Watch your spending before you take off!When cheap isn't always a good deal
They say there's no such thing as a free lunch and certainly when it comes to travel, there are offers that seem too good to be true whether that's on flights, package deals, insurance or extras. The trick is to look for the hidden extras.
That cut price flight is great but how much will it cost to get to the airport at that time of day? Might be better to think about an overnight airport hotel instead of taxis or airport parking?
Will you get charged extra for baggage, seat preferences and what's the deal on cancellations or delays?
Travel insurance
Which? advises medical expenses cover of at least £2m for Europe and £5m worldwide, £3,000 for cancellation and a minimum of £1,500 for personal belongings and luggage.
Always check the single item and valuables limit.
Many cheap policies not only have high excesses, the limit of the value of single items is low, making the cover virtually worthless.
Airport fun
Airports are rarely much fun these days and because of security restrictions, it's not possible to take your own food and drink to the departure lounge - even bottled water will be confiscated if it's opened before you get to the gate.
However, it's often the case that a 'proper meal' once you're airside is better value than snacks - unless of course, you're saving your appetite for the food on the plane?
Lounging about
Some holiday companies and flight operators offer access to airport lounges for a small fee or included in the price of your ticket.
The allure of the lounge is that it's somewhere relatively peaceful to sit, usually providing free refreshments and newspapers and a way to escape the retail outlets.
You may find that the money you spend on a lounge is easily covered by what you save - and besides, it's a good place to rendezvous with other members of your party who do like browsing in the shops!
Travel money
Don't buy foreign currency at the airport if you can possibly avoid it. You'll invarably get a better deal by ordering your foreign currency from a reputable provider, online. In fact research by Which? found that travellers are often short-changed by currency providers as High Street rates vary considerably.
Because foreign exchange is unregulated you’d have little or no protection if your provider goes bust so only ever buy online from a trusted, established company.
Plastic fantastic
Even if your trip is all inclusive, you'll still need to pay for drinks, gifts and so forth.
Common sense advice is to take a mixture of local currency and credit cards but you have to shop around to make sure to get the best deal, and while you might balk at using a credit rather than debit card at home, it can often be cheaper abroad if you choose the right one!
The key factor is whether you will be charged a foreign currency fee for using the card abroad and any extra charges for withdrawing cash.
Make sure that when you're given the option of exchange rates at ATMs and in shops, choose euros over sterling for a better deal.
Phone charges
Check the small print of your mobile phone operator to see what charges you might rack up using it abroad.
Even if you don't make or receive calls, there have been reports of people facing whopping bills for internet browsing simply by leaving their smart phones or tablets on a permanent browsing setting.