Many people nowadays are taking advantage of cheap travel deals – there are loads of them online – seasonal sales, daily deals or just using comparison sites to find the best prices on flights and hotels. It can be a great way of having a holiday when you’re on a tight budget and many people are visiting places that would once have been beyond their wildest dreams. However, even in this digital age when we’re able to get a cheap deal on travel, the very act of travelling brings added expenses that we may not have factored into our budget.
It’s all very well managing to get a cheap flight to a sunny destination, but do make sure that it’s not going to cost you an arm and a leg to get to the airport for your flight. I regularly travel to Greece to visit family and usually manage to get a really good deal on flights from Easyjet. I find that the cheapest flights are usually on Tuesdays and Wednesdays – I can often fly for less than £50 each way. However, getting to the airport is a different story altogether. I’ve tried booking the train well in advance, but the train tickets always cost at least twice as much as the flights! This means that I usually book a cheap overnight coach journey which means that I arrive at the airport in plenty of time for my flight.
When I arrive at Athens airport, I then need to travel to a small island that will take 3 hours by hydrofoil or half a day overland by bus. This means that I need to make sure my flight arrives in plenty of time to start the next leg of the journey – otherwise I would have to stretch to the expense of an overnight stay in a hotel. Doing this journey on a regular basis has demonstrated to me just how important it is to book the right connections to keep costs as low as possible. It’s no use me getting a later flight that’s £20 cheaper if that option results in me having to spend at least £50 on overnight accommodation in the middle of the journey.
When travelling many people fail to take into account the cost of food and drink along the way. Buying from fast food outlets is costly and airports and stations don’t have cheaper alternatives. I usually travel with a packed meal and bottles of water so that I don’t have to spend £3 for every cuppa along the way.
It’s also a great idea to be prepared for the actual flight – food on board is usually expensive and not particularly appetising. Prepare yourself once you’ve entered the check in area by visiting some of the shops and buying yourself a healthy meal or snack to eat onboard. Many of the shops in airports, such as Boots and Marks and Spencer, offer mix and match deals – a drink, a pack of sandwiches/bowl of salad and a pack of crisps/biscuits, for a great price and you can take these onboard. On the way to the boarding lounge, you’ll probably pass drink vending machines and it’s a great idea to buy a couple of bottles of water to take onboard – it will probably be less than half the price charged by the airline if you need to buy a bottle of water during the flight.
So, if you’ve managed to find a great deal on flights and are off on the holiday of your dreams this year, there are a few points to remember to make sure that you stay within your budget and keep all your cash to spend on having a great time at your destination:
- If possible be flexible on the days on which you can fly
- Make sure your flights connect with other modes of transport at both ends to avoid a hotel stay in the middle of your journey.By using OneTravel coupons you can avail hotel bookings, car rentals, and vacation packages. Get the best discount for airfare, airline tickets and hotel bookings and plan the best vacation ever.
- Take some pre-prepared foods to snack on along the way to avoid expensive fast food chains
- If you’ll need to pay extra for in-flight snacks, stock up in the shopping area after check in
- Buy water/drinks from departure lounge vending machines to make sure you don’t get dehydrated on board.
This was a guest post by James for World First Australia – safe and affordable currency exchange.