Europe: Would you rather catch a cheap flight with/connections or stay at a budget hotel?

[Anonymous]

I’m no stranger to budget hotels but I always fly direct. I’m tossing up the idea of a flight with 1-2 layovers. One layover may be 16hr. Destination would be in Europe.

[Anonymous]

It depends how much time you have. I prefer direct flights, it makes things so much easier but then if it’s triple I might consider a flight with a stop. But won’t consider a 16 hour layover, it’s just too much, unless I decide to make it longer and make a destination out of it. I don’t book expensive hotels either, unless there is a feature like private beach that we’d actually be spending our days at the hotel.

[Anonymous]

Neither.

[Anonymous]

How much different is the cost of the flight?

[Anonymous]

It depends on the layover and which airports.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the budget hotel, but I’d rather fly direct

[Anonymous]

Also depends on how many people I’m traveling with and their ages.

[Anonymous]

Where’s the 16 hour layover?

[Anonymous]

Budget hotel because I have found amazing budget hotels in Europe. In general I think there are more and better options at every price point in most European cities/countries than you can find in the US.

If you post your destination(s) we could probably give you suggestions for affordable accomodations.

I always preference flying direct because every connection multiplies the chances of something going wrong (not just with the flight but also with luggage).

[Anonymous]

I would use the 16 hours to visit the city. There are no direct flights from US to many smaller countries. Normal to have to take two planes. Never missed a connection. Once they even waited for me.
I would not go traveling if my budget was so tight. I'd double my money throught investing and then go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would use the 16 hours to visit the city. There are no direct flights from US to many smaller countries. Normal to have to take two planes. Never missed a connection. Once they even waited for me.
I would not go traveling if my budget was so tight. I'd double my money throught investing and then go.

Same. I am a very frequent traveler to Europe.

You can book a day rate at many hotel airports and take a long nap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would use the 16 hours to visit the city. There are no direct flights from US to many smaller countries. Normal to have to take two planes. Never missed a connection. Once they even waited for me.
I would not go traveling if my budget was so tight. I'd double my money throught investing and then go.

You are very lucky that you’ve never missed a connection. But it’s really only the long flight I’d worry about - once you are in Europe, they’ll be ways to get where you are going.

[Anonymous]

We're French, go to Paris regularly, and have done Icelandair with a stop at Reykjavik more times than we've done a direct flight. We've also stopped in Dublin. I would rather do those stops than go to a budget hotel. Of course, we sleep at my parents, but when we travel across France, we don't do budget hotels. I need comfort to be able to sleep.

[Anonymous]

I don’t mind budget hotels. These days with internet reviews it’s easy enough to find good ones.

[Anonymous]

You have to factor in the cost of the hotel if it's an overnight layover, meals, transport to and from the airport. It can add up. I always think about flying those Scandi budget airlines and then realize how much a night in Copenhagen would run.