You drive off the ferry, full of love for your European cousins, desperate to enjoy that once a year driving in France experience, only to be cut up by your first Clio, and you’ll soon be swearing like a trooper and gesturing in such a fashion that Entente Cordiale had drained right out of your car.

Okay, lets get one thing straight right away. If you’re heading off across the Channel, then get car breakdown cover in France. Don’t risk it. The cost of taking out good cover will not only give you peace of mind, but it could also save you a fortune.

But back to the French roads. The French do generally give a wider berth to cars with foreign number plates. It’s almost as if they know the average foreign driver does not have a steel stomach and a brain which seems to weigh up dangers with a different mathematical formula than most.

Take the average French driver along one of their ‘A’ roads. Not a motorway, or a dual-carriageway, but a straightforward road that links say two towns, with a couple of sleepy villages in between.

Firstly, the speed limit of 90 kilometres per hour (kph) – that’s 56 mph in old money, note some 4 mph slower than the national British speed limit) is only there so that some French people are employed making, erecting and maintaining speed signs. After that, it has no purpose.

Secondly, a long line of cars, with the odd lorry thrown in, all behind a lost Dutchman pulling his 75 metre caravan in first gear, is seen as a challenge by the average French driver. It is something to be overcome. This is best done by revving the old Peugeot up to 100 kph, pulling out once there’s nothing coming for at least 20 metres, then hurtling down the long line of traffic on the wrong side of the road, whilst lighting up the fifth Gauloise in four minutes, chatting animatedly to the passenger about the meaning of life and trying to stop the dog in the back licking the baguette.

It’s also best to ignore flashing lights, blaring horns and gestures, and once pass the caravan, swerve majestically across to the right side of the road and gun the Peugeot a bit more, because if you take the village at warp factor six, you’re going to get through quicker.

As for foreigners, don’t ignore the speed limits (or take a suitcase of bank notes instead), enjoy the motorway speed limit of 130 kph (81 mph), unless its raining, when it is 110 kph, and remember to take the warning triangle with you, just in case you do break down. And nowadays, you need a fluorescent jacket as well. It’s so that bloke doing warp factor six can see you and hopefully miss you.

All very French and oddly, quite charming. And the reason why you need good car breakdown cover in France.

Tags: Car Breakdown, Car Insurance, Cars, France, Holiday Activities, Holiday Transportation, Holidays, Overseas Driving, Travel, Travel Insurance

Most parents have their own horror stories when it comes to travelling with children and when you decide which car breakdown service to use, when it comes to your offspring, make sure you get one which offers the full recovery service.

Kids and cars don’t always mix that well, because usually the former don’t really comprehend the complexities of driving. Most kids don’t understand the tensions and passions that can be aroused by getting behind the wheel.

They see their parents up front, turning a black round bit of plastic in their hands, kicking their feet at something underneath their seat and pushing backwards and forwards the strange knobbly thing in their hands.

They might hear their parents shout something strange at a taxi driver, question a pedestrians parentage, or indulge in strange gestures at people outside.

It’s a good job that when it comes to comparing rescue and recovery services, there isn’t an option for a reduced price when a child in involved.

Then of course there’s that attention seeking thing, when kids get a tad jealous that the car is getting a bit more of mummy’s attention than it should. A child usually corrects this by either picking up their Mummy’s handbag and emptying the contents all over the inside of the car, or taking the top off their juice drink and pouring the contents over Mummy’s head. The child quickly learns that this tactic tends not to work with Daddy, who immediately pulls over, bellows like a lion, jumps up and down outside, and threatens his offspring with the orphanage.

Then there’s boredom, which is why God invented that great phrase: “…are we there yet?” It is, for the average child, guaranteed to get a rise from their parents so it must be used liberally throughout a journey. Firstly, it can be fired off when the car is still in the drive, just when the parents are going through their pre-flight checks, including “…I thought you switched the gas off.” The phrase can then be used at each stress point, including when the map reading goes wrong, just after the policeman has finished lecturing Daddy about a 20mph speed zone and when the tail-back has lasted ten minutes. At this stage, it’s best to keep repeating it over and over, and over, until the parents turn a funny beetroot colour.

