Easy holiday? 3 January at 12:22AM in Overseas holidays & travel planning 13 replies 2.2K views

sevenhills

I haven't been abroad for over a decade, only ever been abroad three times.
I am hoping to go somewhere this year. I have a dog, but I think taking her will make it too stressful, so I just want a trip abroad, 3-7 days.
I was thinking a coach holiday, but Leeds airport is quite close.
Male age 60, not a big drinker, not rich.
Any suggestions, I always wanted to go to Germany, but maybe just a short break first.
I work school hours, so it will be Easter or later.

annabanana82

Berlin is a fascinating city, we did a family city break about 6 years ago. Flights were very reasonable, and was easy to navigate though google maps led us on a merry way to our hotel - get a taxi!!

Berlin is essentially a living museum you can fill your day without spending any money on entry fees, we only paid out for the zoo and possibly Sachenhausen but can't really recall if their was a charge for entry??

As an alternative I have holidayed with Travelsphere, and they were excellent, a friend used to travel with their sister company that specialises in singles holidays and she was very happy with them

Voyager2002

I am sure that there are flights from Leeds/Bradford airport to some German cities. Accommodation is a bit pricey, so maybe think in terms of a long weekend, perhaps as early as half term. At that time of year there will be lots of space in hotels and guest-houses, so no need to book in advance. Just use Tripadvisor to choose somewhere to stay and perhaps book a day in advance.

daveyjp

As you are near Leeds look at Jet2 city breaks.  You won't get to Berlin, but there are plenty of other options.

We have done breaks to Rome and Naples with them.  Very easy option.

Voyager2002

daveyjp said:

As you are near Leeds look at Jet2 city breaks.  You won't get to Berlin, but there are plenty of other options.

We have done breaks to Rome and Naples with them.  Very easy option.

Do they offer single-person holidays at a reasonable rate? Most packages are designed for couples.

soolin

Some other points to remember as well. Arrange insurance at the very moment of booking, don’t leave it until ‘later’. If you book a package via a ABTA backed travel agent then you are covered if for example your flight is cancelled, if you book all the components yourself then whilst you would get your flight refunded you would still have to pay out for the other bits of the holiday. 

Some third party sites like On The beach (and lots of others) break your link to the flights and in case of issues you might struggle to get refunded easily. 

You will find yourself paying a premium for being a lone traveller and for ease of browsing coach tours are often more upfront about those additional costs. However, many holiday sites like TUI do allow you to search for prices as a lone traveller if you filter for one person, and not one as part of a couple. 

zagfles

annabanana82 said:

Berlin is a fascinating city, we did a family city break about 6 years ago. Flights were very reasonable, and was easy to navigate though google maps led us on a merry way to our hotel - get a taxi!!

Berlin is essentially a living museum you can fill your day without spending any money on entry fees, we only paid out for the zoo and possibly Sachenhausen but can't really recall if their was a charge for entry??

As an alternative I have holidayed with Travelsphere, and they were excellent, a friend used to travel with their sister company that specialises in singles holidays and she was very happy with them

Yes agreed, and Berlin is surprisingly cheap, I went on my own a few years ago, got a decent single room for about 40 EUR a night and the flights were about £50 return AIRI. The public transport system is cheap and easy to use, just make sure you validate your ticket! As above a lot of the interesting stuff is free, and the stuff that isn't is generally not expensive. Easy to find cheap places to eat too. I spent around £400 total for everything for a 5 day trip.

twopenny

Jet 2 don't do Germany from Leeds airport.

Love holidays are a good price but only do med resorts from there

They do flights to Cologne but the page doesn't seem to work for me and don't know what I'm doing wrong. It could well be that they don't operate on the dates I put in

Tui do city breaks to Germany. The prices (on the surface) look reasonable. To make it easier going into one of their shops and asking them to do the work on finding out closest airport and what's included and getting some print outs so you can check the reviews for the hotels. Don't go by the up front star system. See what people are saying.

Pre covid when we had a branch here they were very good. Even finding 'last minute' trips at a discount but that could be 8 weeks or so in advance.

If you want a different destination first then Seville is a lovely easy place for a short break. Very easy to get around and things to see.

sevenhills

daveyjp said:

As you are near Leeds look at Jet2 city breaks.  You won't get to Berlin, but there are plenty of other options.

We have done breaks to Rome and Naples with them.  Very easy option.

Thanks everyone, I might look into Jet2 or I do have a local travel agent.
I will renew my unused passport, I believe it runs out in March.

Westin

sevenhills said:

daveyjp said:

As you are near Leeds look at Jet2 city breaks.  You won't get to Berlin, but there are plenty of other options.

We have done breaks to Rome and Naples with them.  Very easy option.

Thanks everyone, I might look into Jet2 or I do have a local travel agent.
I will renew my unused passport, I believe it runs out in March.

Best to get this sorted before contemplating a city break visit into Europe.

youth_leader

Can anyone recommend a short break to Amsterdam?  I'm using Newcastle airport.