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In no particular order of importance
Getting started
1. PREPAID MASTERCARD
If you are travelling RyanAir, you will want to have a PREPAID MASTERCARD so that you don’t pay credit card charges. RyanAir make some money on the charges to offset the fact that they don’t apply a fuel charge and often give you the flight for nothing, so it’s a bit churlish maybe to be going on about the credit card charges, but people do, and getting the card will save you a lot. In his own way, Michael would probably approve. Once you set it up, it works a dream. From now on, if a RyanAir flight costs one Euro and you are travelling light, then one Euro is what you will pay. So make sure to have a hot chocolate on board (€3) and maybe buy a scratch card or a plastic RyanAir keyring which mimics the sound of takeoff - with flashing red lights - when you press the nose button. As the electron Visa no longer works for this purpose the reference to http://bargainsireland.wordpress.com, where the instructions for getting an electron Visa were so well laid out, isn't relevant any longer, but I am leaving the link because there is nothing irrelevant about the site. I booked Girona-Rome-Girona in February 2009 for €2, all in. Yes, all in.
2. Getting to the airport
Leave the car at home. What on earth is the point of driving a mile or 50 miles to the airport and leaving a car there at €9 a day while you gallivant around another country, or continent. Sure, it makes sense if you have three kids and 6 check-in cases with you. But for a solo traveller or two it starts making real sense to travel with the local bus company, from wherever you are. In Ireland if you travel with Bus Eireann and book the whole return trip including transfers online, you will get double discounts. For example, from Goleen in West Cork, to Cork City, to Limerick, to Shannon (3 connections) return, is around €30. By road it is 4 hours drive each way, ie €20 odd for petrol and around €60 for one week’s parking. The bus is comfortable, warm and can be very entertaining.
3. Check in online
This way not only do you not pay airport check-in charges, but you can walk straight in with your boarding card in your hand 40 minutes before the flight. Make sure you have a good clean printout.
4. Travel insurance
About six years ago, a well travelled friend of mine told me she had never paid travel insurance in her life. I haven’t since. That’s all I’m saying.
5. Online Ticket/ Hotel reservations
A lot of hotels farm out rooms to online agencies and keep some for walk-ins or direct bookings. Not all agencies sell out their quota at the same time, and not all of them have the same Google priority search status. So if you get a ‘no availability’ response, keep Googling, and you may find another agency has the room you want in the hotel you want, and maybe even at a better price. I have just got a ‘no availability’ for a hotel in Granada from 7 online agencies, a direct booking price of €48 a night, and then, on just one last Google run, got the room for €35. I have also bought more expensive airline and concert tickets online for want of a trip to town, because the online quota was used up, but tickets were still available in the office. Just be aware of this.
6. Car hire
If you are going to be in South West France, with or without a cross-border incursion into Spain, it may pay to hire the car in Spain (why not fly to Girona, while you are at it?) and also fill your tank on the Spanish side of the border. There is an add-on for crossing into France if you hire the car in Spain, but it may well be worth it. There can be a sizeable price difference for both the hire and the petrol. This may also apply to other border region travels.
7. Collision damage
One thing that most Spanish car hire companies include in the price is collision damage. It can be an optional add-on in France, but if so, get it. Don’t do what we did. Saved on the collision charge and wrote off an Algerian’s car on the outskirts of Marseilles at the height of the French riots, then held him up for an hour refusing to accept liability on the spot (as we were brought up to do at home) while the assembled crowd tried to explain to us that that is how it is done in France. I never saw so many police turn up for traffic accident. I had always wanted to see Marseilles, but not out the back window of a €75 taxi across town to pick up a replacement car. And then the excess added €500 to the price of that little getaway break. Don’t bother with the blown tire insurance. The roads are fine.
8. Packing
Travel light. You don’t need all that stuff.
7. Pardon?
Bring a tiny dictionary, just for courtesy’s sake.
8. Dining out and other dress emergencies
A scarf or a string of beads is really all you need for a night out if your basic daywear is anything more upmarket than a tracksuit and anorak. This one is for women. I don’t really know what to say to men. A cravat maybe? A nice watch? A pince nez?
9. Tuna sandwich
If you are travelling RyanAir, you will want to have a PREPAID MASTERCARD so that you don’t pay credit card charges. RyanAir make some money on the charges to offset the fact that they don’t apply a fuel charge and often give you the flight for nothing, so it’s a bit churlish maybe to be going on about the credit card charges, but people do, and getting the card will save you a lot. In his own way, Michael would probably approve. Once you set it up, it works a dream. From now on, if a RyanAir flight costs one Euro and you are travelling light, then one Euro is what you will pay. So make sure to have a hot chocolate on board (€3) and maybe buy a scratch card or a plastic RyanAir keyring which mimics the sound of takeoff - with flashing red lights - when you press the nose button. As the electron Visa no longer works for this purpose the reference to http://bargainsireland.wordpress.com, where the instructions for getting an electron Visa were so well laid out, isn't relevant any longer, but I am leaving the link because there is nothing irrelevant about the site. I booked Girona-Rome-Girona in February 2009 for €2, all in. Yes, all in.
