Airport Transfer Deals and Directions

An important connection during any trip including an airline flight will be the transfer to and from the airport. Many airports naturally herd tourists to expensive cabs or shuttle buses, but often there are cheap alternatives that require a little work to recognize or discover. Arthur Frommer recently blogged that the reason most airports offer a budget option is that the workers at the airport need an inexpensive option to travel to and from the airport, everyday. I personally like to research this leg of the trip before I leave, so I am not stuck with a huge cab bill. A cab from the airport in Boston today costs me $60, compared to less than $2 on the subway/bus system. An important consideration when using public transportation can be opening and closing times, such that flights may leave or arrive when the trains/buses aren't running.

Hostels generally include directions to travel by public transportation to and from the hostel. The Barcelona Dream Hostel offers directions through a Photo Guide, a handy idiot-proof guide to reaching the hostel. (mentioned on the hostelmanagment.com forums) This photo-based guide is a remarkable improvement over the simple text directions found on many hostel sites. The future of travel directions may be short videos that can be uploaded to Youtube for easy dispersal. Another option for quickly traveling to a destination could include using mobile phones or other devices, but I haven't found these quite as effective yet for public transportation. I think preparing directions before you go is crucial, and you can augment this with a device when the original directions are not sufficient for arriving at your destination.