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Holiday spending guilt!

13

Comments

  • Indout96
    Indout96 Posts: 2,394 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    duchy wrote: »
    Direct v indirect flights are a prime example of this . The savings can be significant


    True as long as everything is factored in, many of the cheaper flights go from London which is great as long as you factor in the cost of getting there / accommodation & parking.
    We tend to flick between Manchester & London, depending on price.
    We are in New York for Thanksgiving and the cheapest we could get was flying from Leeds / Bradford down to Heathrow to fly back up over Manchester and out to New York. Far cheaper than from Manchester.
    LBA to Heathrow was cheaper than driving down which we did in September (Fuel / Parking) but that was from Gatwick so flights were far more expensive.


    Last years Vegas trip was via Chicago which got amended after we booked from a 4 hour stop over to and 7.5 hour one so we just got on the train and spent the time in Chicago, Food on Navy Pier was way better than at the airport :-)
    Flights really are a minefield.
    Totally Debt Free & Mortgage Free Semi retired and happy
  • SmallL
    SmallL Posts: 944 Forumite
    Thanks for all the advice

    Re the direct flights: I suppose I am being a bit silly really for what its worth, when you put all the figures together it makes more sense to have a stopover!

    I'm planning the holiday to cost about £1500-1800 flights+hotel but i'm not really sure how much spends to take? I remember it being very cheap 6 years ago on the street food and cheap markets front, but I'm not sure how that's changed.
  • SmallL
    SmallL Posts: 944 Forumite
    Indout96 wrote: »
    True as long as everything is factored in, many of the cheaper flights go from London which is great as long as you factor in the cost of getting there / accommodation & parking.
    We tend to flick between Manchester & London, depending on price.
    We are in New York for Thanksgiving and the cheapest we could get was flying from Leeds / Bradford down to Heathrow to fly back up over Manchester and out to New York. Far cheaper than from Manchester.
    LBA to Heathrow was cheaper than driving down which we did in September (Fuel / Parking) but that was from Gatwick so flights were far more expensive.


    Last years Vegas trip was via Chicago which got amended after we booked from a 4 hour stop over to and 7.5 hour one so we just got on the train and spent the time in Chicago, Food on Navy Pier was way better than at the airport :-)
    Flights really are a minefield.

    I'm actually oop north so I'm going to look at leeds and manchester!

    This is all also riding on the fact we can both get the time off work :(
  • SmallL
    SmallL Posts: 944 Forumite
    PompeyPete wrote: »
    If you need to have a hotel stay in UK before and/or after your international flights then I'd factor in that with the cost of the flight.

    Some airlines have several flights a day from LHR to their Middle East hub, most with reasonable [2 to 3 hours] layovers.

    Our most recent trip with Qatar Airways the flight left LHR @ 1505, and our return flight to LHR landed @ 0900. So we didn't need to stay overnight in either direction.

    So cheapest might not always be the most economical taking other things into consideration.

    In my experience of using several airlines to SE Asia, my favourites are Qatar [hub is Doha], and Oman Airways [Muscat]. I'm not a fan of Dubai [too busy] or Abu Dhabi [2 x bad experiences] airports, so avoid Emirates and Etihad. Flown non-stop with EVA and they were good, and also on [the excellent Thomson Dreamliner] to Phuket. I've not used Turkish Airways, but as the flight to Istanbul is only 3.5 hours, it makes for quite a long flight from Istanbul to Bangkok [but if the price was right I'd use them].

    What's your plans for your 3 weeks in Thailand?

    All in Bangkok I think, I know its not most people's cup of tea for that long but I really really enjoy the city culture! Though my OH isn't as much a fan of the city bustle so I'm tempted to do 1 week sukhumvit area, 1 week hua hin, 1 week riverside. Depending on how the visit coincides with the parents to visit my Grandma of course (who lives a bit out of the city)
  • duchy
    duchy Posts: 19,511 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Xmas Saver!
    Indout96 wrote: »
    True as long as everything is factored in, many of the cheaper flights go from London which is great as long as you factor in the cost of getting there / accommodation & parking.
    .

    True -I'm in the SE so it really doesn't matter but often regional airports can make ex Euro flights a good option as you might as well fly to Dublin as London as an example. I used GOT last month to go to CA GOT LON LAX LON OSL was £250 return - had I bought the same flights LON LAX return only it was £550 -it was worth adding a LCC flight to GOT (£20) on and spending more time travelling for the saving.

    Sites like secret flyer often have good fares from Europe to SE Asia so another possible option for the OP.
    I Would Rather Climb A Mountain Than Crawl Into A Hole

    MSE Florida wedding .....no problem
  • duchy
    duchy Posts: 19,511 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Xmas Saver!
    Indout96 wrote: »

    Last years Vegas trip was via Chicago which got amended after we booked from a 4 hour stop over to and 7.5 hour one so we just got on the train and spent the time in Chicago, Food on Navy Pier was way better than at the airport :-)
    Flights really are a minefield.

    I've sometimes deliberately booked a long layover to do this both in Chicago and NYC as it's so easy to hop on a train
    I Would Rather Climb A Mountain Than Crawl Into A Hole

    MSE Florida wedding .....no problem
  • NiftyDigits
    NiftyDigits Posts: 10,459 Forumite
    From Manchester; Turkish Airlines in at £364 from the 30th of April to the 22nd of May.

    Turk.jpg

    Qatar from the 7th to the 30th of May £406

    Turk2.jpg

    There are no direct flights from there anyway. So no disadvantage.
  • NiftyDigits
    NiftyDigits Posts: 10,459 Forumite
    SmallL wrote: »
    Thanks for all the advice

    Re the direct flights: I suppose I am being a bit silly really for what its worth, when you put all the figures together it makes more sense to have a stopover!

    I'm planning the holiday to cost about £1500-1800 flights+hotel but i'm not really sure how much spends to take? I remember it being very cheap 6 years ago on the street food and cheap markets front, but I'm not sure how that's changed.

    Sukhumvit? Why? What is there? I like the Sathorn location, as you can jump on the Skytrain for 35 baht or so to get to Sukhumvit/Silom/Chatchuk etc in addition to being next to the river so as to jump on the 15 baht Orange Flag boat to Banglamphu and beyond.
    Each to their own of course. You might have specific ideas of what you want to do.
  • Another person saying don't be afraid of flying indirect - we would prefer 2 shorter flights with a break in between to one long one. It all depends on the best value for us.

    Also, I'm a firm believer in not putting things off - as you never know what is around the corner. Travel while you can - have a wonderful time!
    "Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee."
  • SmallL
    SmallL Posts: 944 Forumite
    Quick question, If the flight is indirect do you have to collect and recheck in your luggage on the stop?
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