independent travel planning

ski weekend from dublin ...

2012-01-08T01:15:00.000Z

looking to do a long weekend skiing in january from dublin ...

first problem is flights - the lack of direct flights (let alone well timed flights) severely restricts options ...

the best choice seems to be to fly out on the Thursday to ZuRicH with Aer Lingus, departing DUB at 17:00 and arriving in ZRH at 20:05 for 52 EUR excluding baggage charge or ...
to fly to MUniCh with Aer Lingus, departing at 16:00 and arriving in MUC at 19:25 for 52 EUR excluding baggage.

the best return flight seems to be to fly out of MUniCh with Aer Lingus, departing at 20:05 and arriving into DUB at 21:45 for 82 EUR excluding baggage fee or ...

to fly out of Milan Malpensa with Aer Lingus, departing at 21:20 and arriving into DUB at 22:50 for 42 EUR excluding baggage.

As for where to go to actually ski ... trying to find a resort with reasonable access to the airports poses another challenge ... one option is Mayrhofen ...

a train from MUC to Jenbach (half an hour taxi ride from Mayrhofen) is available at 20:04 (arriving into Jenbach at 22:34) or at 21:04 (arriving into Jenbach at 23:39) ...

on the way back, a (rather slow) train from Mayrhofen itself departs at 15:48 and arrives at the airport at 18:55 leaving plenty of time for the 20:05 departure ...

looking at the town's tourist office search results, accommodation in Mayrhofen appears to be plentiful and reasonably priced ...

dublin to garmisch

2011-11-23T23:07:00.007Z

Looking to spend time in Garmisch over the new year ...

Aer Lingus have direct flights to Munich with a departure at 16:00 arriving at 19:25 on Wed 28th Dec for 176 eur (plus baggage charges). Ryanair have flights 4 flights a week with a 09:30 departure time - the flight on Wed 28th Dec is currently 105 eur (plus baggage and toilet charges).

German Rail have a departure from Munich at 20:31 arriving into Garmisch at 22:58 (with well timed change in Munich Hauptbahnhof) for 21 eur (including free toilet use).

Accommodation in Garmisch is available from about 30 eur per night - the town's website has a good accommodation search function, and includes places like Gästehaus Alpenkranz which is close to the station.

The return flight choice is more complicated with lots of options (prices updated 10th Dec):

Depart Munich at 11:20 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 12:50 for ~~147 eur~~ (now 188 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 07:28 (24.80 eur)

Depart

Memmingen Allgäu

at 13:10 on Ryanair arriving into Dublin at 14:25 for ~~87 eur~~ (now 92 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 08:04 (32 eur with a short taxi fare from the town to the airport)

Depart Hahn airport at 21:45 on Ryanair arriving into Dublin at 22:45 for 55 eur, requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 12:06 to Koblenz (97 eur) and then a bus to the airport (9.80 eur)

Depart Zurich at 20:45 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 22:05 for ~~155 eur~~ (now 211 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 13:08 (86 eur)

Depart Frankfurt at 20:40 on Aer Lingus arriving into Dublin at 21:50 for ~~106 eur~~ (now 181 eur), requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 14:04 (89 eur)
Depart Frankfurt at 22:25 on Lufthansa arriving into Dublin at 23:30 for 170 eur, requiring a train leaving Garmisch at 16:04 (89 eur)

So the total price for flights, trains and accommodation (but excluding ski hire and ski pass) would be around 515 eur.

ischgl

2011-08-20T14:39:00.013+01:00

i'm thinking of going to Ischgl for some skiing in January 2012 ...

the best value package holiday seems to be with Inghams for 602 gbp, which departs on a saturday, via Innsbruck ... or for 29 quid extra you could fly with BA, and with the evening departure on the way back, might get an extra morning's skiing (depending on the timing of the bus transfer to the airport) ...

alternatively, to be guaranteed an extra day's skiing, you could do your own package ...

accommodation

there isn't a great choice of accommodation that can be booked online through the town's website (unlike St Anton) ... but they do have a large number of B&Bs, it just seems that you have to contact them directly. their accommodation brochure lists Frühstückspensions from page 36 onwards (ÜF means Bed and Breakfast and HB is half board) and the map grid (planquadrat) helps to find the property - each street/house number combo is highlighted on the town map. to stay in the town itself, ignore all properties with a village name in brackets after the property name (Mathon, Versahl etc.)

one of the good options looks to be Bergfrieden which has 7 twin rooms and is located on the eastern side of town, about 10 mins walk from one of the gondolas, and a few minutes further to another gondola - which goes up to a different part of the ski area. prices start from about 35 euro per person per night ...

travel

the closest airport is INNsbruck, and Easyjet have return flights for around 191 gbp (including 1 piece of luggage). the resort isn't easy to access by train, but is possible with a bus into Innsbruck central station, a train to Landeck-Zams, and then a postbus up to Ischgl - total time would be about two and a half hours. the train part costs around 30 eur return, the postbus presumably another 10 eur each way, and the bus/taxi into Innsbruck station something similar ...

there doesn't seem to be any direct transfer buses, and the 100km journey by taxi for up to 4 people would be 300 eur or 320 eur return, or for up to 8 people it would be 382 eur return ...

another alternative is to fly to Allgäu airport (that well known hub) for 130 gbp (including the cost of a 15kg bag and the rip off credit card fee) from Stansted (dep just after midday) with Ryanair. the journey to Ischgl is about 200km - the 60 quid saving on the flight, could well be eaten up by the double distrance transfer ...

another option is to fly to ZuRicH - flights available from 98 gbp with Easyjet (a bit cheaper to fly back to LUTon) - the 3 hour train (approx 51 gbp) connection to Landeck-Zams (arr 19:21) would be too late for the last postbus up to Ischgl so would require a taxi 68 eur taxi. earlier flights with BA would be 150 gbp (cheaper available for horribly early departures) - so better to get the taxi up the valley ...

DIY price

so the total price (including an extra night's accommodation) via Zurich would be about 440 gbp (assuming the local taxi was shared between 3 pax) ...

flying via Innsbruck and got 4 people sharing a transfer the cost would be very similar to the long winded bus/train/bus option (even cheaper if there were up to eight in a minibus transfer) - and the total price including flights and accommodation would be around 500 gbp ...

Final Thoughts

if there were 4 or more people to share the transfer - Innsbruck seems like the best choice, or if there were just a couple of people, Zurich sounds fine !

accommodation in oslo ...

2011-06-25T17:53:00.003+01:00

looking for a twin room in central oslo for one night midweek in July ...

octopustravel have the 2 star Comfort Hotel Express for 66 gbp

venere also have the same hotel for the same price, and also have 3 star Anker Hotel for 97 gbp

laterooms have the Anker for the same price

opodo have the Comfort and the Anker for similar prices, and they also had a good price on a centrally located Radisson Blu - but it turned out that they had the wrong location, it's 5km from the centre - close escape !

expedia (which owns tripadvisor, hotels.com and other sites) had the Comfort and Anker Hotels, and also has the Anker Hostel, but the poor reviews (dirty) put me off the Hostel. They also had Thon Astoria, another 3 star for the same price as Anker but closer to the station - but some reviews about the bed & noise put me off

otels had the Comfort for the same price

travelocity (which owns lastminute.com) had the Comfort for the same price, and the Anker for what appeared to be 74 gbp but was actually a single room - the price for a twin was the same 97 gbp. they also had a 4 star "top secret" hotel near the station for 95 gbp. after some painful investigations, i worked out this was probably the Scandic Byporten (both had 2pm check in times, where as other 4 stars in similar location had 3pm check in times). The list price for the Byporten is 113 gbp and the reviews aren't great, so not really worth it

ebookers prices started at 97 gbp (for Anker) and went rapidly upwards

travelrepublic annoyingly don't let you filter by area, so you have to click through their (nice) map - they didn't have anything useful

I ended up booking the Comfort Xpress through their own website, as it allowed me to just guarantee the booking (instead of being charged immediately) and I always hope that the hotel will look on you more favourably if you have booked directly !

oslo to bodo ...

