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A good travel book, now outdated.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. ( )

I picked this book up whilst browsing travelogues in the library, trying to decide where I should go for my next holiday.

Reading it reminded me what I enjoyed most about holidays - discovering wonderful little things you never knew before. A lot of the fun about travel is getting lost & discovering places, not treasure hunting for a spot millions of people before you have seen.

The highlight of this book is not so much the travel, or the descriptions of the sights, or the recommendations of where to go for what, but Mr. Chesshyre's little observances about the people he meet on his travels, & his discussions of the social effects & revolution of mobility that low cost flights is helping to fuel.

At the expense of being arsey, I can't help but mention that my copy in particular had numerous typos & not very well edited. Nevertheless an enjoyable light read. ( )

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. ( )