These suggestions are tried and tested by ourselves for getting the most out of your hard earned holiday time. Next time you are looking to plan a holiday, consider these tips first!
Book an open-jaw flight ticket
An open-jaw ticket is an airline return ticket where the destination and/or the origin are not the same in both directions. Whilst a return plane ticket is often the most cost-effective way to travel it often may not be time-efficient. Save yourself the hassle of doubling back on yourself and look into starting your trip from one airport and departing from another. This can be done by booking two single flight tickets, or by utilising the 'Multi-City' booking option through Skyscanner. This is our most commonly used trick for maximising our annual leave, having tried and tested it both within the same country or even arriving into one country and departing from another like on our Jordan and Egypt trip.
Bear in mind when booking any flight tickets that if a suggested route has a stopover and uses multiple airlines you may be required to 'self-transfer', this means collecting your luggage and re-checking in your bags. Where possible, try to keep each leg of your journey with the same airline as this removes the liability from you to make these connections, otherwise you may find yourself having to pay for a new ticket if your first flight is delayed! Utilise public holidays/Weekends Though it may seem obvious, a one week trip Wednesday - Wednesday will use an extra day of annual leave versus one which is Saturday-Saturday. Better yet, if you can book to depart on a Friday night after work and return on a Sunday evening you have just found yourself a 9 night trip taking up only 5 days of annual leave.
Easter, May and August Bank Holidays, Christmas and New Year. These are all opportunities in the UK to maximise your time off. In the UK, Easter weekend and May bank holiday often fall within a couple of weeks of each other. Whilst you should always be considerate and check with your team before booking, planning a trip to coincide over this period could save you days of leave. For example, a trip departing on Good Friday 19th April 2019 and returning on Bank Holiday Monday 6th May 2019 would have given you 18 days of trip time to play with, whilst costing only 9 days of annual leave.
Have an open mind Book a trip based on optimum flight times. Rather than starting your trip planning by deciding a destination you would like to visit, instead, head over to Skyscanner and search destinations from your local airport to 'Everywhere' for your desired date range. You can then see all of the direct flight options to destinations that neatly fit your annual leave allowance. We have used this method previously and it has taken us to some unusual, (but fabulous!) places we may not have otherwise ever considered - most recently, the beautiful beaches and bright colours of the Gambia!
Do your research on public transport/transfers in the area You may have come across a regularly geo-tagged location on Instagram that took your breath away, but if a quick Google maps search suggests it will take 3 days by bus and a camel ride to get there, chances are it may not be the most efficient use of your time off!
Familiarise yourself with transport options as you are planning your trip and consider basing yourself in locations with plenty of connecting transport route offerings. This will save you time transferring from place to place. If you are thinking about hiring a car, consider researching Tripadvisor forums before doing so for driving in touristic areas -the hairpin narrow bends of the Amalfi Coast look stunning but get horrifically busy in the Summer months and may be daunting any non-locals.
Set Skyscanner price reminders
Sometimes the most time-efficient route may not always be the cheapest. We always try to balance out our costs vs our time spent when it comes to taking a trip. For example if a flight costs double the price of the bus, but the bus takes 7 hours longer, chances are we'll be taking the flight!
You can create price alerts on websites like Skyscanner where you will be emailed if the price changed on your desired route and dates. It's really worth doing this if you are planning your trip well in advance as prices can often fluctuate, sometimes only for a short amount of time, and this allows you to jump on any deals. We did this for our flights to Easter Island. Flying to Easter Island can be eye-wateringly expensive - it is only accessible through flying from Tahiti in French Polynesia or Santiago airport in Chile. Flights from Santiago to Easter Island generally become available a year in advance and tend to only get more expensive as the departure date nears. Average flight price return for this route is around £500-£700 but using the price alert as a reminder we managed to bag return flights for £290 each! (Sadly Covid meant we never actually got to take advantage of this deal but we hope one day!!)