question about traveling to Europe

thegastons

There was a post the other day (I think by CrazyNLove) about traveling. Going on vacation to Italy is one of my all time dreams and would love to make it happen. I've started looking at things to figure out how much it would cost. For those of you who have gone, my question is about how much should I expect to pay for airfare for 2 people? We would travel at non-peak times to save money and just have general tickets - definitely nothing fancy TIA!

AustinBride06

When DH and I were dating he paid about $330 rt to London from Dallas.  That was about 6 months after 9/11 though. 

When I was looking at prices for Italy (to fly during peak months) I saw fares around $1500-2k each.  I think If you get something for a non-peak month between $500-800 you've got a great deal.  $800-1200 is probably average.  $1200+ would be high for non-peak.  I think.  Best thing to do is to stalk the fares, even if it's too far out for them to be on sale, you can see what they're starting at so when they go up/down you'll know if it's a good deal or not.  Just avoid major religious holidays and you'll probably be fine.

christy0606

I vaguely remember paying around $800 the last time I went, which was a few years ago.  I expect that'd be on the low end today.

Keep an eye out on travelzoo.  They often advertise good deals (especially if your travel dates are flexible).

Mrs.Purdue

i'd say something around $700-800 as well.  it'll (likely) be even cheaper if you can fly out of dallas or houston instead of Austin.  DH and I recently flew to Greece at the end september and we paid $750 for our rt/flights from AUS to Athens and his parents paid $625 from DFW-ATH at the same time. 

thegastons

Thanks guys! Like I said, I've been looking some, but didn't really know what was actually a good deal. This helps a lot! And thanks for the idea of going out of Houston or Dallas - I will definitely be checking that too!

ssinca

budget about 60-80 euros for nice dinners - you can definitely skimp, but you shouldn't because authentic italian food is to.die.for.  I dream about it sometimes - yes, I have issues.

we cheaped it up for breakfast and lunch though. 

thegastons

ssinca:

budget about 60-80 euros for nice dinners - you can definitely skimp, but you shouldn't because authentic italian food is to.die.for.  I dream about it sometimes - yes, I have issues.

we cheaped it up for breakfast and lunch though. 

This is one of the main reasons I dream of going! I love italian food and I can only imagine how much better the real stuff is!!

AustinMimi

I too am dying to visit Italy. I went to Europe 3X last year and the tickets were between $500 to $750 each. I went in November, May, and July. The cheapest ticket I got was to London in May (weirdly). The most expensive was to Amsterdam in November.