HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON HOLIDAY

HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON HOLIDAY

Jasmine Birtles

So, you’ve found a great deal for your trip to Paris, the Pirenees or Papua New Guinea and you’re all excited to go.

Now, what do you do when you’re all away to save the pennies and make the pounds, euros or Bhat go further?

This eBook has lots of tips and ideas to cut your costs when you’re away and also protect the money and items that you have while you’re away.

You can also get all of this information on my wonderful website, Moneymagpie.com, which has thousands of money-saving and money-making articles and a free newsletter of its own.

BE CLEVER WITH CURRENCY

Avoid changing money at airports. ATMs and currency exchange facilities at airports are always more expensive than elsewhere – it’s the convenience of course! What you can do is buy the money online beforehand and then opt to pick it up at the airport if they offer that facility. Sometimes, even if that company doesn’t have the absolute best rate of all, it can be worth compromising on a little loss for the convenience of being able to pick it up on your way to the plane.

Generally, though, there’s a lot of competition in the currency exchange market. You can’t really say – oh go with with M&S or go with Thomas Cook or Travelex or My Travel Cash or whatever because the top rates change every week.

The best thing is to compare rates a week before you go (just to give yourself a bit of time to get it sorted). You could do it the day before but you’ll be feeling a bit pressured then so give yourself a break! Take a look at these comparison sites for the current best deals:

• Compareholidaymoney.com

• Bestforeignexchange.com

• Mytravelmoney.com

Frankly, as with all types of comparison services now, there are lots of sites you could use to compare rates so just pick a couple of them and see which has the best deal.

• Haggle on the high street. If you live in a city like Birmingham, London or Leeds, you’re likely to have a few money exchange shops on the high street…maybe there are kiosks everywhere. If that’s the case then have a look at what the currency companies are offering online, print off the best and take it to the kiosks. See if they can match that rate or do better. They have leeway and particularly if you’re buying a lot of cash, they will often

do a deal. You could even go to one, say that their competitor down the road is offering x so could they do better. Then go to their competitor and see what he will offer…and so on!

• Buy a lot of cash in one go. This is where the power of bulk buying can work in your favour… again! For a start, most currency converters will deliver your money for free if you buy over a certain amount (usually it has to be more than £250-worth), but also, particularly with the high street money-changers, the more you’re buying the better rate they will offer. If you can do the money-changing for all your group, you can probably get a particularly good deal for them…so long as they trust you with their cash!

Find out more in our article here

Watch it with credit cards

I tend to advise people to take one credit card away with them, for emergencies and also for buying expensive items.

If you’re in Morocco and want to buy a carpet, you’re definitely best (once you’ve haggled yourself a good price) to buy it with a credit card. With credit cards (not debit cards) you get Section 75 protection. This means that if you pay for something costing £100 to £30,000 on a credit card then the card firm is jointly liable with the retailer if things go wrong. This is useful abroad, as taking things back is tough.

In general, though, it’s not a good idea to buy your lunch or your toiletries with a credit card abroad because

a) most of them slap on a fee every time you use them

b) their exchange rate changes each day and is not usually a particularly good one…certainly not one you can control

c) the majority of credit card fraud happens abroad and it’s regularly waiters and shop-keepers who commit this fraud. Use your card and you’re opening yourself up to theft and fraud, so, if possible, check your account online after you have used the card just to make sure it’s all right!

Are all cards bad?

No, although they are all subject to fraud.

Some credit cards don’t charge a fee when you use them to spend abroad (although most do to take money out of the ATM…and that’s not a good thing to do even if you’re in the UK anyway!). Cards like the Halifax Clarity Card or the MBNA Everyday Plus Card are good for taking abroad as they don’t charge when you spend. Take a look at the comparison page here to find credit cards that are good to use abroad.

If you do take a credit or debit card with you, make sure you store the card company’s ‘lost and stolen’ number in your phone, and make of note of it somewhere else too.

You should also consider signing up to a card protection service. You pay a small fee – usually about £20 – and register the details of your

cards and other important personal documents such as your passport.

