Recess Trips

Here’s a deal for hill staffers from Washington, DC, to Dublin, Ireland, from Dulles (IAD). SAS has an amazing deal in Premium Economy from Washington DC to Dublin, Ireland, for $527 roundtrip. Tickets are available for select dates starting around Mid-April and ending around the end of October. This is an amazing deal for tickets to this destination. You usually find Premium Economy tickets to Dublin, Ireland, for $1300. I recommend you book this deal within the next 48 hours, as sales for airline tickets usually don’t last too long. What is Premium Economy? Premium Economy tickets are a step above economy tickets as they provide you with better seats, usually similar to the recliners found on domestic first-class in the United States for long-haul international travel. You also receive better amenities throughout the trip, such as lounge access, and better food onboard. You also earn more miles for frequent flyer programs. How to book I’ve posted a few possible trips you can take over a recess period with links directly to Google Flights for itinerates so you don’t have to search for them. You can book these tickets through Expedia, Orbitz, or Travelocity or by going to the Combined Airline Ticket Office in B-224-C Longworth House Office Building and paying a small booking/processing fee. Please make sure you tell them you found this deal on Recess Trips! Example Travel Dates: 4/30/2023 – 5/5/2023 8/15/2023 – 8/25/2023 8/27/2023 – 9/4/2023 10/3/2023 – 10/10/2023 All of these include overnight stopovers in Copenhagan on the return. Make sure to make the most of the trip by enjoying your evening in the Danish capital. Earn miles With this booking, you can earn miles for United or Star Alliance airline frequent flyer programs. Make sure to insert your frequent flyer information while making the reservation. Protect your trip SAS is currently undergoing a bankruptcy restructuring that hasn’t impacted its operations. However, I strongly recommend you book this trip using a credit card with Trip Protection built-in to be safe. Some of the best options include the Chase Sapphire series of cards, the American Express Platinum, or the Capital One Venture X.

Here’s a deal for hill staffers from Washington DC to Los Angeles, California from all three DC area airports. Alaska, American, Delta and United have a great deal in Basic Economy from Washington DC to Los Angeles, California for $198 roundtrip. Tickets are available for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday flights starting around January 21 and ending around March 15. Basic Economy tickets carry additional restrictions on them versus a regular economy ticket. Examples of restrictions by some airlines include limited or no opportunity to select your seats, limited or no opportunities to change your ticket, last to board, reduced or no frequent mile earning, and in the case of United, restrictions on bringing a Carry -on bag besides a personal item that goes under your seat. You can usually upgrade to a regular economy seat for around $30 each way for domestic flights and $150 for round-trip international flights. This is a great deal for tickets to this destination. You would usually find tickets to Los Angeles, California for $350. I recommend you book this deal within the next 48 hours as deals for travel usually don’t last too long. I’ve posted a few examples of possible trips that can be taken over a recess period with links directly to Google Flights for itinerates so you don’t have to search for them. Otherwise, you can book these tickets through the airline directly or by going to the Combined Airline Ticket Office in B-224-C Longworth House Office Building and paying a small booking/processing fee (make sure you tell them you found this deal on Recess Trips). Example Travel Dates: 2/11/2023 – 2/12/2023 (United) 2/11/2023 – 2/14/2023 (Delta) 2/11/2023 – 2/15/2023 (Alaska) 2/14/2023 – 2/18/2023 (American) 2/19/2023 – 2/22/2023 (United) Earn Miles You can earn miles for Alaska, American, Delta, United, or other oneworld, SkyTeam, or Star Alliance airline frequent flyer programs with this flight. Make sure to insert your frequent flyer information while making the reservation. I also recommend you book this trip using a credit card with Trip Protection built in. Some of the best options include the Chase Sapphire series of cards, the American Express Platinum, or the Capital One Venture X.

I've seen deals from DC to Johannesburg for around $750 before, even $700. I remember an error deal that where you could get tickets for around $450 if you booked on the Expedia site for New Zealand. But I haven't seen tickets to South Africa this cheap. South African Airways has a deal from DC to either Johannesburg or Cape Town South Africia. Going to Johannesburg is $595 while Cape Town is just $28 more. You can travel for the January or February 2018 recess. Washington DC – Johannesburg - $595 Jan. 19 - 28  Feb. 16 – 25  Washington DC – Cape Town - $623  Jan. 19 - 28  Feb. 16 - 25   You can book the tickets off South African Airways website directly.