2011-06-23T13:39:00.005+01:00

trying to get from Oslo to Bodo on Sat 16th July ... there aren't any direct trains or flights available which connect with flight arrival times ...

one option is to fly from OSLo to TRonDheim in the afternoon for about 80 gbp, and then take the overnight sleeper train to Bodo for an extra 93 gbp ...

flights on the sunday or the monday both cost about 95 gbp (plus an extra night's accommodation) ...

another option would be to take the famous Flam railway towards Bergen (departing Honefoss 17:37), overnight in Flam, arriving at 21:45 (well before sunset at 23:11) for about 62 gbp ... then take the 11:00 train on Sunday to Bergen arr 14:22 for about 51 gbp ... and then fly from Bergen 17:25 to TRD on sunday for about 55 gbp ... and then the overnight railway to Bodo for 93 gbp (45 gbp without a bed) ...

easter in the baltics ?

2011-04-17T15:28:00.004+01:00

looking at options to go the baltics for easter ...

best outbound option on Friday 22nd April is with Ryanair to Kaunus dep London Gatwick 14:50 and arrive in Lithuania at 19:25 for 89 gbp (excluding extras/normals)

best inbound option on Monday 2nd May is again with Ryanair departing Tallin at 14:55 and arriving into London Gatwick at 15:40 for 67 gbp

activity holiday over easter

2011-04-14T22:27:00.006+01:00

looking for somewhere to go for easter and to avoid flag waving royal jollity, i've been trawling the websites ...

Saddle Skeddadle have a couple of interesting trips - one to Spain, and a couple of different trips to Sardinia

Adventure Travel have a very well hidden search engine, but when you finally find it, they have an interesting trip to Iran/Persia

Exodus also has a decent search engine - they have a few self guided cycling trips, including one to Corsica

Tucan have an interesting calendar based search ... and an interesting trip to Lombok

Explore has a fairly rubbish search function, which returns lots of trips outside the dates that you enter ... and of those that do meet the dates, quite a few are to parts of the Middle East currently in turmoil ...

KE have a decent search engine - but don't have anything very useful

Dragoman have a really rubbish search engine ... and no useful trips

Intrepid Travel has a not very impressive search function ... but does have a couple of useful trips, but they're all full !

Kumuka has a seriously rubbish search engine, that returns a pile of trips which are full !

Cycle Active don't seem to have any search function at all !

Imaginative Traveller have a reasonable search engine, but don't seem to like bookings within less than a week to go ...

Nature Trek have a decent search function, but no availability !

Peregrine has a nice looking search engine ... but it doesn't work !

Sherpa don't have anything particularly inspiring.

Walks Worldwide don't have any sort of useful search options whatsoever !

GAP adventures have a decent search, but unhelpfully it brings up trips that are full.

Neilson Adventures act as an agent for a range of other companies ... their search function starts off being quite good, but it returns fully booked trips, grrr !

Page & Moy allow you to search by departure date - but don't have anything useful.

Hiking in Norway ...

2011-02-26T09:35:00.002Z

Looking at a hiking trip in Norway in the Summer ...

For inspiration and ideas, Exodus has a trip, as do Explore and also a company I've never heard of called Sherpa Walking Holidays ...

Cycling in the Lofoten Islands ...

2011-01-26T09:10:00.000Z

looking for a cycling holiday in the Lofoten Islands in Norway ... quite restricted on timings each month !

Found a departure from Bodø with Skedaddle on Saturday 23rd July that looks good ...

To get to BOdØ there is a reasonably priced Norwegian flight from LGW to OSLo departing on Friday 22nd July at 20:00 ... could then stay overnight at the airport before getting another flight on to BOdØ the next morning ...

On the return journey, there are a few different options to get back to London.

more flights to barcelona ...

2010-12-18T12:16:00.003Z

now looking for flights from london to barcelona ...

thu 30th dec

dep Luton 08:45 to Barcelona for 79 gbp with Easyjet

dep Luton 17:40 to Gerona for 83 gbp with Ryanair or

wed 29th dec

dep Gatwick 17:20 to Gerona for 72 gbp with Ryanair or

dep Stansted 16:05 to Barcelona for 83 gbp with Easyjet or

dep Gatwick 13:50 or 18:15 to Barcelona for 87 gbp with Easyjet or
dep Luton 08:45 to Barcelona for 95 gbp with Easyjet or

dep Stansted 17:40 to Gerona for 105 gbp with Ryanair

on the way back, looking to depart from Alicante on 3rd Jan, the best option is at 19:50 for 95 gbp

england to spain for new year ...

2010-12-16T00:21:00.003Z

looking to go to spain for new year ...

one of the options is to depart on wednesday 29th december from bristol at 09:10 to gerona for 80 gbp ...

on the way back, one of the options is to depart from alicante on monday 3rd january at 19:30 to gatwick for 96 gbp

dublin to spain for new year ...

2010-12-15T23:55:00.002Z

looking to go to spain for new year ...

the best prices are all to barcelona, with the options:

mon 27th
dep 06:40 for 107 eur or dep 17:50 for 127 eur
tue 28th
dep 06:40 for 127 eur
wed 29th
dep 06:40 for 149 eur or dep 10:05 for 170 eur
thu 30th
dep 06:40 for 107 eur or dep 17:50 for 127 eur

the options for flights back to dublin on mon 3rd jan are:

dep barcelona 08:10 for 92 eur or
dep alicante 20:35 for 76 eur

Gibraltar to Morocco ...

2010-09-22T13:38:00.003+01:00

Looking to travel from Gibraltar to Morocco on Fridday 15th October ... there is a departure at 19:00, arriving into Tanger Med at 18:00 for 42 EUR per foot passenger with FRS ... the new port of Tanger Med is about 40km from the city and there is apparently a free bus service as part of the ferry ticket ...

Alternatively, there are ferries from Algeciras to Tanger Med departing at 07:30, 11:00, 15:00 and 18:00 (all arriving one hour before departure!) for 37 EUR per foot passenger ...

london to morocco ...

2010-09-05T23:56:00.006+01:00

departing london thu 14th october ...
morning flight: dep STN 07:50 arr FEZ 10:10 for 30 gbp
evening flight: dep LGW 18:50 arr AGA 22:00 for 90 gbp

departing london fri 15th october ...
morning flight: dep LTN 06:00 arr RAK 08:35 for 73 gbp ... or ... dep LGW 09:55 arr GIB 13:45 for 48 gbp
afternoon flight: dep LGW 16:10 arr RAK 18:50 for 125 gbp

departing london sat 16th october ...
no morning flights listed ... but could dep LGW 07:15 arr GIB 11:05 for 58 gbp
afternoon flight: dep STN 15:50 arr AGA 18:40 for 45 gbp

departing morrocco sun 31st october ...
dep FEZ 19:35 arr STN 22:55 for 67 gbp
dep GIB 19:15 arr LTN 21:00 for 124 gbp
dep RAK 17:35 arr LTN 21:15 for 176 gbp ... or ... dep RAK 15:30 arr LGW 19:05 for 177 gbp
dep CMN 12:20 arr LHR 15:50 for 182 gbp
dep AGA 12:00 arr LGW 15:35 for 189 gbp

car hire in swansea ...

2010-07-05T00:42:00.002+01:00

looking at hiring a small care in swansea from 17-19th july ...

the cheapest appears to be enterprise with 42 gbp ...

next is hertz with 60 gbp ...

then they start getting a bit silly ... alamo want 74 gbp ... europcar charge 82 gbp ... avis demand 108 gbp and sixt reckon on a ridiculous 131 gbp ...

edinburgh for the august bank holiday

2010-06-28T22:58:00.004+01:00

the cheapest accommodation in edinburgh for this august's bank holiday weekend appears to be at edinburgh university with single ensuite rooms available from 57.5 gbp and single rooms with shared bathrooms at 43 gbp per night ... however over at laterooms they have single rooms with shared facilities available from 38 gbp per night ...

in order to get there trains from london to edinburgh would cost about 85 gbp return [37 outbound on saturday morning / 48 inbound monday evening] ... booking through eastcoast mainline would save 5 gbp outbound, and could get first class on the return for just 5 gbp extra ...

travelling from london to glasgow would be a bit cheaper at 46 gbp return [27 outbound / 19 inbound] ...

an outbound train on friday afternoon to glasgow would could 55 gbp single ...

london to edinburgh flights cost over 100 gbp return at sensible times ...

london - aland islands ...