That way, if anything does happen, you’ll just have to ring one number and they can do everything needed, like cancel the cards and order replacements. Find out more about how to protect your cards by reading our handy article

Don’t use your debit card if possible

Not only is it potentially dangerous to use your debit card anywhere abroad (fraudsters can gain access to your bank account this way) but the fees charged by your bank are too high.

In fact, if you have a Lloyds, Santander, Halifax, Bank of Scotland or RBS/Natwest card, they load an ATM fee and charge up to £1.50 every time you spend on them. Not worth it!

It’s much better to take a prepaid card with you so that you can use it like a debit or credit card but the exchange rates are fixed and no one has access to your credit or your bank account.

If you do use your debit card, say, to take money out of an ATM, and they ask you how you would like the exchange calculated, in Sterling or in the local currency, always go for the local option. That’s the best value.

Keep track of your cash

It can be difficult to remember how much foreign money converts to. Take a currency converter with you, or some basic figures on the back of an envelope, so that you know how much you’re really spending. If you’re really ill-disciplined then just take cash with you. You can have an emergency credit card with a low credit limit (to avoid temptation) but make sure you never use it, unless it genuinely is an emergency. Only use the cash for the entire holiday. It’s much easier to budget when you can see the money physically going out of your wallet. Just make sure you protect it as much as you can because with cash, once it’s stolen, it’s gone!

Prepaid cards

There are several prepaid cards out there specifically designed for foreign travel. You have to purchase the card (although you can get some for free) then you simply choose which currency you want your card in (euros, US dollars or sterling) and you can load it with as much as you want.

Remember that you can only spend the money that’s on the card – so once it’s gone, it’s gone.

According to research from Skrill, one of the prepaid card providers, UK holidaymakers return home with an average of £27.93 each in leftover foreign currency. This means tourists have been stockpiling more than £1.3 billion in foreign currency since their last holiday abroad, and more than a quarter never use it again. If you use a prepaid card you can either keep any leftover cash for when you go away again or take it out in sterling when you get back.

The biggest advantage of a prepaid travel card is that they can save you a lot of money. Many people don’t realise the many costs they can incur by using their debit card abroad.

Most debit cards charge a withdrawal fee, as well as a conversion and transaction fee. The conversion charge is usually a percentage of the transaction value, and the transaction fee can either be a flat fee or a percentage charge. 39% of people who have used their debit card abroad have admitted to not checking the charges.

When you’re in a new place you are always more vulnerable to pickpockets and fraudsters.

Carrying a prepaid card around is a lot safer than carrying around cash.

If cash is stolen then it’s gone, whereas prepaid cards have a minimum level of insurance and will have a chip and pin system to protect your balance. If the worst happens and your card is stolen then you can put a stop on the card so it can’t be used and your card can easily be replaced.

Which card is best?

There are a few different prepaid cards that specialize in foreign currency. They all have different ways of charging – some charge for the card itself, others charge when you load money on and others every time you spend. It depends how much you’re going to spend, which one you like.

Some to consider are:

• Skrill.com

• Ukash.com

• Caxtonfx.com

We’ve got a couple of articles on Moneymagpie. com all about prepaid cards which will help.

• Why a prepaid card is essential for your travels

• Clever Prepaid Cards

CHAPTER 2

GET THE RIGHT INSURANCE

Did you know…

Last year, insurers paid out £370 million in 581,000 claims made by travellers who needed help. These claims were for all sorts of calamities including loss of possessions, passports and tickets, but by far the greatest section of the claims was for medical bills.

In fact last year insurers helped over 202,000 travellers who needed medical treatment - the equivalent of 3,800 people a week, costing around £4 million a week, just for medical bills.

More people claim for medical treatment than for either cancellation costs or lost and stolen possessions.

The average cost of a claim for medical expenses on a travel insurance policy is £1,022 while an annual travel insurance policy costs an average of just £32.

Soo… you can see why it’s a really good idea to get travel insurance when you go away!

What sort should you get?

If you go away more than twice a year it’s a good idea to get an annual travel policy as that’s by far the cheapest.

Generally speaking, insurance policies for travel range between £15-150 (although it can be more if you have pre-existing medical issues). If you have more than two holidays a year, you are better off getting annual cover. But you might need even more expensive cover if you are doing things like extreme sports.

