131
votes
Accepted
Book one night on Airbnb, then make a deal with the host to book directly. Any downsides?
As Nate Eldredge pointed out this is against Air BnB's T&C's and could result in both you and the property provider being banned from their platform.
But it's pretty dam unlikely you would get ...
117
votes
What's the longest distance that can be traveled by only using free transportation?
675 km (420 miles) in Mauritania
People are apparently permitted to hop a free ride in an ore hopper on the iron-ore train between Noadhibou and Zouerate, Mauritania. Those able to pay $4 (at least in ...
93
votes
Why is international first class much more expensive than international economy class?
International first (and business) class for long flights is a very different product than most domestic first class services.
For example, here's first class on a United domestic 737:
Wikimedia ...
71
votes
What's the longest distance that can be traveled by only using free transportation?
From March 2020 all public transit in Luxembourg will be free. Luxembourg is about 60km long and well served with rail lines and bus routes, so presumably the longest trip will be about 60km.
61
votes
What is the cheapest regular-priced scheduled flight I can book and fly?
A return flight from Westray to Papa Westray is a mere £21, or £10.50 per leg. It also happens to be the shortest scheduled flight in the world. Prices haven't changed since at least 2013 and tickets ...
59
votes
Book one night on Airbnb, then make a deal with the host to book directly. Any downsides?
I would do this only for subsequent stays and with a written contract.
I've done this. I was renting a furnished apartment for about 5 weeks over Airbnb¹. After about 3 weeks, the host asked if I ...
54
votes
What real castle would be least expensive to visit from New Zealand?
This is going to come down to what's a "real" castle. Wikipedia opines:
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages
predominantly by the nobility or royalty and ...
52
votes
Accepted
What's the longest distance that can be traveled by only using free transportation?
210km (130 miles) Bangor to Cardiff Airport in Wales
The TrawsCymru long distance bus network in Wales offers free travel on weekends.
Free every weekend, no restrictions on residency, age etc.
T2 ...
51
votes
Accepted
I need to fly between two European countries once a month. What is the cheapest way to do it?
There is no truly practical discount card for regular flights in Europe that I am aware of. You are looking to fly often and this comes at a price. That being said, there is a number of tweaks where ...
49
votes
Accepted
How can I cross the English channel with a car?
The shortest crossings are the quickest and cheapest. So Dover/Calais is very popular. And the EuroTunnel train from Folkstone/Calais is effectively the same, but quicker (35 minutes compared with 90 ...
46
votes
What is the highest viewing spot in London that is accessible free of charge?
The Walkie-Talkie (20 Fenchurch St) is only the 13th-tallest building in London at 160m height, but it does have a free viewing gallery (height 155m):
The famous enlarged glass dome of 20 Fenchurch ...
45
votes
What's the longest distance that can be traveled by only using free transportation?
87 km (54 miles) from Trondheim, Norway to border shopping across the Swedish border in Storlien
The route of 108 km along the road is the longest I found searching for gratisbuss (free bus) in ...
41
votes
Accepted
Is London's Greenwich park free?
The park is free. You can stand outside the gate and see the meridian, or pay 10 pounds to enter the observatory. It's 9 quid if you book online.
More information: https://www.rmg.co.uk/plan-your-...
40
votes
What exactly are "repositioning cruises"?
A repositioning cruise is a one-way voyage of a ship between two regions.
Most people take cruises where the departure and arrival port is the same. This is simple since only a standard return fare to ...
39
votes
Accepted
What is the highest viewing spot in London that is accessible free of charge?
The Heron Tower (also known as the Salesforce Tower) is the 3rd tallest building in Greater London with a roof height of 202m, and has a restaurant & bar at 175m / 574ft called Duck and Waffle. ...
38
votes
Can I save money when flying twice to the same destination?
There used to be some tricks in this area if the airline sells significantly cheaper return tickets if the stay included a weekend. Some airlines did this on the assumption that the more price-...
37
votes
How to pay for things in Greece?
Pay as you normally do at home.
Have some cash with you when you land in Greece for small immediate purchases (tourist things, taxi...), I'd say, 200, 300 euros per person.
Pay with credit card for ...
36
votes
Accepted
Public huts to stay overnight around UK
The UK isn't a very wild place, at least compared with New Zealand, so there isn't a lot of call for 'public huts', by which I'm assuming you mean shelters which are free for anyone to use in remote ...
35
votes
Accepted
Cheapest destination for a white Christmas starting from Sydney?
There are two options, both roughly equidistant and neither an obvious winner:
Japan is about 10 hours from Sydney, with direct flights to Tokyo. While snow is rare in Tokyo itself, there is tons of ...
35
votes
Why is air travel to China currently (May 2021) 4x the usual price?
There are fewer flights/itineraries.
Chinese authorities have imposed a strict policy regarding international flights with quotas and circuit-breakers ("Five Ones Policy", article on this ...
34
votes
Accepted
What real castle would be least expensive to visit from New Zealand?
If you live in New Zealand, then the nearest building claiming to be a "castle" is Larnach Castle near Dunedin. Wikipedia describes it as a "mock castle". It is essentially a fancy ...
33
votes
What is the highest viewing spot in London that is accessible free of charge?
If you don't mind being outside, you can get some good views over most of London from some of the hills that surround it. Two good spots are Parliament Hill, in Hampstead, and Alexandra Palace, in ...
33
votes
Accepted
What is the cheapest regular-priced scheduled flight I can book and fly?
Internal flights within Cuba are heavily subsidised by the Cuban government.
Here is an image I took at Holguin airport of the sales desk for flights to Havana. The flight costs $187MN, which is $6....
33
votes
Accepted
How to pay for things in Greece?
It's unfortunate you have pre-ordered Euros. USA banks offer terrible rates of exchange. What you need to do is investigate the foreign currency fees of your various credit and debit cards, almost all ...
32
votes
Public huts to stay overnight around UK
These are known as bothies. A bothy is a basic shelter, usually in a remote location. They are unlocked, and available for anyone to use, free of charge.
There are many different styles and sizes of ...
30
votes
Accepted
When should I book my hotel if prices are inflated due to a major event?
A lot of hotel booking sites offer free cancellation up to the day of the stay as an option that costs a few EUR or USD more. Business-oriented booking sites sometimes even have cancellation up to ...
29
votes
Accepted
Why is international first class much more expensive than international economy class?
Your question is (I think): why does (US) domestic first class exceed the cost of economy by 50%, whereas international first class is many times the cost of economy.
The answer to that is that the ...
29
votes
What's the longest distance that can be traveled by only using free transportation?
At the time of writing, all busses from Intercity Transit, the transit authority for the Olympia, Washington area are free. The longest route I can find is from Israel at Littlerock Rd to Tacoma Dome ...
27
votes
Book one night on Airbnb, then make a deal with the host to book directly. Any downsides?
Airbnb would almost certainly consider this to be a terms of service violation. From Section 14:
In connection with your use of the Airbnb Platform, you will not and will not assist or enable ...
25
votes
Accepted
Deutsche Bahn - Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket and ICE
No, you cannot take an ICE and yes, there is an option to search only regional trains on Bahn.de (checkbox "Nur Nahverkehr" – in the new version, it only appears after clicking in one of the boxes of ...
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