2009-08-07T21:12:00.004+01:00

looking at visiting the Aland Islands for a weekend at the end of August ...

best option for decent priced flights seems to be with ryanair STaNsted to TaMPere, departing London on the Friday at 18:00 arriving into Finland at 22:40 - and then spending the night in Tampere.

then on the Saturday, getting one of the regular trains to Turku ... and then in the evening, getting the ferry departing at 20:15 and arriving into Långnäs at 00:40 - and then spending the night in the Aland Islands.

after the Sunday morning on the islands, getting a different ferry departing at 14:25 and arriving back into Turku at 19:55 - and spending the night in Turku.

finally, on Monday getting one of the regular trains to Tampere, and getting the flight departing at 23:05 and arriving back into London at 23:55 - with the last Stansted Express train departing at 01:30

the flight cost is approximately 118 gbp, with the ferries, a very reasonable 10 eur each way !

dublin to south africa ...

2009-05-24T18:09:00.009+01:00

with the Lions tour in South Africa in June and July ... i was looking for flights from Dublin to South Africa ...

trailfinders assert that their best price to DURban is eur 650 with Etihad, and eur 519 to JohaNnesBurg with Swiss - but since you can't book online, i have no idea of their availability ...

Etihad's own website doesn't allow bookings to DUR [presumably trailfinders use another airline for the final leg] - but their flights to JNB don't look cheap - mostly around eur 715.

Emirates claims to have flights from DUB to JNB for eur 608 [using EI flights to LGW], but they aren't bookable online ...

AirFrance has a good selection of dates from DUB to JNB for eur 570 - such as o/bound 17th june, and i/bound 1st july.

Swiss has flights from DUB to JNB for eur 511 with good availability on the outbound legs, but the only return dates are 12th and 13th july ...

netflights is better at searching by fare - selecting their Latest Offers menu, and then clicking on any of the flight options, you can access their full list of fares, and then play around with dates to look for availability at the lowest rate. they only offer fares from the UK.

they have flights on Etihad from MANchester to JNB for an amazing gbp 254 - the o/bound leg is reaonably flexible, but the i/bound has little availability - the latest return date is 23rd june. with a 9.30am departure time, and an arrival back into MAN at 7.30am - the first flights of the day arrive into MAN at 7.30am from DUB, with a lunchtime return flight ... using a departure date of 17th june - the price is approx eur 20 with FR or eur 52 with EI ! and to go over the previous night before the o/bound flight would be a similar price.

netflights also have Etihad flights from LHR to JNB for a similarly amazing 262 gbp - again the o/bound leg has reasonable availability, but the latest i/bound date is 23rd june. the LHR departure is at 9.10am, arriving back into LHR at 7.20am - the first arrival into LHR from DUB is at 8.05am - too tight for an intercontinental flight. using a departure from DUB on 16th june - the last flight into LHR, and an early morning flight back on 24th june [overnight from JNB], the price would be about eur 70.

the usually reliable websites expedia, ebookers, opodo & travelocity aren't so good for very flexible travel ... but they have the same Etihad deal [travelocity also has a departure on 24th] ... but when DUBlin is selected as the departure point - the prices double, and AF becomes the cheapest option ...

a weekend in Sighisoara ...

2009-05-07T23:27:00.007+01:00

am looking to go to Sighisoara in Romania from London for the 2nd May bank holiday weekend ...

one option is to fly to Bucharest and drive [the 300km] to Sighisoara ... the best flight option is an 08:00 departure on Sat 23rd from LUTon with WizzAir for 91 gbp, with a return departure to LHR at 17:05 on Mon 25th with BA for 132 gbp ...

a closer option is Cluj - just 150km from Sighisoara ... but there are no direct flights that weekend ... so the best option would be an LH departure from LHR at 06:05 via MUC, arriving in CLJ at midday for 164 gbp ... with a return departure at 18:00 again via MUC, arriving into LHR at 22:20 for 164 gbp ...

there is a direct departure on friday at 08:10 from LUTon with WizzAir for 136 gbp ...

skiing in dolomites in january ...

2008-11-02T00:26:00.005Z

i'm looking for a week's skiing in dolomites for a week from Saturday 17th January ...

Val Gardena seems like a good location - not too far from the airports, not too expensive a resort, in the heart of the Dolomites and with access to the Sella Ronda ...

to get there from London the best option seems to be the Ryanair flight to Bergamo (BGY) dep 15:50 and arr 18:45 for 39 gbp including the 12 gbp baggage charge ! the best flight back is from Brescia (VBS) dep 21:10 and arr 22:20 for 34 eur including the 15 eur baggage charge. there is a connecting bus service with return tickets for 29 eur.

there seems to be a good choice of bed and breakfast accommodation with prices from 200 euro for the 8 nights. so the total flights and accommodation from 250 gbp - a lot cheaper than package holidays, and an extra day of skiing !

a ski pass for the 7 days in Val Gardena is 191 eur, and for the full Dol0miti Superski area is only slightly more at 205 eur. "premium" ski and boot hire is available from Snow Rental for 138 eur.

so the total for the 7 days skiing would be 530 gbp plus drinking and eating money !

skiing in dolomites in january - from dublin ...

2008-11-01T15:00:00.001Z

i'm looking for a week's skiing in dolomites for a week from Saturday 17th January ...

Val Gardena seems like a good location - not too far from the airports, not too expensive a resort, in the heart of the Dolomites and with access to the Sella Ronda ...

the best flights seem to be with Ryanair to Bergamo (BGY) - outbound on saturday dep 07:40 and arr 11:20 with the inbound on sunday dep 11:00 and arr 12:45 for 93 eur including the 30 eur baggage charge. there is a connecting bus service with return tickets for 29 eur.

there seems to be a good choice of bed and breakfast accommodation with prices from 200 euro for the 8 nights. so the total for flights and accommodation from 322 eur - a lot cheaper than a package holiday, and you get an extra day's skiing !

a ski pass for the 7 days in Val Gardena is 191 eur, and for the full Dol0miti Superski area is only slightly more at 205 eur. premium ski and boot hire is available from Snow Rental for 138 eur.

so the total for the 7 days skiing would be 665 eur plus drinking and eating money !

west of ireland for a long weekend ...

2008-08-17T11:44:00.004+01:00

at slightly short notice, i decided to take a trip to the west of ireland for what was a bank holiday in the UK ...

my preferred routing was LGW - NOC with XL ... but the price was exhorbitant, at well over a hundred quid - i guess lots of people are scrambling to use the route before it is withdrawn in a few weeks time. flights from LUT or STD to NOC with Ryanair were also very expensive ... so it was back to skyscanner.net to find the best priced flight to DUB ...

i did even consider taking the train to Holyhead, and the ferry over to Dublin, but the timings were dreadful ... the latest afternoon sailing with Irish Ferries departs Holyhead at 17:15 and with Stena an even poorer 15:00 ... and the train connections don't help - there is a 12:45 departure from London Euston that frustratingly arrives into Holyhead at 17:20 ... so to catch the last afternoon ferry, it would be the 11:46 train from Euston ... which would mean taking a full day off work rather than just the afternoon.

on the return journey, i again considered taking the ferry option, but with engingeering works on the direct train routes, it would have meant a 7 hour journey with 3 changes ... and a 7am departure from the west of ireland ...

so it was back to the airlines, and again both XL and Ryanair were charging over 100 quid for the monday flights from NOC to London ... but I was prompted to look at flights from NOC to BRiStol ... and unbelievably, they were selling for just 24 euro [plus the 3rd world style 10 euro departure fee charged at the airport] which is a huge saving over a direct flight to London ... and luckily there aren't any engineering works on the line from Bristol to London.

thetrainline.com have singles from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington for 21 gbp, charging 1 gbp for ticket delivery, or 0.50 gbp to collect the ticket from a machine at the station ... however First Great Western have the same priced tickets, but don't charge for collecting your ticket from the station ...

last week of May at a beach club ...

2008-04-12T21:16:00.006+01:00

i'm looking for a week in the sun departing london at the end of May to do some windsurfing, dinghy sailing and waterskiing ... preferably with some tennis and mountain biking thrown in !

i've enjoyed a couple of different Mark Warner resorts before ... and their best option for this week seems to be Abamar in Sardinia for 745 gbp per person ...

Sunsail's website is annoying, and it seems that their best price for the week is a whopping 940 gbp !

the best option with Club Med appears to be Kemer in Turkey, with the week costing 745 gbp ...

Neilson seems to have the best offer with a week at their Halkidiki resort in Greece costing around 600 gbp - which includes waterskiing, a try dive in the swimming pool, and group tennis lessons ...

if anybody knows of other companies providing beachclub type holidays - please post a comment and let me know !

dublin to seefeld ...

