You may not be Irish, but on St. Patrick’s Day you can pretend you are. Sure, it might feel more authentic if you don’t have to pretend, but after a few green beers on March 17th no one seems to care what your heritage is anymore anyway.
But unless you’re lucky enough to already live in one of the best places to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, you might want to take a few days off and jet your way to a city that knows how to throw a St. Paddy’s Day party. Of course, the problem with that is the fact that so many people are thinking the exact same thing – and trying to fly to the exact same cities.
Any time there’s a holiday big enough to warrant big traveling crowds, the airlines (cleverly) jack up airfare. So can you still take off somewhere fun for St. Patrick’s Day without paying too much for your ticket? Yes, you can – and we’re here to tell you how.
In truth, finding cheap airfare for St. Patrick’s Day involves many of the same techniques that any holiday travel does – but unless you’re a frequent traveler you may not know all the things to look for. These tips will help you find St. Patrick’s Day travel deals, and will also serve you well no matter when or where you’re traveling in the future.
Here are our top tips for how to find cheap St. Patrick’s Day airfare.
>> March 17 is on a Saturday in 2012.
Whether you look at Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as the perfect opportunity to give back through a little voluntourism or just another three-day weekend, if you’re planning to do any travel at all over this particular holiday weekend it’s important to know how to find the best deals on airfare.
For most people, Christmas is all about family and spending quality time with people you love (and may not get to see much during the rest of the year). It’s a pity, then, that getting home for the holidays without spending a fortune can be such a royal pain in the you-know-what.
You don’t have to be a frequent traveler to know that airfare tends to be higher during the summer high season and lower during the winter off-season in many of the popular vacation destinations around the world. But just booking your trip for one of the shoulder seasons – fall or spring – doesn’t necessarily guarantee you the best of both price and weather.
Summer may rank at the top of the vacation ladder as the time most people plan the vacations they’ll talk about until they get another summer vacation, but one of the busiest travel seasons remains the winter. Between the holiday season and the desperate need many have to escape the snow for warmer climates, winter sees its fair share of travelers.
If weather is a major determining factor for you when you’re planning a vacation, then you might have one of a few potential reactions to planning a trip in the winter. You might think that winter is the time to hole up indoors and keep warm, in which case you can’t possibly imagine having fun during a holiday. You might be a snow junkie and look forward to winter all year long. You might think that midway through your snow-laden winter you’re going to need a warm getaway to perk up your spirits. Or you might dread the holiday travel scene and the hassles that come with it.
Despite the fact that winter typically means less-than-ideal weather for taking a vacation in many parts of the world, it can still be tough to find cheap flights during the winter months. Why? One major reason is the fact that two big holidays for which people often travel fall right in the midst of the winter – and as anyone who’s tried finding deals on flights for Christmas or New Year’s can tell you, those bargain basement fares disappear pretty quickly.
Traveling at Thanksgiving can be one of the most stressful things you’ll do all year, but if you end up paying too much for your ticket that’s just adding insult to injury. There’s not necessarily much you can do to make the airport less crowded or the weather any more pleasant for flying, but there’s definitely something you can do to make sure you’re getting the best deal possible on your ticket.