airchoicetravel.com

Some may say the recession is biting and the fact that money is tight may lead you to survey the options of a holiday within the UK rather than venturing abroad. I have taken a quick snapshot of places I believe warrant a mention, maybe more from personal experience than anything.

North Yorkshire – plenty to see and do in this part of the North east of England. Not only is this ‘Heartbeat’ country, but also the home to one of the only remaining steam train-lines existing within the country. The miles and miles of heather-topped moorland provide the opportunity for many acountry walk, of course stopping off at any of the real ale pubs dotted around the place.

Devon and Cornwall – again a county offering many different attractions to both young and old. It could be you fancy trying out ’surfers paradise’ down at Newquay, but be warned summer-time is likely to come not only at a premium, but also with an abundance of youngsters,

Finally I have chosen the Lake District – the home of many cub scout trip as a youngster. The scenery here is breathtaking with many different walks and hikes available, along with the opportunity to try out adventure activities.

All in all, I have merely scratched the surface on some of the great ideas for holidays within the UK.

We have all done it, sat there and day-dreamed about our luxury holiday destination should the lottery win ever come our way.
What and where would you want to go/do ??
Would it be some luxury island where you had near enough the whole place to yourself, including white sandy beaches, with tropical sun beating down on you whilst a barman served you a variety of tasty cocktails.
Or maybe you are more into your adventure holidays where you might be skiing down the side of a huge mountain deep inside the Rockie Mountains. The thrill of adrenalin pumping through your body as you take part in a number of death-defying activities.

I think what I’m trying to say, is that everyone is different and that their idea of a luxury holiday may be different to someone elses.

This is always something I have fancied doing as a cheaper alternative to a round the world trip. I think although we have many countries literally on our doorstep, there are so many cultures out there waiting to be explored and many accessible at a relatively small cost.

With a 5 day pass spread over 10 days travel, which allows for stopovers, starting from around the £200 mark, this means you can be in a position to travel through a number of countries and see different things that maybe you have only thought about before.

Maybe it is something as simple as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or maybe you fancy visiting the flat landscape of Holland. All of these can be covered and with the opportunity to extend the pass should you need to, a longer trip with more destinations is well within your grasp.

Many of us will sit there and listen to students taking a gap year before heading off to do their studies at university. But how many of you sit there and think, is this just one big holiday ??

Now obviously, a gap year, is entirely down to an individual how they choose to spend it and a number of factors will determine what happens. Ultimately, the majority of decisions will boil down to finances that are available to the student and whether they can afford to go off trekking through a jungle, or exploring long lost treasures in some caves in the middle of a distant foreign country.

Personally I was lucky enough to take part in Camp America which involved me spending 3 months coaching instructional sport to American children on a sports camp. This was both enjoyable and educational to me, and allowed me to develop a skill-set which i was able to bring back to my degree the following year.

Still one of the most undiscovered countries in Europe, Iceland is fast becoming a tourist attraction especially in light of its recent financial difficulties. The small Scandinavian country a couple of hours north of Scotland has a relatively small population currently around the 320,000 mark, with just over two thirds living within the capital city of Reykjavik.

The country boasts scenery that cannot be matched, contrasting differences between lush green summers to dark, metallic winter days. Many people travel to see the natural phenomenons that are geysers and waterfalls that adorn the landscape. The ‘Golden Circle’ which sits in the centre of the country is an approximately a 300km loop incorporating many natural features that will make visitors wanting to return over and over again.

The cultural capital, Reykjavik, holds many delights for the new visitors to this majestic country. The national delicacy of fish is shown in the many different restaurants around the city, including the well renowned fiskmarkadurinn, which includes a tasting menu to let you sample the many different flavours on offer.

Blue Lagoon is many people’s last stop on the way out of the country.  Coach tours will normally schedule a stop at the lagoon on the way to the airport.  The outdoor spa is something many people will never have experienced and find the geo-thermal pool a great way to relax and end their trip to this magical country.

If you are booking a flight and are thinking of sorting out your own accommodation, first take a look at some of the offers on flightbroker websites. The most well-known of these websites are Opodo, Travelocity and Expedia.

The relationship between these brokers and the airlines allows them to offer some top deals and you can gain additional discounts on hotel bookings when sorting out your flight with them. There are also extras such as car hire and discounts on attractions and days out when you get there.

You can still do a search on hotels to see if you can beat it elsewhere, but these flightbrokers can sometimes offer the best deals for your holiday.

When looking to book a flight at a cheap price there are a lot of options available to you. You could speak to a travel operator, book the flight direct with the airline concerned or try and find the best deals through a screenscraper, a form of flight comparison site.

These sites use the latest technology to do your shopping for you. All you need to do is enter your flight details such as the dates of travel, airports to use and any requirements, then they can search all manner of airline websites and report back their findings.

The best sites for this are usually Kayak, Travelsupermarket and Skyscanner.

As we have brought to your attention time and time again there are many great flight only deals to be found online these days. You can get single and return flights from many sources including low budget airlines and from the main airlines during sale periods. However, you should still not discount the traditional package holiday as sometimes you can save a lot on accommodation.

If you find that your holiday will be for a specific amount of time, say 7 or 14 days, then a package holiday can give you everything rolled into one deal. Most of the operators offering these packages are also ATOL protected and this means you won’t lose out if something goes wrong – this does not apply to flight-only deals.

When you are going abrad on holiday and want to know how to get the best deals on currency, you should certainly consider these tips;

• Apply for a specialised credit / debit card which have low / no loading fees.
• Buy currency well in advance if you can and pre-order the currency online to lock in the price and ensure you will get the best rates possible.

You should also make sure you take advantage of advice offered from money saving websites such as Martin Lewis’ www.moneysavingexpert.com.

The website uses shopbots to search through currency sites and finding the top deals. Be sure to take a look for yourself and save yourself some money on your holiday money.

If you were hoping to book a weekend break or your summer holidays and missed out on some of the big bargain flights on offer over the past month then fear not. Many of the leading airlines have extended their deals while there are still some top value holidays to be had.

flydubai are offering up to 40% off a great number of its one-way flights until February 21st. The flights can be taken during March.

Opodo and Travelbag are still offering some holiday and flight bargains so you can get away from the cold for a while. Be sure to take advantage of these great offers.