2007-12-24T00:05:00.000Z

looking to depart 27th december, and return 1st january ...

best departure is 07:00 with EI to MUNich, arriving at 10:45 for approx 125 eur ... with the train leaving the airport at 11:42 taking 3 hours, with 1 change required - costing 31 eur ... or a shared transfer using http://www.a-t-s.net/ for 45 eur taking just 2 hours !

there is also an EI flight departing at 12:30 to Zurich, arriving at 15:35 for 315 eur ...

or an EI flight departing at 15:30 to MUNich, arriving at 19:00 for 250 eur ...

an indirect option would depart at 12:50 via MANchester, arriving into Salzburg at 19:10 for 180 eur ...

there is a 15:45 EI flight to VIEnna, arriving at 19:30 for 150 eur ... but the train connection would be overnight - even the daytime train takes 7 hours.
there is also a cheap flight to Friedrichshafen departing 06:10, arriving 09:30 costing 55 eur, but the train connection is approx 5 hours !

best return flight is a 21:30 FR departure from Salzburg, arriving into Dublin at 23:00 for 80 eur ... the train connection leaves Seefeld at 15:46 arriving into the airport at 20:32 ... however, if we had a car, it is only about 2 hours drive ...

a week away in july / august ...

2007-07-21T16:58:00.000+01:00

i'm looking for a week away - departing the weekend of sunday 29th july, and returning friday 3rd august ...

the best priced flights seem to be to Glasgow Prestwick departing Stansted at 08:40 on the Sunday with Ryanair ... and departing Prestwick at 17:35 on the Friday ... costing 55 gbp

the best price for car hire seems to be with SixT who have Ford Fiesta size vehicle for 136 eur ...

a week in ireland - july / august ...

2007-07-21T15:55:00.001+01:00

i'm looking for flights from london to ireland ... departing the weekend of sunday 29th july, and returning friday 3rd august ...

the best priced flights seem to be to Kerry departing Stansted at 06:20 on the Sunday with Ryanair ... and departing Faranfore at 19:45 on the Friday ... costing 63 gbp

car hire for the week isn't cheap - the best price seems to be with Irish Car Rentals who have Ford Fiesta size vehicle for 204 eur ... with the next best being Avis with 285 eur ...

london to glasgow - august bank holiday weekend ...

2007-06-26T14:46:00.001+01:00

as an alternative to travelling directly to edinburgh, travel [or at least the outbound leg] to Glasgow is a possibility, preferably departing london on the evening of friday 24th august ...

GNER has Saver Returns from 98.20 gbp ... but a friday 17:15 departure, arriving into Glasgow at 21:54, costs 17.50 gbp ... with a saturday 07:00 departure, arriving at 12:50, being 22.70 gbp ... a return train arriving into London at 01:30 [which would require a cab journey home] costs 17.50 gbp ... but a more sensible 00:15 London arrival is 42 gbp, and a more civilised 23:14 arrival into London costs 59 gbp - and most trips require a change !

thetrainline.com also has Saver Returns from 98.20 gbp ... and has the same 17:15 on the friday for 17.50 gbp ... with the Saturday 07:00 departure for 25.50 gbp, and with the 01:30 arrival back into London for 43 gbp, the 00:15 arrival for 67.50 gbp, and the 23:14 arrival for 84.50 gbp - all suggesting that the GNER site is the way to go ...

skyscanner show an Easyjet departure from Luton on Friday at 20:55, arriving at 22:10 for 33 gbp ... and another Luton departure at 08:40 on Saturday for 35 gbp ... with the best return flight being a bmi departure at 21:30 for 33 gbp ...

Update 4th July 2007
bmi have the Friday 21:35 and the Saturday 08:40 departures available with frequent flyer points - the cost of taxes and charges is 28.90 gbp ...

Update 15th August 2007
the cheapest single for the friday evening on either GNER or thetrainline is 42 gbp for the 18:00 departure [the 17:15 departure is now 97 gbp single], arriving into Glasgow at 23:30 ... with returns costing 98 gbp ...
the first train on saturday morning is at 06:19 and the single fare is 38.50 gbp ...
skyscanner has a Luton departure at 08:40 arriving into GLA at 09:55 for 58 gbp ...
airberlin [which doesn't show up on skyscanner] has a Stansted departure at 07:50 for 52 gbp ...

london to edinburgh - august bank holiday weekend ...

2007-06-26T14:19:00.001+01:00

looking for train or plane travel departing london on saturday 25th in the morning, and returning late afternoon on monday 27th ...

the cheapest Saver Return on GNER [which looks remarkably like thetrainline.com] is 98 gbp ... but they have singles on the same trains which add up to 65 gbp - but the return arrives in after midnight, so a more sensible 22:19 arrival back into london puts the price up to 89 gbp ...

thetrainline.com has Saver Returns for 98.20 gbp and same singles for 67.50 gbp or 100 gbp ... showing that it's worth booking through the GNER website !

Skyscanner shows an 08:10 departure from Luton on Easyjet for 50 gbp ... with an Easyjet flight to Gatwick departing at 21:10, arriving into London at 22:40 for 44 gbp ... or perhaps a better option would be their 19:15 departure for Luton, arriving at 20:30 for 48 gbp ...

unfortunately Skyscanner has stopped listing BMI flights ... but they don't have any sensibly priced flights for the weekend - the cheapest being 162 gbp !

ScotAirways fly from London City, but they don't have any flights on the Saturday, and have just a single flight on the Monday evening ... the total price of a return, with a departure on the Friday evening is 189 gbp ...

Update 4th July 2007
bmi have the Saturday 06:50 [and ones from 15:00 onwards] departure, arriving at 08:10, available with frequent flyer points - the cost of taxes and charges is 28.90 gbp ... for the return to London, the 18:35 departure is available for 28.60 gbp, or 48.60 gbp and half the points ...

both thetrainline and First Scot Rail have an overnight Sleeper returning to London on the Monday night for 66 gbp ... it is not clear from either website what the cost of a return is ...

London - Tamworth ... for the Snowdome - again ...

2007-03-15T00:26:00.000Z

thinking of travelling to Tamworth to try out the Snowdome on Sunday 25th March ...

thetrainline.com gives the price of singles at 33.30 gbp for most of the trains that day - apart from the 08.30 departure, arriving in Birmingham at 10:55, with the connecting bus arriving in Tamworth at 12:05 ...

sometimes singles to a major town are cheaper than connecting journeys or those to smaller towns, but singles to birmingham are all 34 gbp, apart from the same 08:30 departure which is 13.50 gbp ...

virgintrains.co.uk has the same prices for these journeys ...

countries visited map ...

2007-03-13T20:59:00.000Z

PassportStamp.com is a useful way of recording which countries you've visited, and listing all your trips ... for posterity ...

it also produces a useful map showing where you've been ... and where's left !

easter ski trip to Flims ?

2007-03-11T00:58:00.000Z

looking for somewhere within a reasonable distance of Zurich airport [already found reasonable priced flights] ...

Flims looks like a good location - it is about 90 minutes drive, has a reasonably snow record, and there are other resorts within a short drive, in case of poor conditions on the local mountains ... and it even has "backpacker" accommodation ...

the price of flights would be approximately 170 gbp

the price of car hire would be approximately 35 gbp per person

the price of accommodation and breakfast could be as little as 84 gbp

the price of the top ski and boot hire would approximately 100 gbp

and the price of the lift pass would be approximately 82 gbp

so the total price, before petrol, dinner and alcohol would be 470 gbp

car hire - zurich airport - 4 days ...

2007-03-11T00:46:00.000Z

looking for a car with space for 4 adults and a reasonable amount of baggage, to collect from zurich airport on the evening of thursday 5th april, for 4 days ...

the best price directly from the car hire companies seems to be Hertz who have a Ford Focus for 173 gbp ...

although Holiday Autos [owned by Lastminute.com] have a Ford Mondeo Estate for 141 gbp ...

ski trip over easter ...

2007-03-08T22:03:00.000Z

looking to fly out of heathrow on the evening of thursday 5th april, returning to any london airport on the evening of monday 9th april ...

