Tripping the Flight Fantastic

Adventures in Search of the World's Cheapest Air Fare, 1st edition

Andrew Fraser

Grabbing flights for less than $10, Andrew Fraser took off on a month long jaunt around ten European cities for not much more than $200. In this entertaining account of his trip, he not only describes what he saw, but also how he did it, coaching aspiring travelers, wherever they may be, in how to create their own dream travel itineraries on flights which cost less than an airport latte. Forget London, Paris and Madrid, and join him on a bargain journey to some of Europe's weirdest, least visited backwaters, while also learning how to plan a ten-city adventure of your own. Andrew Fraser travelled 6,928 miles at an average cost of 3 cents per mile. Now you can, too.

This unique title—the only one available that explains how to travel so far for so little—takes in some of Europe’s least discovered cities, including Skopje, Girona, Thessaloniki, Gdansk, Warsaw and Wroclaw, as well as giving an entertaining overview of some more familiar places, such as Barcelona, Rome and Brussels. It also includes suggested itineraries connecting US cities to make travel planning easier.

In addition, it tells you how to book secret five star hotels for three star prices with no mystery about where you are going to stay, how to travel the world cheaply from your local airport, no matter where in the world your starting point may be, and how to save a fortune and create an adventure by abandoning the notion of the linear return flight. Uncovering the little known travel gems which you can fly to for less than $15, it is also an often surreal, idiosyncratic and funny account of one man’s adventures on the move, from attending an octopus autopsy in Barcelona to unearthing uncomfortable secrets in Europe's new Capital of Culture and discovering hip Warsovian apartments which straddle the worlds of Molotov and Madonna. What’s more, it’s a journey in search of culture, gastronomy and history and—on occasions—the seamier side of life in some of Europe's most thrilling but least known cities.

Andrew Fraser is former Travel Editor and Deputy Editor of Attitude magazine, and former Chief Writer of OK! Magazine. He has had a love of the obscure, a love of bargains, and a love of travel since he was a strange eight year-old-boy locked in his bedroom obsessing over maps of Narnia-esque towns, cities and regions on the red side of the European map, which he was told he would never be able to visit. When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, he rushed to Prague, Bratislava and Budapest where he enjoyed the greatest adventure of his life so far, costing little more than cents. Now the internet and low cost airlines have brought back those halcyon days of cheap travel bliss and Andrew Fraser’s mission in life is to transport you to places beyond your wildest dreams for less than the cost of your airport latte. Come join him.

Globe Pequot / Bradt Travel Guides

Pages: 224 • Trim: 5 x 8

978-1-78477-039-6 • Paperback • October 2016 • $16.99 • (£12.99)

Subjects: Travel / Essays & Travelogues, Travel / Europe / General

Tripping the Flight Fantastic

Adventures in Search of the World's Cheapest Air Fare, 1st edition

Paperback

Summary

Grabbing flights for less than $10, Andrew Fraser took off on a month long jaunt around ten European cities for not much more than $200. In this entertaining account of his trip, he not only describes what he saw, but also how he did it, coaching aspiring travelers, wherever they may be, in how to create their own dream travel itineraries on flights which cost less than an airport latte. Forget London, Paris and Madrid, and join him on a bargain journey to some of Europe's weirdest, least visited backwaters, while also learning how to plan a ten-city adventure of your own. Andrew Fraser travelled 6,928 miles at an average cost of 3 cents per mile. Now you can, too.

This unique title—the only one available that explains how to travel so far for so little—takes in some of Europe’s least discovered cities, including Skopje, Girona, Thessaloniki, Gdansk, Warsaw and Wroclaw, as well as giving an entertaining overview of some more familiar places, such as Barcelona, Rome and Brussels. It also includes suggested itineraries connecting US cities to make travel planning easier.

In addition, it tells you how to book secret five star hotels for three star prices with no mystery about where you are going to stay, how to travel the world cheaply from your local airport, no matter where in the world your starting point may be, and how to save a fortune and create an adventure by abandoning the notion of the linear return flight. Uncovering the little known travel gems which you can fly to for less than $15, it is also an often surreal, idiosyncratic and funny account of one man’s adventures on the move, from attending an octopus autopsy in Barcelona to unearthing uncomfortable secrets in Europe's new Capital of Culture and discovering hip Warsovian apartments which straddle the worlds of Molotov and Madonna. What’s more, it’s a journey in search of culture, gastronomy and history and—on occasions—the seamier side of life in some of Europe's most thrilling but least known cities.

