Is there a way to travel from Canada to Japan that's cheaper than the most direct flight routes?
I would like to travel from Montreal, Canada to Japan, but a plane ticket is expensive so I want to minimize travel costs.
I like to explore and visit new places so alternative routes through unconventional means, multi-modal transport or through other countries are definitively fine. If possible I would like to avoid crossing the ocean by boat as it is likely to be prohibitively long, but otherwise boats are fine.
Is there a way to travel from Canada to Japan that's cheaper than the most direct flight routes?
My guess is: hitchhike from Montreal to the west coast and take a plane to Japan from there?
Note: I don't think it's a duplicate as I don't want to restrict answers to air travel only, all forms of transport should be considered if they can reduce the overall cost. Travelling to a neighboring country and taking a bus/ferry/train/etc. is a perfect example.
Best Answer
Distance is only one of the factors determining the price of a flight. Demand has a large effect too. End result is the cost savings of a closer departure often do not offset the cost of getting to the closer departure point.
You will want to price tickets out of Toronto, New York, Newark, Detroit before comparing to west coast departures and then ask yourself if you can get to the west coast for less than the difference.
There are no cruise ships from Vancouver to Tokyo, except the occasional round-the-world über-luxury cruises, and they usually cost.... more.
hitchhike from Montreal to the west coast
"Japan" and "hitchhike" really don't belong in the same conversation. If you can't afford the fare difference how do you expect to pay for your stay in Japan? It's not cheap here.
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Answer 2
I'd recommend not doing the hitch hiking portion...Canada is silly big, after a 14 hour drive you'll be relieved to find out your no longer in Ontario, but also know that your trek isn't half over. Cities are not close together and it's easy to get yourself stranded.
While living in Calgary, I found it far cheaper to get to Japan via Los Angeles...Flight from Calgary to LA, then Air Cathay from LA to Seoul, and finally Seoul to Japan. That worked out far better than Calgary to Van then direct to Japan.
I'd recommend getting out of Canada...our airport taxes and the sort can be expensive. Take a look into driving south across the US border (or hitch hiking if preferred) and catching a domestic flight into LA or Seattle. Go over the pacific from there. Remember Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver have some of the highest airport taxes world-wide and cost quite a bit to fly out of regardless of how much your flight actually is.
Answer 3
You should just shop around and go at a time that leads to the cheapest fares. It may be cheaper from Toronto so you could consider hitchhiking or something like Megabus to get from Montreal to Hogtown.
I've recently seen $542 CAD (about US$430) round trip YYZ to Osaka including taxes and fees. You're not going to significantly beat that! It did have an overnight in SFO, which is inconvenient (as is unnecessarily dealing with US customs and immigration) but can be dealt with if saving money is the goal.
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