Switzerland

Swiss.com have a flight to Zurich departing at 19:45 - 22:45 for 15 gbp, and a return flight into LCY departing at 18:35 - 19:20 is 92.50 gbp, totalling 169 gbp including taxes [they do not sell singles at sensible prices]

ba.com has a flight to Zurich departing at 15:50 - 18:30 for 82 gpb [the last flight is 209 gbp], with a return flight into LCY at 19:30 - 20:10 for 164 gbp, totalling 241 gbp including taxes ...

ba.com has a flight to Basel departing at 19:05 - 21:45 for 110 gbp, with a return flight departing at 18:05 - 18:50 for 125 gbp, totalling 233.50 gbp including taxes ...

Swiss.com flies to Geneva from LCY, and the return flights on Monday evening are a whopping 247.50 gbp plus tax !

ba.com has a flight to Geneva departing at 20:50 - 23:20 for 215 gbp, with a return flight into LGW at 18:25 - 19:00 for 215 gbp, totalling an eye watering 422 gbp including taxes !

Swiss.com flies to Basel from LCY, and the return flight on Monday evening is a whopping 243.50 gbp plus tax !!

Swiss.com flies to Berne from LCY, and the return flight on Monday evening is a whopping 285 gbp plus tax !!!

France

ba.com have flights to Lyon for 302 gbp each way, totalling 603 gbp including taxes ...

flybmi.com don't have any flights to Lyon on the Thursday, and their flight on the Monday is at lunchtime ...

airfrance.co.uk don't have any direct flights to Lyon on either day ...

ba.com doesn't have any flights to Grenoble on either the Thursday or the Monday ...

Italy

ba.com have a flight to Milan Malpensa departing at 19:25 - 22:20 for 117 gbp, with the return departing at 18:55 - 19:55 for 132 gbp, totalling 244 gbp including taxes ...

alitalia.co.uk has a flight to Milan Malpensa departing at 17:40 - 20:35, with a return departing at 18:00 - 19:05 for 249 gbp, totalling 249 gbp including taxes ...

flybmi.com only have flights to Venice at lunchtime on both days ...

Germany

ba.com has a flight to Munich departing at 17:25 - 20:20 for 115 gbp, with a return departing at 21:15 - 22:15 for 130 gbp, totalling 245 gbp including taxes ...

lufthansa.co.uk flights to Munich departing Thursday evening and returning Monday evening cost a very unreasonable 365 gbp ...

lufthansa.co.uk has a flight to Stuttgart departing at 18:40 - 21:15, with the return departing at 16:30 - 17:20 for 218 gbp including taxes ...

ba.com has a flight to Stuttgart departing at 20:05 - 22:40 for 111 gbp, with a return departing at 19:05 - 19:50 for 126 gbp, totalling 237 gbp including taxes ...

Austria - there doesn't seem to be any flights from LHR to Salzburg or Innsbruck

johannesburg to port elizabeth ...

2007-03-03T18:45:00.001Z

looking to travel from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth around saturday 5th may ...

1time.co.za only has 1 flight on the Sat [just before midday] for 399 ZAR [28 gbp], and 1 on the Sun for the same price ...

flysaa.com has 4 flights on the Sat each for 433 ZAR [31 gbp], and 5 flights on the Sun, 2 of which are 433 ZAR, and the last flight is 331 ZAR [23 gbp] ...

flynationwide.co.za has a single flight on the Sat for 473 ZAR [33 gbp] and 2 on the Sun for 416 ZAR [approx 29 gbp] ...

kulula.co.za has a flight on the Sat afternoon for 469 ZAR [33 gbp], and another in the morning for 499 ZAR [35 gbp], with 2 on the Sun for 469 ZAR and another for 499 ZAR ...

ba.com has 2 flights on the Sat and 3 on the Sun for 614 ZAR [43 gbp] ...

london - maputo ... pemba - london

2007-02-27T20:10:00.001Z

looking to fly from London to Maputo, departing around Sat 14th Apr ... and Pemba [Mozambique] to London departing around Saturday 28th April ...

expedia.co.uk have flights with Virgin and SAA from 826 gbp ...

travelocity.co.uk has the same flights for 831 gbp ...

ebookers.co.uk has SAA flights for 882 gbp ...

opodo.co.uk is not able to quote on any flights ...

another option would be to book a LON - JNB return, and separate JNB-MPM and POL-JNB flights ... unfortunately flysaa.com does not display prices for the POL-JNB route ...

traveljungle.co.uk does not allow open jaw flights

trabber.com does not allow open jaw flights

majortravel.co.uk does not allow open jaw flights

london - johannesburg ...

2007-02-18T21:05:00.001Z

looking to fly to Johannesburg, departing London around Fri 13th Apr ... and departing Johannesburg around Saturday 5th May ...

travelocity.co.uk have Kenya Airways for 444 gpb, but the return flight leaves early morning, arriving into London early morning ...

expedia.co.uk have AirFrance/KLM flights for 461 gbp, but the outbound flight leaves london early morning ... they also have Emirates flights for 487 gpb ... and DIRECT flights with SAA for 637 gbp ...

opodo.co.uk have Air France flights for 491 gbp ...

ebookers.co.uk have Kenya Airways for 452 gbp, and Emirates for 486 gbp ... SAA for 627 gbp, Virgin for 645 gpb, and BA for 655 gbp

majortravel.co.uk have KLM flights for 515 gbp ... and no availability on any other fares ...

traveljungle.co.uk have Kenya Airways and Emirates flight for similar prices, and Iberia for 468 gbp ...

trabber.com doesn't have any other fares ...

flysaa.com have flights for 617 gbp ...

virginatlantic.com have flights for 645 gbp ...

ba.com have flights for 1,127 gbp ...

dublin - johannesburg

2007-02-06T23:13:00.000Z

looking to fly to Johannesburg, departing Dublin on Sat 14th Apr ... and departing Johannesburg on Saturday 5th May ...
travelocity.co.uk have AirFrance flights for 455 gbp

opodo.co.uk have KLM/AirFrance flights for 521 gbp

expedia.co.uk have KLM/AirFrance flights for the same price

ebookers.ie have BA flights for 816 eur

majortravel.co.uk does not have availability on any of its fares

johannesburg to maputo ...

2007-02-06T23:00:00.000Z

looking to fly from JNB to MPM on Sat 14th or Sun 15th Apr ... returning on Sat 5th May ...

SAA have return flights for 2,016 ZAR - approx 220 eur, 146 gbp ...

SAA also have single flexible flights for 1,506 ZAR - approx 110 gbp ... but their website won't give a price on single inflexible flights ...

LAM do not have their April flights loaded on their website.

dublin - maputo ...

2007-02-06T22:38:00.000Z

looking to fly to Maputo, departing Dublin on Sat 14th Apr ... and departing Maputo on Saturday 5th May ...
opodo.co.uk has Virgin flights via JNB for 675 gbp

travelocity.co.uk has KLM flights via AMS for 894 gbp

expedia.co.uk has TAP flights connecting in LIS for 940 gbp

ebookers.ie has the TAP flight for 1,425 eur

majortravel.co.uk does not have availability on any of its fares

london - maputo ...

2007-02-06T21:49:00.001Z

looking to fly to Maputo, departing London on Sat 14th Apr ... and departing Maputo on Saturday 5th May ...

opodo.co.uk have Virgin/SAA flights for 544 gbp - departing LHR at 18:50, arriving in JNB at 06:55 with the connecting flight leaving at 13:50, arriving in MPM at 14:55. The return flight departs at 15:55 arriving in JNB at 17:05 with the connecting Virgin flight departing at 21:00, arriving in LHR at 06:55

expedia.co.uk have TAP flights for 657 gbp

travelocity.co.uk have the same flights for the same price - departing LGW at 16:00, arriving in LIS at 18:25 [or for an extra 5 quid, depart from LHR at 18:20] ... with the connecting flight departing LIS at 23:00 and arriving MPM at 10:45 the next day. on the way back the flight departs MPM at 10:40 arriving in LIS at 05:45 connecting to the LHR flight departing at 08:10 and arriving 10:45

the cheapest flights on ebookers.co.uk are SAA for 801 gbp

the best price on majortravel.co.uk is 764 gbp with SAA

airline-network.co.uk does not have availability on any of its fares

traveljungle.co.uk has the same Virgin and TAP fares as other websites

accommodation in Lindau or Bregenz

2006-12-23T12:59:00.001Z

in order to catch the Ryanair 10:05 flight from Friedrichshafen (FDH) on sun 21st jan - the bus leaves St Anton at 5am ... an alternative would be to get the train towards Friedrichshafen on the saturday afternoon / eve, so that there is a much shorter journey on the sunday morning, and so we wouldn't need to start so early ... Lindau is approx 25km, and Bregenz is 53km from FDH ...

there are direct trains from St Anton to Lindau [dep 16:56 arr 18:26] for 21 eur, stopping at Bregenz [18:15] ... and loads of direct trains to Bregenz itself [dep 17:51 arr 19:15, dep 19:51 arr 21:06, dep 21:51 arr 23:06 etc.] ...

