Travel on a Budget

We are gearing up for our next big trip out of Switzerland and on to the beautiful city of Stockholm, Sweden. This should be an interesting trip. Not just exploring the city and seeing old friends, but also experiencing one of the cheap "Southwest-like" airlines of Europe -- RyanAir.

The last few trips we have gone a bit over budget and we knew that Stockholm wasn't going to be cheap. So, we decided to do our best and watch our pennies this trip. Starting with the flights. We booked the flights about a month ago when RyanAir was offering a $0 ticket from Basel to Stockholm. What? Huh? How is that possible? You say. And, if you know anything about this airline, you know nothing is free. They charge for everything and you had better read all of the small print when buying the ticket. Here's the breakdown of how our $0 ticket turns into $100 for each of us:

0.00 CHF Total Fare
144.78 CHF Taxes, Fees & Charges
32.00 CHF Passenger Fee: Web Check in
32.00 CHF Passenger Fee: Handling Fee
*208.78 CHF Total Paid

The next catch is that we aren't flying direct from Zurich to Stockholm. The route is actually from Basel to Skavsta. First we take an hour and twenty minute train/bus ride combo to the Basel Flughafen. Fly to Skavsta. And, then bus it for an hour and a half into Stockholm.

I am a bit nervous for how all of this will turn out, but I am willing to give it a shot. What I know so far is that since I didn't pay for a bag, I am allowed only one carry-on bag. This includes a purse or laptop bag. Guess the Freitag bag is going inside the roller-bag. Just a couple hoops to jump through. All to save a buck. Actually, more like $250 bucks a person.