Budget Travel Meets Jane

In the era of Internet bookings, when you can consult the same scheduling resources that travel agents use while wearing your jammies it is easy to forget the people behind travel services.

It's also easy to deteriorate into babbling frustration when something goes wrong and you're sitting in your sweats staring at the screen, gathering pieces of paper with request numbers, confirmation numbers and passwords. This week not-altogether-anonymous Jane in the UK reminded me again that successful budget travelers often "rely on the kindness of strangers."

Ms. Budget Traveler has booked herself the tight-time itinerary of torment. She'll leave her home in the late afternoon and board an early evening over-night flight to Gatwick. Doubtless she'll be squashed into her economy class seat between an over-perfumed thrice divorced woman eager to discuss the sexual proclivities of her third husband and a twitchy gum-smacking man who has never flown before. Never flown will clutch her arm and Jones for a cigarette throughout the night.

A cherubic child will kick her seat back all night. The child's parents will sleep.

After arrival around 755 GMT, she'll drag her stuff through customs and make her way to Heathrow. At Heathrow she'll swim upstream through the essential swamp of scrutiny and security that boarding an El Al flight entails. She'll land at Ben Gurion early in the evening.

On her return route, Ms. Budget Travel deplanes in Stanstead. Before making these arrangements, she thought that only businessmen and couples with six children wielding shovels and sand buckets were allowed in Stanstead. She hopes she is not issued children as she passes through customs.

Why has she chosen this arduous route? Hey, this is budget travel. She 's managed to manipulate a journey from Charlotte, NC to Israel for $355 round trip. Next week she'll tell you how, this week it's all about Jane.

Having made her flight arrangements, our heroine shudders. She is aware that she's never negotiated London from Stanstead. She hasn't a clue how to get to central London from this unknown airport. Additionally getting from Gatwick to Heathrow, jet lagged, under caffeined and on a tight schedule is not exactly her cup of cappuccino.

She journeyed through the world wide web to http://www.airlinks.co.uk her intent being to check the bus schedules and see about making these connections without resorting to a taxi or limousine service.

Please note: while Ms. Budget Travel knows that sometimes taxis and limo services are cost-effective she fears being in a bind and having to use what is usually an expensive option.

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