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How to Travel Cheap
I\'ve been skiing every year for the last three years and went twice last year. But I\'m not a Celtic Tigress. I don\'t have three holidays a year, I don\'t drive a BMW and I don\'t earn stacks of filthy lucre. I may leave Ireland every year but I do it by buying my holidays at a substantial discount.
Sell by date
Holiday companies sell perishable goods. A week\'s holiday on an Italian beach from 7 to 14 July is worth, say 400 before 7 July and nothing after that date. Just think about it - they want to get rid of the holidays come what may. Some companies deny they do it, and some don\'t say anything. After all, their ultimate aim is to sell everything at the full brochure price.
Be flexible
At the end of the day, you\'ve got to be flexible. If you\'re willing to go from a UK airport then the choice becomes much wider. Unfortunately, this year the sterling exchange rate has implications, but you can still pick up some bargains. In Andorra last year, I met a woman who\'d bagged an accommodation-only week in Soldeu for 99 from England!
The risk is that you\'ll be left with nothing. Some holidays always sell out leaving you with no other option than two weeks in Torquay. I may have got a good price for a week in France last year but it was a complete nightmare trying to get it sorted. The trick is to be flexible - be prepared to go anywhere and you won\'t be disappointed.
Havens or Heaven?
Ok, so it\'s some people\'s nightmare trying to book a holiday only a week before departure. Choice of destinations is limited - you are lapping up the leftovers. With some deals you\'re only told what resort you\'re going to - you find out your accommodation details when you arrive. Some travel companies stick bargain seekers in newly acquired hotels that aren\'t even featured in the brochure (giving rise to latent fears of building sites and swimming pools the size of toilets!) Still, with many you\'ll get the proper treatment - just not at the proper price!
Wherever I lay my sunhat
A lot depends on how much you care about accommodation. It\'s fairly important on summer holidays as lots of time is spent in or around the hotel or apartment. On skiing holidays it\'s doesn\'t matter so much. All I need is a warm bed, hot bath and adequate food - I\'m really only there for the skiing. For the record, only one of my bargain ski holiday hotels was a Fawlty Towers nightmare, but another cheap holiday was a welcome surprise. We shared a huge chalet with some lovely people and the man who ran it was a fantastic cook.
Hunting high and low
Actually, tracking down a low-cost holiday is where the work starts, but in reality it\'s fairly painless. One way is to phone the travel company directly and ask if they have any late-booking bargains. Alternatively, you can look at information services like Teletext and Aertel. Look under holidays and then late bookings. It is also possible to look up holidays flying out of Belfast and Dublin. Also, check the travel pages of weekend newspapers and in the agency windows - you\'d be surprised at what they throw up.
Finally, the internet, of course, has loads of online websites, which offer cut-price. There are sites dedicated to discount holidays in general, and then there are travel company websites, which often have special offer sections. The choice is yours!
Sneak a peak at some of these websites, you\'ve got the fingers, now let them do the walking!
One of the best sites to book a skiing holiday has to be http://www.cheapholidays.com
http://www.lastminute.com
http://www.topflight.ie
http://www.flightline.co.uk
http://www.panoramaholidays.ie
http://www.neilson.co.uk
http://www.flightfile.com
http://www.ebookers.com
http://www.travelocity.co.uk
http://www.go-fly.com
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