Riding the last bus to the hotel

Last minute travel, if you are open and flexible will allow you to travel at least in Europe, all over the place, by plane, trains or buses and all with a tight budget to boot. Your mobile phone or tablet will be your best friend, park your butt at a cafe with free WiFi and plan your next days. Research your destination and all potential ways to get there. Google everything with the word bus or ticket next to it. Deals will advertise your way and you can check many of them with the aggregators like destinia, lastminute, trivago, hotels.com, booking or local bus companies like flixbus.

Be it the reason, whatever reason, that it may be, sometimes nothing beats public transport. Be it long distance, lack of private transport or a sense of adventure and why not even comfort. Sometimes it is much better if there is a pro at the wheel and even if your car is nice and reliable, you want to spend your time on the road talking to your friends without the stress of driving to your destination. Of course if you have to cross an ocean most people will have to depend on public transportation. This post is for the 99.99 % of you out there without a private jet.

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Even the bus, the cheapest and most stuffed form of public transportation has it uses, even for the affluent ones. Many countries have now premium bus lines that even though can not get there faster than normal ones because the traffic laws are the same for everyone they can get you there with more elbow room, more carry on space and better amenities and most of them may get you also get you there, wherever you may go, faster because they skip some of the stops or even get directly to your destination. And that is not even considering that chartering your own bus is not that big of a deal and a large group of friends may end up saving a bunch in traffic generated stress and moving violations if they charter a bus to their common destination.

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And sometimes you can rely on others to make the plans for you or to help you along. If in a city with a nice bus infrastructure be sure to check the mobile apps that will give you the schedules and itineraries. Ask the locals for recommendations.  Of course try to use free WiFi if possible if you do not have a good data plan at your destination. Some apps in some cities will let you know how long until the next bus to your destination at the stop of your choosing. For further away, inter urban trips be sure to check with the local companies. In Europe some companies will make very reasonable offers for the long haul so your trip across Europe may cost you lest that the old interail season pass.

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And of course the more adventurous your are the more insurance you will need. Travel insurance specially if you are to ride bikes or ski or enjoy nature are a must. Be sure to check conditions and limitations to make sure your adventures are covered.