How Low Can You Go? Round Europe for 1p return (+ tax) by Tom Chesshyre (3-May-2007) Paperback

by Tom Chesshyre

Tom Chesshyre is on a to visit a dozen destinations that he can't spell, can't pronounce and wouldn't have heard of if low-fare airlines didn't fly to them. Along the way he learns about the 'New Europe', the collapse of the Iron Curtain, and the expansion of the European Union.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published May 3, 2007

About the author

Tom Chesshyre has been writing travel stories for UK national newspapers for over15 years. After reading politics at Bristol University and completing a journalism diploma from City University, he had stints at the Cambridge Evening News, Sporting Life and Sky Sports. During this period he won the Independent's young sports writer of the year competition and was runner-up in the Financial Times young business writer awards. His first travel piece was about England's cricket fans in Barbados for the Daily Telegraph. He freelanced for the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs, wrote a column for Conde Nast Traveller, and contributed to the Express, the Guardian, and the Independent, before working on the travel desk of the Times. He has assisted with the research on two books - W. G. by Robert Low, a biography of W. G. Grace, and Carlos: Portrait of a Terrorist by Colin Smith, a biography of "Carlos the Jackal". He has written magazine pieces for Wanderlust, Geographical and Business Traveller - and contributes book reviews to the TLS. His travel writing has taken him to more than 75 countries. He lives in south-west London and was born in 1971.

His first book, How Low Can You Go: Round Europe for 1p Each Way (Plus Tax) was published by Hodder in 2007. To Hull and Back: On Holiday in Unsung Britain was published by Summersdale in July 2010, followed by Tales from the Fast Trains: Europe at 186 mph is published in July 2011.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following the advent of low cost airline, Tom Chesshyre decides to take off round Europe on them and to see where it gets him and for how much money.

His lowest prices seat is 1p, hence the title of the book, and he spends an average of £48 per flight. These are 2006/2007 prices though. He manages to go to some obscure parts of Europe, reom Finland, his furthest northerly point, down to Croatia and the Czech republic. Most of the time he enjoys where he visits, and find the locals amenable to him and his fellow travellers, but there is the odd place where I don't think that he will be returning to.

He also meets with the chairman of easyJet and the director of Friends of the Earth to look at the business and environmental aspects. They have, as you would expect, widely differing perspectives of the effects of cheap air travel on the environment. I think this adds a good balance to the book, rather than just making it a series of weekend jollies.

A good travel book, now outdated. Glad I read it though.

[Julija · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book that shows you dont need a vacation in Madrid or any other famous tourist destination. Instead of this you can go and visit less known places and avoid busy crowds of tourists. Defenetly gave me some toughts about different travelling perspective.

[Alex Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book of its time, although the days of 1p flights seem- sadly- to be behind us! Tom visits some unusual destinations, some of which have since become much better known such as Tallinn which was particularly interesting to read about before it became a tourist destination!

[Helle · Rating 3 out of 5]

How Low Can You Go was quite enjoyable. Obviously each of the extremely low-priced destinations has its own background and culture, and Tom Chesshyre has an interesting way to investigate and write about these. However, there are also meetings with two people in the UK to discuss the future of these cheap flights. These did give something extra to think about, but in all honesty I thought the city-hopping weekend sprees were more interesting.

[Jennifer Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable book. Easy to read and informative and with humour thrown in a recipe for the perfect travel book, its had me googling cheap flights since I finished it

[Travelling Cari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well it wasn't exactly that I had clear cut expectations for this book, but it surprised me anyway. As an overall idea, the author - a travel writer for the Times in London - travelled to some relatively unknown destinations in Europe for the simple reason that they were there - and the LCLs travelled there. To quote the author himself, "...with no plan of action other than making this the first trip of many, to see for myself all these places I hadn't been to, couldn't pronounce, and would never have heard of, if low-cost airlines didn't fly to them." I agree, sometimes you don't need any better reason.

In many ways, he established much more - the beginning of his trip was Szczecin, Poland - which was once known as Stettin. "...From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent..." spoken by someone a bit more well-known. In a way, that encompassed his trip (which ended south of Trieste in Rijeka) - - the changes in Eastern Europe since the fall of communish which has been very much a theme of my own this summer.

Some country specific notes:
Poland:
I understood his sense of surprise at the large malls - I was floored by the one adjacent to Cracow's bus and train stations - and how he seemed to be the only purchaser. I don't think I was that unique - plus I bought little - but it's definitely surprising to see western brands in a country where it takes two hours to travel ~30 miles due to road conditions.

Ljubljana,Slovenia:
"...a little Prague without the crowds (or the hype)..."
it's descriptions like this - the author is quoting LP- that irritate me - you've created the hype! Sometimes I wish I could time travel, this doesn't apply only to tourism - the more a book or movie is hyped, the less I tend to enjoy it.

Loved his interview with Stelios of easyJet fame and the discussion on the role of LCLs in the peace process. While I don't think easyJet, Wizz Air, etc. are likely to prevent a war, they certainly lead to a greater understanding and breaking down of barriers.

Overall a very good book - more substantive than I'd imagined or expected.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an easy read. I enjoyed reading about some of the places I'd been to, but the author did annoy me with his opinions some times. He decided to fly to some places "no one has heard of" (hmm, actually I think rather a lot of people have heard of the likes of Ljubljana and Tallinn) on no-frills flights.

[Penny Pensham]

Looks like I'm going through a anti-travelling mood at the moment. Just not interested seeing as I can't go off travelling myself I'm not wanting to read about it.
Might give the book a go another time.

[Larashi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cerita petualangan Tom jalan2 keliling eropa ke kota2 yang bukan tujuan turis dengan niat mencari penyegaran baru. Seru sih tapi ya penulisnya agak kurang asik nyeritainnya. Terlalu british gaya bahasanya. Hahaha.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough travel book about low cost airline trips

[Zzoeeeee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved hearing about all these places never covered by travel programmes, there are so many places I'd love to visit for a cheap break . . .

[Karmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat amusing read. Would probably enjoy it more if it was less sexist.

[Rosanna Logiudice]

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book as I lost interest..