Very Cheap Airline Tickets with Kayak!

Posted by Camp Trainer on Feb 18, 2009 in Adventures • No comments • 126 views

Backpacking abroad is one of the best ways I know to satisfy both a love of backpacking and a curiosity about other places and cultures. The two activities - sightseeing and backpacking - complement each other marvelously. Imagine spending a week on an African safari - and finishing it off with hikes on Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro.

Or vacationing by hiking from village to village in the French Alps, sampling gourmet food and local wine, and exploring 1000-year old churches in villages that aren’t in any guidebooks.As far as meeting poeple goes, you can expect to encounter not only local folks but other adventurers - people from all walks of life and dozens of countries.

But the very richness of the choices can be daunting. So can the logistics, like the prospect of deciphering a foreign train and bus system when you don’t even speak the language! Fortunately lots of people have gone before you, and they’ve left a trail full of information in their wake.

My most satisfying trips were those I planned myself using Lonely Planet guidebooks. In using the Internet, I found many websites that have catered to budget travelers and hikers like myself. One of my most favorite source of checking out and comparing cheap airline tickets is Kayak. The website scours over 200 websites to find the best deals on airline tickets.

This is what I usually do to ensure I get the cheapest airline tickets: I registered with Kayak to send me an email alert once they found a ticket that matched my price point. I have gotten many good affordable (okay dirt cheap) airline tickets this way as I book my tickets online. It also comes including information about accommodation and transport from the destination airport.

Here are the results of a search for a round-trip ticket from New York to Los Angeles. Click on the picture to see the results.

You can also make decisions whether you don’t mind having layovers or prefer a direct non-stop flight to your destination. What happens when you selected the ticket you wish to purchase, is that you will be redirected back to the airline ticket booking website where you can then enter your credit card details.

What I love about Kayak is the simultaneous search across all the airlines, hence saving a lot of time for me from doing research.

There is a useful feature of the range of timings you can select for your flight departure especially if you have a very tight schedule to follow. Just shift the slider bars to narrow down your preferred timings for your departure. Kayak also states clearly what are the airline fees you can expect during these flight bookings.

I’m now planning a trip to Asia again so I signed up for Kayak to let me know of cheap airline tickets that matches my price point. You can set this up when you sign up for the Alert service. It’s a useful feature and email reminder that tells me I need to get started planning again! Register at Kayak so you can start planning for your next overseas backpacking journey!