BootsnAll's UK & Europe Travel Resources

Air France has flights starting at £40

wade — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:12 +0000

According to this amazing offer, Air France has flights starting at £40, although I don’t think it’s quite that simple: Air France presents you with its fares from £40 offering you great flexibility on direct flights.

I’m actually a big fan of Air France, particularly for their long haul flights, because the food and wine they serve is some of the finest in the air. This deal seems to be mostly about 11 destinations from London that have return fares starting at £89 including all taxes. That’s a pretty good deal, but it’s mysteriously 9 quid more than the price would be if those were one-way fares they were advertising with this special.

My advice to you is to not get too caught up in where that extra 9 pounds is going, and more on that these are pretty damn good fares for this time of the year, and on an airline that is one of the better ones. You can fly all the way to Nice for £89 return, and from there you can get to Cannes or Monaco in like 30 minutes on the train. Or you can stay in Nice if you like, but Nice isn’t quite as nice as those other two places.

This deal sounds too amazing, but it’s still worth checking out

wade — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:10:07 +0000

Can we really save up to 70% on the Airline Network? That sounds like a pretty huge discount as summer is approaching, but it’s still something worth looking into: Save up to 70% of flights with Airline Network

This really seems ideal for those of us who are looking for a cheap holiday this summer. There are many ways of finding cheap tickets on the internet, but not many places that offer 70% off this time of the year. I have a feeling that number is the steepest discount on any ticket at any time of the year, so as long as they include the words “up to” they are okay.

Nevertheless, this site is good for cheap tickets, and a good place to start building your own low price holiday. Long time readers of this column know how fond I am of visiting the Netherlands, and that’s partly because of the fact that flights there tend to be cheap from London, and Amsterdam hostels are some of the most fun of any hostels in the world. But it’s also a fun city even if you are just passing through. Hundreds or even thousands of people each day are there on an Amsterdam layover of 6 to 8 hours or so, and it’s one of the cities where you can actually see the place effectively in such a short time. And you might even run into me there, so keep your eyes peeled!

Forget non-active holidays this summer!

wade — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:56 +0000

When I’m at cocktail parties people often ask me about trip recommendations and usually I launch into a whole thing about Peltours. Older readers of this column know it already, but this company does an excellent job of combining affordable travel methods with fun things to do once you get there: Neilson Active Holidays

Some people start their trip by just looking for cheap airfare and then wing it once they get to the destination, but it’s easy to just get complacent once you are there and see museums during the day and drink all night. These active holidays will prevent you from going down that dangerous road.

Did you know National Windsurfing Week is coming up? You would if you followed the blog on Neilson’s site. They have beach holidays and yachting holidays and many other things along those lines. The beach holidays are located in Greece, Egypt, and Turkey, and from there you pick a resort. There’s only one each in Egypt or Turkey, but I think I’d lean toward one of those because I’ll bet they are both cheaper than the Greece ones.

Ooh, they have singles trips for adults! Just click on the Solo button in the right column and you’ll find all the information meant for those of us without many friends. I’ll meet a few of you in Ortakent, wherever that is.

Last-minute holidays are looking cheap this year

wade — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:11:53 +0000

It could be the global food shortage, or the soaring euro, but somehow these last-minute packages are looking mighty cheap at the moment: Latest deals on lastminute.com

It doesn’t make it too clear once you click on the link, but these prices are for a flight from England and then 7 nights hotel. When you keep that in mind you realize how cheap these deals are. I know many people are considering taking a short trip this year because of the cost, but forget that, cheapskates!

Some friends of mine from Liverpool were thinking of taking the train down and then staying in London hostels, but when the heck wants to do that when you could go to Egypt for about the same price. Get on a plane, for crying out loud. Sure, there are a few cheap hotels in Amsterdam, but when you can fly to Turkey and stay in a 4-star hotel for the same price, who wants to stay here. Not me. Here’s a hotel in Marrakech, Morocco for £359 including the flight and breakfast. If you meet anyone who is considering staying close to home for a boring holiday, then show them this link or just cut off your friendship with them. That might actually be best anyway.

Low cost weekend breaks are easier to book than ever

wade — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:17 +0000

If you are like me then you find it very frustrating to use most travel booking sites because it’s a long run around in order to lock in the deal they offer. Thanks to superbreak this isn’t a problem: Superbreak - Just 3 Clicks To Book

These short breaks are meant for people with on-the-go lifestyles, so it makes sense that they could make us happy by simplifying the process. One thing I do find interesting though is how they try to make everything seem so innocent in their sales pitch. These are fast weekend breaks and we want to party! Am I right, people?

Like when I take a weekend break to Ireland I’m not going to race over to that castle and kiss the Blarney Stone, I’m going to sit in a pub in Dublin and get tanked on Guinness. And when I fly to Amsterdam I’m not going to tour the tulip fields as their Netherlands welcome page suggests, I’m going straight to one of the Amsterdam coffeeshops just like the rest of you guys! See you there.

