07 August 2009

london - aland islands ...

looking at visiting the Aland Islands for a weekend at the end of August ...

best option for decent priced flights seems to be with ryanair STaNsted to TaMPere, departing London on the Friday at 18:00 arriving into Finland at 22:40 - and then spending the night in Tampere.

then on the Saturday, getting one of the regular trains to Turku ... and then in the evening, getting the ferry departing at 20:15 and arriving into Långnäs at 00:40 - and then spending the night in the Aland Islands.

after the Sunday morning on the islands, getting a different ferry departing at 14:25 and arriving back into Turku at 19:55 - and spending the night in Turku.

finally, on Monday getting one of the regular trains to Tampere, and getting the flight departing at 23:05 and arriving back into London at 23:55 - with the last Stansted Express train departing at 01:30

the flight cost is approximately 118 gbp, with the ferries, a very reasonable 10 eur each way !

24 May 2009

dublin to south africa ...

with the Lions tour in South Africa in June and July ... i was looking for flights from Dublin to South Africa ...

trailfinders assert that their best price to DURban is eur 650 with Etihad, and eur 519 to JohaNnesBurg with Swiss - but since you can't book online, i have no idea of their availability ...

Etihad's own website doesn't allow bookings to DUR [presumably trailfinders use another airline for the final leg] - but their flights to JNB don't look cheap - mostly around eur 715.

Emirates claims to have flights from DUB to JNB for eur 608 [using EI flights to LGW], but they aren't bookable online ...

AirFrance has a good selection of dates from DUB to JNB for eur 570 - such as o/bound 17th june, and i/bound 1st july.

Swiss has flights from DUB to JNB for eur 511 with good availability on the outbound legs, but the only return dates are 12th and 13th july ...

netflights is better at searching by fare - selecting their Latest Offers menu, and then clicking on any of the flight options, you can access their full list of fares, and then play around with dates to look for availability at the lowest rate. they only offer fares from the UK.

they have flights on Etihad from MANchester to JNB for an amazing gbp 254 - the o/bound leg is reaonably flexible, but the i/bound has little availability - the latest return date is 23rd june. with a 9.30am departure time, and an arrival back into MAN at 7.30am - the first flights of the day arrive into MAN at 7.30am from DUB, with a lunchtime return flight ... using a departure date of 17th june - the price is approx eur 20 with FR or eur 52 with EI ! and to go over the previous night before the o/bound flight would be a similar price.

netflights also have Etihad flights from LHR to JNB for a similarly amazing 262 gbp - again the o/bound leg has reasonable availability, but the latest i/bound date is 23rd june. the LHR departure is at 9.10am, arriving back into LHR at 7.20am - the first arrival into LHR from DUB is at 8.05am - too tight for an intercontinental flight. using a departure from DUB on 16th june - the last flight into LHR, and an early morning flight back on 24th june [overnight from JNB], the price would be about eur 70.

the usually reliable websites expedia, ebookers, opodo & travelocity aren't so good for very flexible travel ... but they have the same Etihad deal [travelocity also has a departure on 24th] ... but when DUBlin is selected as the departure point - the prices double, and AF becomes the cheapest option ...

07 May 2009

a weekend in Sighisoara ...

am looking to go to Sighisoara in Romania from London for the 2nd May bank holiday weekend ...


one option is to fly to Bucharest and drive [the 300km] to Sighisoara ... the best flight option is an 08:00 departure on Sat 23rd from LUTon with WizzAir for 91 gbp, with a return departure to LHR at 17:05 on Mon 25th with BA for 132 gbp ...

a closer option is Cluj - just 150km from Sighisoara ... but there are no direct flights that weekend ... so the best option would be an LH departure from LHR at 06:05 via MUC, arriving in CLJ at midday for 164 gbp ... with a return departure at 18:00 again via MUC, arriving into LHR at 22:20 for 164 gbp ...

there is a direct departure on friday at 08:10 from LUTon with WizzAir for 136 gbp ...