Hi

I find myself with 2 weeks holiday, money to spend on myself, and
nothing to do. It strikes me that if one could walk to an aircraft and
book a ticket as on a train I may very much like to fly to Europe for
a week. But though I know of last minute deals in theory I have no
idea how to get one. I would be flying from Birmingham International,
UK and have a credit card with sufficient free balance to pay for a
flight, and one hopes for lodging. How does one blend lodging to a
last-minute flight or is it something you have to do at the other end
?

Thanks !

wolvies, lol

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Request for Question Clarification by leader-ga on 04 Apr 2004 07:38 PDT

Hello wolvies-ga:

I think I can help you with this as I have extensive experience in
last minute deals and travel consultations. I just need a little more
clarification on what type of journey is in your mind (any special
destination etc)?

Thanks.

Hi,
From Birmingham Airport, you can fly to quite a wide variety of
destinations in Europe.
The following places are probably the most interesting:

Barcelona
Geneva
Ibiza
Zurich
Verona
Venice
Innsbruck
Malta 
Milan
Munich
Naples
Salzburg
Rome
Thessalonika

There are a number of places online, where you can buy last-minute tickets:
1. www.Lastminute.com
Here you can buy tickets from Birmingham to practically any
destination it serves. It includes all major airlines flying from
Birmingham so it's easy to compare prices.
You can simply select your departure and arrival dates and it will
then give a list of options which you can immediatly buy online.
By the way: you can also book your hotel through lastminute.com but I
will get back to that later.

2. www.Ryanair.com
This is one of the fairly recent low cost airlines. From Birmingham,
it only flies to Dublin, Barcelona and Murcia. It's very easy to book
a ticket so if you want to go to Spain, this would be a good option!

3. www.Airgorilla.com
This basically offers the same service as Lastminute.com. It also
offers prices and booking options for a large number of different
airlines and destinations.

Right, on to lodging. I assume you want to stay in a hotel? 
There are a number of places where you reserve a room online:

1. www.Expedia.com
Just select Hotels. Select your destination. Select your arrival and
depature date and you will get a list of availible hotels. Most of
them can be reserved online.

2. www.Travelweb.com
Offers a similair service like Expedia.

3. www.e-hotel-express.com

4. www.lastminute.com

I will now give a travel suggestion:
Suppose you leave in two days on wednesday, April 7th. You are leaving
from Birmingham and your destination is Barcelona. Your departure date
is April 14th.

You then go to www.lastminute.com. In the instant search box, you
select "Travel+Flight". You select:
Departure: Birmingham
Destination: Barcelona
Departure date: April 7th
Return date: April 14th
Tick the "Show Direct Flights Only" Box and select "1" Adult.
Then hit search.

It will now select a flight and give you a list of possible hotel
rooms. This package can immediatly be booked online.
Ofcourse, you can change all the variables I mentioned.
You could also book your flight ticket through lastminute.com and your
hotel through expedia.com (for example).

If you want any more information, please ask for a clarification!

Thank you,
paul_b_18

THANKS ! Unfortunately I got a phone call saying my empoyer intended
to pay me a week late due to Easter so I won't be going anywhere this
time, but I will bear all these suggestions in mind !

Hi Wolvies

Some great suggestions from Paul B.

If it were me, I would *phone* lastminute.com after drawing up a
shortlist of possibilities from the website.

In my experience, holiday and travel arrangements made at short notice
run more smoothly with a phone call. (In the UK, anyway)

And another tip - check the location of hotels - sometimes the best
"bargains" advertised online are miles out of town.

Have a great time - Leli