Which is why of course many children nowadays get their way and as soon as the journey starts, are either given an iPod, or a Nintendo to wile away the hours.

But, apart from making sure that the kids seats are of the proper type and quality, and that they are firmly strapped during the duration of the nightmare, there’s little you can do to alleviate the stresses of travelling with children.

Just ensure, when considering car breakdown UK, that you go for the complete works. You’ll certainly need it, should the worse happen, and you’re stranded with the kids somewhere, the Nintendo battery flat and the iPod stuck on a Britney classic.

Are we there yet?

Tags: Car Breakdown, Cars, Child Safety, Children, Holiday Transportation, Travel, Travel Insurance, Travel Sickness

Valid on ALL holidays departing for travel between 1st November ‘09 and 30 April ‘11

Book early for some of our best prices!

This offer will end at 10pm on Tuesday 23rd June 2009.

Some of our great deals include:

7 Nights in St Lucia from £799pp – Save £250pp

Escape for 7 nights in St Lucia with Virgin Holidays, including scheduled flights with Virgin Atlantic. 7 nights accommodation at the 4V Coconut Bay Resort and Spa on anAll Inclusive basis including transfers, starts from just £799pp! Flights are on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays from London Gatwick and are based on departures between 01 Sept – 30 Sept 2009…so hurry and book online now!

7 Nights in Barbados from £539pp – Save £110pp

Escape for 7 nights in Barbados with Virgin Holidays, including scheduled flights with Virgin Atlantic. 7 nights accommodation at the 3V Silver Sands on a Room Only basis including transfers, starts from just £539pp! Flights are daily from London Gatwick and are based ondepartures between 01 Sept – 09 Oct 2009…so hurry and book online now!

3 Nights in Boston from £459pp – Save £96pp

Escape for 3 nights in Boston with Virgin Holidays, including scheduled flights with Virgin Atlantic. 3 nights accommodation at the 3V Boston Midtown on a Room Only basis, starts from just £459pp! Flights are daily from London Heathrow and are based on departures between 25 Aug – 31 Aug 2009…so hurry and book online now!

5 Nights in Dubai from £555pp

Escape for 5 nights in Dubai with Virgin Holidays, including scheduled flights with Virgin Atlantic. 5 nights accommodation at the 5V Hilton Dubai Jumeirah on a B&B basis including transfers, starts from just £555pp! Flights are from London Heathrow and are based on departures between 15 June – 06 July 2009…so hurry and book online now!

For full details of all our great offers visit:

http://www.virginholidays.co.uk

Terms & Conditions:
Book online at www.virginholidays.co.uk  between 6pm Thursday 18th June and 10pm Tuesday 23rd June 2009. Offer applies to new direct bookings only for travel between 1st November 2009 and 30th April 2011 only. The discount cannot be used against accommodation only bookings, car hire bookings or in conjunction with any other special offer, promotion or discount including the Frequent Virgin Club discount. The discount will be automatically applied to the booking and excludes APD and fuel surcharge supplements. This offer is not applicable on holidays that require booking via telephone. All holidays are subject to availability and Virgin Holidays full standard terms and conditions apply please see www.virginholidays.com  for full details.

Tags: Holiday, Holiday Transportation, Holidays, Package Holidays, Travel, Virgin, Virgin Holidays

• New Post Office® City Costs Barometer makes Budapest a best buy
• Sterling still strong in Turkey and Poland, as well as Hungary

Eastern European cities outside the eurozone are the places to head off for a bargain break this spring, according to the new City Costs Barometer from Post Office® Travel Services (postoffice.co.uk/). 

As the euro continues to fly high against sterling, the Post Office report into non-euro city destinations shows that Budapest, followed closely by Warsaw and Prague, are the cities where thrifty tourists will get more for their money.¹ 

The three eastern European capitals emerge as cheapest of 10 ‘alternative’ cities outside the eurozone where UK tourists, daunted by the idea of sky high prices in traditional favourites like Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona, can bag a bargain break.   