Bear in mind that the greater the ‘excess’ is, the lower your premium will be. (The excess is how much you agree to pay towards any claim you

make. So if the excess is £100, and you make a travel insurance claim of £2,000, you will pay the first £100). Insurers know you’re more likely to make small claims than big ones, but you will both make more if you don’t claim for small items. If you don’t claim for small items because of a high excess, you will retain your no-claims discount and next year’s premium won’t be increased. The best thing is to shop around on a comparison site or two such as Confused.com or Comparethemarket.com.

See our travel insurance article here about how to pick the best travel insurance for you. Also, if you have a paid-for bank account that includes travel insurance then of course use that. Do check first, though, that it covers what you need. Some of the insurance policies that come with bank accounts can be a bit basic, so check that it covers dangers sports etc if you’re going skiing or playing golf or similar.

• Cheapest is not always best – check the policy carefully to make sure it provides you with adequate cover.

• Keep a copy of the policy and take it with you – it is the legal contract between you and the insurance company.

• Make sure you also have the phone number you need to call in an emergency stashed away in a few places amongst your luggage.

• If you have an accident and you were drunk or on drugs at the time, your insurer will not cover you.

• If you have a pre-existing medical condition you must declare it when you apply for your insurance. If you don’t, your policy may be invalid, which means no claims will be paid –not to mention that lying in your application is in fact fraud!

• Invariably the best deals on travel insurance can be found online. If you’re going to use a comparison service, it’s probably worth having a look at more than one, just to make sure you’re getting the very best deal.

• Even the over 60s can get a good deal on their travel insurance; with more seniors travelling abroad than ever before, you should be able to find a competitive price for your policy too.

Travel insurance for over-65s

As we know, the average age of travellers is going up and up and finally insurers have caught up.

Standard travel insurance products often have restrictions when it comes to upper age limits and covering people with pre-existing medical conditions or disabilities.

But more specialist insurers have come into the market which offer policies for older people and those with pre-existing conditions, but do check other providers as the upper age limit varies from company to company.

For example, Marks & Spencer have no age limit on their single trip insurance except for people over 80 travelling to USA, Canada and the Caribbean Islands.

Equally Policy Expert cover up to the age of 79. They also have medical screening so you can still get travel insurance even if you have an existing medical condition.

But if you’re having a problem with your usual insurer, try one of the specialist insurers that cover people of any age and any medical background (well almost any) such as:

• Allclear.com - As long as you have permission to fly from your doctor, they’ll be able to cover you for just about any medical condition or disability when most insurers will refuse.

• Flexicover provides reasonable cover for those aged 65 and over – you’d be looking at around £90 for annual multi-trip cover in Europe, for example.

• Insure For Travel has some affordable policies for those in their early 70s – expect to pay around £60 for annual multi-trip cover in Europe.

• AgeUK offers travel insurance for the over 50s, as well as travel insurance with medical conditions. There is no upper age limit.

• Saga. Similarly, Saga offers travel insurance for the over 50s, as well as travel insurance with medical conditions. There is no upper age limit.

Remember though…

• It doesn’t always follow that travel insurance policies specifically designed for the over 60s are the cheapest – so don’t dismiss regular policies without checking them out first.

• There’s always a lot of competition between insurers, so (within reason) you can get bartering.

• You should remember to warn your insurer of any medical condition which arises once your policy has been taken out. If you don’t, your cover may be invalid.

• If you take a long-haul holiday two or three times a year, an annual travel insurance policy is likely to work out cheaper, particularly if it doesn’t increase its premiums for your pre-existing medical condition.

• Be aware that premiums for travel to the USA or Canada are always higher because of the extremely high cost of medical treatment in North America.

• Remember that while it’s always nice to get a bargain, cheapest is not always best, so make sure you check your policy carefully to see if it covers every eventuality

• If you injure yourself while under the influence of drink or drugs, your policy is unlikely to pay up.

You can get more information on travel insurance for the over-65s in our article here.

