Originally Posted by soulboy77:
“Actually within Europe you could fly out one day and come back the next. A friend had a wedding in Spain last year and that is what most people did. A cheap return flight and and a 3 star hotel for one night.”
Really? Can you explain how they managed that on a budget, and with only 24 hours in each day, some of which are required for sleep?
I am lucky to live in a city with an airport. When I go to Spain, I either have to pay to park my car at the airport car park then shuttle bus to the airport (one night is nearly £30), or pay about £80 for taxis there and back; or use public transport, which would involve two buses and about an hour of walking between the various stops. Once in Spain, I either have to hire a car or use taxis and public transport.
Presumably they wouldn't want to do all that travelling dressed in wedding finery, so they would need to go to a hotel for a shower and change first. So presumably they would need to stay overnight to go to the wedding the next day.
If the wedding is followed by a reception, which is the norm, then in order to avoid paying for a second night's accommodation, they'd have to leave early in order to allow time to return a hire car or take public transport to the airport, unless they incur considerable expense paying for a taxi. Once back in the UK, if they don't have a car waiting in the car park, then they'd probably arrive too late to be able to use public transport, so they'd have to take a taxi home. It would be cheaper to pay for two nights in Spain than pay the taxis. Additionally, I cannot imagine having to do all that travel after a sweaty wedding in Spain without first having a shower and changing into more suitable clothes for travelling.
"Cheap" flights to Spain from where I live still cost between £100-£220 return, depending on the time of year, and there isn't much flexibility to choose the times to suit your needs, so you end up paying more in order to choose suitable travel times. Last time I was in Spain, the flight home was delayed, and the return travel took 12 hours, most of which was spent stuck at the boarding gate, because they wouldn't allow us back out. We had to buy water at £2 for each small bottle, plus airport/plane food.
Travel to Cyprus involves about 2 hours more flying time than Spain, so are far more expensive, and there are no flights to Cyprus from my local airport, so I'd have to travel to a different city in order to fly to Cyprus.