Das bücket shøp - Today’s big budget secret: book an onward vacation from bucket shops in Amsterdam or Stockholm and save a ton on travel deals not available in the U.S.
www.msnbc.com By Alex Robertson Textor ARTHUR FROMMER'S BUDGET TRAVEL
Mar. 6 — Amsterdam and Stockholm, with their active travel markets of globetrotting locals looking to head abroad to warmer climates throughout the year, are ideal places to shop for deals to exotic hot spots: Tunisia or the Canary Islands, Turkey or the coast of Portugal, the Greek Islands and more. You simply travel to Europe on one of the current ultra-cheap airfares, and then pay far less for a week’s vacation than you would had you booked at home. As a bonus, you spend a couple of days (or not) in one of these super-sophisticated cities and then jet off for a week in the sun. What’s more, the deals are open to any and all comers.
WE’LL FOCUS on the Amsterdam scene as an example of how to take advantage of this budget travel phenomenon, but we’ll also provide the vitals on doing the same in Stockholm for such deals as a week in Turkey for $150 (airfare and hotel included) or two weeks in Tunisia for $250. WHERE THEY GO For the most part there is uniformity of vacation destinations among the bargain vacation chains of the Netherlands and Sweden. The least expensive packages are to Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Malta, Tunisia, Spain (including the Canary Islands) and Portugal (including Madeira). Further afield, inexpensive packages from Northern Europe have recently included Brazil, the Caribbean, the Gambia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Venezuela. Some of these packages are offered directly through tour operators, others through consolidators (ticket discounters to the lay person) and yet others through individual budget travel agencies (see sidebar for full list).
A taste of some recent non-summer package offers we found while researching: from Amsterdam, a week on Portugal’s Algarve coast can run as low as E189 ($204), or a week in Turkey can be as inexpensive as E149 ($161), including some meals. Also from Amsterdam, two weeks in north Tunisia can be had for an amazing E245 ($265). From Stockholm for 1895 SKr ($225) you can jet off to the Canary Islands for a week, or two weeks in the Canary Islands can run as low as 2798 SKr ($332). An “actual” last minute deal turned up a week in Egypt from Stockholm for 1298 SKr ($154). All of these costs are per person based on double occupancy and include airfare and accommodation. Most of the cheapest deals are not meal-inclusive, which means that you’ll need to find your own food, but many of these packages will place you in three-star (or better) hotels. Others will land you and your traveling companion in small studios with basic kitchen facilities. Many of these packages offer various opportunities for local tours but will very seldom lock you into any sort of program. In other words, you’ll be free to branch out and get away from your package vacation-mates. Most deals are advertised online but require telephone or in-store purchase, either through a clearinghouse or through the individual operator. Once you have an idea of which deal you’d like, you can either book it before you leave the U.S. (if you feel more comfortable), but better yet, wait until you’re in Amsterdam or Stockholm and clinch the deal in person. This is not only for ease of booking, but also for the possibility of finding an even better, last-minute deal once you’re there. How to book deals in person in Amsterdam is detailed below. Obviously, you need to have some flexibility in your travel plans to secure these on-the-spot deals. You’ll do well if the specifics of your departure are negotiable, and you’ll do even better if you’re open to several different potential destinations. Same day travel and group travel may further lower travel costs. Author Gretchen Kelly answers your questions on business travel. Submit questions now! GOING DUTCH Once you get to Amsterdam, it won’t be hard to find one of these dirt-cheap travel companies. A budget travel company called D-Reizen has ten travel stores dispersed throughout Amsterdam. One D-Reizen office, at Beethovenstraat 21 in the south of Amsterdam, conveniently offers another wholesale travel company Rottink Reisburo, right next door. D-Reizen’s other stores in Amsterdam are located just outside of the tourist zone. Two (at Ferdinand Bolstraat 58-60 and van Woustraat 207) are in Amsterdam’s De Pijp neighborhood. The Amstelveenseweg 210 location sits on the Western edge of the Vondelpark. Also in Amsterdam, Fast Minute Travel is located just a stone’s throw from Amsterdam’s Centraal Station. Fast Minute prefers to make reservations online or by phone, but will gladly direct you