I have booked two of my three Europe trips open jaw, meaning I fly into Europe in one city, travel by whatever means (in europe it is usually a train) and leave out of another city at the end of my journey. It is a very efficient way to travel and you can really maximize your time.

I just saw an article about something that I had never much thought to until recently: flying open-jaw domestically. It is the same idea as doing it internationally, except you never leave your home country.

The article had two different examples – one was a trip in the southern US; the other was a trip that hit a lot of the majestic National Parks in the north.

I am still trying to get my last three States visited and I have actually considering doing it open-jaw so I can slip in some extra stops and have more time to see things since New England and eastern Canada have a lot to see and do. I have a tentative route already planned and some places to stop saved.

I will definitely start thinking about that more seriously for any domestic trips I make in the future. For example I could fly to Seattle, go see some friends, then take Amtrak to Vancouver and fly back from there. You could go to Seattle or Portland, ride Amtrak to California and fly back home.

The possibilities are endless for travel like that, and you can find some good fares on Amtrak if you watch for sales. This also brings up the possibility of another option or two – fly to a city, then take Amtrak back home. Or, you could just do a big train journey.

Admittedly, my knowledge of Amtrak is limited but I have done some research. I will be looking into more possibilities on Amtrak for some trips. The train goes back into places you may never see from a car, and with a pass you could possibly hop off, stay a day or two, and catch another train when you are ready to continue on your adventure. Unfortunately, we don’t have the same setup as in Europe so a seat has to be reserved on Amtrak since there is no way on without that – even for standing room.

Amtrak usually has Black Friday sales on passes, and they happen other times of the year so sign up for notifications if interested. You could potentially end up saving a few dollars going to smaller, out of the way airports even though you are buying a multi-city ticket or two one-ways.

Open-jaw is a much different way to travel but I think I like it a lot better than a round-trip or return flight. It is easy to adapt your plans and I suggest giving it a try.

Until next post…

Shawn