Help with Trip to Germany?
Okay, my girlfriend and i are planning a trip from Nashville to Germany. IT will be the first two weeks of august 2011. Now, she proposed the idea that we buy our plane tickets soon. I think this is a great idea. The only problem is that i am a jobless college student with $230 to my name. However, i have a summer job that will help me make enough money to go. My question is: Is there a way i can reserve a ticket for a flight to Munich now, and pay for it when i have made enough money? also, how long is the process for getting a passport? but more importantly about the ticket. Please help. $1000 is a lot of money to charge to a credit card with no job. so. How expensive would tickets be if bought within say 3 months of the trip? 1 month?
Other - Europe - 3 Answers
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1 :
It takes 6-8 weeks to get a passport. As far as the tickets go.... WAIT! Not only is it stupid to buy them when you cannot afford to pay for them but ticket prices have been very inflated the last 5-6 months. I would wait until January after the holidays hopefully tickets will go down and you will be better off financially.
2 :
You are right. That IS a lot of money to charge to your credit card without a means to pay it off promptly. With interest, that $1,000 ticket will easily become a $1,400 or more ticket if you carry the balance very long. I strongly advocate travel, but not when it leads to digging yourself into a hole, which is exactly what I did when I did my first backpacking/Eurailing trip around Europe. (It took me about four years to pay it all off.) Next year's flights and fares are probably not even posted yet. While it is a good idea to book in advance, especially for travel during the peak summer travel season as you propose to do, booking in January or February will probably be far enough out to assure a seat, though not a cheap seat. Check a random airline, say, Continental, to assure how far out they post flights and fares. All the airlines mimic each other so you know how soon to start looking. See if you can grab a pair of the very few cheap seats available when a flight is first posted. How stuck are you on traveling the first two weeks of August? If you can wait until after peak travel season, airfares drop appreciably. I love Europe in late September and early October, and Germany is just gorgeous at that time, and tourist season has mostly wound down so you can get in to see things without the huge lines. Unfortunately, airlines want their money up front, so you have to pay, usually within 24 hours of making your reservation if not immediately upon booking. I hope you have started your travel fund by now. Each week stash a little away. Now is a good time to make some lifestyle adjustments to save for travel. Do you or your GF smoke? Just quitting can save you up to $100 between you a week. Do you eat out, even if it's fast food? Eat in and save more. Get a part-time job, even if it's a work-study position at the library. Stash that money in the travel fund before you do or buy anything else. The good news is, you don't need your entire travel money now. You can buy your plane tickets first, then work on paying them off while saving up for your next expense, which will be your German Railpass (visit www. raileurope.com to learn about railpasses). Again, pay that expense off while saving your daily expenses, which will be about $65-75 per day for each day of your trip, assuming you will be staying in pensiones or hostels and eating inexpensively. (For example, in Munich, stay in the awesome Gasthaus across from the train station in the suburban village of Grub. It even has its own beer garden and playground! Take the commuter train from Grub into Munich to explore. Buy your dinner at the Viktuelmarkt in Munich, then eat it in the Englischer Garten park and people-watch.) Getting a passport does not take long. Generally you can have it in hand within a month of sending off your application, photos etc. Visit www.travel.state.gov for complete details on getting your passports. Good luck!
3 :
There is no reason to go ahead and purchase your airline tickets now. Take time in planning your trip, where you want to fly into and from, how long you want to stay, where you want to go, etc. Check into packages that include airfare, rail tickets or car rental, and possibly hotels. A travel agent has lots of brochures to help you out with your planning. Also, they can check on consolidator airfares for you. And never go into debt to go on vacation.
