Tabloid Edition

How to find a bargain holiday

For decades now I've been hearing about people who manage to find the most amazing holidays. They just go off to the airport with a passport and take the last unsold seat and go somewhere exotic for peanuts perhaps. Or they've known someone at the travel agents and get the phone call when someone can't fill that flight to Greece or hotel in Egypt.

The thing is though while I've heard about these holidays for those decades, I've never actually been able to snag one myself. I did manage to get on the British Airways courier list but that was long after they'd stopped paying for that task to be done and only offered a cheap ticket for you doing the work.

So, while I've been told that these bargain holidays, these late sales and immediate departures, do exist I never actually seen one in the flesh. Until now that is, I've finally actually found somewhere that lets me see what is on offer.

Of course, this is a site on the internet, that great unbundler (the technical term is "disintermediation") of all those special contacts and knowledge that you need in so many fields. All you need to do now is click through that link above and there you have, in sortable form, the bargains available from the airports of your choice in the near future.

Sure, maybe there's nothing there you'd like today, or tomorrow, but there are times when we all want to just take a break, get away for a bit. So check it out and perhaps bookmark it for when you do want to use it. The way this winter is going already I'll be ready in about three weeks for some sun I think......

Where to find an all inclusive holiday

We all know that all inclusive holidays exist out there. My problem has always been that I've never really known where to find them.

The idea of just being able to plonk oneself down and know, absolutely, what the whole thing is going to cost, food and booze included, has always rather appealed to me. But as I say, I've never really known where to find them. And which country do you go to? Which tour operator? Obviously not to a Muslim country where the wine will never run red (although there are plenty of Muslim countries where it does).

I've been able to find an interesting little site, that one linked above, which helps to solve all of these problems for me. Rather than thinking all these things out well in advance it offers a way to search for which deals are available right now. Or leaving tomorrow, or next week. Instead of agonising for ages over where to go just take off and go where it's possible to go with a day or two's notice.

This does rather appeal to me, as does the whole all inclusive idea itself. I've worked in enough restaurants over the years to know how to make the most of such an offer. As with buffets, you go for the expensive seafood and meats. Leave all the rice, potatoes and vegetables for when you're back home and broke. Load up on the most expensive proteins they're offering. Don't have a risotto, have a steak. Forget the crabsticks and devour the prawns.

As to the booze if you've got to pay a premium for it then stick with the beer or the house wine (which you probably won't have to pay for). If you don't have to pay for it, if you can drink whatever you like, then single malts and decent gins all the way.

But that's all about what you do if you do go all inclusive. The point of this post is to point you at that page which can tell you where you can go and when for an all inclusive.