Cheap flights are harder to come by, so this should help

wade — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:17:40 +0000

The fine people at Air France are trying to help make travel to the continent a bit more affordable for us: Air France special offers

With the euro rocketing up like it has this might be a tough year to go across the channel, but these cheap flights will at least make getting there more affordable. Of course Air France flies all over the world, but the cheapest flights are the ones to the popular places on the continent like Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.

Even if you can’t afford a fancy hotel this year, you can still go. There are plenty of hostels in Paris and staying in one of those can really cut down your overall budget. Another tip is to check into one of these Paris hostels and then buy a bunch of cheap wine at a nearby store. You can get blasted in the common area without spending much, and you’ll be the most popular person in the hostel if you share. Who needs expensive nightclubs when you can make your own party with cheap wine at a hostel? You’ll be meeting people from all over the world at the hostel, so it’s almost like doing a RTW trip without going outside. I have many more budget travel tips where this one came from, so stay tuned.

Sightseeing packages from British Airways look tempting

wade — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:04 +0000

Since it’s so hard for airlines to offer additional discounts on flights these days, it’s nice that they are offering some good deals on other things: Sightseeing Tours with British Airways Holidays

As you probably know, these big airlines can’t cut the price of tickets much because with rising fuel costs many of them are losing money as it is. So it’s nice when airlines can offer cheap things like hotels or sightseeing tours to make the deal hurt a bit less.

British Airways isn’t known for having the lowest prices, but they are obviously a huge outfit so they can arrange for some pretty good deals. Some people criticize others for going on sightseeing tours, but I find they are the fastest and best way to see a city quickly. They are always more expensive than you think they are going to be, so locking them in cheaply in advance sounds ideal to me. That also prevents me from missing out because I spent all my money on lager once I got there. That’s the same reason I like to pay for my hotel and also my return flight before I leave home.

I’m going to ask you to keep this deal quiet

wade — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:47:00 +0000

I know, this is a bit unusual, but in this case we can’t let this deal get out or it will ruin it for the rest of us: up to 45% off our top secret hotels

Now, I don’t think the hotels themselves are secret, so it’s not like you’ll be going into a phone box and then dialing a special code so the floor opens up and then you’ll slide down a slide into the lobby of a candlelit hotel. No, I think it’s just that these deals are so cheap that they hotels can’t advertise their own names for fear of losing some high-priced bookings from other people.

Before you book you’ll find out the location, features, and star rating of the hotel, so it’s not like you’ll be going in completely blind. These hotels are all over the UK & Ireland, but also on the Continent. If you’ve got a trench coat and a folded newspaper it wouldn’t hurt to have them on hand when you book, but if you’ll be booking these secret hotels from home it’s probably not necessary to go to all that trouble, although it will be more fun that way.

Theme holidays can be as cheap as non-theme holidays

wade — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:01 +0000

Regular readers know how fond I am of Isango, and their new batch of special offers has endeared them to me just that much more: Looking for Culture & Sightseeing? Browse thousands of cultural tours and experiences around the globe and book online with isango!

They offer all these theme holidays at prices that are very similar to something you’d book on your own if you knew the best places to look. Their Sex And The City holiday is sure to attract many people since the film is coming out at the end of May and interest in the series itself is still quite high. As long as we can get these cheap flights from Heathrow these trips can be excellent and very affordable.

This might be the perfect year for that Sex and the City thing because I have a feeling it emphasizes shopping in New York City, and prices for those of us in the UK are very low this year. If Carrie and the girls came to London they’d have trouble being able to afford the pan pizza buffet as their best meal of the trip, but these days our money goes so far in America that we can get afford caviar for breakfast, even if we don’t like the stuff. Take that, Americans!

Cheap weekend breaks make us happy

wade — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:36:57 +0000

The fine people at Thomas Cook are reminding us that our May Day bank holiday is coming up, and they have offers so tempting it’s almost criminal: Flight and Hotel breaks starting from £129 only at thomascook.com

They are offering Paris packages as low as £169 per person! That’s for 2 nights and leaving from Manchester, but leaving from London is only a bit more expensive. The way the euro has gone up against the pound this price break will come in handy, but if you are on a tighter budget you might consider the Dublin break for prices starting at £132 per person.

I’ve not yet been to Dublin, but everyone says it’s great. People go on and on about how the Guinness is better there, but I don’t think I’ll ever like the stuff no matter where it comes from. Not everyone knows that it’s actually lower in alcohol than proper lagers, so I don’t quite understand the appeal. I’ve heard they sell lager in Dublin as well, so don’t let the Guinness thing be the deal breaker if you really want a cheap break this May.