2. Getting to the airport
Leave the car at home. What on earth is the point of driving a mile or 50 miles to the airport and leaving a car there at €9 a day while you gallivant around another country, or continent. Sure, it makes sense if you have three kids and 6 check-in cases with you. But for a solo traveller or two it starts making real sense to travel with the local bus company, from wherever you are. In Ireland if you travel with Bus Eireann and book the whole return trip including transfers online, you will get double discounts. For example, from Goleen in West Cork, to Cork City, to Limerick, to Shannon (3 connections) return, is around €30. By road it is 4 hours drive each way, ie €20 odd for petrol and around €60 for one week’s parking. The bus is comfortable, warm and can be very entertaining.
3. Check in online
This way not only do you not pay airport check-in charges, but you can walk straight in with your boarding card in your hand 40 minutes before the flight. Make sure you have a good clean printout.
4. Travel insurance
About six years ago, a well travelled friend of mine told me she had never paid travel insurance in her life. I haven’t since. That’s all I’m saying.
5. Online Ticket/ Hotel reservations
A lot of hotels farm out rooms to online agencies and keep some for walk-ins or direct bookings. Not all agencies sell out their quota at the same time, and not all of them have the same Google priority search status. So if you get a ‘no availability’ response, keep Googling, and you may find another agency has the room you want in the hotel you want, and maybe even at a better price. I have just got a ‘no availability’ for a hotel in Granada from 7 online agencies, a direct booking price of €48 a night, and then, on just one last Google run, got the room for €35. I have also bought more expensive airline and concert tickets online for want of a trip to town, because the online quota was used up, but tickets were still available in the office. Just be aware of this.
6. Car hire
If you are going to be in South West France, with or without a cross-border incursion into Spain, it may pay to hire the car in Spain (why not fly to Girona, while you are at it?) and also fill your tank on the Spanish side of the border. There is an add-on for crossing into France if you hire the car in Spain, but it may well be worth it. There can be a sizeable price difference for both the hire and the petrol. This may also apply to other border region travels.
7. Collision damage
One thing that most Spanish car hire companies include in the price is collision damage. It can be an optional add-on in France, but if so, get it. Don’t do what we did. Saved on the collision charge and wrote off an Algerian’s car on the outskirts of Marseilles at the height of the French riots, then held him up for an hour refusing to accept liability on the spot (as we were brought up to do at home) while the assembled crowd tried to explain to us that that is how it is done in France. I never saw so many police turn up for traffic accident. I had always wanted to see Marseilles, but not out the back window of a €75 taxi across town to pick up a replacement car. And then the excess added €500 to the price of that little getaway break. Don’t bother with the blown tire insurance. The roads are fine.
8. Packing
Travel light. You don’t need all that stuff.
7. Pardon?
Bring a tiny dictionary, just for courtesy’s sake.
8. Dining out and other dress emergencies
A scarf or a string of beads is really all you need for a night out if your basic daywear is anything more upmarket than a tracksuit and anorak. This one is for women. I don’t really know what to say to men. A cravat maybe? A nice watch? A pince nez?
9. Tuna sandwich
This one is really for ramblers and hillwalkers, because unless you are on a pilgrimage route you are not going to pass a cafe, let alone a restaurant. There are sandwiches and sandwiches and for me the king of sandwiches is the tuna in ciabatta bread. The ingredients are: ciabatta bread, a small tin of tuna in olive oil (which you drain off), third of a red bell pepper diced, small onion or shallot, jalapenos or pickled green chilli - as much as you can stand - dessert spoon of mayonnaise, pepper. You can add a chopped cherry tomato or two (or that amount anyway) if you like. Mix and mash. By lunchtime in the hills you have a nicely soaked sandwich, with the outside still crisp. I have eaten these on the beach, in the hills, at the airport, in the car. I have had it at home, with a flask of coffee, after a failed or curtailed outing and the coffee from the flask takes me back to the only thing I liked about school, which was lunch.
10. Sudoku
If you are on a short break, or an action-packed one, or one where you are going to be reading all the local literature, you could leave the book at home. You can get a little pocket-sized sudoku set that has hundreds of games on it, from beginners up to the level that has only three or four digits in the grid. It is a bit bigger than a mobile phone and weighs about the same and the best thing about it is you can erase and delete, or give up on a game and call up another, and you can fiddle with it in a ticket queue or anywhere at all. I have it in my rucksack when out walking in case the landscape isn't up to par during rest breaks. Anyone can play sudoku - there is a level for everyone. That is what I discovered anyway.
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