And, despite the bad press for sterling, UK tourists will actually get more for their money than a year ago in three of the cities surveyed – Warsaw, Budapest and Istanbul – as sterling has strengthened against their currencies.² In the case of the Polish zloty, the UK pound is over 10 per cent stronger, making city breaks to Warsaw and to Krakow much cheaper than in 2008. 

The Post Office City Costs Barometer examined the price of typical tourist items like drinks and meals out, together with three-star city centre hotel accommodation, airport transfers and sightseeing costs.  It found that all five eastern European cities surveyed – including the Baltic duo of Tallinn and Riga – are much less expensive than those in Scandinavia. 

Individually, Warsaw rates as cheapest for weekend accommodation – so independent travellers can expect a great deal if they travel while the Polish zloty remains weak.  Budapest and Prague are best value for eating out, while return transfers between airport and city centre, a cost that tourists cannot avoid, is cheapest in Riga.  

The Post Office also surveyed the costs of visits to art galleries and top heritage attractions, finding that culture comes cheap in Warsaw, Tallinn and Budapest – but costs nothing at all in Oslo, where the key visitor attractions are free.³ 

However, while costs on the ground may be significantly cheaper in eastern Europe – at under £130 for 11 items, the Budapest shopping basket weighed in almost half the price in Copenhagen – the Post Office report also established that flight costs to Scandinavia could be significantly cheaper than elsewhere in Europe. 

Andrew Spice of Post Office Travel Services said: “There are lots of factors for consumers to consider when booking a city break, including the cost of getting to a destination.  Our ’snapshot’ of flights available in late April⁴ showed that Copenhagen actually had the cheapest weekend price of just £41.98, so there are definite benefits to considering a Scandinavian break. 

“The exchange rate is another crucial factor.  With sterling’s continuing weakness against the euro, doubts have been expressed as to whether the traditional spring getaway to popular cities in the eurozone will survive this year.  However sterling is holding up well against several European currencies and our costs barometer of non-euro cities shows that there is great value to be had for UK holidaymakers. 

“Capitals like Budapest and Warsaw are extremely cheap places to visit at the moment and have attractions to rival those of the traditional city break favourites.”    

Over 1,600 Post Office bureau de change branches offer the most widely requested European currencies on demand, including all those featured in the Post Office City Costs Barometer, except the Hungarian forint and Estonian kroon, which can be pre-ordered.    

All currencies can be pre-ordered for next day branch collection at all 11,500 Post Office outlets or online at postoffice.co.uk.  Home delivery can also be requested online.  Travellers to the eurozone can obtain euro currency over the counter at more than 8,000 Post Office branches. 

The full results of the Post Office City Costs Barometer can be viewed online at: postoffice.co.uk/citybreaksreport.�
�

Ends 

CBPR     Post Office Press Office 

Christine Ball    Hayley Fowell

01798 874177   020 7250 2417

cball@cballpr.co.uk    hayley.fowell@royalmail.com

Notes to Editors:

¹ Post Office City Costs Barometer 2009 of cities outside the eurozone.  Prices supplied by tourist offices of participating countries. Hotel prices were researched independently and are based on two adults sharing a double/twin room in a three-star city centre hotel over a weekend. Where possible, these were verified by tourist offices.

POST OFFICE CITY COSTS BAROMETER 2009: NON-EUROZONE CITIES

�

�
�

Source:  Post Office. Data relates to 25 March 2009 exchange rates. 

² Post Office year-on-year currency comparison: 

³ Heritage attractions and leading art galleries suggested by tourist offices of participating countries: 

�

⁴ Post Office research into the cheapest weekend flight prices available for travel over the weekend of 24^th-26^th April at the time of research (March 2009).  Copenhagen had the lowest return fare of £41.98 (low cost carrier departing from Stansted).

Tags: Eurozone, Holiday, Holiday Transportation, Hotel, The Post Office, Travel

Travel jabs; who needs them? Well, we all do actually, especially if you don’t want to end up with something nasty that is.

