Before my first trip to Europe I wouldn’t have been able to tell you where Karlsruhe, Katowice or Klagenfurt was on the map. Since then I not only know where they are, I have used their airports and have saved hundreds of Euros in the process.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
My criteria for flying in Europe is to book flights that are on sale to places I haven’t been. Occasionally though I need to fly to specific places within a given time. Having locked in travel dates can mean having to fly on expensive tickets. You may be able to save money though by using alternative airports close to your destinations.
For example, I was in Amsterdam and I needed to be in Budapest on a certain date for work. At the time of booking there was no low cost airline serving this route (SkyEurope used to, but they have since closed).
I checked the usual farefinder sites and the cheapest flight I could find was €250! There is no way I’m paying that much for an Inter European flight, so I looked around for alternatives.
A good tool for finding nearby alternative airports is harefares.com. Enter the two cities you want to fly between and it will also show you the nearest airports, ranked in distance.
Flights from Netherlands to Hungary
The next nearest airports to Amsterdam are Rotterdam and Eindhoven. Hungarian low cost airline WizzAir serve the Eindhoven – Budapest route and I found a fare for the date I needed at €50.
Eindhoven is listed as 105km away, which may sound like alot, but it is only 80 minutes from Amsterdam by train. This is about the time it takes to me to get from Central London to Stansted or Luton anyway.
The train from Amsterdam to Eindhoven costs €17, and it’s another €3 to get the bus from the Eindhoven Train Station to the airport.
So my total cost for the airfare and train ticket was €70, a saving of €180 had I have settled for booking a flight out of Amsterdam.
WizzAir at Eindhoven Airport
I have been in a similar situation where I needed to from London to Strasbourg, France. Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions, thus flights to the city are expensive. The best option was to fly to Karlsruhe-Baden Airport which is a short train ride away in Germany and a couple of hundred Euro cheaper than flying to Strasbourg Airport.
When you are considering using an alternative airport, make sure you research if you can get to the airport easily enough as well.
I usually book flights well in advance, so I don’t often have to do this. It is a handy travel hack to know just incase your travel plans aren’t so flexible.
The Kangaroo Route from Australia to the UK is a tedious 24 hour trip if you can’t sleep on planes (which would be me). One benefit of such a long flight is that the ticket will usually permit a stop-over for no extra cost. It is with this option that I find myself in Hong Kong for two days.
Nathan Rd, Kowloon - Hong Kong
I’ve been to Hong Kong a few times now using this option. it’s a great place to stretch your legs between flights. I have now got a few favourite restaurants and cafes, and can – for the most part – get around without a map.
My flight to London is with Qantas, which use Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok as the stop-over city. Singapore is good for a one day stop because it is so easy to get in and around. Bangkok is my favourite city for longer stops as this gives me the chance to explore some more of Thailand.
I have previously been able to do a stop-over in Tokyo and Shanghai, but fares to those cities are always more than the traditional hubs of Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
Airlines from the Middle East are now prominent on the Kangaroo Route, so Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha are now viable stop-over cities as well. I got a great deal one year with Emirates which took me to Dubai, a city I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to visit, but a worthy city for a stop-over. If Etihad and Qatar offer a good deal in the future I’m sure I’ll one day find myself in Abu Dhabi and Doha as well.
India is the missing link on the Kangaroo Route. Qantas has a flight from Sydney to Mumbai and that’s it. There are no airlines from India that fly to Australia (though there is talk of Air India returning, and Kingfisher Airlines are looking into starting flights).
For me Mumbai or Delhi would make a great stop-over city. There are so many places I want to see in India that having a few weeks there on the way back from Europe would be a good way to do it. Visas, terrible airports and extreme culture shock would discourage any Australian airline from using an Indian city as a stop-over hub, so I don’t think that will happen any time soon.
What is your favourite stop-over city on the Kangaroo Route?
This is the window seat view from a plane at Denpasar Airport in Bali.
Surf at Denpasar Airport - Bali
How many surfer’s over the years have drooled as they looked out the window upon landing in Bali to see waves breaking off the edge of the airport.
I’ve been staying at a business class hotel in Yogyakarta as part of a job. I like Indonesian guesthouses but it has been good to have access to free wi-fi from my room.
If it's Wednesday it must be Yogyakarta
Most of the international hotel chains in Yogya are out near the airport, which is about 8km from the city. They have a shuttle bus that runs to the city centre, so I have to plan my days activities around the shuttle or get a taxi.
One thing about this hotel is that its a plane spotters dream. I can’t help but look at a plane landing everytime I hear one coming.
Room with an airport view
Sumatra is not the most wired Island I’ve ever been to so I was surprised to find free Wifi at Padang Airport.
