Too broke for Europe? Oh, no, you’re not

When I was growing up, a trip to Europe was seen as a once-in-a-lifetime dream for many of us because it was so expensive. How times have changed. Just last week I found a round-trip fall flight from Boston to Barcelona for $255 non-stop. That’s cheaper than flying from Boston to Salt Lake ($271), Green Bay ($272) or Oklahoma City ($324).

Cheap Europe fares are here

These are not 'special' or 'hidden' fares. You can find them easily (took me less than a minute). It’s all a matter of having the right tools. If you can be flexible with your itinerary and not married to a particular set of travel dates, use a monthly or seasonal deal-finder tool like the one on my site. I just set it for travel in 'fall' and a bunch of deals popped up last week, including:

• Boston-London, $328

• New York-Rome, $301

• Chicago-Amsterdam, $313

• Newark-Paris, $289

• Seattle-Copenhagen, $398

You may be saying to yourself, "Sure, the big cities always get the deals" and while this is often true, Europe is currently smiling on a lot of medium-size towns, too. Examples:

• Cincinnati-Dublin, $488

• Minneapolis-Luxembourg, $377

And the fares keep coming down. Earlier in the season, a non-stop for Chicago-Frankfurt in October cost $589; I just spotted the same non-stop in November for $483. The only thing to watch out for is the Christmas/New Year’s travel period when fares rise.

How to find the cheap Europe fares

These simple methods work; they may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many shoppers skip these steps. See how much you can save.

Compare the fares: Even if you "know" one airline is always the cheapest, shop a comparison site anyway. Trust me on this, no airline is always the cheapest.

Know when to fly: Try one of those month or seasonal deal-finding tools mentioned above for the best possible prices on the cheapest days. Remember, too, that fall and winter are typically very cheap for jaunts to Europe while spring is a little pricier and summer is most expensive. By the way, the cheapest trips are not necessarily going to be Saturday-to-Saturday itineraries; prepare yourself to depart and return on weekdays for extra savings.

Accept a little bit of inconvenience: Earlier this month, I saw an October flight for Los Angeles to Paris for $633 non-stop. Not bad, but another flight with one stop was $493. Is the bother of a connecting flight worth $140 in savings? What if you are traveling as a family of four? That extra $500+ could buy a lot of wonderful meals in the City of Light.

Rick Seaney is the Chief Executive Officer for FareCompare. Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of ABC News.