Firstly, a true story. This writer once went on a business trip with a number of well-heeled commercial guys to Bangkok. Everyone thought they had got fully immunised and after the trip was over, one of the party fell ill. Not just ill mind you, but very ill. In fact, he was incarcerated in a hospital isolation ward for over four months. After weeks of testing they discovered he had a particularly nasty bug which is not uncommon in Asia, but very uncommon in this country. And although not life-threatening, if not spotted quickly enough, it can certainly ruin your social life for a while.

But the point is, that an innocent trip to the commercial centre of Thailand which, afterall, is not the Third World, turned into a nightmare for a guy who, said the hospital, if he hadn’t had some form of protection with his jabs, might have suffered even more. 

So, don’t take risks, but also appreciate that getting fully tanked up with the recommended vaccinations can be a very expensive business. Most crucially, it could invalidate your travel insurance and leave you with a big bill for getting treatment and then getting back home.

And you have a choice between private clinics, which can do things in a rush if need be, but are generally more expensive, and your local GP, which are cheaper, but do need some warning.

A quote for getting say rabies, yellow fever, hepatitis A and typhoid jabs at a private clinic could cost you well over £200, whereas a GP might be able to shave over a £100 off that bill.

Bear in mind that anti-malaria tablets alone can cost, for a box of 50 tablets, around £25.

GP’s will usually provide free jabs for hepatitis and typhoid, and are more competitive with shots for yellow fever and rabies. And the NHS will also offer you, sometimes at least, free meningitis and polio jabs. 

Of course, you might think it wiser to use a private clinic, especially one which specialises in travel vaccinations, as they hold bigger stocks, tend to have rarer vaccinations and have a greater knowledge, and one which is updated regularly, on the changes and developments.

So, when you are planning your exotic holiday, remember a key things regarding your travel vaccinations.

Firstly, get plenty of advice from the NHS, The Department of Health, The Foreign Office and the National Travel Health Network and Centre. Do a bit of research and find out what you need for the countries you intend to visit.

Secondly, plan way ahead. Some jabs might need to be taken three months before you intend to travel.

Thirdly, even if you intend to use a private clinic, or vaccination centre, have a word with your GP. He can chat you through a few things you need to know and if you have an issue in your health history, might advise a course of action relevant to you. He will also give you an idea as to what they would charge for the jabs.

But finally back to the Thai example at the start of this article. To give you an example, if you wish to travel to this country it is recommended (some more strongly than others, depending on the current opinion of the day) that you have jabs for the following, a certain number of days before you leave:

• Diphtheria (three months before travel);
• Hepatitis A (two weeks);
• Hepatitis B (two months);
• Rabies (one month);
• Tuberculosis (three months);
• Typhoid (ten days).

Mind you, nothing for Dengue fever, which might suggest there’s not a lot you can do about catching that, apart from avoiding those pesky mosquitoes.

Tags: Holiday, Holiday Activities, Holiday Transportation, Holidays, Package Holidays, Thomas Cook, Travel, Travel Insurance

In the good old days, when the words credit crunch had yet to be invented, it was the done thing to aspire to the best method of travel possible and the best holidays.

It was de rigeur to be seen flaunting your wealth and this was especially evident when flying. Airlines made it very clear that for those enduring the ‘walk of shame’ through the sumptuous luxury of the business cabin into the cramped cattle pen conditions of economy, flying was about spending your hard earnt money on the best seats. Okay, all those on the bucket airlines didn’t really care where they sat, even on the wing, as long as they did so at the least cost, but at least there are no other classes to show you up.

Also, travel destinations were all about being pampered; going to exotic locations, preferably as near to the sea as possible and having to hand international 18-hole golf courses for the men and with beauty salons for the women.

It was the time of the travel ego, when money was spent on giving yourself a treat and letting everyone else know that you were doing just that. It was the personification of hedonism and summed up the start of the 21st century.

Now, with world economies crashing with greater frequency than Eddie the Eagle, a new phrase has been coined by the travel industry: recession chic.

In the true sense of the ingenuity of the human race, people are trying to make the best from having to make their money go further.

Leading the way are the Americans and the trend for getting a better deal for holidays has been spotted at a New York travel show, where people are said to be on the hunt not only for bargains, but for a chance to show an heightened awareness of the new world order.