Lindau's accommodation options seem to be rather limited ...

Expedia.co.uk only has one hotel available for the night - Hotel Vis a Vis - costing 65 gbp for a double room for the night ... it's other hotel in Lindau - Hotel Bayerischer Hof - is not showing any availability ...

Octopustravel.co.uk only has a twin or double in the Bayerischer Hof for 124 gpb, or the Reutemann And Seegarten hotel for the same price ...

Venere.com has a double in the Hotel Garni Seerose [9 minute walk from the train station - according to deutsche bahn journey planner] available for a more reasonable 93 eur, and a triple room for 129 eur ...

laterooms.com does not have any hotels available for the night in either city

lastminute.com does not have any hotels available that night in Lindau ...

the tourism office for Lindau doesn't really have any more suggestions ...

the accommodation options in Bregenz appear to be a bit better ...

Expedia.co.uk has a bedroom for 2 persons in the Mercure for 49 gbp, a twin in the Ibis for 45 gbp, Hotel Bodensee for 63 gbp, a twin in Hotel Schwarzler for 77 gbp ... with no availability in Bw Hotel Weisses Kreuz, or Hotel Germania !

Octopustravel.co.uk [also used by ebookers.com] has a twin at the Mercure for 70 gpb, or the Schwarzler for 77 gbp ...

Venere.com doesn't have anything available that night ...

lastminute.com [owned by travelocity] has the Mercure for 45 gbp and the Ibis for 46 gbp ...

opodo.co.uk has a twin in the Hotel Bodensee for 62 gbp, a twin in the Ibis is 45 gbp, and a double/twin in the Mercure is 44 gpb ...

mercure.com has a bedroom for 2 persons for 65 eur [excl breakfast], and a single for the same price ...

ibishotel.com has a bedroom for 2 persons for 66 eur [excl breakfast], and a single for 51 eur ...

to get to FDH from Bregenz for the 10:05 ryanair flight, there is a train from Bregenz to Lindau [dep 07:48 arr 07:59], connecting to a train directly to the airport [dep 08:06 arr 08:36] costing 8.60 eur ...

dublin - friedrichshafen - london - dublin ...

2006-12-08T23:21:00.001Z

dep DUB Sat 13 Jan 06:10 [arr FDH 09:25] - 14.99 eur

dep FDH Sun 21 Jan 10:05 [arr STN 10:45] - 26.84 eur

dep STN Sun 21 Jan 15:45 [arr DUB 17:00] - 6.49 gbp [approx 10 eur]

plus 4.5 eur x 3 for luggage ...

total cost 65.50 plus credit/debit card charges - approx 70 eur ...

Tenerife accommodation ... casa rurale ...

2006-12-06T00:27:00.000Z

after looking for a 6 person Casa Rurale style accommodation over christmas and new year in Tenerife ... we eventually went for Antón Piche [cool location graphic - if a little noisy] ... which is close to the southern airport ...

toprural.com only have a single review - which is in spanish, and seems complimentary ... although it could be written by the owners ... you never know !

niumba.com don't have any comments at all on Anton Piche ...

annual travel insurance - 4th attempt ...

2006-11-19T22:25:00.000Z

i heard an advert for PeoplesChampion as a place to find cheap travel insurance ... and it does actually seem like a proper new comparison website - most sites promising cheap travel insurance just seem to link to MoneySupermarket - this one seems to use the same display software, but is somewhat different ...

PeoplesChampion also has a very useful feature of showing Personal Accident Cover in the main comparison screen [instead of burying it in the policy detail like Money Supermarket and others - making it very time consuming to select based on this criteria] ...

the maximum Personal Accident Cover appears to be 50k gbp - with Marks and Spencers and Norwich Union providing this level ...

car hire - tenerife - 9 days ...

2006-11-19T21:27:00.000Z

changed the dates - now looking for a car from 10:30 on fri 24th dec ... to 18:00 on mon 1st jan ... preferrably from TFN ...

Alamo does not have any vehicles at TFN or TFS ...

Budget does not have any locations in tenerife ...

NationalCar does not have any cars available from TFN or TFS ...

Thrifty does not have any locations in tenerife ...

Carjet.com has an Opel Corsa sized vehicle for 139 gbp - all extra drivers are free, and there is a zero insurance excess ... this company won the Best Car Hire company in the 2006 Guardian newspaper Travel Awards ...

CarHire3000 has an Opel Corsa sized vehicle for 137 gbp - it is unclear what the excess would be, or how much they charge for extra drivers ...

TravelSupermarket has CarHire3000 as its cheapest ...

HolidayAutos europe [owned by lastminute.com] has a Fiesta size vehicle available for 110 gbp - with 1 free additional drivers [further drivers costing 10 eur per day], and damage excess waiver [unclear what the excess would change from or to] costing 23 gbp, totalling 133 gbp ... this company has had some bad press recently ...

SIXT holiday cars has a Polo sized vehicle available for 240 eur [approx 160 gbp] - apparently including one free additional driver, but unclear what the excess is ...

Hertz has a Peugot 107 sized vehicle for 164 gbp - each additional drive 60 eur [40 gbp] ...

Avis has a Polo sized vehicle for 180 gbp plus 66 eur [approx 44 gbp] ...

Europcar has a Fiat Punto sized vehicle for 197 gbp ...

Easycar doesn't have any of their cheaper cars left - they have a Ford Focus sized vehicle for 214 gbp ...

car hire - tenerife - 11 days ...

2006-11-15T15:25:00.000Z

looking for a car from 10:30 on fri 22nd dec ... to 18:00 on mon 1st jan ... preferrably from TFN ...

Carjet.com does not have any cars at TFN or TFS ...

Budget does not have any locations in tenerife ...

NationalCar does not have any cars available from TFN or TFS ...

HolidayAutos [owned by lastminute.com] has a Fiesta size vehicle available for 132 gbp - with 1 free additional drivers [further drivers costing 10 eur per day], and damage excess waiver [unclear what the excess would change from or to] costing 27.50 gbp ...

SIXT has a Polo sized vehicle available for 294 eur [approx 199 gbp] - apparently including one free additional driver, but unclear what the excess is ...

Hertz has a Peugot 107 sized vehicle for 200 gbp - each additional drive 60 eur [40 gbp] ...

Avis has a Polo sized vehicle for 220 gbp plus 66 eur [approx 44 gbp] ...

Europcar has a compact car for the bargain price of 350 gbp ...

london - tenerife ... charter flights ...

2006-11-13T12:58:00.000Z

looking for flights departing around sat 23rd dec, and returning around mon 1st jan ... charterflights.co.uk lists the following flights ...

Gatwick to Tenerife, Spain
219 gbp
Sun 24 Dec 2006 LGW to TFS 0925 1340
Sun 31 Dec 2006 TFS to LGW 1440 1855

Gatwick to Tenerife, Spain
239 gbp
Sun 24 Dec 2006 LGW to TFS 1430 1850
Sun 31 Dec 2006 TFS to LGW 1700 2115

ski week in january ...

2006-11-12T23:18:00.000Z

looking for a week's skiing in january - departing sat 13 jan, returning sun 21 jan ... considering St Anton am Arlberg since it is easy to get to and has lots of self bookable B&B accommodation - so don't need to take a package ...

flights with Ryanair (FR) from London Stansted (STN) to Friedrichshafen (FDH) departing at 14:40 [arr 17:15] is 19.99 gbp [07:05 departure is an extra 10 quid] ... and return flight departing at 10:05 [arr 10:45] is 1 penny [21:40 departure is an extra 70 quid] ... giving a total price of around 50 quid ...

there is a weekend airport bus transfer to St Anton (stopping at Bludenz, Zurs and Lech) which departs FDH at 17:45 [or 10:15 for the early flight] and the return connection departs St Anton at an eye-watering 05:50 [or 17:30 for the late flight] for the price of 57 eur ...