A good deal on travel from DC to either Paris or Amsterdam on United and other Star Alliance partners (Air Canada, Swiss, Lufthansa) from Dulles. Open Jaw options (Fly into Paris, fly out of Amsterdam etc.) are also available. Some of these tickets have nonstop options as well. Please also note that the tickets for Amsterdam are available for August recess in 2018 for around $442. DC - Amsterdam: $392-$442 Sample Dates: Jan. 12 - 21 2018 Feb. 16 - 25 2018 Aug. 10 - 20 2018 DC - Paris: $427-$430 Sample Dates Jan. 12 - 21 2018 Feb. 16 - 25 2018 DC - Paris, Amsterdam - DC: $393-$443 Sample Dates Jan. 12 - 21 2018 Feb. 16 - 25 2018 Aug. 10 - 20 2018 DC - Amsterdam, Paris - DC:$430 Sample Dates Jan. 12 - 21 2018 Feb. 16 - 25 2018 I love open jaws to Western Europe as it allows you to explore multiple cities on one trip. I'll actually be doing a trip very similar to this during the October recess.

Icelandair is currently running a pretty great deal from Dulles to a few cities in Europe. Most of these are bookable for travel during the MLK Holiday and President's Day Holiday recesses in early 2018.Don't forget, you can add in a stop to Iceland for a small additional charge (airport landing fees etc.) Icelandair just announced an Economy Lite product that is the same as their current Economy EXCEPT that there is no checked bag included. . Some of these fares are full Economy and some are Economy Lite. If you do follow the links below to book, make sure you are aware of the type of servie you will receive from the service you plan on using to book. (I believe most of the Iceland Stopover routes are Economy Lite while the direct routes are not.) DC - Oslo: $325 Sample Dates: Jan. 12 - 17 2018 Feb. 16 - 21 2018 With Iceland Stopover: $340 Jan. 12 - 17 - 21 2018 Feb. 16 - 21 - 25 2018 DC - Glasgow with Iceland Stopover: $328 Sample Dates: Jan. 13 - 18 - 21 2018 Feb. 17 - 22 - 25 2018 DC - Amsterdam: $330 Sample Dates: Jan. 12 - 18 2018 Feb. 17 - 23 2018 With Iceland Stopover: $345 Jan. 12 - 18 - 21 2018 Feb. 17 - 22 - 25 2018 DC - Paris: $348 Sample Dates: Jan. 12 - 18 2018 Feb. 17 - 22 2018 With Iceland Stopover: $354 Jan. 12 - 18 - 21 2018 Feb. 17 - 22 - 25 2018 DC - London with Iceland Stopover: $352 Sample Dates: Jan. 12 - 18 - 21 2018 DC - Stockholm: $354 Sample Dates: Jan. 12 - 17 2018 Feb. 17 - 22 2018 With Iceland Stopover: $368 Jan. 12 - 17 - 21 2018 Feb. 17 - 22 - 25 2018 DC - Manchester UK with Iceland Stopover: $362 Sample Dates: Jan. 12 - 18 - 21 2018 Feb. 16 - 21 - 25 2018 The stopover option may be extremely useful if Icelandair brings back their Icelandair Stopover Buddy program this winter.

An excellent last minute sale from Dulles to Mexico City for under $200 Round-trip with Aeromexico. Sample Dates Oct. 8 - 12 (Senate) Oct. 14 - 18 (House) Oct. 17 - 22 (House) October seems to be the month to find last minute travel deals. I’ve booked great deals to a bunch of places in previous years as well. Next year should be great as Congress will likely be in recess the entire month due to campaign season. This deal is also available further down the road as well. There are some days around Thanksgiving that total out to roughly ~$230. You can go for the long weekend in January 2018 for $186 as well.

A good deal on tickets to Helsinki for travel in early 2018. Make sure to check out the one-of-a-kind pub streetcar that serves beer and cider as you take in the sights of this Northern fortress. Sample Dates: Jan. 13 - 20 2018 Feb. 17 - 24 2018 (You get a fun overnight stay in Amsterdam as well) Icelandair also looks like they’re offering trips for ~$30 more, you can use their free Iceland stopover option and do a Finland + Iceland trip for a bit more.

