(EN/JP)

Before we get to the main point.

In the previous story, I bought an airline ticket, and since this is a good opportunity, I would like to talk about travel preparation this time.
*(If you haven’t read it yet, start with the full story.)

How to get cheap flights

First of all, in this day, it is relatively easy to buy airline tickets, especially cheap airline tickets.
Skyscanner, which is famous all over the world. And Travelko-chan are one of the most famous sites for finding cheap airline tickets in Japan.

However, for me, who was not accustomed to traveling at that time, buying airline tickets = going to HIS (the largest travel agency in Japan at that time) and asking an employee there to find airline tickets for me. This was the only way I knew. And when I went to London during my university years, I bought it in the same way, and when I traveled to Spain with my family, my father bought the airline tickets at a travel agency.

After this trip to New York, I learned from a friend who had been a backpacker in the past that I could buy airline tickets at a reasonable price through a website called Travelco, and I have been using that website ever since.

After a few years of biannual trips abroad, I realized something. 

Efficient way to search

I noticed that when I used this site to search for tickets, the travel agencies I purchased from were almost always the same.

If I want to go to North America, I go with this company, if I want to go to Europe, I go with this company, and so on.

After I realized this, my way of looking for airline tickets became this.

 

1 : Use Travelco or Skyscanner to find out what the airfare is for that destination at that time of the season

By doing this, you can first get an idea of the market price. If you don't know the market, you may lose money even if you think that is a good way to do it.

2 : Send an e-mail to the travel agent from whom I usually buy tickets, asking "Travelco says the price is about this much, but how much can I buy a ticket at your company?"

The advantage of this is that, depending on the situation at the time, they will often give me a price that is very close to the lowest price listed on Travelco and offer a schedule that is even better than the one I want to go on.

For example.

This is when traveling to Ireland.  As usual, when I consulted with them about purchasing airline tickets, the only ones I could find were those with very poor connections. Either the connection time was too short or the connection time was very long.

The person in charge suggested to me that I should extend the connection time and go sightseeing in the country where I was going to transit.
 It was an eye-opening idea.

I had once stayed half a day in a transit country because of a bad connection. This was when I went to Spain on a family vacation.

The flight from Japan was delayed, We could not catch the connecting flight to Barcelona at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, where I was in transit.
My father, who could not speak English well, desperately tried to talk to the KLM staffs at the counter to secure an alternative flight and a hotel.
(We were able to stay one night at IBIS SCHIPHOL AMSTERDAM AIRPORT)

After that, we walked around Amsterdam for a few hours.
I went to my hotel and early the next morning I was back at Schiphol Airport again to travel to Barcelona.

Based on that experience, I had taken the liberty of thinking that in such an emergency I could go out of the airport via transit, but not under normal circumstances.

I didn’t think that was possible! I chose to fly via Kuala Lumpur, arriving at KL at 4:00 p.m. and departing from KL at 11:00 p.m. the next day, which was about a day and a half. I could stay in Kuala Lumpur as well as in Ireland.

This is the end of this article as it has already become quite long. Next time, I will tell you about my luggage.

My First New York State of Mind ep1

I looked up and saw the iconic TOSHIBA advertisement in Times Square. I was really in New York, the place I had always wanted to be....

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