from Rome to Florence by car will take longer than the train. Another excellent way to get around the country. Also you won't have to worry about popping out the GPS since trains literally take you from point A to point B.
Cars- I've read many websites that renting a car is a big no-no on a budget travel vacation. That's why I won't get to deep in this subject that face you'll be facing problems such as high gas prices, confusing violations, and long distance rides. Most likely I would steer away * pun intended from renting a car. Cars may induce high amounts of stress and anxiety on the street of Italia so to avoid paying over your budget do not get a car. It might seem a good idea if you are traveling on the countryside but for tourist it will obliterate your savings.
Hotels/ other living areas
Flying over to Europe U.S. dollars will be useless so now the current exchange rate is $1 USD is equal to .88 EURO which is pretty low to how much your getting every dollar. But lets see how we can budget this.
Since this vacation is set for a 20day vacation I would definitely try to mix and match hotels and hostels since given a long period of time you would possibly make like a banana and split through various locations for about 4-5 days. So digging deeper I found hotels from booking.com costing from $200 bucks for 5 days which by dividing that by 2 people you would be paying at least a hundred bucks.
There are many hotels/hostels that offer shared room or dorms which you can get about $20-25 bucks a night which is decently cheap. Great for travelers in groups, roaming with friends can significantly cut cost low for hostels. Depending how long you stay you can find really cheap places. From hostelbookers.com they can give you the best cheap rooms in the location you are looking for. Price comparison I found small discrepancies but this site won't have much variety but you'll still be able to get good deals. ALWAYS read the customer views sometimes the cheapest ones won't be as bad as if you would pay for a regular hotel. Some people have different views. If you find more positive reviews outweighing the negative then go right along and book it! But be warn you will get as much as you paid for so don't fuss and complain. Won't hurt to spend couple more euros for a comfier stay.
HotelsCombined.com generates the cheapest options for you night in Rome. A little similar to booking.com but luckily scavenging through this website made searching a lot easier. The moment when this site post pictures of big name travel agency comparisons can really shed light for savings. Looking through this site greatly enhance what I was looking for. Easy to spot cheap hotels and places so conveniently almost puts me at a disbelief. It tells you the total of price as well as the amount of stay at the hotel. Making it easier when you travel with another party or group and just divide the amount with the number in your party. They literally spit out stupidly cheap hotels for your choosing I highly agree to check this website out and browse your selection.
There are many hotels/hostels that offer shared room or dorms which you can get about $20-25 bucks a night which is decently cheap. Great for travelers in groups, roaming with friends can significantly cut cost low for hostels. Depending how long you stay you can find really cheap places. From hostelbookers.com they can give you the best cheap rooms in the location you are looking for. Price comparison I found small discrepancies but this site won't have much variety but you'll still be able to get good deals. ALWAYS read the customer views sometimes the cheapest ones won't be as bad as if you would pay for a regular hotel. Some people have different views. If you find more positive reviews outweighing the negative then go right along and book it! But be warn you will get as much as you paid for so don't fuss and complain. Won't hurt to spend couple more euros for a comfier stay.
HotelsCombined.com generates the cheapest options for you night in Rome. A little similar to booking.com but luckily scavenging through this website made searching a lot easier. The moment when this site post pictures of big name travel agency comparisons can really shed light for savings. Looking through this site greatly enhance what I was looking for. Easy to spot cheap hotels and places so conveniently almost puts me at a disbelief. It tells you the total of price as well as the amount of stay at the hotel. Making it easier when you travel with another party or group and just divide the amount with the number in your party. They literally spit out stupidly cheap hotels for your choosing I highly agree to check this website out and browse your selection.
Total traveling/living expenses
Alright so far we've searched a bunch of cheap websites for our plane, hotels, and transportation... let's tally up our cost and begin to estimate our budget. Using the resources above let's see what we can come up with.
5 nights in Rome
Plane ticket roundtrip-$1264.40
Bus fare- 11 euros
Hotel- $167
Train to Florence- 14.30 euros
Total= $1459.7
Off to Firenze!
5 nights in Florence
3 day bus fare- 12 euros
Hotel Villa- $97
train to Venice- 14.30 euros
Total= $126.32
Now let's sail to Venezia!
5 nights in Venice
2 day ferry ride- 28 euros
hotel- $66.80
train back to Rome- 21.90 euros
Total= $122.42
Last nights in Rome...
5 nights in Rome
3 day bus fare- 11euros
hotel- $93
train to the airport- 6 euros
Total= $111.95
5 nights in Florence
3 day bus fare- 12 euros
Hotel Villa- $97
train to Venice- 14.30 euros
Total= $126.32
Now let's sail to Venezia!
5 nights in Venice
2 day ferry ride- 28 euros
hotel- $66.80
train back to Rome- 21.90 euros
Total= $122.42
Last nights in Rome...
5 nights in Rome
3 day bus fare- 11euros
hotel- $93
train to the airport- 6 euros
Total= $111.95
So the grand total for all living/transportation expense= $1820.39
This doesn't include food and other items such as gifts, clothes, etc. so to be in the safe zone I would possibly bring at least $2500 to cover those expenses. Keep in mind that these prices are NOT set in stone and they will fluctuate. Also if you have more money left after you planned your whole trip try to increase one of the values of your hotel or adjust areas where you may want to spend more to get more of your vacation. It's always better to plan and predict how much you are going to spend so that you have a good idea of what you need to bring. Well I really hope this helps some of you guys... I'm just a person who loves to save and have fun so thank you for reading and I'll be back with more business and traveling posts! Stay tuned!
Any questions or comments please do so I would love to hear more tricks on money saving on trip and websites that you guys got for cheap!
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