That’s right, you have to purchase your ticket at the counter in the airport, just like your grandparents. How hard could that possibly be? Not very. On a recent trip during August recess, I flew into an airport which Spirit served and decided to purchase a ticket to Ft. Lauderdale for mid-September. I did my research ahead of time and learned that I would be in the airport when the Spirit Airlines check-in counter wouldn't be particularly busy. (You ideally would want to avoid going when normal passengers would be checking in for their flights to ensure you spend as little time as possible in line getting the ticket.) As I expected, the Check-in ticket counter area was almost empty when I walked up. I went right up to the counter and said "i'd like to purchase a ticket for a flight three weeks from now, can I do that?". I figured this may seem a bit strange to the Spirit airlines representative behind the counter. But she nonchalantly said "Sure" and proceeded with the booking. I gave her my ID, Credit Card, and the information pertaining to the flight I wanted to book. I waited patiently for a few minutes and she handed me my receipt with my booking confirmation number along with a breakdown of the ticket price. While she was handling my ticket, she discussed with another representative how common it was for passengers to come to their counter and book tickets because of the waived Passenger Usage Charge. I had to book an additional ticket for a friend, all I needed for that was their name and date of birth and I was set with that ticket as well. Paying a penny for a ticket before taxes isn't too bad. In a few weeks, I'll post Part 2 to this story focusing on how you can make your experience on Spirit less trashy. Look for that to drop on September 28th.

KLM and their airline partners are offering a good deal on travel to Istanbul, Turkey. There are options available out of all three area airports, but I've gone ahead and found the best deals when you consider travel time and connecting flights. Sample Dates Nov. 19 - 28 2017 Jan. 12 - 20 2018 Feb. 16 - 24 2018 November would be the best time to go to Istanbul as it is the end of fall, while Jan. and Feb. are both in the winter and are fairly wet. You'll fly through Amsterdam on most of these flights. I've tried looking into long layover options in Amsterdam and it doesn't seem like there's a lot to work with for this particular deal.

Alaska Airlines (and their other brand, Virgin America) are offering a decent deal on tickets to Los Angeles from all 3 area airports. American and United have similar deals, but both of those are Basic Economy fares. This means you don't get to take a carry-on bag, pick your seat, or possibly earn miles for status or awards. Sample dates Oct. 18 - 21 2017 (House only) Jan. 17 - 21 2018 It also looks like Spirit is offering flights from DC - LA for ~$98 Round-trip if you book at their ticket counter. Surprisingly, their tickets allow for a larger personal item than United's Basic Economy.

Capitol Hill is a unique workplace. One minute you’re on the phone with an angry constituent, and the next you’re drafting talking points for your boss’s interview on MSNBC in a couple hours. All of this while listening to Manu Raju on CNN and keeping up with Matt Fuller’s snarky-yet-informative tweets This high pressure environment can easily burn staffers out.  With this pressure filled work environment, comes pay that is incomparable to that in the private sector. Your salary is about half what your counterparts in the private sector make and the only redeeming part of the experience is the prestige that comes with your job.   With rising costs for housing, goods and services in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, Hill staffers soon realize that all the passion for public service in the world won’t buy them a vacation to sightsee in Italy or relax on a beach in southeast Asia  Some staffers may just feel the urge to get away from the hustle and bustle of DC. Planning for such trips can be extremely difficult; vote recommendations and press releases don’t write themselves, not to mention that the vacation won’t be paid for by a PAC, lobbyist, federal agency or a member’s pet project. This is where Recess Trips comes in. The goal of this website is to help give Capitol Hill staffers the opportunity to travel affordably on dates that play nice with the Congressional calendar (especially during member’s district work periods). We’ll find deals and make sure the dates work out so you can plan trips during recess or small weekend getaways to unwind and refresh, without breaking the bank. We’ll also focus on providing you tips and tricks to ensure you stay one step ahead of the average traveler.  The posts on this site will operate as follows: + Travel deals will be posted as soon as we become aware of deals out of Washington DC area airports for domestic travel (DCA, IAD, BWI) along with the general Mid Atlantic/Northeast for excellent deals on international travel (PHL, EWR, LGA, JFK) (more on this in a future post). Deals will include clickable links directly to a price search engine showing you the exact flights you can book to get the deal. If available, we will also post the raw ticket code. With the raw ticket code, you can call down to the Combined Airline Ticket Office in Longworth to book your tickets. (Their telephone # is (703) 522-2286.) + The Fly-Out Fix: This will be an advice/tips/tricks post that will come out on Fly-Out days immediately after last votes in the House. This will cover everything from travel credit cards to hidden city ticketing. You may also see reviews of different products and experiences related to travel. For example, the ROAM Fitness gym located inside the BWI Airport. Look for these to come out every Thursday or Friday. + Mailbag Q & A: Every recess that I’m not traveling, I’ll try to get a Mailbag Q & A out here on the blog to provide some personalized advice. Any requests can be sent to [email protected]. To ensure that this blog is successful, I will need help from a few of my readers. If you fall into one of the following categories of staffers and would be interested in contributing to the blog, please reach me at [email protected] + Legislative Staffer covering Aviation + Legislative Staffer covering Foreign Affairs + A staffer who travels on 3 or more CODEL or STAFFDEL trips in a calendar year. If you fit one of the three roles, your input would be greatly appreciated. Safe travels.

