$99 to Europe with Wow Air

An Icelandic budget airline called Wow Air http://www.wowair.com is offering one-way flights to Europe from its various North American hubs for as low as $99 one way, from now through June 2017. Europe in this case means Iceland, but for another $30 you can travel via Iceland to larger places including Paris, London, Frankfurt and Stockholm.

For example, on Jan. 16 you can fly from New York to Reykjavik for just $99, and on Jan. 14 a flight from New York to Amsterdam via Iceland costs as little as $129. Remember this is a budget airline, so you are likely to pay a number of additional costs. But with such a low base price, it's probably worth it.

If you don't live at one of the major gateways for European travel, consider taking a bus rather than a plane to your gateway. And for even more savings, make it an overnight bus. I have a flight into JFK from Europe soon that arrives in the evening, and if the weather isn't too bad I may opt for an overnight bus return to Montreal instead of springing for a night at a costly airport hotel and another flight. I did this once a few years ago on arrival in Boston from Moscow, and it worked out all right. Of course, you can expect to be pretty tired when you finally get back home.