to their call center-cum-informal office. Many other companies are oriented toward online transactions. These include Holidayspot, Travelbrokers, Superlastminutes and Vakantie Discounter. All but Travelbrokers have telephone contact information listed below. If American tourists do not want to make reservations by telephone, they can contact these companies to determine if there is a way to buy tickets in person. Fast Minute in Amsterdam offers in-person purchase, and they are happy to give their office location to prospective customers contacting them by telephone or email. (The telephone numbers listed below are written for dialing from within the Netherlands. When dialing from North America, use the prefix 011-31, then drop the first zero from all the numbers listed below.) Aloha Travel. (www.aloha-travel.nl) 010-436-57-57, Eendrachtsplein 1a, 3015 LA Rotterdam. Aloha specializes in packages to Brazil and Venezuela. D-Reizen. (www.d-reizen.nl) With more than 150 sales offices in the Netherlands, D-Reizen is a discount (and regular fare) vacation package consolidator leader. Fast Minute. (www.fastminute.nl) 020-427-91-92. Favors online and telephone reservations, though also sells through its call center located near Amsterdam’s Centraal Station. Holidayspot. (www.holidayspot.nl) 0900-345-66-54 (E0.20/minute) email contact information via English language version of website. Good range of worldwide destinations. Lastminute.com (www.nl.lastminute.com) 0900-405-06-07 (E.15/minute). The Dutch version of lastminute.com. Rottink Reisburo. (www.rottinkreisburo.nl) sales offices throughout the Netherlands. Like D-Reizen, a major vacation package chain. Suntrex. (www.suntrex.nl) 030-275-30-35, Biltstraat 190, 3572 BR Utrecht. Suntrex specializes in packages to Greece, Portugal and Turkey. Sunweb. (www.sunweb.nl) 010-280-21-30. Great selections to the Canary Islands, Egypt, Portugal and Turkey. Superlastminutes. (www.superlastminutes.com) 053-480-77-33; info@superlastminutes.com. Canary Islands and Portugal are especially well represented here. Travelbrokers. (www.travelbrokers.nl) info@travelbrokers.nl. Good offerings to Greece, Turkey, Spain, Malta and Portugal, with further great values to North Africa. Vakantie Discounter. (www.vakantiediscounter.nl) 026-351-51-20; infoEvakantiediscounter.nl. Cheap options to Turkey, Malta, Canary Islands, Portugal and mainland Spain. Like this story? Have the travel news delivered to your inbox every morning. Click here to sign up for our free e-mail newsletter! THOSE SAVINGS-SAVVY SWEDES (Again, the telephone numbers listed here are written for dialing from within the Sweden. When dialing from North America, use the prefix 001-46 for Sweden, and then drop the first zero from all the numbers listed below in all cases but that of Flygtorget. When dialing Flygtorget from North America, simply dial 011 before the listed international number.) Always. (www.always.se) 0771-340-350. Offers many last minute packages from Stockholm. Recent cheap offerings included Egypt and the Canary Islands. Apollo. (www.apollo.se) 0771-37-37-37. Nine sales offices in Sweden; two in Stockholm. Apollo’s “actual” last minute package fares are often shockingly inexpensive. Highly recommended. Detur. (www.detur.se) info@detur.se. Detur focuses on destinations in Turkey and Tunisia. Flygtorget. (www.flygtorget.se/resor) 0200-21-57-00 (outside of Sweden 46-8-505-504-30). Good consolidation site, with extensive listings. Fritidsresor. (www.fritidsresor.se) 0771-84-01-00, 12 sales offices in Sweden. Good standard Mediterranean and Asia offerings. My Travel. www.mytravel.se) 0771-230-230. My Travel offers last minute deals and vacation auctions, some of which can be quite inexpensive. Resfeber. (www.resfeber.se) bokningen@resfeber.se. Another great consolidator service. Ticket. (www.ticket.se) 0771-456-789. Yet another handy consolidator. Travelstart. (www.travelstart.se) 0200-110-255. A great consolidator. Ving. (www.ving.se) 0771-995-995. Part of the My Travel group. CROSSING THE POND Getting to Amsterdam or Stockholm is a breeze with flexible and wallet-friendly deals from purveyors like Go-Today.com (www.go-today.com) and Europe Express (www.europeexpress.com) which regularly offer multi-night air and hotel packages to either city starting in the $399 to $599 range. They’ll easily extend the date of your return flight to your specifications, allowing you ample time to enjoy your vacation deal. {Editor’s Note: Have you used a bucket shop in Europe? Do you have an instructive anecdote, tip or horror story to share? We’d love to hear it and possibly reprint it in our letters to the editor column. Simply click here to send a letter to our editors.} Copyright © 2003 Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc.