A man flew to Prague for the day for just £18 - and says it's cheaper than his commute to work.

Luke Simmonds, 36, has been going on extreme day trips for the last since 2023 - and has completed 30 in two years.

For his most recent trip he jetted off to Prague, Czech Republic on October 11 on a Wizz Air flight at 6am.

Landing at 8.45am - he wandered round the city, tried a local chimney cake, and visited Prague castle.

He flew back at 5pm and says the whole trip cost him £52.65 - only £7.65 more than the cost of his commute.

Luke, an IT consultant, from Guildford, Surrey, 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 nice a introduction to the city." "

Luke said Prague is his cheapest day trip and he visited with seven other travel enthusiasts who 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 23.20pm 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"."


Prague, Czech Republic

National Express coach: £10.62

Flights: £17.98

Transport: £7.00 (CZK 193.69)

Food and drink: £10.67 (CZK 295.24)

Souvenirs: £6.38 (CZK 176.54)


Vilnius, Lithuania

National Express coach: £14.45

Flights: £38.47

Transport: £2.13 (€2.50)

Food and drink: £25.93 (€30.50)

Souvenirs: £4.25 (€5.00)