“Do you think you’ll ever visit Marisela?” a friend asked me yesterday.
The lovely Marisela and I met in 2013 as pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. She lives in Bogota. Although Colombia has never been on my list of destinations, but somehow the question sparked me. Maybe!
So this morning, I hopped on Google Flights for curiosity’s sake and discovered that I could get tickets there for about what it costs to fly to New York from Portland. No way!
Now I’m thinking about when, not if!
If you haven’t discovered the resource, Google Flights is a great way to look at prices over the long haul, aggregated from all the official airlines. It’s the power of Google search for airfare everywhere. I absolutely love it.
My favorite part is the often-overlooked graph at the bottom that illustrates which days are cheapest and most expensive.
See it there? All those little blue bars show the high and low prices for comparison.
On the calendar, the best rates are also highlighted in green. Is this cool, or what?
The other feature I love is the “save search” option. If you select an itinerary, Google will keep track of historical price data so you can see when prices are going down. It’s a great way to find a deal. For example, I’m looking at at least six possible European cities to fly into for my Camino in 2016. Saving my searches allows me to see trends and determine which city will be the most affordable to get to Santiago de Compostela.
Dreaming of your next trip, but can’t leave yet? Play around with Google Flights to get ideas and inspiration!