 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Web help for budget travellers |
 |
 |
Share |
ONCE upon a time, when netbooks and smartphones had yet to be a part of our lives, people actually went to travel agencies to buy flight tickets, book hotel rooms, rent a car, buy travel insurance or perhaps check out the latest travel deals available.But guess what? With Google, Facebook and Twitter today, the first place a savvy traveller would go to is, yes, you guess it right: the Internet!
Be it AirAsia.com, MalaysiaAirlines.com or TripAdvisor.com, just to name a few, travel-related websites are almost indispensable nowadays to those planning their next trip – be it to Kota Baru, Kelantan or Cusco, Peru!
Here, I’d like to share with you one of my favourite travel websites namely, EuroCheapo, or its URL www.eurocheapo.com. For those who dream of travelling to Europe or are planning to go there, (especially those who are not born an heiress or married to one), Eurocheapo is an excellent one-stop website if you want to explore this continent on a shoestring budget.
From Rooms To Air Tickets
From its humble beginning (a labour of love by its founder Tom Meyers back in 1998) as a website dedicated to finding cheap, yet "spick and span" hotel rooms all over Europe, EuroCheapo has expanded into a budget travel portal that goes beyond finding the best deals for budget hotels.Â
Besides searching for and booking hotel rooms, you can also look for and compare budget flights if you want to go from one European city to another, rent a car, or even buy a Eurail pass.Â
I like the website’s clean layout. No clutter and you can just dig into your search straightaway with the least amount of confusion, unlike many other websites that can overwhelm you sometimes.
Another winning feature is that budget-conscious travellers can also get Euro-saving travel tips from EuroCheapo editors through a dedicated budget travel blog, as well as tips posted by fellow travellers. For instance, the blog post at 9.43pm on Oct 26 was "Rome: The Roma Pass – Deal or No Deal?" (For the uninitiated, the Roma Pass is a three-day discount card costing 23 euros that offers tourists free or discounted access to some of Rome’s top museums, as well as free use of the public transport system).Â
Other blog posts include "Rome: A list of free tourist sights", "Barcelona: Is the Barcelona Card a good deal?" and "Paris: Smart tourists know these three scams", just to name a few.
Cheap Also Means Good
But let’s go back to the basics: Staying true to its original aim of finding affordable yet decent hotel rooms remains one of the website’s key features. According to the website: "Our editors show up unannounced at budget hotels all over Europe, check out the rooms and get a feel for the place. If we like it, we write a review and pass the info to you".Â
True to its "cheapo" branding, EuroCheapo editors scour hotels of one-star and above all over Europe to find out which one is good and which one is not.Â
Its CheapoSearch engine compares rates of hotel rooms (and hostel rooms too!) between multiple booking sites such as Venere.com, Booking.com and HostelWorld.com.
By clicking "Today’s hotel picks" selected by the editor, you can find a review of the hotel visited by a EuroCheapo editor, with recommendations based on cleanliness, location, price and overall quality. "EuroCheapo did not charge this hotel to be listed," the website said. Nice.Â
There’s also an editor’s review of the hotel, important information (address, phone number, rates per night, etc) and a summary of the available facilities (got free wi-fi?), as well as guests’ rating.Â
In case you’re wondering, the hotel search results "are shown by their "CheapoFactor" that combines price, editors´ picks, user rating and distance from city centre. Average rate for a double room starts from 45 euros (RM230) and of course, the sky is the limit if you don’t mind spending more.Â
Flight, Train Or Car?
Already booked your room? Then maybe you want to explore how to travel from one European destination to another the cheapest way. With Eurocheapo.com, you can do your own research and decide on the mode of travel, be it budget airline, driving or taking the train.Â
For instance, I searched for a cheap flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Barcelona, Spain on Nov 4, 2009, and the website recommended five routes serviced by several European budget carriers namely Air Berlin, Clickair and Germanwings, as well as two possible routes by Ryanair.Â
Want to take a train instead? Use EuroCheapo to learn more about Eurail passes as well as other national and regional rail passes, and buy them online too. That said, sometimes it is cheaper to buy point-to-point train tickets, just like the locals do and EuroCheapo can also help you do so.
For those who prefer driving so that they can enjoy the magnificent European scenery at their own pace, just click at the "Cars" section on the Home page, and the CheapoSearch engine will quickly find and compare car rental rates from various related websites such as Hotwire.com, ArgusCarHire.com, CarRentals.com and Travelocity.com. If you’re renting a car or driving in a foreign country for the first time, fret not as EuroCheapo also provides a "Rental Car Tool Kit†for the inexperiencedÂ
Intrigued? Then go to www.eurocheapo.com and make your European dream trip come true! And oh, for the Facebook and Twitter addicts out there, you can also subscribe to EuroCheapo via these two social networking sites, as well as through RSS Feed.
Source : New Straits Times – 24 November 2009
Comments[0]
| ||||||
| ||||||
