Looking for more pampering? Why not skip the beach and head to Las Vegas. United and Frontier are offering $240 round-trip tickets per person for September from Kansas City. See the Eiffel Tower replica, ride a gondola at the simulated Venetian canals, and get a four star hotel at two star prices by using Hotwire.com.

Good luck—and we're always looking for Trip Coach candidates, folks who need help planning their trips. If that doesn't seem too invasive for your honeymoon, send us an email at Letters@budgettravel.com, sharing as much info about yourselves and what you're looking for. (This is a feature every month in our magazine.)

Have a blast! —Sean O'Neill

_______________________

Silver Spring, Md.: I'm "starving" for a trip to London. I'm currently having my employer's travel agency look for some packages to London then train fare to Paris and Spain. But all flights leaving the U.S. to Europe (London, Paris, etc) is on average $800. And that's for travel this fall and next Spring '09. Should I wait until fall 2009? With gas prices being high I'm sure it's hard to predict the best times to travel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much!
— Rani

Budget Travel editors: Hello, Silver Spring. Wow, it's gotten really fancy in your town in the past few years, hasn't it? You live in a little Mini-Bethesda there. Anyway, your trip to London sounds fun. I wouldn't wait. Who knows what will be happening in 2009. Seize the moment this year while you have the chance in your life. If you're willing to hop a bus to NYC, you may find much cheaper airfares out of NYC this year. You see, about 100 more routes between NYC and Heathrow have been added in the past couple of months because of de-regulation in March. You could hop BoltBus, DC2NY, or Greyhound to get to NY's Penn Station for about $35RT, and then hop a LIRR for about $7RT to JFK. It'll add a few hours to your trip, but may save you several hundred dollars. FareCompare.com, which tracks fare changes, is noticing that the airlines are sporadically offering unusually low fares for this summer and early fall. You may also want to try Farecast.com, which offers predictions on whether you should buy a fare today or wait until tomorrow. You can even pay $10 and they'll guarantee that you pay the lowest price. Good luck, and have fun! If Dulles is the only option you're interested in, another alternative is Priceline.com. —Sean O'Neill

_______________________

Denver, Colo.: Hi. I'm traveling to Europe next month and I'm wondering what the best (fastest, but cost-effective) forms of transportation would be. I'm flying into Copenhagen and then I leave to come home from Athens 4 weeks later. I plan on hitting up about 6 cities (Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bordeaux, Florence, and Athens). What's your opinion?

Budget Travel editors: Start by checking out the different train passes that are available on the Eurail website. For two people traveling together, the Global First Class Saver Pass gives you unlimited travel in 20 countries (including the ones you want to visit) for a month for $1,075. If you are traveling solo, the price increases to $1,266.

One way to save is to buy a 21-day pass instead. Start your trip in Copenhagen, and then activate your pass the day you leave the city. From that point, you have three weeks to complete all your train journeys. If you plan to spend at least three or four days in both Copenhagen and Athens (at the start and end of your trip), this is a better pass to buy. The cost for two people traveling together is $850; for solo travelers, it's $1,021.

Because you're visiting Athens, though, you still have to buy individual train tickets through countries that are not on the Eurail system (either Bulgaria or Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia). This time could be better spent visiting another country instead. If you decide to buy the Eurail, you may want to reconsider your decision to visit Greece.