Our four months of uninterrupted summer holidays are a phenomenon unlikely to be repeated in our working lives, so we ought to make the most of the free time we are gifted with at college. With the rising costs of the J1 visa (thanks to the duopoly of USIT and SAYIT), many university students are forced to look to elsewhere to fill the dreary Irish summer with a bit of foreign travel. In this issue we have rounded up some of the most useful websites and tips for saving a few bucks while trying to see a bit of the world.
Booking Flights
Secret Flying (www.secretflying.com) is an amazing website that provides updates on cheap fares and fare errors across all airlines. By signing up to their email updates or giving their Facebook page a simple like, you will be notified when these deals become available. Time is of the essence in the bargain basement airfare market, and certain offers can be sold out within minutes of them being posted online.
When searching for flights, delete your cookies cache or browse incognito to avoid ‘dynamic pricing’ from airlines. As if the Ryanair sites sees you’ve been on the site numerous times over a couple of days, what it’ll do is actually steadily bump up the flight ticket prices to give the illusion that they’re selling out and make you panic buy. Some would go so far as to look at flights from a different IP address from that they will book the flights from, to avoid any increase in prices, for example: looking at flights on your phone, then booking them on your computer.
Accommodation
If you're after free accommodation and don't mind looking after a dog or two in the process, sign up to TrustedHousesitters.com! The largest website of its kind, TrustedHousesitters boasts thousands of members from major cities such as New York, Sydney and Dubai. For an annual fee of €99 you can connect with verified homeowners around the world, saving hundreds on costly accommodation.
Couchsurfing.com has a thriving membership of over twelve million users, allowing travellers to stay with local hosts for free or interact with other like-minded nomads at traveller events in their own city. This option is definitely not for the faint-hearted or anxious type, although couchsurfing.com does incorporate a number of safety features into its process – you can contact hosts/travellers through the website's internal messaging system, check if their address, mobile number or payment details have been verified and read reviews of them from other travellers and hosts.
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