Those in the industry attending the travel show say their customers are not only considering how much their dwindling savings will buy them, but also how they can show that the important things in their lives, such as family, their health, or the environment, can in someway be accommodated when booking their holidays.

And for those holiday destinations that offer guilt-free pampering to those wiling to pay for it, they are worried that people will spurn their enticements and go for something more akin to the recession chic experience.

And to try and cope with this development, many of the more luxurious resorts are trying tone down their top end holidays with chances of doing good. Therefore, in certain destinations, such as Central America, Asia and the Far East, travellers are encouraged to participate in conservation and social projects.

In one such project holiday-makers are given the chance to purchase a book for a village that has no library. And not only purchase the book, but also deliver it in person and talk to the villagers themselves.

It’s almost a case of social guilt offsetting. So you can not only now offset your carbon footprint, you can also now offset your conscience.

Another company has hit upon a novel idea of ‘Laid Off, Take Off’, possibly a pretty sad reflection of the hard times people face. Simply, when you get made redundant, take some time off. Whether that’s a good use of their money remains to be seen, but, maybe it’s a good an idea as any.

So, when booking your holiday, remember now that its cool to be cost conscious and maybe, as you walk down the plane to cattle class, you can hold your head up high with a new sense of superiority.

Tags: Holiday, Holiday Activities, Holiday Transportation, Hotel, Package Holidays, Thomas Cook, Travel, Travel Insurance

The Jumbo has reached middle-age; its 40 years old this year.

But far from showing it’s age; there’s still life in the old dog yet, with the next version, the 747-800, about to be launched in 2010. And to think that it has taken forty years for a true competitor to try and fill the Jumbo’s shoes, in the shape of the Superjumbo, the Airbus A380, is testament to Boeing’s engineering skills.

And when you talk about the Jumbo, you have to use superlatives. The main one being that the 1,525 Jumbos ordered have collectively clocked up around 42 billion nautical miles. That’s the equivalent of having flown to the moon and back 100,000 times, having made approximately 17 million flights.

The first Boeing 747 flexed its wings over Washington State in 1969 and enjoyed around 75 minutes in the air. It was called City of Everett, the place where it was built, and it carried the hopes of the Boeing company. Repeated funding exercises have been needed to get the cash needed to build the Jumbo and observers at the time had said that had it proved a white elephant (an appropriate simile), it would have been the end of the Boeing Company. The Jumbo proved anything but a white elephant, and it has been one of the world’s greatest products.

In 1970 the first commercially equipped 747, decked out in the colours of the now defunct airline Pan-Am, was christened by the then First Lady of the U.S. Pat Nixon and made its first commercial flight on 22 January, 1970.

The Jumbo had a number of aviation firsts. It was the first commercial airliner to have twin aisles and provide the passenger with a sense of roominess. It was also the first to have an upper deck and gave the marketing men a chance to show first class passengers leaning against a top deck bar enjoying a mid-flight drink.

That novel idea was eventually dropped when the airlines realised that a 37,000 feet high bar was not a good use of space. Nowadays most Jumbo’s use the three-class system (between 350 to 400 seats) and put their pampered first-class passengers in the nose of the Jumbo, with the upper deck for business class (or sometimes economy, in those Jumbos exploited for maximum seating capacity) and the economy passengers in the main cabin.

The pilots also have their cockpit at the upper end of the upper deck, meaning that they had to be re-trained to not only fly such a larger aircraft, but one where they are positioned so far off the ground. And it was not only the pilots that had to change. Airport runways had to be widened and lengthened; taxi-ways had to be strengthened, and, terminal buildings made larger to accommodate the bigger aircraft and their larger loads of passengers.

The 747 also introduced the concept of ‘big fan’ engines. Such was the power needed to get the Jumbo in the air, that it was only possible after a leap-forward in jet-engine technology. Not only did they become more efficient, they became huge, having to collect as much air as possible to force along the engine, which was then mixed with aviation spirit, before being ignited and creating the thrust necessary to lift tonnes of metal into the air. And such is the size of a modern turbo fan jet engine, that you could fit a fuselage of a 737 into the front of it.

