Things to consider: Flying
I have had to get a lot of things together for this trip and more things seem to be coming up daily. One would think that there would be a site to visit that would be able to give you the information you need but the fact stands that I have yet to find it. So, I am going to try and make one that I hope will be helpful to people who are not necessarily going to Vienna.
One of the first things to do is to obviously get your ticket and work out where you are staying. However, there is more to be concerned about than just the ticket. Each airline has there own rules pertaining to luggage, carry-on, and items acceptable to bring. For example, for Delta you cannot bring a suitcase, as your luggage, that weighs more than 50 pounds and you are allowed one carry on that cannot be bigger than 22 x 14 x 9. If you go over that or wish to bring more than one of each you have to pay a fee, so be thinking of what is really important to bring. Now some issue with luggage may not be weight, as with me, it is with the space itself. One option is to go back through everything that you have just packed and try and figure out what you don't really "need" persay. Or you could get SpaceBags for luggage. It is a SpaceBag I am sure that there are other to things to consider with flying so I would always check the airline website and make sure that you are allowed to take certain items and any restrictions on luggage. that does not require a vacuum. You simply stuff, close, and roll the air out (left). |
Things to consider: Packing
One thing that will be important to bring, if you are staying in a hostel, is a towel and possibly sheets. Not all hostels have towels and sheets standard and will charge you to rent them. It may seem silly but it is something little that you can save money on. Some hostels have it where you have to rent what is essentially a sleeping bag from them, but I have heard of people that take a sheet, what ever size you wish, folded it in half and sewed along the side and bottom to create a lightweight and compact sleeping bag (on the left).
Also a travel towel, as shown on the left, can be a good idea to solve the towel issues. It soaks up a lot of water but is very small and most come with a travel bag to put it in. Again, it may seem weird to have to bring ones own towel but I am all over any way to save money. |
Things to Consider: Little Trips
For most trips it is easier and cheaper to just hop on a train. However, it will be even cheaper if you get a vorteilskarte, for those of you in Vienna. This card is 20 euros but it makes every train ticket half off! If you are planning on going on more than one trip outside of Vienna it pays for itself. Another thing to keep in mind is to try and go with a group. If all of you go to the ticket counter together, you can get an even greater discount. However, you cannot use the vorteilskarte to lower the group price even more. It is either one or the other, but sometimes the group price can make it lower than if everyone bought a separate ticket with the vorteilskarte. One can get a vorteilskarte any place that they sell train tickets and it is a pretty simple form to fill out but it is in German, so either get a native speaker to help or look up the translation to make sure you are writing the right information.
If you do feel the need to travel by plane weigh the different options on how to get to the Airport. In Vienna for example, one can go by bus, the CAT (city Airport Train) or taxi. Look up where the bus goes and its price compared to the CAT, which is at Landstrasse and costs 9 euros, and getting a taxi. I can almost guarantee that taxi is going to be the most expensive but you may be wanting convenience over price. The CAT, if you get there early enough, will check your bags for certain airlines. The airlines they will check are online as is the price for different services they will do.
For when you get to your destination, hostelworld.com may be of some help. This site is a listing of all of the hostels in Europe. You can narrow down the search by location, check-in times, ratings, cost, beds to a room, basically everything. Each hostel has a rating, given by previous guests and some have pictures of the interiors. I have stayed in 2 hostels off of hostel world so far and both looked and did exactly what they said they would. Do not be concerned by how the outside or stairwells of the builds look, it will probably look shady, but hold off judgment until you walk in to the room. This is not to say that I would trust everything that is posted but I have not had a bad experience and hostels are much cheaper than hotels.
If you do feel the need to travel by plane weigh the different options on how to get to the Airport. In Vienna for example, one can go by bus, the CAT (city Airport Train) or taxi. Look up where the bus goes and its price compared to the CAT, which is at Landstrasse and costs 9 euros, and getting a taxi. I can almost guarantee that taxi is going to be the most expensive but you may be wanting convenience over price. The CAT, if you get there early enough, will check your bags for certain airlines. The airlines they will check are online as is the price for different services they will do.
For when you get to your destination, hostelworld.com may be of some help. This site is a listing of all of the hostels in Europe. You can narrow down the search by location, check-in times, ratings, cost, beds to a room, basically everything. Each hostel has a rating, given by previous guests and some have pictures of the interiors. I have stayed in 2 hostels off of hostel world so far and both looked and did exactly what they said they would. Do not be concerned by how the outside or stairwells of the builds look, it will probably look shady, but hold off judgment until you walk in to the room. This is not to say that I would trust everything that is posted but I have not had a bad experience and hostels are much cheaper than hotels.