Andrew Fraser is former Travel Editor and Deputy Editor of Attitude magazine, and former Chief Writer of OK! Magazine. He has had a love of the obscure, a love of bargains, and a love of travel since he was a strange eight year-old-boy locked in his bedroom obsessing over maps of Narnia-esque towns, cities and regions on the red side of the European map, which he was told he would never be able to visit. When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, he rushed to Prague, Bratislava and Budapest where he enjoyed the greatest adventure of his life so far, costing little more than cents. Now the internet and low cost airlines have brought back those halcyon days of cheap travel bliss and Andrew Fraser’s mission in life is to transport you to places beyond your wildest dreams for less than the cost of your airport latte. Come join him.

Details

Globe Pequot / Bradt Travel Guides

Pages: 224 • Trim: 5 x 8

978-1-78477-039-6 • Paperback • October 2016 • $16.99 • (£12.99)

Subjects: Travel / Essays & Travelogues, Travel / Europe / General

Author

Former Travel Editor and Deputy Editor of Attitude magazine, Andrew Fraser has had a love of the obscure, a love of bargains, and a love of travel since he was a strange eight year-old-boy locked in his bedroom obsessing over maps of Narnia-esque towns, cities and regions on the red side of the European map, which he was told he would never be able to visit: Lithuania, Odessa, Pomerania, Tbilisi, Ruthenia, Sofia and Karelia...many were just dotted lines on a map, former places, shadows of the past. When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, he rushed to Prague, Bratislava and Budapest where he enjoyed the greatest adventure of his life so far, costing little more than pennies. Now the internet and low cost airlines have brought back those halcyon days of cheap travel bliss and Andrew Fraser's mission in life is to transport you to places beyond your wildest dreams for less than the cost of your airport latte. Come join him...

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Life (and Travel) is a Bowl of Cherries
An introduction to the concept and methods behind the book

Interlude: Harvesting Oysters
Your first steps to unlimited travel joy
Chapter 2 From the Bazaar to the Ridiculous...
My first port of call, Skopje, a city divided and reimagined

Interlude: Being Beyoncé
How flexibility will find you, your dream holiday

Chapter 3 Off my Tits on Tramadol in Girona
An ‘Octopsy’ and lancing my own abscess, fun and games in Catalonia

Interlude: Today Doncaster or Latrobe, Tomorrow the World
How to travel around the world from your closest regional airport

Chapter 4 Catnip to Italians
Feeling down in the mouth in Pisa, but at least the locals love me

Interlude: Comparing the Comparers
Which are the best flight search engines and why

Chapter 5 Trouble in Paradise
A run-in with Richard Branson and a local crisis in Thessaloniki

Interlude: Raining in Venice
When to go where, cost versus climate – cheap flights at peak times

Chapter 6 Rome is Where the Hurt is
A strange pilgrimage to Italy’s capital city
Interlude: Pitfalls & How to Turn Lemons into Lemonade
Avoiding mishaps on your trip – I make the mistakes so you don’t have to

Chapter 7 Brief Encounter
A one-night stand and an education in surrealism in rainy Brussels

Interlude: Packing It
What to take on your low cost adventure and how to carry it
Chapter 8 The Ghosts of Gdansk
Dumplings, Kashubian cuisine and a beautiful city masking a dreadful past

Interlude: Wherever I Lay my Hat
How to find the cheapest hotels, from hostels to five star

Chapter 9 Stalin’s Gift
Madonna meets Molotov in Europe’s coolest city, Warsaw
Interlude: Look Before you Leap
The best places you’ve never heard of: hidden gems, hub cities and cul-de-sacs
Chapter 10 Between a Wroc and a Hard Place
Losing the plot in Wroclaw, Europe’s Capital of Culture and a city which is far from what it appears to be

Interlude: A Hand-held Walk Through the Process
A step-by-step guide on how to perfect your dream itinerary

Chapter 11 The Last Resort
Oslo: rules and the most perfect people on the planet