- Walk out of any place that demands cash in advance. Don’t even look back.A Don’t buy a ticket over the phone if you can possibly go to the office itself. If the office is a basement with two phone lines and a desk, it may not be there when something goes wrong with your ticket in three months.

- Ideally, you want to arrive in Europe early in the day. You definitely do not want to get off a plane and then have to look for somewhere to stay in the middle of the night. Remember that you will have to clear customs and immigration upon arrival; it may take as much as two or three hours from your landing time for you to get to your accommodations. Take this into account when planning your arrival time.

- Be aware of the different travel seasons airlines work by. Flights will be cheapest between the end of October and the end of March -the low season. They will be moderately expensive in the so-called “shoulder seasons” of April/May and September/October; and they will be most expensive during the June-August period. As the spring/summer travel season approaches, expect the available seats to dry up. Start poking around in February. If you are reading this in May, get to work now.