Holidays are coming

Simon and I have been talking about a holiday for a little while. Neither of us have been away on a 'sunshine break' for a long time so we thought we'd go away later in the year. 

Both of us have booked the last week in September off work and decided to go from there. Our only criteria is that it's sunny (not too hot as I'm not good in the heat), reasonably quiet and all inclusive. We thought it best to go somewhere in Europe as it's only for a week so best not to spend your entire week travelling. 

We started looking through the usual sites, Thomson, Thomas Cook, Travelzoo and couldn't find anything suitable. Any hotels we did find had really awful reviews on Trip Advisor so it turned us off. We found a really great package on Travelzoo for a week in Malta with lots of upgrades but when we went to book it were told we couldn't have the upgrades and the price was the same! Not as advertised. 

Every lunchtime at work for the past week or so I've spent trawling travel sites to find our holiday. I've taken advise from Sam, Gemma & Alex as they're all well travelled friends and then I've gone off looking at various locations. 

On this search, which by the way continues as I type, I've learnt a number of things I wanted to share with you:

1) Everyone has something to moan about - TripAdvisor is a great tool but nothing is going to be everyone's cup of tea. People moan about the silliest of things "...no English food on the menu..." - you're in a Spanish resort! 

2) Extras - it's all very well looking at holiday prices but I've been shocked at the amount of extras you have to pay out for. No longer do you get baggage or transfers included. 

3) The photos on travel sites really aren't like those in reality. Looking at some of the hotels on travel sites then seeing them in peoples holiday snaps is an eye-opener. 

4) Know your distances - 5km to the nearest beach is quite far if you're a beach fanatic but they really don't look that far when the travel companies add photos of the 'local' beach. 

5) Be careful not to get caught up in deals - sometimes it's cheaper to just look for what you actually want that get into added extras and glamorous sales pitches. 

After remembering I have a rewards discount with Natwest travel, we have now booked our holidays through them with the whole process taking a matter of minutes. We're off to sunny Majorca to a quiet little hotel where we can spend the week relaxing in the sun. Phew what a drama! 

I'd love to hear about your experiences booking holidays and any tips!