WOW, these fares are leaving me speechless. Wow arilines is offering a spectacular deal for travel form BWI to different European destinations for a very cheap price. Yes, you’ll pay for baggage if you have anything larger than a personal item. Yes, you can pay to select your own seat. Yes, there’s a stopover in Iceland. But no, you won’t pay more than $250 for these tickets. BWI - Berlin Nov. 19 - Nov. 23 BWI - Dublin Sept. 17 - Sept. 22 Oct. 8 - Oct. 13 (Senate Only) BWI - Edinburgh Oct. 7 - Oct. 13 (Senate Only) Oct. 14 - Oct. 20 (House Only) BWI - London Sept. 18 - Sept. 22 BWI - Paris Nov. 19 - Nov. 23 I can’t insert direct clickable links to the deals but I can give you instructions on how to book. Most of these will not show up in Google Flights. 1) Go to WowAir.com and select “USA” under countries 2) Scroll down to the section showing one-way deals from different US cities to different European cities and select “More Great Deals” on the bottom right of the section. 3) Select “Washington DC” in the section listing US airports right about the destinations and the deals separated out by each month. 4) Scroll down and find the city you are looking to travel to during recess. The price should say something like. “Price From 69.00$”. 5) Click “View Prices” and click “Book” under the month you would like to travel. 6) Select the date listed above and go through the booking process. 7) Follow these steps but instead of selecting “USA” in step 1, select the country for which your destination is in. (ie: “Germany” for Berlin). Lastly, make sure to book your tickets using a credit card with no foreign transaction fees such as the Visa Signature Premier Rewards Credit Card by the Congressional Federal Credit Union.

A great deal from DC to KL. AirAsia's main hub is located in Kuala Lumpur so getting from there to any other city in Southeast Asia should be both a breeze and very cheap. Sample dates: Oct. 15 - 23 Jan. 14 - 22 2018 Feb. 18 - 26 2018 Apr. 1 - 8 2018 There are multiple options for each of the proposed dates. Google Flights won't show you all of the options, try playing around with multi city and force Google Flights to fly you out/in to a specific airport (National or Dulles). The flights listed above are the best options in my opinion considering the transit time, number of flights, and legroom provided on each flight. The rules for the fare stipulate that you must fly out between Sunday and Thursday and must return on a day between Monday and Thursday.As always, your milage may vary.

Frontier Airlines is offering a fantastic deal for today only. Travel out of Dulles and get 90% off the base Frontier fare price. The discount will not be applied to Government taxes and fees. Frontier charges for almost everything from seat selection to carry-on luggage. Even with all of that taken into consideration, there are some amazing deals to be had. I'll list a few below. Dulles - Austin - $52 Round-trip Sept. 16 - 20 Sept. 20 - 23 Dulles - Colorado Springs - $52 Round-trip Sept. 16 - 20 Sept. 20 - 23 Dulles - Denver - $76 Round-trip Sept. 16 - 20 Sept. 20 - 23 Dulles - Las Vegas - $85 Round-trip Sept. 16 - 18 Sept. 21 - 23 These tickets must be booked directly off Frontier Airlines website using the promo code "SAVE90". It's been a couple years since I've seen Frontier go this low with pricing, (DC-Vegas for $30 Round-trip in October 2015.) but this is definitly worth acting on if You have don't have anything planned for the September Recess and have vacation days.

Sample Dates Jan. 13 - 22 2018 Feb. 17 - 26 2018 Deals like this will pop up often due of United and ANA's funky ticketing systems. Other deals like this have included flights to/from Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur. You're usually able to add a stopover in Tokyo (for an additional charge) as well.

It's back, Round-trip tickets from BWI to Iceland are available for October recess on WOW Air. Remember, this is a low cost carrier and they will charge you for seat selection and baggage. But if you can manage, you can end up with a pretty sweet deal. October is a pretty good time to go as you get a shot to see the Northern lights and have a reasonable amount of daylight for other activities such as the Blue Lagoon or Seljalandsfoss. Sample Dates Oct. 14 - 18 Oct. 18 - 21 WOW is also offering a bunch of deals to different European cities for ~$380. However, If you’re willing to wait, you can find similar deals on full-service carriers to the same destinations for a little bit more. When those deals pop up, you’ll know exactly where to look.