John Hussey said:
Another suggestion I just learned of on these forums was obtaining a RT ticket through a novel approach called Airhitch which is supposed to be considerably cheaper:
http://www.airhitch.org/
John, we are glad you found out about Airhitch®, but we have a few caveats for the benefit of everyone who might consider using it, for it is one of the most radically heterodox and therefore
confusing systems of air travel unless you are VERY accustomed to hitchhiking in general, ie,
on the road, and we just bet that the vast majority of pilgrims here are NOT that. (Correct us
if we are wrong!)
First, anyone truly interested in the idea of Airhitching to a camino would be well-advised to
read through the rest of our responses to certain points you have made below. And note that John's remarks above are inaccurate: Airhitching never ever has had anything to do with tickets of any kind, but now it has even LESS to do with them since the airlines have COMPLETELY ELIMINATED TICKETS from the very process of air transportation, effective 01jun of this year ('08). What you do when you Airhitch® is to board an airplane for the trip over, holding on to as much of your cash as you can until the very last minute before going, and then, if necessary, do the same thing for the trip back.
With them you just 'hitch hike' across the Atlantic...
We don't think it's a good idea to trivialize the concept of hitchhiking, which is both art and
science; and to do it successfully, especially when you try to hitchhike the airlanes, you need to be ready to bring a lot of intellect and focus to bear on the problem. So "just" is probably an inappropriate word here, which makes the process sound SIMPLE...though it's not.
...and pay when you catch the flight. You can go one way and use the net later for the return leg when you decide when you are returning.
It's important to realize that the Airhitch® system was not put in place for special event travel or for travel for any particular extrinsic purpose other than for the sake of travel itself...the pure enjoyment, liberty, and enlightenment that comes from experiencing geographical locales and cultures other than one's own. So to use it for purposes for which it was never intended to be used can create certain risks and other problems, or, even if not, produce results far less satisfying than appropriate use of the system -- and that appropriate use is, for budget unstructured exploratory travel.
Note that the system was created as a kind of COUNTERsystem in the late 60s by college students of modest means looking to "beat the system" they were confronted with which made getting across the Atlantic to Europe for an extended and indefinite length of stay abroad virtually impossible.
And it is still operated very much in that spirit, so if you're looking for all the standard appurtenances of air travel -- precise dates and itineraries, reservations, tickets, exact costs known in advance (unless they change, of course!) then you are going to disappointed, because
none of these are what Airhitch® or Airhitching are ABOUT.
Finally, we would strongly recommend a close look at our principles of operation page, and our ethos page, which together provide about 99% of the basic info necessary to use the system. The rest, as Woody Allen puts it, is "just showing up"...in our chatrooms on AIM and/or Meebo.
Airhitch® Online Staff -- "The central source of all authoritative Airhitch® information"
I wish I had better news on the airfares though, but those will probably only go up from here on out. The rule of thumb is generally 1 Euro for every KM you plan to walk, or about 25 Euro per day.