But, for the airlines, the Jumbo was not about remarkable engineering, or the beauty of the aircraft’s design; for them, it all comes down to economics. The Jumbo offered lots of seats and that meant lots more passengers on each flight. Of course, the downside is that the more seats you have and the more you can’t possibly fill it, then the more money you will lose.

So whilst the airlines were salivating at the thought of getting more passengers on board, they were also worried if the travel industry could stand that increase in numbers of people wishing to fly. They needn’t have worried, because apart from the times when recession has blighted the world economy (such as the various oil crises), the Jumbo has done much to stimulate air travel, opening up the market by allowing airlines to lower fares.

In the broadest terms, a commercial airliner with 400 seats does not cost twice as much to run as one with half the number of seats. The effect is that the cost per seat on a large aircraft is reduced over its smaller counterparts, so once airlines realised there were major economies of scale to be achieved, then fares came down (not only because they could, but they had to to increase the market size) and modern aviation as we know it now, was away.

And few aircraft have played such a part in modern culture. The Jumbo has played a starring role in many movies, novels and songs.

Whether the pretender, the A380 Superjumbo will prove such a hit with people’s imagination, remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, the good old Jumbo is set to be around for many decades to come.

Tags: Holiday, Holiday Activities, Holiday Transportation, Hotel, Jumbo, Jumbo Jet, Package Holidays, Thomas Cook, Travel, Travel Insurance

The Department of Health is urging U.K. holiday makers to check that their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) are up to date before they travel.

If they don’t, warns The Department of Health, they could face unnecessary medical costs if they are treated in mainland Europe.

The EHIC replaced the old E111 form and has an expiry date printed on the credit card type piece of plastic. Should the card have lapsed before the date of travel, then travellers will be charged full medical costs if they become ill.

The Department of Health estimates that over half of U.K. travellers do not realise that their EHIC has an expiry date. So the message is check before you travel, as it would be too late when abroad.

Renewal is straightforward, either online, or by phone, and can be renewed up to six months before the due date. Be warned that it can take up to ten days to deliver the renewed card, so people are warned not to leave it too late before they leave.

Log onto the NHS website to get renewal details.

Consumer groups and The Department of Health point out that the EHIC is a superb system, allowing the holder to get the same treatment in any EU, or Swiss hospital, that the locals can obtain. It is free to get the card and once acquired, is easily updated. For everyone travelling in Europe, it is seen as a must-have credential.

It is reckoned that over 28 million U.K. residents hold an EHIC, which replaced the E111 form in 2005, but that over three million are due to expire in March 2009. The EHIC officially entitles the holder to free state provided healthcare, should they fall ill, or have an accident.

But although a superb system, both The Department of Health and consumer groups warn that the EHIC should not be seen as a replacement for travel insurance. It is there to signify that the holder is entitled to a base level of medical cover within Europe. Most importantly, it does not cover transportation costs home in the event of a serious, or debilitating accident, and that can cost a fortune.

Nor does it give cancellation cover should your plane/train/ferry be delayed, provide compensation for lost luggage, or offer personal insurance cover. It also does not cover accidents when ski-ing.

So, be warned, if you haven’t got an EHIC in your wallet, get one. And if you have, check the expiry date, otherwise it could cost you a lot of money in the long run.

Do Just Book It Thomas Cook It!!!

Tags: Holiday, Holiday Activities, Holiday Transportation, Holidays, Insurance, Travel, Travel Insurance

Rarely is anyone too broke for a break these days.

The travel industry is so competitive that as long as you are a bit canny and are prepared to be patient, and spend a bit of time on the internet, then whatever your budget, you can get some time away from it all.

Firstly, and this is most important, do your research online and once you’ve find the ideal package, remember to book online as well.

Most top travel companies run very good web-sites and encourage the users to make use of their automated systems. This is why online prices can be so low, because a computer takes over most of the booking process.

