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Europe: Getting Around


The Bike

We are hired our 2010 Suzuki V-Strom DL650X from the lovely people at Bournemouth Motorcycle Hire, who we think are absolutely awesome. The cost of hiring ended up being $NZ2000 more than we had budgeted when we thought we would be buying a bike (including insurance and road tax) but it could have been more than triple our $NZ4000 budget. The hireage included our Green Card Insurance, free panniers (luggage carriers attached to the bike, which we were going to have to purchase), VAT and AA cover.

Still want to hire? Take a look at the Things I Learnt Before we Decided to Hire.

Flights

Auckland to Christchurch (One-way)
Date - 9 June 2011
Airline - Jetstar booked via House of Travel
Price - $NZ145.90 for 2 adults
Pros - TBA
Cons - Flights advertised as $49 per person were actually $59 if you had checked luggage, and there were taxes of $27.90 on top of that.

Christchurch to London via Kuala Lumpur (Return)
Date - 11 June and 25 September 2011
Airline - Air Asia
Price - $NZ3806.76 for 2 adults
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

London to Dublin (One-way - we're flying back to London but we booked the flights seperately)
Date - 11 June 2011
Airline - RyanAir booked via SkyScanner
Price - £115.98/$NZ250.35
Pros - The price! SkyScanner is awesome for finding the cheapest possible fare across all airlines that fly between the airports you specify.
Cons - TBA 

Dublin to London (One-way)
Date - 19 June 2011
Airline - RyanAir booked via SkyScanner
Price - €105.98/$NZ138.04
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

Christchurch to Auckland (One-way)
Date - 27 September 2011
Airline - Unbooked
Price - Unbooked
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA 

Buses 

Dublin Airport to Athlone, Ireland (Return)
Date - 11 and 17 June 2011
Operator - Citylink Commuter
Price - €4 (€1 per person, each way)
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

Trains 

Luton Airport to Journeys Kings Cross Hostel
Date - 19 June 2011
Operator - National Rail
Price - Unbooked as yet. Considered winging it, but we arrive around 11pm and I don't want to be mucking around at that time. You can only book 3 months in advance so we'll do it as soon as we can, to get the best price.
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

London to Bournemouth
Date - 25 June 2011
Operator - National Rail
Price - Unbooked as yet, because you can only book 3 months in advance. We will book as soon as we can though as prices can vary from £10-50 depending on the type of fare you get, and the cheap ones seem to go quickly.
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

Bournemouth to London
Date - 23 September 2011
Operator - National Rail
Price - Unbooked as above.
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

Greenwich Village to Stansted Airport  
Date - 25 September 2011
Operator - National Rail
Price - Unbooked and will probably wing it!
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

Ferries 

Poole, United Kingdom to Cherbourg, France (Return)
Date - 25 June 2011
Operator - Brittany Ferries, booked via Ferry Savers
Price - €226.52/$NZ410.28
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

Ancona, Italy to Patras, Greece (One-way)
Date - 17 August 2011
Operator - Superfast Ferries
Price - €82.22/$NZ164.43
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

Athens, Greece to Santorini (Thira), Greece (Return)
Date - 21 and 26 August 2011
Operator - Bluestar Ferries booked via Ferries in Greece
Price - €210.94/$NZ388.03
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA

Patras, Greece to Bari, Italy (One-way)
Date - 27 August 2011
Operator - Superfast Ferries
Price - €100.93/$NZ201.87
Pros - TBA
Cons - TBA