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Where and what Check out the Rough Guides and Lonely Planet sites for free trustworthy and independent travel advice. Beware travel agent package deals - they contain the costs of a middleman who you can do away with thanks to the internet. Piece it together yourself, online, for less. Flights for peanuts Flightchecker is MoneySavingExpert's free budget airline flight price comparison tool. What makes it invaluable is that it searches by price not by date, and compares the main budget airlines. You can ask it to find all flights under, say, £20 (including taxes and charges) to a destination, within a broad date range, rather than only being able to establish the cheapest price for a specific journey like traditional flight comparison services. Accommodation for £FREE Hospitality networks are communities set up to enable travellers to share the home of a foreign host. So instead of staying in a hotel you stay in someone's home as their guest, and the idea is as much about making connections with people around the world as it is getting a free room. There are several such sites and they work as follows. You register and the site validates your identity and address. Y ou engage with other members and put out requests for accomodation as per your intended travel itinary, and/or offer your home to others looking to come stay in your area. Those who are guests are expected to show their appreciation to the host in some way, such as cooking a meal, doing the washing up or bringing a gift. But otherwise it's all free. There is a feedback process so that abusers of the system are deterred. Fancy a holiday getting stuck in with the locals and living the culture for real? Help Exchange (HelpX) is an online listing of host organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, backpackers hostels and sailing boats offering volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term in exchange for food and accommodation. In the typical arrangement, the helper works an average of 4 hours per day and receives free accommodation and meals for their efforts. So all you need to cover is your transport to get there and back. There are opportunites all over the world. Click on the countries/continents under the main menu, select a region and then peruse what's available. If you want to take it a step further, you need to pay 20 Euros for a 2 year premium membership, which allows you then to contact the hosts and read others' reviews. You need to be a least 18 to be a helper. Under 18s are allowed if accompanied with a parent provided that is acceptable and agreed with the host. There is no upper age limit so long as you are fit and healthy enough to participate. Alternatively you could sign up to become a host, if you have your own small holding or similar. Accommodation for less House-swapping or home-exchanging has been around for 50 years and is supported by around 30 agencies worldwide who charge between £30 and £115 per year for membership. Families in particular can get a good deal doing this as not only are their annual holiday accomodation costs limited to this single fee, but swapping with other families means a ready supply of cots, highchairs, toys, bikes and the like. Once you have a chosen an agency to join, you prepare a listing for your property and its location, giving as much detail as possible. Members then view each others listings and propose a swap where interested. The agreement is then made between and signed by the two members, including responsibility for breakages, dates and length of stay. Speak to your home insurance provider to understand the policy cover in this scenario - but they will typically be glad that someone is staying in your house whilst you are away. It's good practice to create a welcome pack for your visitors, with manuals for appliances, useful telephone numbers, and information about local places of interest. To be eligible for home swapping you don't need a luxury or pristine home. Just be sure to describe it honestly, so that expectations are met. Currency Use Moneysavingexpert's Travel Money Maximiser to get the best foreign currency deal for your holidays. It searches 16 online foreign currency bureaux, takes into account exchange rates, commission fees and any delivery costs, and gives you the best current deal. Travelex often comes out on top - it has a price guarantee whereby if you find the rate cheaper elsewhere you can claim back the difference. With Travelex you order online then pick up at your UK departure airport. NB: If you don't pre-order you'll get a worse deal by buying at the airport. The other airport based exchanges typically offer the worst rates of exchange out there so avoid. High street exchange bureaux usually have poorer rates than their on-line equivalents. Using a credit card or debit card abroad for all your purchases typically incurs a commission fee of around 2% plus you have no say over the exchange rate. So the best deal is to buy currency on-line before you go, and the Money Maximiser will get you the very best deal, getting you up to 10% more foreign currency for your sterling. NB: Nationwide are the only bank that does not levy a charge for using ATMs abroad, so to have the flexibility of topping up on your foreign currency whilst overseas without overpaying for the priviledge, get a Nationwide account. |
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