Suffering from budget airline addiction I will take this opportunity to combine my bargain hunting talent and my aspiration to travel around Europe. I am curious about Eastern Europe and have a general desire to travel the less frequented tourist destinations, such as Siberia and Albania.
Throughout my four months I will have a base, Stansted Airport, from which I will do most of my travelling and some of my sleeping. I may return to base as often as twice a week at times, depending on what deals are around. It will be a second home. Instead of travelling around the continent by train as most travellers do, I will be doing things a little differently, travelling by plane with the aim of never paying more than £15 for any single flight, all booked on the internet, so I will be a true Netjetter for most of my journey.
The task I have set myself may seem an impossible one, but past experience gives me absolute confidence that it is realistic and achievable. I will use the £2,500 gift as my entire budget for this four-month adventure and will prove that travelling across northern, central and southern Europe, as well as northern Africa, Russia, Siberia and north-east Asia doesn't have to cost the earth.
Throughout my trip I estimate having to board between 15 and 45 planes and returning to London, the capital of cheap air travel, between 10 and 15 times, to make connecting flights only.
I will begin my travels by enjoying the sangria, sun and tapas of southern Spain, before continuing on a round trip of Morocco, through all the cities, before reaching Marrakech. Returning to Stansted by plane I will then take a trip to the mountains of northern Italy, combining it with a journey through Austria and Slovenia. I will then continue with a brief visit to Ayrshire in Scotland, via Bergamo in northern Italy. From Prestwick I will fly back to London where I may decide to make a few low-cost, consecutive day trips, before continuing my journey eastwards.
The second leg of my travels will take me to Tampere in Finland where my journey will continue either by train, boat or plane to Riga. While in Latvia I will spend considerable time planning ahead for a less predictable journey into Moscow. I will be blowing any remaining budget on more hops around Europe's low cost air network.
My journey will be a highly interactive adventure as I will encourage readers to study the budget airlines' route maps to help guide me on my travels. Also I hope readers will dig out the giveaway fares, as my trip will depend on this.
Previous travelling has taken me on 30 trips around the continent using only giveaway airfares. All have been successful and exciting, with a few offering a little more excitement than I bargained for. My goal in life is to completely conquer the budget airline route maps, leaving no destination undiscovered. Netjetters 4 will allow me to achieve this goal, while providing a healthy dose of entertainment never thought possible from such a visited part of the world.