St Anton ski pass - this week falls into the low season ... so a 7 day pass would cost 204 eur, or an 8 day pass [if taking the late flight on sunday] would cost 226 eur ...

using Intersport equipment hire prices - 7 days for VIP skis costs 151 eur and boot hire costs 57 eur ...

B&B accommodation should cost around 30 eur per night ... slightly cheaper if it's a bit away from the centre ... totalling approx 240 eur ...

all of which comes to 50 gpb plus 710 eur [approx 475 gbp] = 525 gbp ...

Dublin - Tenerife

2006-11-11T11:28:00.000Z

Aer Lingus (EI) flies to Tenerife South (TFS) ... whilst Ryanair (FR) flies to Tenerife North (TFN) ...

EI's departure on sat 23rd dec is showing as full ... leaving their fri 22nd dec as available - for a mere 309 eur single excluding taxes and charges, or mon 18th dec for 80 eur ...

for the return, EI have mon 1st jan for 245 eur excluding taxes and charges, fri 5th jan [dep 12:50 arr 17:10] and sat 6th jan [dep 18:10 arr 22:30], both for 309 eur ...

so a return flight departing on fri 22nd dec and returning on fri 5th jan comes to 662 eur including taxes ...

FR's prices look much better, although their flights depart at a sleep-depriving 06:00 [arr 10:20], they fly on mon, wed, fri and sun ... with mon 18th dec costing 1 cent, wed 20th dec 14.99 eur, and fri 22nd dec 59.99 eur - all excluding taxes and charges ...

for the return [dep 10:45 arr 15:05] mon 1st jan would be 69.99 eur, wed 3rd or fri 5th or sun 7th jan would each be 109.99, whilst mon 8th jan is 69.99 eur, and each flight after that drops to 1 cent - all excluding taxes and charges ...

so a return flight departing on wed 20th dec and returning on wed 3rd jan comes to 161.50 eur including taxes ...

Belfast to Tenerife

2006-11-11T11:01:00.000Z

looking to depart between wed 20th and fri 22nd December ... for two weeks ...

Belfast International airport website shows a departure on tuesdays with Airtours [tue 19th appears to be available, but not the return 2 weeks later] ... and on fridays with Falcon Holidays [flight only redirects to First Choice - which doesn't have availability], Airtours [which doesn't have availability on this date either], or Direct Holidays - which looks suspiciously similar to the Airtours website, which does have availability for departure on fri 22nd Dec at 08:00 [arr TFS 12:30], and returning on fri 5th Jan at 13:30 [arr BFS 18:05] ... for a whopping 429 gbp per person !

Belfast International also has scheduled flights with Jet.com on thursdays and sundays to TFS ... and they have availability departing Thu 21st Dec at 13:45 [arr 18:00] and returning on thu 4th Jan at 08:00 [arr 12:15] ... for a painful 403 gbp ...

London - Tamworth ... for the Snowdome

2006-11-03T15:55:00.000Z

thinking of travelling to Tamworth to try out the Snowdome on Saturday 2nd Dec ...

thetrainline.com gives a return price of 36.30 gbp with a journey time of just over 2 hours ... if you play around with the timings, you can get singles from london - birmingham and for 10 gbp, and the return from birmingham to tamworth for 5.40 gbp, totalling 25.40 gbp ... saving 10.90 gbp !

however, using the viamichelin.com website it estimates that the journeytime (despite a bit of a complicated routing for a couple of pickups) would also take around 2 hours ... and the petrol cost would be 20 quid each way ...

so the moral of the story - even with 2 pax, it's cheper to drive by at least 10 gbp (32gbp if you take the preferred routings) ... and if there are 3 pax, the saving would be between 36.20 and 68.60 gbp ...

travel by train aint cheap !

for the record ... the train details are listed below ...

to get to the snowdome for 1.30pm (and depart around 4.45pm)

dep 11:03 arr 13:08
dep 17:03 arr 19:34

cost 36.30

to get to the snowdome for 3.30pm (and depart around 6.30pm)

dep 13:03 arr 15:08
dep 18:47 arr 21:35

cost 36.30

2 x £10 singles london to birmingham, plus £5.40 for birmingham to tamworth return = 25.40

to get to the snowdome for 3.30pm (and depart around 6.30pm)
dep 13:03 arr 14:36 dep 14:49 arr 15:08
dep 19:03 arr 19:27 dep 20:00 arr 22:32

Lanzarote / Tenerife - casa rurale acommodation ...

2006-10-16T17:16:00.000+01:00

trying to decide where to stay on either lanzarote or tenerife [haven't decided where to go yet] over christmas ... discovered the http://www.innsofcanaryislands.com/hotels.aspx website, which has one in southern tenerife that looks promising ...

and found http://www.ecoturismocanarias.com/canarias/uk/islas.asp which has a few interesting places in southern tenerife, but doesn't cover lanzarote ...

the bradt guidebook to the canary islands mentions that lanzarote doesn't have as much rural accommodation as the other islands ... although the toprural website has a good few places ...

Tenerife / Lanzarote - getting there from LIS

2006-10-15T20:01:00.000+01:00

with the flight from MPM arriving into LIS on fri 22nd dec at 19:50 ... there are no connecting flights to get to tenerife - the last flight departs at 20:25 ...

the previous TAP flight from MPM arrives into LIS on thu 21st dec at 06:00 so there are plenty of flights ... although none are nonstop, with most taking around 5 hours, with some taking considerably longer ... opodo has prices from around 200 gbp for a return flight ...

there are no flights to Arrecife from LIS to connect with the 19:50 arrival on fri 22nd dec ...

there are quite a few flights to Arrecife from LIS on thu 21st dec ... opodo again has prices for a return flight for around 200 gbp for the indirect flights taking well over 5 hours ...

Tenerife / Lanzarote - getting there from DUB / BFS / NOC / LON

2006-10-15T19:03:00.001+01:00

charterflights.co.uk is showing a flight from BFS to Tenerife on fri 22nd dec [dep 12:45 arr 17:05 ; dep 07:30 arr11:45] for 299 gbp ... and one from DUB on the same day for 479 gbp

aer lingus flies from DUB to Tenerife on fri 22nd and sat 23rd dec, with retun flights on fri 29th and sat 30th dec [other weeks the flights seem to be on different days of the week] ... with any combination of these return flights costing 350 gbp ... or retuning on mon 1st jan would be 399 gbp for the retun flight ...

the same website shows a departure from BFS to Arrecife, Lanzarote (ACE) on thu 21st dec [dep 13:40 arr 1750 ; dep 08:30 arr 12:40] for 299 gbp ... and one from DUB on sat 23rd dec [dep 13:15 arr 17:20 ; dep 08:00 arr 11:55] for 449 gbp and another on sun 24th dec [dep 06:00 arr 10:05 ; dep 11:05 arr 15:15] for the same price ... and one from NOC on thu 21st dec [dep 15:10 arr 19:15 ; dep 10:00 arr 14:10] for 519 gbp

aer lingus seems to have an erratic schedule to ACE ... their last flight before christmas leaves on wed 20th dec, with a return flight on sat 30th dec ... the return costing 340 gbp ... but by returning on tue 2nd jan, the price drops to 280 gbp ...

loads of departures from london to Tenerife on the fri 22nd dec [none on sat 23rd dec], including a monarch flight at 18:45 for around 230 gbp ...

also loads of departure from london to Arrecife on sat 24th from around 300 gbp ... or thu 21st dec from around 230 gbp [none on fri 22nd or sat 23rd dec] ...

Lanzarote vs Tenerife

2006-10-15T18:26:00.000+01:00

looking at the weather for lanzarote over the last few years ... it seems slightly colder than the weather for southern tenerife around christmas ...

i read that the canaries tended to get hotter to the east ??

Cape Verde Islands - crime or hassle ?

2006-10-15T17:25:00.000+01:00

i had a look at the Bradt guidebook to the cape verde islands ... and it looks like the crime/hassle level might be a bit too high for some of the less robust member of our group ...

annual travel insurance - 3rd attempt ...

2006-10-15T13:08:00.000+01:00

had a look at HSBC travel insurance ... they have a healthy 50k gbp payment for total loss of a limb [no mention what happens if you only lose part of it] ... but the list of activities [page 15 of the booklet, page 17 in the pdf file] that they cover is laughable ... no offence to Rounders players, but it's not exactly top of my list of activies that i want covered !

annual travel insurance - 2nd attempt ...

