The $119 Europe Flight That Changed How I Travel

Note: This is the introduction to my first-ever travel guide: Spend Less, Fly More: How to Save Hundreds on Flights (Without Credit Card Points). It’s just $19 bucks, and you’ll probably 10x that value on your next trip from my tips.

I was sitting in a café in Barcelona’s Gràcia District, the village-like neighborhood up on Barcelona’s slope towards the mountains. I was panicking about how I was going to pay to get home.

Three months earlier, I had graduated from college in New York City. Instead of getting a job, I decided to give it a shot as a freelance writer. Since I made the same amount of money (not that much), no matter where I was, I ditched my lease and set off to Barcelona, where I spent a summer abroad as a teenager. I wasn’t ready for a “real” job, I told myself, so I put it off and stayed with my friends on their couches or extra bunk beds.

Well, I’d put it off as much as I could, I thought. A European tourist visa only lasts 90 days. I was on day 87, still without a flight to anywhere. My cursor frantically refreshed Google Flights, hoping a flight back to New York that wouldn’t drain my bank account would show up.

This wasn’t the first time I’d looked up a flight home. But the prices of the Barcelona to New York flights felt like the jamon ibérico in my stomach came back to life to punch me in the gut. It was the end of August, the worst possible time to buy a flight to and from the most touristy cities in the world. All of Barcelona went on vacation in August, and the airlines jacked up the prices accordingly.

I took a deep breath and another sip of my café con leche, and I devised a plan.

“All right,” I told myself. Panic and caffeine are a great combination for good ideas. “I just have to get out of the Schengen Zone.” And then, drawing on the cultural knowledge, I heard myself thinking, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here!” I laughed. And then… an epiphany. That was it. I didn’t need a flight back to the U.S.

I did some searching. Cross-Atlantic flight prices plummeted by the second week of September. I found an airline called Norse Airways, which I’d never heard of, that had a flight on September 5th from London’s Gatwick to New York’s JFK for just $119. The U.K. had a separate tourist visa, so it would work.

It had to be a typo, I thought. The flight here had cost me $500.

Two days from now, the 89th day of my visa, I saw a Vueling flight from Barcelona to London for $29.

This was my ticket back to New York for 150 bucks.

As I navigated Norse’s website, I realized the price was a way to pull me in. It was $119 with no bags, meals, or seat selection, not even a full-size carry-on. I thought about my suitcase. Despite bringing plenty of clothes, I’d worn the same two pairs of shorts and one pair of jeans all summer. I could leave all these books here. After all, I’d finished reading them. My friend, I’m sure, would keep my Yankees jersey safe (A few months later, on Instagram, I saw him wearing it to a club. Girls all share their clothes, why can’t we?) The airplane food sucked anyway. I’d bring my own.

I’d come to Spain that summer more like your typical tourist, a guiri, as they say in Barcelona. But as I’d adapted to their social rhythms and bilingual atmosphere, I was no longer a sucker for every tourist upcharge. I was leaving as more of an urban backpacker thana tourist.

I got to see London for the first time, and extended my post-college travels.

What happened next surprised me even more than the price. With just my backpack, I didn’t miss anything. I packed my own food. I still had a TV on the flight. I wasn’t even in a middle seat. I asked myself why I ever had spent so much on a flight?

When I got back to New York, I looked at a few studio apartments. I debated moving into a 4-bedroom with three other guys, but I’d taken on a different spirit. With friends and free couches all over the place, I asked myself, what if I just kept traveling? I now knew the cheap flights were out there, the right destination at the right time for a ridiculous price, just waiting.

Over the following two years, I traveled to a dozen countries and two dozen cities on a budget that many people spend on a single two-week vacation. Not because I was wealthy, or because I had credit card points, or because I knew some secret hack the travel industry doesn’t want you to know about.

Saving Hundreds on Flights Only Requires A New Lens

I learned to travel differently, and in doing so, I’ve saved thousands of dollars on flights. (And frankly, tens of thousands on rent that I might’ve otherwise paid.)

In this guide, I’m going to show you how to do the same.

You don’t have to sign up for any credit cards (although I’ll touch on that as a bonus). You don’t have to go on sketchy promo code websites.

Yes, there are trade-offs. You might fly on a Thursday instead of a Saturday. You might carry a backpack instead of checking a suitcase. You might sit in 27B instead of the aisle seat you prefer.

But here’s what I will tell you: those trade-offs are smaller than you think, and the freedom you’ll find in return can be greater than you imagine.

As I traveled, I released the assumption that itl had to be expensive. I released the belief that I needed two weeks of vacation time and a four-figure budget to see the world. I released the idea that comfort and spontaneity were luxuries of the rich and retired.

You don’t need to do everything in this book. Pick one strategy and you’ll save money. Pick a few and you’ll save hundreds. Do all of them, and you might find yourself, like me, realizing that the world is more accessible than you ever thought possible.

Some of these will feel easy. Some might feel uncomfortable at first. That’s okay. But I’d encourage you to sit with the discomfort for a moment before you dismiss something.

In the pages ahead, you’ll discover:

• Why checking a bag costs you far more than the baggage fee (and how to travel with less than you think you need)
• Why budget airlines are actually your best friend (and how to fly them without getting nickel-and-dimed)
• How to use the airline’s hub-and-spoke model to your advantage (and avoid the layovers that drive up costs)
• How to build flexibility into your travel, no matter your situation.
• Which add-ons are designed to separate you from your money, and how to plan around them.
• When and where to find and book for maximum savings