Planning a trip to Europe

[barrys]

Towards the end of May 2015 (coinciding with the Whitsun school holidays in Southern Germany), I'm planning a trip to Europe with my gf for the first time since I arrived here 14 years ago!

The intinerary is fairly complex and I'm no longer up-to-date with the best places for booking flights, etc., so I'd be grateful for any advice anyone can give me.

The plan is to stay in Cork, Ireland for 10 days and then spend another 10 days between Paris, Lyon, Geneva and a small German town about half-way between Stuttgart and Munich.

My initial idea was to find a return flight Bangkok >< Munich for example, then a one-way Ryan Air type flight to Cork or somewhere else in Ireland, followed by a similar one-way flight from Cork or wherever to, say, Paris and then by train to our various destinations in France, Switzerland and Germany before finally ending up back at Munich airport.

Obviously, I would like to keep the flight costs as low as possible, so I'm looking for advice on the most economical routes to take.

And does anyone know what visas my gf will need. Am I right in thinking that we will have to apply for a visa for her here in Thailand from the embassy of the country in which we arrive and that visa will then be valid for France, Germany and Switzerland (all parties to the Schengen agreement)? Ireland is not a Schengen country, so will she need a second visa for Ireland?

Thanks a lot for any help you can give me!

[pdm3547]

(Don't - for the love of all that is holy - fly with RyanAir. Spend a few extra quid with someone, anyone else!)

[STEVE G]

If you are prepared to fly Ryanair, I've just asked a couple of my Irish colleagues here in Luxembourg and apparently Ryanair from Kerry to Frankfurt-Hahn is the cheapest way of getting to and from Cork and central Europe. There is a bus service from Frankfurt-Main and Frankfurt-Hahn with a company called Flibco, (flibco.com). On some routes, the difference between flying Ryanair and someone else can be hundreds of Euros so it's sometimes worth the hassle.

[kendo]

Barry make sure you check the current baggage allowance with Ryanair these bucket carriers normally hammer you over 10kg's.

Kendo.

[Phyton]

Ryanair is cheap but only if you pass 100% of the rules they make. If not, it is possible you have to pay more than BA or LH.

They also are very funny and inventive with Airportnames. Frankfurt/Hahn for example is in the middel of no-where.
Distance between Frankfurt/Main and Frankfurt/Hahn is about 124 km.

So be very careful, then it is cheap.

[STEVE G]

Yes, you have to know how it works, I used Ryanair last monday into Hahn, I think I paid about 50 euros, and 17 for a bus to Luxembourg. A flight directly into Luxembourg first thing on monday morning was over 400 euros, full of bankers on expense accounts!

[brianks]

You should not be worried about transportation around Europe. That is easily solved. What you need to worry about is getting the Schuneugan (sp) Visa and the one for Ireland. Took my wife 4 visits to Swiss Embassy in Bangkok over a several week time with different requirements for each embassy visit. Family we were visiting in Switzerland went nuts with all the paperwork they were required to submit. Have been told that easier to just go as tourist and all you need is hotel reservation and that does the trick.

For us the visa for Europe was such a nightmare that I won't consider taking my wife there again as we don't wont to go through all that hassle again. You may think Thailand is a mess for unnecessary paper work??? NO!

You should investigate the visa thing well before you do any more planning. It could be a nightmare.

[caller]

From the experiences I've read about from folk in the UK seeking a Schengen visa for their Thai partners, the service varies wildly from one Countries Embassy to another. From the above, it seems sensible to avoid the Swiss Embassy!

If Ireland isn't part of the Schengen visa scheme, then I assume a visit visa for Ireland would be needed. If they're anything like the English, the biggest hurdle to overcome would be evidence of reason and intent to return.

[dragonseeker]

skyscanner(dot)co(dot)th is a good place to find fares. You can set up a daily alert and each day you will receive an email with the latest fare from 22 different airlines.
I am planning a flight to Cork just after Easter 2015 and need to stop in Milano. Return fares to Milano bounce around form AUD 900 to AUD 1050. Current cheapest fare Out Apr 11 Rtn 15 Jun is AUD 1045 with KLM and Alitalia. I also hope to fly via Ryan Air to Cork from Milano. The cheapest fares seem to be on Aeroflot via Moscow or Jet Air via Delhi. Keep a watch on the traveling time, some are over 20 hours with the stopover.

[barrys]

Thanks a lot for all the advice so far and the tips about websites to search.

Using those, I've found the following possibilities (found skyscanner the most user-friendly and the prices are almost identical or a bit higher on most of the other sites I tried):

Bangkok - Munich return: 29,000 baht with Swiss Air with a 1 hour stop in Zurich
(1000 bhat less with Jet, but with 2 stopovers: 5 h in Delhi and one in Abu Dhabi, 1000 bhat less with Aeroflot, 1 brief stopover in Moscow)
Munich - Cork one-way with Aer Lingus: 4,400 baht
Cork - Paris one-way with Aer Lingus: 2,800 baht

Does that sound like a decent deal?

Thanks to brianks for the heads-up about the visa - I was wondering whether to go the short-stay route to visit relatives or friends or let her simply apply for a tourist visa!!??

So it looks like we'll be landing in Munich, so does anyone have any experience of getting a tourist visa from the German embassy here.

[Dannie Boy]

Thanks a lot for all the advice so far and the tips about websites to search.

Using those, I've found the following possibilities (found skyscanner the most user-friendly and the prices are almost identical or a bit higher on most of the other sites I tried):

Bangkok - Munich return: 29,000 baht with Swiss Air with a 1 hour stop in Zurich
(1000 bhat less with Jet, but with 2 stopovers: 5 h in Delhi and one in Abu Dhabi, 1000 bhat less with Aeroflot, 1 brief stopover in Moscow)
Munich - Cork one-way with Aer Lingus: 4,400 baht
Cork - Paris one-way with Aer Lingus: 2,800 baht

Does that sound like a decent deal?

Thanks to brianks for the heads-up about the visa - I was wondering whether to go the short-stay route to visit relatives or friends or let her simply apply for a tourist visa!!??

So it looks like we'll be landing in Munich, so does anyone have any experience of getting a tourist visa from the German embassy here.

the air fares look good and whilst ive never traveled with Swiss Air, I wouldn't give the others a second look just to save 1000 baht. The single fares are always closer to a return price to/from a single route so they look fairly reasonable. Looks as though your main issue is getting the visas, so hopefully the advice will keep on coming.

[bsdk1960]

It's been 5 years since I travelled with Swiss but would use them again without hesitation.

[Terry]

It's been a long time since I used Swissair and it's sibling airline Crossair.

Never had any problems with either.

[barrys]

Thanks for all the helpful tips so far.
Still looking for info, so here goes...

The Swissair price has gone up more than 3,500 baht already - so x 2 that makes 7,000!!

Found a flight for 28,500 Bangkok-Helsinki-Munich with Finnair.
Does anybody have experience with Finnair?

When is the best time to book these flights to avoid increases?
Our trip is 7 months away - are prices likely to go up or down in that period?

Found the best prices on Skyscanner and they send me regular updates on prices and offers.
Is it possible to make a provisional booking via these sites or is it better to wait?

[kendo]

Seven months is really to early to try and get any special deals or flight promotions I have tried this with Westeast a Travel and they tell me to phone them nearer the time always get a little bit better a deal that I can find on their website.

Kendo