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An IT consultant went to Prague for the day for just £18 and claims it was cheaper than his commute to work. Luke Simmonds jetted off to the capital of the Czech Republic on October 11 on a Wizz Air flight at 6am. He landed at 8.45am, had time to explore the city and visit its castle, before flying back at 5pm. The 36-year-old said the whole trip cost him £52.65 - only £7.65 more than the cost of his commute. Luke, from Guildford, Surrey, is no stranger to extreme day trips and has been going on them since 2023. He’s completed an impressive 30 in two years. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE He said: "This is only a few pounds more than what my commute to work would be.The commute to work is about £40 on the train and the tube on top so about £45 and it's 60 miles to travel. "A day out in London would have cost more. It just shows what's possible having a look and a mooch about foreign capital in a day. "Clearly there's a lot more in Prague and it was not enough time to tick it off and never go again but it’s a nice introduction to the city." Luke said Prague is his cheapest day trip and he visited with seven other travel enthusiasts he met through Facebook. Booking £8.99 flights each way 11 months in advance, his 6am Luton flight touched down in the city by 8.45am. He said: "This one was very much a go and wander around trip, and we there was not really a set plan apart from going to Gediminas castle. "We bought some local food and walked down to Charles Bridge, a famous part of Prague and then into the old town square. "We didn't do any paid activities, we just walked around sightseeing which is why it was so cheap." Luke also visited Lithuania the weekend before - he flew from Luton with WizzAir at 7.55am on October 4, landing in Vilnius, Lithuania at 12.18pm on £38.47 return flights. After taking a 20-minute bus into the centre he visited Gediminas castle for free, taking in panoramic views of the city, before having a lunch of local potato pancakes and cherry beer in the old town. He said: "Vilnius is one of those places you can wander around without really having a plan. The old town has got loads to look at. "There's a quirky art district that's almost declared itself independent – called Užupis. It's quite a famous site in Vilnius but I found it really underwhelming". Finishing his day back in the old town doing some shopping, Luke's 11.20pm flight with Ryanair back to Stansted was delayed. He said: "I was at the airport all night. There was some issue with balloons entering airspace from Belarus. It left at 8.25am and I got back to Stanstead at 9.04am." Luke says he bags his cheap flights by booking at least three months in advance. He said: "Three months ahead tends to be the sweet spot for trips, you can get really good deals. "There's no exact science to booking flights as the prices go up all over the place. By being flexible with airports it opens up more destinations and way more options then. "What I really like about it [extreme day tripping] is nobody has commercialised it. I've gone to places I've never even heard of because I've seen people write it up on Facebook and thought, I'll go there then. "Some places have definitely had a boost in tourism because of it. The price is the driver rather than where you want to go". For more of today's top stories, click here.