There are also lots of tips and money-saving hints in our article on perks for the over-60s here

Use a broker

If you’re having problems getting a policy from general insurers – they think you’re too much of a risk, or they’re trying to charge you an extortionate price – you should look for a specialist insurer. Head to the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) and look at their searchable database or give them a call on 0870 950 1790.

BIBA can direct you to extremely specialised brokers covering everything from cancer patients and the disabled to the over 85s. The great thing with using their service is that you will be put in touch with people who properly understand your particular condition, and who have the capability to tailor a policy to best suit your needs.

Get an EHIC card

I’m sure you know this already, but the EHIC card – European Health Insurance Card - gives you (almost) free health care in European countries.

It doesn’t replace insurance as it is pretty limited in what it offers…particularly in certain countries, and it’s likely that you will have to fork out for things like transport to and from a hospital, food in hospital and all sorts of other extras that are normal in some countries but a nasty surprise to us!

N.B DO NOT BE FOOLED by scam artists who are trying to charge people for this card (as you can see in this rip-off blog here). This card is FREE. You don’t have to pay a thing for it.

Just get it here

Car insurance

Never buy hire car insurance from the place where you are going to hire your car. They will want to charge you at least around £10 a day. By getting your own insurance online you can save a lot and can end up paying as little as £4.50 a day from sites like

• insurance4carhire.com

• worldwideinsure.com

• Protectyourbubble.com

CHAPTER 3

USING YOUR MOBILE ABROAD

As you probably already know to your cost, it’s possible to rack-up mobile bills of £100s when abroad. It can be a huge financial drain. But we are all so dependent on our phones nowadays that we have to find a way around it.

In many countries, you can get free roaming simply by swapping your Sim. Elsewhere, it may be best to keep your phone turned off completely or stick to free Wi-fi. Although there are various special packages that different providers are offering for those travelling abroad. It depends how much you’re keen to use your ‘roaming’ function and how many calls you will need to make, whether these options are worth it. See below for more details on those.

Cut costs abroad

• The first thing you must do when you travel abroad is to switch off ‘data roaming’ on your phone. That one act will save you a load of money as your phone ‘roams’ without you even realizing it.

• Anywhere you find free wifi (maybe in your hotel or in a café or museum) you can hook up to that and do your searching or emailing for free…or very cheap. Keep on the hunt for free wifi wherever you are. It’s hugely helpful.

• Be careful with voicemail. Outside the EU you can be charged £1 per minute just to receive them, with some providers, and another £1 per minute to listen to them. Check what your phone company charges before you go. EU regulations say your provider can’t charge you if someone leaves you a voicemail when you’re travelling in Europe. But you can be charged if you listen to it within Europe. Outside Europe it can be much more expensive. Some will even charge you if someone leaves you a voicemail, whether you listen to it or not.

If your network charges for this (and again, check before you go) it’s best just to switch of your voicemail for the whole trip.

Data roaming in Europe

If you’re visiting a European country the data roaming charges aren’t too bad, thanks to EU caps on the maximum fees. So if you’re in one of the 28 EU member states, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (but minus Switzerland), you won’t pay more than

• €0.19 per minute for outgoing calls

• €0.05 per min for incoming calls

• €0.06 for texts and €0.20MB for data.

Outside Europe, though, you really have to be careful. It can cost you

• £2.50 per minute for calls

• £8 per MB for data roaming

Keep in contact online

If you’ve got a smartphone and you know you’ll be able to access free wifi when you’re away, download the Skype app before you go. If the person you’re calling also has Skype, then you can call them for free.

Also, a service called Rebtel enables you to make cheap or even free calls via normal landlines or mobiles. This means you could use your hotel room phone with their code.

Even if you just have your laptop and can access free wifi then you can call using Skype. Sit in your hotel room, access the (I hope and expect) free hotel wifi (if it isn’t free, move!) and chat to your friends through your laptop’s microphone or a headset that you attach to it. Simples.

See our article to find out more about VoIP services, providers and an explanation of how it all works.

Get a local SIM card

If you’re planning on making and receiving quite a lot of calls, a cheap option is to buy a local SIM card when you get to the country you’re visiting. It will give you a foreign phone number and anyone in the UK calling you will be charged international rates for calling, but it will be cheaper for you to make calls in the country and back home.

