A savvy couple has shared how they managed to visit three different countries within 24 hours – all while on a strict travel budget.
Katie Strick, 36, and fiancé David managed to bag cheap flights from Manchester to Basel in Switzerland, before hopping on trains to Colmar in France and Weil am Rhein in Germany.
Arriving in Basel at around 7 pm last Saturday (16 March) following flight delays the couple had a tight 24 hours before they needed to be back at the airport to fly home.
To really make the most of their weekend, they decided to see as much as they possibly could – managing to span three countries during the whirlwind trip.
“I love travelling and I’m used to packing a lot in,” Katie, a triage engineer from Bradford, told What’s The Jam.
After arriving in Basel, the couple started by catching a free bus to the train station and taking a 45-minute train to Colmar for £12.82 (€15).
Katie said: “We explored by night and stayed in a lovely Airbnb, which was £37 for the night.
“We woke up early on Sunday to make the most of the day.
“Colmar was beautiful like a real-life fairy tale – Beauty and the Beast vibes.
“We were lucky the rain held off for the majority of our time there.
“It was unbelievably picturesque.
“Staying in Colmar for the evening also saved us a fortune as accommodation in Basel was crazy money.
“We explored Colmar by day before getting a [15-minute] Uber to Eguisheim – another French village – which was like a fairy tale.”
From there, they headed back to Basel by train, arriving around 1 pm and having dinner on the Rhine.
Katie said: “From there, we walked for around an hour to Weil Am Rhein.”
The couple explored the town – the most south-westerly one in Germany – for a few hours before heading back into Basel to catch the free bus back to the airport for 7 pm.
They also stopped off at the Dreiländereck monument which marks the tripoint where the French, Swiss, and German borders meet.
Having only spent £50 each on the EasyJet flights, the three-country tour cost Katie and David an estimated £130 each, including accommodation, all travel costs, and food and drink.
Katie, who met David while on holiday in Spain, says the trip was a personal achievement as well as a financial one.
She added: “I was proud as I struggle massively with anxiety and felt a sense of accomplishment managing to travel to three foreign countries [and] places neither of us had been before.”
