Travels with my technology

Work shouldn't all be about looking forward to holidays, despite what your hairdresser might have you believe, but dreaming of white shores does make doing the tax return easier to bear. In this post, we're going to show you some great and little-known tips about getting the best out of your travels.

If you are lucky you can sometimes chance upon European flights for £1, but most of the time when you actually check an airline's website the cost comes in at nearer £100, even without their naughty little extra charges. This can happen because you've looked at the wrong time of year, or you're trying to book too close to your journey date, or even too far in advance. Once again our favourite MoneySavingExpert comes to the rescue. One of the best ways to make sure that you are getting a good deal is to use his Flight Checker. Instead of choosing when and where to go, and then looking for the cheapest offer, you say how much you want to pay and it tells you what's available from a number of budget airlines including Ryanair and BMIBaby (though not EasyJet - yet).
Money Saving Expert Flight Checker

Having said all that, if you want to cut costs even further, and you're feeling like having long conversations with eccentric strangers, there are sites that allow you to book a ride with somebody who's doing a serious road trip and wants some company and/or a share of the petrol bill. Want to go to Lisbon next month on a shoestring? It's all there...
American Hitch-hiking
European Hitch-hiking

Moving on to what to do once you're there... do check out Hotel Connect - it's one of the best sites we've found if you want to avoid package deals and still get get a bargain price on your accommodation. There's also a small but growing business, Wotif, which is what lastminute.com could have been if they hadn't got swept up by the dot-com frenzy. Once you've found a hotel with the right price, have a look at the reviews on Trip Advisor just in case the one you've picked is somewhere not even a bed-bug would dare lay out its tiny little suitcase.
Wotif
Hotel Connect
Trip Advisor

If money is less of a consideration, or you really want to venture out of the ordinary, why not have a look at Unusual Hotels of the World- you could stay in a treehouse or a hotel entirely made out of ice among other exotic treats.
Unusual Hotels of the World

You can also use the web to help plan what to do once you arrive. There's plenty of information about almost anywhere you could think of visiting, so don't leave without Googling your destination. Examples include sites that are updated regularly by people who are actually there, and forums with tips from fellow travellers, such as the Thorn Tree travel forum which is part of the Lonely Planet website and sites that offer reviews of destinations written by actual visitors, in a similar way that Amazon does with books. Travel agents and tour operators can't get away with being economical with the truth now, given these powerful stores of real-life experiences.
Thorn Tree Travel Forum

If you are going somewhere that's in the news for the wrong reasons it's always a good idea to check the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website for the latest government travel advice.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

And finally, for those of you who are concerned about all the environmental impact of cheap flights, there's Climate Care, which will allow you to undo the damage your flight has done by giving money towards planting trees or increasing the use of energy saving technologies. Responsible Travel are a travel agent with a heart, who offer trips to hotels that are conscious about their impact on the local area.
It's not as dear or as inconvenient as you might think to look after the places you visit.
Climate Care
Responsible Travel