After you’ve chosen where to leave from and fly into, the next step is to establish an upper limit on your fare. This is easily done by calling major airlines on their toll-free numbers, and waiting until their overworked operators answer. When they do answer, ask for the price of the cheapest fare from your exit point to your initial destination, and inquire about any restrictions, advance purchase requirements, etc. Then ask if there is anything cheaper to any other city in Europe you are willing to fly into, and/or from any other city you are willing to fly out of. It pays to be nice to the operator, by the way. He or she will have access to tons of information and may go to greater lengths for you with just a little courtesy on your part.

Barring a fare war or major sale, what you will get from the airlines is their published, economy-class, two-week advance purchase fare. This is now your upper limit. Anybody can get these just by phoning an airline and asking. You are now working down from that price - if someone offers you a “special deal” that costs more than that, hang up. You should find all of the airlines to be very close, if not identical, on the price of these fares. A warning for older travelers: one discount that isn’t is the “senior citizen’s fare” on airlines. This is usually a ten percent savings on fares sold directly by the airline. But as you will soon see, tickets from budget travel agents can cost hundreds of dollars less than these senior “discount” fares.