And another tip, if you’re looking for a really cheap break, then get a package that includes says flights, hotel and if you can’t get a good deal on the food thrown in (full board), then go for the self-catering option. That takes many of the variables away and allows you to budget properly. You have one set price (including your self-catering cost element) and that can be saved up and then used to buy your holiday.

Take a case in point. The cheap, no-frills airlines make a big fuss of their seat sales. One such airline offered hundreds of seats at only a token 1p. Superb you might think, free flying, and even when offered with no taxes, there are a number of hidden extras, such as an online booking fee and a check-in luggage charge, which means that your 1p ticket can quickly be £10.

Okay, £10 is still not had, but lets say you pop off to some European location for £10. You tend to land in some remote airport which then requires transport (often expensive) to get you to a decent sized town, or City, to stay at a hotel. But bear in mind that hotels are expensive if booked by an individual traveller. And eating in such hotels can be very expensive if not booked through a travel company, who get the best rates because they book in bulk. So, by the time you’ve enjoyed your 1p, suddenly £10 flight, you might end up paying hundreds of ponds for a very mediocre break.

Just as an aside, someone worked out that with a 1p flight, if you booked using a VISA Electron card (which often does not incur an online charge) and didn’t take any luggage for the hold, and minimal hand-luggage, then your 1p could actually only cost you 1p. Mind you, that’s quite a lot of sacrifice for a holiday flight!

So, unless you are confident in matching your very cheap flight with a very cheap resort/hotel package, and it can be done with a little effort, then go for the whole package which includes flights and resort.

Take one example which is a seven night self-catering package to Tenerife, which includes flights from a U.K. regional airport with studio bedroom accommodation in some Spanish style villas close to the seafront, restaurants and bars. In May, this would cost only around £250 per person.

Also consider a City break, which can offer an intensive get-away-from-it-all travel experience for little money.

Two nights in Prague for example, staying in a City-centre two-star hotel in a guestroom sleeping up to five people in a family room, can be had for just over £200, including flights from a regional U.K. airport. Great value for all concerned.

So, if you think about it, you’re never really too broke for a break.

Tags: Holiday, Holiday Activities, Holiday Transportation, Holidays, Hotel, Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook Holidays

Thomas Cook Holidays is more than a source for cheap flights and last minute holiday deals. Thomas Cook Holidays is a complete resource for the best holiday planning experience – and the best holiday. Here are some ways that Thomas Cook Holidays will meet and beat your expectations.

Before You Go

Thomas Cook Holidays offers a wide range of holiday packages starting with cheap flights and ending with luxury cruises (and of course everything in between). Whether you are looking for a last minute deal or planning your holiday months in advance, Thomas Cook Holidays can help by helping you to take care of all the details including:

§ Cheap flights
§ Cheap car hire
§ Cheap travel insurance
§ Cheap hotels
§ Cheap attraction tickets
§ And more!

Thomas Cook Holidays pays attentions to the finer details of a getaway, ensuring that you have everything covered and are leaving nothing to the last minute. In this way, Thomas Cook Holidays helps get you the best holiday deals, while eliminating holiday stress.

En Route

On a Thomas Cook Holidays, getting there is half the fun. Your holiday starts the minute you depart, whether you are flying travelling abroad by Eurostar, or driving yourself.

With information and advice, Thomas Cook Holidays can help you settle flying nerves, make the most of your eurostar experience, and find your way to your destination quickly and comfortably. Thomas Cook Holidays offers a wide variety of travel options ensuring that you receive the best deal on the travel style of your preference.

Whilst You are There

Thomas Cook Holidays wants your travel experience to exceed your expectations. That is why Thomas Cook Holidays offers advice and assistance that extends well beyond booking tickets.

If you are looking for an easy and relaxing holiday, consider one of Thomas Cook Holidays’ popular package holiday experiences. Or, you may prefer to use the comprehensive website to tailor a Thomas Cook Holidays experience specifically to your needs.

Sourced from http://www.thomascook-direct.co.uk/ visit http://www.thomascook-direct.co.uk/ to view the latest offer from Thomas Cook

Tags: Flights, Holiday, Holiday Transportation, Thomas Cook, Travel