Save money on your holiday by following our top 10 tips below…
Choose Your Dates Carefully
The date you travel can have a huge influence on the price you’ll pay for hotels and flights. Try to avoid booking your holiday during school holidays, but if you can’t avoid this, book your holiday in September, as most families will have already taken their holiday by then.
Beware the Cost of Travel Insurance
Make sure you shop around for travel insurance and never, ever accept a renewal without first checking out the alternatives. There are various price comparison sites that can help you to shop around. Getting a Health Insurance Card for European travel should also lower many premiums.
Go Self-Catering
Restaurants and other food outlets are notoriously expensive when staying at holiday parks, so save money by making your own food. If you’re going on holiday in the UK, you can easily take a big bag of food with you, while those holidaying abroad can stock up at budget supermarkets.
Luggage Size
Airlines are becoming more and more difficult when it comes to luggage size and weight. Therefore, make sure you measure and weigh your luggage before you get to the airport. Special suitcases can be bought that conform exactly with certain airlines’ requirements if you want to be 100% sure, although these can be expensive to buy.
mage by Brian Indrelunas via Flickr
Check Your Phone
Roaming charges are a nasty surprise for many once they return from their holiday, often running up bills of hundreds of pounds. Make sure you turn off your mobile internet before you leave the UK, and take advantage of free Wi-Fi in hotels or restaurants instead. If you don’t know how to do this, contact your mobile operator.
Shop Around For Deals
There are literally hundreds of holiday comparison websites out there all with different offers and deals. Take advantage of the special offers and compare prices using multiple sites, don’t just assume the first prices you see is the best. Holiday companies often offer various discounts too which can be found on coupon code sites such as 360VoucherCodes in the UK, or RetailMeNot in the US or Canada.
Beware Added Extras
Certain budget airlines will charge for many different things, including priority check-in, using a credit card and even booking specific seats. If you decline all these options you can save a lot per person, per flight – a serious saving for families. Check the small print carefully as well, as extra costs can sometimes be sneaked into this text.
Be Flexible
If you are not particularly concerned about where you go, waiting until the last minute to purchase airline tickets can yield spectacular results. This is due to the fact that the airlines simply want to fill the as-yet unused space on their plane, and will sell tickets off at incredibly low prices. Don’t do this if you only have one destination in mind though.
Image by Mr. iMaax. ☜ via Flickr
Don’t Take Tours
Tours always add a premium to visiting any sight, and most of the information they give can be found on the internet prior to visiting. So, print out your own guide and make your own way to the attraction.
Buy a Sightseeing Pass
Paying out for admission to the various sights found in a city is expensive, but can be significantly reduced by buying a pass for a few days. For example, a New York sightseeing pass for an adult gives free or discounted entry into all of the city’s main attractions. Other major cities throughout the world also offer their own versions of this pass.