Travel hack saves holidaymaker £2,500 on flights to Australia

London: Christianne Risman wanted to visit family in Australia. She didn’t want to spend thousands on flights. So, she found a travel hack.

Direct flights to Perth were over £3,000. Christianne decided to piece together her own journey. She created a 26-hour trip with three flights and self-transfers.

By hopping between four countries, she only paid £418. It was a big savings! But it came with risks. If she missed a flight, she was on her own.

Christianne packed six weeks’ worth of clothes in a backpack. She avoided check-in bags to save time. Her journey started at London Stansted Airport.

She flew to Athens, then Singapore, and finally to Perth. One flight was delayed by two hours. Luckily, it was the last leg of her trip.

Christianne said, “Normally, flights are thousands of pounds. I had to find a cheaper way.” She was aware of the risks with self-transfers.

She had just over two hours for layovers. That’s usually enough time, but it felt risky. She thought saving over £1,000 was worth it.

Christianne flew with only a personal item. She wanted to avoid the hassle of collecting and re-checking bags. The first flight was early, so she slept through it.

The second flight to Singapore was long, about 10 hours. She had a middle seat, but she didn’t want to pay for upgrades.

She wasn’t worried about the last flight being delayed. But if it happened on any other flight, she would have been in trouble.

Although her trip went well, there were stressful moments. At Athens Airport, she had to go through immigration twice.

She worried about how long the planes would taxi. “I’ve waited over an hour before,” she said. Luckily, her flights took off on time.

Christianne found Athens tricky to navigate. She couldn’t go straight to the departure gate. She had to go through immigration and get a passport stamp.

She also checked the cost of flights from Singapore to Perth, just in case. Christianne is now in New Zealand and plans to fly back to the UK with budget airlines.

This time, her layovers are over five hours, so it should be less stressful. She recommends this travel hack for adventurous people who want to save money.

“It’s a risk, but when it works out, it’s great,” she said. Just be prepared for things to go wrong. You might need to spend more money.

Christianne would do it again but would avoid layovers under two hours. She’s learned to assess the risks better.

In an online post, she said, “Challenge accepted! I’m so glad it paid off!”

Commenters praised her positive attitude. One said, “No food or entertainment on a 10-hour flight would’ve made me crazy!”

Another said, “I would be too tired to finish filming.”

One commenter added, “Comfort for such a long flight is worth the money.”

Another said, “I would’ve had a meltdown.”