2006-10-15T10:56:00.000+01:00

in my continuing quest for travel insurance with decent personal accident benefits [a lost arm is worth more than 5k gbp], and covering a decent range of activities [my holidays include more than lying on a beach] ... i came across dog-tag ...

trouble is that whilst they specialise in covering lots of different sports/activities, their maximum personal accident payment is only 25k gbp ... not sure that would be enough to convert a house for disabled use, and buy wheelchairs for the rest of my life ... in the worst case scenario !

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - charter flights - 2nd attempt ...

2006-10-14T13:18:00.000+01:00

spoke with Destination Portugal / Witney Travel Ltd ... and they say that the MAN to SID charter is full [where as Cape Verde / Eastgate Travel and teletickettravel say it is available] ... whilst unlike the others, they do have availability [she tried and was given 4 seats] on the LGW to SID charter [departs 09:45 arr 14:40 ; dep 15:40 arr 22:30] ... with a price of 486 gbp

they also quoted me prices including accomodation

Vondel - 3 star - 735 gbp
Moribezo - 4 star - 997 gbp

knock - manchester ... to connect with charter to SID ...

2006-10-12T16:27:00.000+01:00

another option to get to MAN would be to fly from kNOCk airport [recently rebranded as Ireland West for whatever reason] ... bmibaby fly the route once a day ... the flight out on wed 20th dec is at 14:20 [44 cents], with the return flight on fri 29 dec at 12:30 [68.49 eur plus charges] apparently having just 3 seats left ... don't often look at the bmibaby website - hadn't seen that "remaining seats" feature before ...

the return flight including charges comes to 107.04 eur - considerably more expensive than flying out of DUB ...

dublin - manchester ... to connect with charter to SID ...

2006-10-12T16:03:00.000+01:00

with the charter scheduled to depart MAN at 09:45 [and with service not yet having started for the winter, potentially subject to change] on thu 21st dec ... the first flight out of DUB to connect would be 06:30 with either Aer Lingus (EI) or Ryanair (FR) - getting into MAN around 7:30 ... which is probably cutting it too fine ...

that means travelling over the night before ... the last FR flight is at 18:10 [for just 99 cents plus charges], where as the last EI flight is at 20:30 for a very reasonable 1 euro !

the return flight from SID arrives into MAN at 00:45 on fri 29th dec ... so another overnight stay ... EI have flights dep MAN at 08:00 [29 eur], 13:20 [29 eur], 19:10 [15 eur] and 21:50 [5 eur] ... whilst FR have flights at 07:55 [12.99 eur], 13:40 [12.99 eur], 19:30 [9.99 eur] and 22:35 [5.99 eur] ... all prices are excl charges ...

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - scheduled - 4th attempt

2006-10-11T17:00:00.000+01:00

for a laugh, thought i might as well try using my bmi diamond club frequent flyer points ...

unsurprisingly there is no availability on the LON-LIS-SID sectors on 21/22/23 or 24th december ... they do have availability on the return leg, but only in business class - which would cost me 30,000 ...

they do have availability on the LIS-SID sector for the 22nd december [dep 21:50 arr 00:45] - only 2 seats ... with availability on the SID-LIS leg on 30th and 31st december, as well as 1st january [dep 01:55 arr 06:35, or possibly the Sat flight dep 11:55 arr 16:35] - the return in business class [no economy available] would be 45,000 miles

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - scheduled - 3rd attempt

2006-10-11T16:44:00.000+01:00

decided to call TACV in Lisbon, and ask about prices and availability ... very pleasant woman spoke a bit of english, and told me that a return for one week would be 559.66 eur ...

sounded great, until i asked about dates "oh no, completely full" ... the latest date in december when they have availability is 8th - not much good for a christmas trip !

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - scheduled - 2nd attempt

2006-10-11T16:33:00.000+01:00

since it is the LIS-SID-LIS legs that are adding the huge cost [800 gbp], i thought that i would try booking singles - sometimes that turns out cheaper ...

using the TAP website, the LIS-SID sector comes in at 1088.88 eur [approx 740 gpb] ... and they can't even quote for the return sector as a single ... scratch that, just tried again, and they have - 52500 cve [approx 330 gbp] ... and just in case a return ex-SAL might be cheaper, i tried that ... but it comes in at 69100 cve [approx 430 gbp]

ah well, worth a try

annual travel insurance ...

2006-10-10T17:08:00.000+01:00

my annual travel insurance is up for renewal, and i thought that i'd look again at the different options ... i currently use Trailfinders ...

it may seem a bit odd, but the main thing i look for is how much will it pay out if i lose a limb, or an eye ... i'm not interested in death payouts, and they all seem to have huge medical expenses limits. most of the main comparison sites such as the FT don't list "Personal Accident" in their table of comparitive values, so you have to go into each one to check the details ...

the standard payout seems to be around 25k or 30k gbp ... but i discovered that the Marks and Spencers policies have a 50k limit ... which sounds much better ... however the list of "Hazardous Sports and Activities" - page 19 of the policy, seems a bit excessive ...

Lanzarote - hot enough in mid winter ?

2006-10-10T16:56:00.000+01:00

was having difficulty finding decent weather stats for Lanzarote [most seem to be from holiday website, who i suspect inflate them] ... but this ones seems legitimate ... still not sure if it is hot enough for a warm christmas ?

http://uk.weather.com/weather/climatology/SPXX0239.htm?dayofyear=354

Madeira weather ... too cold for christmas ?

2006-10-10T16:23:00.000+01:00

i found these temperature averages for Madeira ... 16 or 17 degress Celcius looks a bit too cold for winter sun ...

http://www.eurometeo.com/english/climate/city_LPMA/clima_select/meteo_Madeira

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - charter flights ...

2006-10-10T16:09:00.000+01:00

the only charter flights i can find are with Atraeus, who fly from Gatwick directly to SID (Sal airport) on a Thursday, and from Manchester via Banjul and on to SID, also on a Thursday

using Astraues' partner site Teletickettravel, there wasn't any availability showing for the Gatwick flight, so I phoned up the Cape Verde Travel in Hull - who told me that there are only a few seats left, and they are only being sold for two week trips. btw, Cape Verde Travel's telephone number is 01964 532679 - in case you don't want to use their 0845 number.

the flight from Manchester [dep MAN 09:15 arriving SID 14:35 ; return flight dep SID 15:35 arriving MAN 00:45] is showing on Teletickettravel as being available for 430 gbp - which is starting to look like the best option ... but travel on a Thursday morning is not the most convenient - would prefer to travel on Saturday 23rd ...

another travel agent offering cape verde holidays is Witney Travel Ltd ...

Cape Verde Islands ... how to get there - scheduled ...

2006-10-10T15:58:00.000+01:00

got a bit of a shock looking at the flight prices

with TAP the price ex Gatwick via LISbon to SID [Sal airport] outbound on 23rd Dec and returning on 30the Dec is a jaw dropping 1,070 gbp and that is choosing the cheapest dates around this time, and price is the same ex LHR ...

the price for the LIS-SID leg is the crippling part - 800 quid !

using Amadeus to look at the scheduled flights - the only ones to SID are TAP/TACV and none of the flights to Praia (RAI), via continental europe, seem to go on a Saturday [which would be my preferred day of travel]

none of the main travel websites seem to use Cape Verde Airlines (TACV), so they are relying on TAP, and the TACV website itself seems only interested in US travellers ... so don't know how i can get online prices for TACV ?

the connections in Lisbon are:

LIS-RAI Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri - TACV
LIS-SID (Sal Airport) - M/T/W/T/F/S/S - TAP
and Wed/Sat/Sun - TACV

christmas options

2006-10-10T15:52:00.000+01:00

have been looking into the following possible destinations

Mauritius - bit too far from London for a week's holiday, and flights look expensive [over 800 gbp]
Seychelles - again, too far for just a week, and similarly expensive
Egypt - bit too unstable for some people
Madeira - probably not warm enough
Canary Islands - possibly not warm enough
Cape Verde Islands - bit difficult to get to

dreaming of a hot christmas ...

2006-10-10T15:47:00.000+01:00

looking for a destination to spend christmas ...

requirements:

First world standards
No more than about 5 hours flying time from London / Dublin
No more than about 18 hours flying time from Maputo / Johannesburg
Warm / hot weather
Feels foreign - not looking for Ibiza style trip !
Accommodation for 6 adults