Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Coach Station to Edinburgh's Bus Station near St. Andrew Square; while direct
buses for Glasgow's
Buchanan Street Bus Station,
north of the Queen Street
Station on North Hanover Street (
&
0870-608-2608
), leave London's Victoria
Coach Station at 9am and 11:30pm. The standard fare is around £35, though Inter-
net and advance purchase discounts are available. Scottish
CityLink
(
&
0870/550-
5050;
www.citylink.co.uk) also has a frequent bus service between Edinburgh and
Glasgow, with a standard one-way ticket costing £6.
Getting Around
See p. 57 and 165 in chapters 5 and 13.
FLYING FOR LESS: TIPS FOR GETTING THE BEST
AIRFARE
W
Passengers who can book their ticket either
long in advance or at the last
minute,
or who
fly midweek
or
at less-trafficked hours
may pay a fraction of
the full fare. If your schedule is flexible, say so, and ask if you can secure a
cheaper fare by changing your flight plans.
W
Search
the Internet
for cheap fares (see “What's on the Web,” earlier in this
chapter).
W
Keep an eye on local newspapers for
promotional specials
or
fare wars,
when
airlines lower prices on their most popular routes. You rarely see fare wars offered
for peak travel times, but if you can travel off-season, you may snag a bargain.
W
Try to book a ticket
in its country of origin.
If you're planning a one-way flight
from Johannesburg to Bombay, a South Africa-based travel agent will probably
have the lowest fares. For multi-leg trips, book in the country of the first leg; for
example, book New York-London-Amsterdam-Rome-New York in the U.S.
W
Consolidators,
also known as bucket shops, are great sources for international
tickets, although they usually can't beat Internet fares within North America.
Start by looking in Sunday newspaper travel sections; U.S. travelers should focus
on the
New York Times, Los Angeles Times,
and
Miami Herald.
U.K. travelers
should search in
The
Independent, The Guardian,
or
The Observer.
For less-
developed destinations, small travel agents who cater to immigrant communities
in large cities often have the best deals.
Beware:
Bucket shop tickets are usually
nonrefundable or rigged with stiff cancelation penalties, often as high as 50% to
75% of the ticket price, and some put you on charter airlines, which may leave at
inconvenient times and experience delays. Several reliable consolidators are
worldwide and available online.
STA Travel
has been the world's leading con-
solidator for students since purchasing Council Travel, but their fares are com-
petitive for travelers of all ages.
ELTExpress
(
Flights.com;
&
800/8782-800
)
has excellent fares worldwide, particularly to Europe. They also have “local” web-
sites in 12 countries.
FlyCheap
(
&
800/359-24327;
www.1800flycheap.com),
owned by package-holiday megalith MyTravel, has especially good fares to sunny
destinations.
Air Tickets Direct
(
&
800/778-3447;
www.airticketsdirect.
com), based in Montreal, offers low international fares; they also book trips to
places that U.S. travel agents won't touch, such as Cuba.
W
Join
frequent-flier clubs.
Frequent-flier membership doesn't cost a cent, but it
does entitle you to better seats, faster response to phone inquiries, and prompter
service if your luggage is stolen or your flight is canceled or delayed, or if you want
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