Rick Steves' Son Shares The Best 'Flashpacker' Tips For Booking Flights

A "flashpacker" is the term for a traveler who enjoys both traveling on a whim while also being comfortable in the process. While a flashpacker has the attitude and spirit of a traditional backpacker in the sense that they prioritize adventure over extravagance, they also value convenience and comfortability more than the average backpacker. Flashpackers also frequently look for the best deals on flights and are flexible, packing up and leaving on a whim if they see a good deal.

Rick Steves' son, Andy Steves, has no shortage of travel experience since he grew up exploring Europe and other countries with his dad. However, he also realized that there are different types of travelers and learned about fellow students and Millennials wanting to see the world by backpacking through Europe. Andy Steves started creating travel content for budget and first-time travelers and focused on how people can make the most out of their time and money while abroad.

Among some of his other tips for flashpackers, he has shared ideal tips for when and how to book flights on his website. Since flashpackers look for last-minute deals and flights, he recommends utilizing different apps and websites to send price notifications for major cities in Europe. Even though someone may want to visit a more obscure city, he still suggests focusing search efforts on major cities, because they're often more price efficient and offer more options. From there, flashpackers can look into getting to their final destination via different transportation or by city-hopping across Europe by train.

While flashpackers are still looking to immerse themselves in the local culture, they're also scouring the web for good last-minute deals. According to a 2018 post called "Andy Steves Travel Tips Series: Part 1," Steves explains that flashpackers plan their trips by "flight availability and price first rather than dates." Therefore, there are certain tools flashpackers can use to maximize their plans.

Andy Steves recommends that flashpackers download the Hopper app and use Google Flights to set up price alerts based on location, rather than dates. He specifically points out that Google Flights lets travelers browse flight prices for entire continents, so if you are flexible with where you fly, you can plan your trip around a cheaper flight. Steves suggests that flashpackers should have a flexible lifestyle, where they can book a flight first and request off of work second. You also should try to avoid searching for direct flights to smaller destinations, because search engines may remember that and focus on only showing longer, pricier connecting flights. Instead, you should look for convenient flights to airline hubs.

After a flashpacker finds a long-haul flight they're happy with, they can base the rest of their itinerary on that city. For instance, if you want to visit a beach town along the U.K.'s coast, you could search for flights to London — not the town itself. From there, you can book separate connecting flights or find alternate transportation to your ideal final destination.

In addition to focusing on where you're flying to, flashpackers should also prioritize the time of the year they travel. When it comes to Europe, different regions have different times of the year when they become more popular tourist destinations. For instance, Andy Steves notes that southern European countries are mostly shut down by the time August rolls around, since they are tourist hubs in the spring and early summer. That said, those same countries may be preferable to visit in October, because the weather is still comfortable and prices are lower during the off-season.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, if someone is looking for an ideal time to ski in the Swiss and Austrian Alps, February is a better time to visit compared to December. However, he still warns winter flashpackers to avoid cities — like Prague or Edinburgh — that are unenjoyable to walk around when it's cold and icy.

Regardless of where a flashpacker chooses to venture, Steves tells all of his readers to "be selfish with where you plan to travel. Make sure that you're going to each destination for your own reasons, not just because it's 'the place to go,'" he writes. He encourages all of his readers to research different cities and determine which cultural experiences they'd like to immerse themselves in, since that's the goal of flashpackers. In addition to his unique advice for flashpackers, Andy has also shared his best tips for finding the most budget-friendly flights.