Costcutting our holiday to France

tammy73

We are booked to go on our first ever non uk holiday with The Sun's holiday deals but now i'm starting to panic.
Shortly after we booked it our tax credits were cut from £80/week to 0 because i made a mistake on our claim form. Anyway this has left us with hardly any excess cash, fortunately all priority bills are being met but we are with the Debt Advice Network to sort out the rest ie credit cards,etc.
I would cancel but we already paid £120 which is non refundable and it's very unlikely we'll be holidaying again for a good long while.

So I need to know whether you consider travel insurance and/or european breakdown essential? have applied for EH1C
Where i can find the cheapest ferry crossings?
How do you find cheapest fuel in France?
Cheapest supermarkets?
Any other useful information
We will be on the beach and the site has plenty of pools, sports so don't think we'll need to be looking at days out.

joerugby

Travel insurance and european breakdown cover are essential in my experience, especially if you are short of cash.

Cheapest fuel is at hypermarkets, and there are many of these in every town in France.

Cost of living is similar to UK if you are self catering but drinks in bars (inc coffee and soft drinks) and ice cream etc can be very expensive

Don't forget to budget for tolls. Calais to Nice is about EUR 200 return.

Consider carefully whether you can afford it.

Ponkle22

Sorry to hear that Tammy.

Do a SEARCH on this forum for France. It will give info about avoiding tolls or not and other info you need. Also have a look on Trip Advisor forums.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: Also do a search for ferries - some people have paid for them using things like Tesco vouchers or other points cards etc.

DCFC79

Where you going from and to as that may help to decide where you ferry from

Bogtrotter

In my opinion travel insurance is essential for any trip abroad ESPECIALLY if you are trying to holiday to a strict budget... EHIC is fine for getting emergency treatment but there would probably be other costs and expenses if someone in your party had an accident or became ill.

Likewise breakdown cover will cover lots of expenses if the worst happens. I had a breakdown once in Paris and although I had to pay for the actual repair to the car the insurance company picked up the tab for the recovery truck, 2 nights in hotel with meals while part was delivered and they did all the negotiation and arrangements. What I saved on that one incident has covered all the premiums I have paid so far.

Never had to shop for ferries because for me in Ireland there is really only one option. But they do e-mail me when they have special offers... maybe look to see if the ferry companys have a email newsletter.

Best price on fuels I recently discovered on the forums can be found on here but generally avoid motorway services and service station in larger towns. Fuel at the supermarkets are usually a lot cheaper than anywhere but some don't have cashiers so you need a credit or debit card for the pump.

Just like in the UK you can't really predict which supermarket will be cheaper than the other. We tend to buy essentials in the likes of Lidl and Aldi which are generally cheaper but not as much selection and shop around the others to take advantage of their special offers. Also ask the locals if there are any street/farmers markets nearby. You can get good deals on fresh produce direct from the farmers/suppliers and if you feel confident in your french ability they can even be open to a bit of haggling. At least you could take advantage of all the free samples on offer.

It would be a shame if you didn't experience anything outside of your hotel/campsite. I'm sure there are lots of places near to where you are staying that you could spend a few hours exploring for little/no cost. If you want to eat out check out some of the popular Brasseries you come across... most will have a reasonably priced fixed meal specials. One place we go for lunch on occasions have a 3 course meal with house wine for €12 a head. In the evening another place does 5 course fixed meal (you choose the meat you want) with wine for around €20 each

tammy73

thank you to all of you for your comments.
I have considered this carefully and I can't cancel, my oh is in verge of depression, he works hard often long hours yet we are struggling, this holiday and the thought of it are keeping him going.
Hear what you saying re travel insurance and breakdown, having had a look round travel insurance is alot less than i thought and breakdown too, although the aa are having a laugh, over £100 for a single one week trip, ridiculous.
Have signed upto newsletters for ferrys and eurotunnel.
We are travelling from leics to beziers if that helps.
I have thought about using my clubcard vouchers for eurotunnel but don't have that many, does anyone know if i can use tokens from multiple sources, as my parents and sister have clubcards too.

richardw

tammy73 wrote: »

We are travelling from leics to beziers if that helps.

Have you priced up going on Ryanair from Luton to Beziers or Nimes, or EMA to Carcassone, or BHX to Montpellier? is it a practical alternative?

BenL

According to www.viamichelin.com route finder the France section of the journey from Calais is

650 miles - 9H 30

It estimates a petrol family car will cost £105 to get there in fuel and tolls of just over £50 - so double this to get a rough total.



This link may stay valid

http://www.viamichelin.com/web/Itineraires?strStartLocid=31NDJxdzgxMGNOVEF1T1RVNE1ETT1jTVM0NE5USTBNUT09&strDestLocid=32NDJneXA1MzQ1MDAxMGNORE11TXpReE5qTT1jTXk0eU1UYzRNZz09&intItineraryType=1&caravaneHidden=false&vh=CAR&strVehicle=0&itineraryCarType=0&itineraryFuelType=0&isFavoriseAutoroute=false&isAvoidPeage=false&isAvoidVignette=false&isAvoidLNR=false&isAvoidFrontiers=true&dtmDeparture=06%2F04%2F2011&distance=km&devise=1.0|EUR&indemnite=&carbCost=1.3&autoConso=6.8&villeConso=6&routeConso=5.6

if not depart from 62100 Calais and go to 34500 Beziers


The website has worked out the route for going around the Paris ringroad, most people however avoid this and head towards Rouen as Paris is a nightmare.



Ben

Bogtrotter

tammy73 wrote: »

although the aa are having a laugh, over £100 for a single one week trip, ridiculous.

Yes the AA are a tad expensive now... I had a run in with them when I travelled last year when I wanted to buy some cover. Their service is very good though (AA was the company I used when I had to make a claim).

Last year because the AA got so expensive I switched to Tesco who had a product for 22 days european cover for £52 but I see they have changed their provider from Greenflag to RAC and its now gonna cost £60.66 for me for a week in May.

If you find any good European Breakdown cover please post back here.

tammy73

I have checked price checked flights for luton to beziers(ryanair) & southampton to beziers (flybe) both come out at approx £530 incl returns but ryanair don't travel to beziers on fridays 9just our luck)so not even worth keeping an eye on their sales. Might checked out the other destinations as a possible alternative.
That Via Michelin site is good, though seems to be variable as when we intially checked route it came out £185/£244 from home just checked again and it's come out with £151.47, which is less than your more expensive route from Calais?? Anyway I think it probably be about £300 rtn.
Found breakdown @£33.79 for week incl 4 passengers from Mondial via europeanbreakdowncover, which i thought was very reasonable.

micro4

Tammy

With regards to cheap crossings for the channel if you save Tesco Vouchers you can use them for the Channel Tunnel fares. I reguarly use this method to take my car & caravan to France for the 24 hour Le-Mans rac. This year it cost me £65.00 on Tesco vouchers for a £244.00 fare. Since I purchsed my tickets Tesco have reduced the value from 4 times to 3 times the cost in vouchers, but if you are only crossing with a car it would not cost as much as with my caravan. It is well worth it!

I have just seen above that you have considered Tesco Euro Tunnel vouchers but you do not have enough. I do not know about multi sourced vouchers but I do know that you can book using your tesco vouchers for another persons crossing, so if a member of your family has enough vouchers to cover your crossing fare they can book it for you with their vouchers, if they were to be so kind.