The most exciting part about a gap year is deciding where you want to go. The least is watching a huge wad of your cash leave your bank account once you pay for your ticket, which is likely to be your biggest single outlay.
Students have it lucky in this regard because there are a number of agencies offering excellent value flights and packages to under 25s, especially in the round-the-world ticket department.
For the rest, the Internet is a good place to start, if only to compare prices and get an idea of what you’re going to have to fork out. You can arguably find your cheapest tickets on the net, but it doesn’t hurt to ask a good travel agent to have a look for you, they are often privy to deals you might not be able to find yourself.
- Clear out the cookies on your machine. Some websites take note of your search queries and will give a higher quote when you search again.
- Be flexible with your flight arrangements. Tuesday to Thursday and early morning and midnight flights are usually the cheapest. Flights are often cheaper after a major public holiday or festival and off-season. That said, check out the weather. There’s no point arriving at a destination in the middle of monsoon season.
- When booking internal flights overseas, book them on the overseas website or once you get to that country. It’s cheaper than booking from home. Compare the price of single and return airfares. It’s sometimes cheaper to book a return ticket and use only half the booking than to book a single ticket.
- It’s often cheaper to fly into a secondary airport. For example, if you’re flying to London, choose Gatwick instead of Heathrow Airport.
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