How I found an International Flight for $300!

It took me over a month to do it, But instead of paying over $1,300 on a roundtrip flight to Germany, I will pay close to $700 in total. Alot of it is thanks to my ignorance of sites, my knowledge of how much information is stored from your computers, and accidental clicking. 

If you dont know already, I LOVE google. I google everything and everything. Sometimes for better, alot of times for the worse. What can I say, maybe its more of a love/hate relationship but I rely on it for everything. This time I googled flights. Did you know google has its on flight finder interface? Yep. So i used multiple tabs for my search and used all of the information to come to a conclusion. All of these websites dont talk to eachother. I guess thats why travel agents still exist, because i can find a flight on orbitz for $1000, but on travelocity it is $800, or visa-versa. While those sites are great if you have loyalty to one (Some offer free promotions or perks for a number of purchases.) I am a bargainer and normally dont stick with one company. 

First things first. Hide your ass. Literally. Use a VPN or IP program that changes where you are located or what server you are on. Sites like google, and bing use the information from your IP to determine your location, what you have searched prior, and even what type of computer you are using (stereotyping what brand of computer you use is even a factor: Using a Mac gives the impression you have more money and like fancy things, but owning a PC means you are cheaper and looking for bargains.). I use both Firefox and Google Chrome in this case. Firefox was open in "Incognito Mode" with Kayak.com, GoEuro.com, Google Flights, and the specific airline I am looking up, while Google Chrome had open the destinations local transportation page open (also in "Incognito" although not as important). Why all those tabs you ask? There is a very good reason I swear.

Each site explained:

-Kayak.com : This site is a great blend of all of the flight finding sights (orbiz, travelocity, etc.) without all the tabs. I have found that even using a different computer the prices dont differ if you use kayak or the specific site such as orbitz, so why not use one that shows it all? The most important feature though is the Explore option. (Kayak.com > Click MORE at the Top > Under "Find Travel" Click "Explore") This is a fun way to find the cheapest time and destination to fly to especially if you dont have a final destination in mind, or maybe know where you want to go but dont have a date yet. Play around with the dates, zoom in and out for prices for different locations, and find what fits you best. In my case this was helpful to determine when I wanted my return flight to be (even though I did not end up buying a round trip, I will use this info for when I purchase that later) because I already knew the date range I needed to fly out. 

-GoEuro.com - Google found me this great site that merges all available transportation methods to your destination. Thank god for this find, because I didnt even think this was an option. In my case, I needed a flight from Miami, FL, USA to Nuremberg, Germany and I already knew I could Fly into Munich and take the train to Nuremberg and that would save me $200 dollars on the flight and only cost 27€ for the train. But I was not thinking big enough! Why not look for train trips to farther cities and see if that saves me more? That was a key discovery. This site will also be cool for my trips just within europe, although it does not include all of the EU countries, It will get me started at least. The other downside is it does not show super far in advance like I needed. You can fudge it and get an estimate on prices for a date within the next 3 months for trains, and buses (which the prices of dont change much unless you get a broad ticket that lets you go on any train at anytime or prefer 1st class. But for someone who is as frugal as I am, I dont mind 2nd class and a specific time train ticket.).

-Google Flights - (Google the words "Google Flight" and it is the first link, then put in all of your peferences) This tool ended up being the most useful, and thanks to a slip of the mouse, I discovered a great saving! For some reasonflights originating in Europe going to the USA are cheaper than flying from the USA to Europe. WHaT?! I had accidentally hit the two arrows in the middle and swapped my departure and destination points and the prices dropped $500! But I am not starting in Europe, so how do I get there? One way ticket? Typically if you do the math a one way ticket can be in upwards of 3 times the price of a round trip, so it is not always the best option, but i figured if i could save so much on round trips from Europe to the US, it would make up for the price of the one-way that would change up the pattern. Now google flights also has a great "Explore" Feature (the little bar graph symbol on the bottom right of the prefrences box where you input all of your information.) that is indespensible! Say you now know where you want to fly from and to, but are still flexible on the dates, this will show you a very simple calender with prices of the cheapest flight available that month and what days are best. I originally wanted to fly out the end of November, but found that if I stayed an extra 2 weeks (which I know my family wont mind at all!) I saved hundreds of dollars. Check! 

-Specific Airline Page - My father is a pilot and so he is always my go to man to know airline reputations. I dont want to fly on an airline that has horrible customer service, a line of food-poinsoning cases, or a record of faulty equiptment. He is my google in this case but I still like seeing reviews and reputation from others. If I find a flight price I like, Ill call dad, look up the reveiws on google, and open that airlines website (design sells for me!) and see how reputable they look as well as if the price is the same or cheaper (I would rather work with the company regarding cancelation, refunds, complaints etc. and not a thrid party like travelocity if I can.). Dont overlook rewards and offers while you are on their site. I know many bloggers who swear they fly for free off credit card miles alone! If you are able to add a credit card to your collection, some airplines have promotions with thousands of miles for signing up, and a whole bunch more if you spend X amount of money in the first few months. If you sign up for the card, make sure to use it to pay rent, electricity, groceries and everything else you normally doto reach that extra bonus, no need to go crazy with stuff you doing need, just payments you already make maybe on another card or direct to your account. Once you have reached the bonus, use those miles for your upcoming trip and pay off the bill. When all is paid off cancel the card. No need to hold on to it after that, and you wont accrue any fees for it just sitting there.

-Local Transportation Page - Back to my back and forth between pages, I used the Bahn.de website in my case to determine where the trains went frequently to see what destinations I could choose that  could then hop on a train and ride to to save money. By comparing the transportation website and the departure points site (in my case i searched International Flights from MIA and it gave me a list of cities in europe that have a non-stop flight from Miami) i can find the common denominator. A few cities would have worked for me including Berlin, Lisbon, and (my choice) Paris. To my surprise when I put in Miami to Paris in the google flight search bar (checked the additional airports near Miami International I was willing to drive to as a departure point) and checked the Explore calendar screaming at me in bright green was $250 FTL(Fort Lauderdale) to Paris with one stop in Norway! Norweigian Air is a reputable airliner and i immediatley booked it. They have a convienient 24 hour cancelation period so i could consult the father, and the only catch was that everything was charged as a fee including checked luggage, seating reservation, and meals. For an extra $50 I chose my seats ahead of time(I NEED the window seat!) and decided to skip the meals (I can make 4 sandwiches and bring along my own peanuts for the price of one meal). The cost of a train from Paris to Nuremberg is 50€ if you go at a certain time (Deal!) and who doesnt mind spending a day in paris to catch the train at a later time. Not me!

Now I do not need to buy my return flight for some time, but looking ahead there are already flights for the summer round trip from Germany to Miami for 500€ (about $650) making my estimated round trip total $900! My originaly estimate for a much shorter stay and a set return date with no flexibility (who in the world knows what they are doing in 8 months?!) was $1400.

Savings of at least $500 + the ability to fly whenever I want + see new cities + go on an adventure + enjoy my travels = Priceless

Hope this helps you in your travels!