Also, it’s usually free to receive texts anywhere worldwide, so ask friends to message you rather than calling you. Sending texts can be expensive (up to £1 a go) so make those short and few and far between!

You can find out where to get local SIM cards here. Remember you will need to have an unlocked phone where you can swap your usual SIM for the new, temporary one.

International SIM cards

If you want to take your mobile phone travelling with you, it’s really easy and a lot cheaper to buy an international SIM card for multiple countries.

An international SIM card will cost you around from about a fiver to more like £30 to buy, but they usually include free minutes in the cost.

These SIM cards are worth having as you won’t be charged for receiving calls or messages while you’re away, and they can often be cheaper when it comes to outgoing calls and texts to the UK.

Compare prices and call rates, including any specials with free calls or texts included. It’s important to compare carefully all the charges made by both your network and the international SIM providers to make sure you get the best deal.

The main international SIM providers are:

Go SIM

Their International SIM works in over 195 countries so it’s very useful if you’re travelling somewhere exotic. It costs £15 and includes $10 in airtime credit. Rates start from 12p per MB depending where you are. It’s a pay-as-you-go product so you only pay for what you use.

Dataroam

Their International Pre-Paid Data SIM is sold as a data bundle and can be used in over a hundred countries. It costs £14.99 and comes preloaded with 50 MB of data.

Simplyroam

Their Global Data SIM costs £4.99 and costs about 6p per MB for data. You buy bundles depending on where you’re going - Europe, Business Traveller and Globetrotter. Its roaming charges aren’t as cheap as Dataroam’s, but Simplyroam covers a lot more countries and it has a lower upfront cost

Use your provider’s special deals

Depending on which provider you’re with, you may be able to get really cheap calls when you’re abroad. Also, even if your own provider doesn’t offer anything really good value, you may be able to piggy-back on another company’s offers by getting their SIM cards.

3

The ‘Feel at Home’ service from 3’ allows contract and pay-as-you-go users to use their normal allowance of minutes, texts and data abroad in 18 countries.

Even if you’re not a usual customer, you can get a free PAYG Sim from their website. You will then need to use your credit to buy a ‘3’ add-on bundle of calls, texts and data which cost from £5 to £25. ‘Feel at Home’ works automatically when you arrive in any of the 18 countries. You will be able to use the allowance in your add-on the same way as in the UK.

Vodafone

If you’re with Vodafone, you can pay £3 per day to use your usual price plan in Europe. You are only charged for the days you use your phone. You can receive calls for free.

O2

If you’re on a contract with O2 you can pay £1.99 per day to get unlimited data in Europe.

Pay-as-you-go customers get 50MB per day. There are extra costs for calls and texts.

• For making and receiving calls, you’ll be charged a 50p per call connection fee.

• You can then talk for up to 60 minutes per call.

• Texts cost 5p each.

EE, Orange and Talkmobile

With these three phone companies you can pay per day for cheap add-ons if you’re in European countries

• unlimited calls and texts to European num-

bers while abroad in Europe for a flat rate of £2/day

• pay £3/day can get a 50MB daily allowance in the EU. Or you can get a higher allowance of 100MB for £5.

Download maps before you go or use Wi-fi

Another way to save on your phone is to download online maps before you go. You can get Google Maps on iOS, Android and Windows Phone and use them offline. You don’t need data for the GPS function on a smartphone so you can find your way without paying roaming fees. Many travel apps work like thi and some, like the app from Time Out, include reviews.

CHAPTER 4

PROTECT YOUR STUFF

In most holiday destinations, there’s no reason to suspect you’re in any more danger than in the UK. Having said that, when you’re somewhere unfamiliar and you’re obviously not one of the locals, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

A document wallet is a really good idea if you’ll be staying in hostels or more budget hotels that don’t have a safe. They fit comfortably and easily under your clothes, without being obvious.

Make sure you make copies of all your essential documentation, take some with you and leave some with friends or relatives at home. Just to be extra safe, it’s worth scanning the copies and emailing them to yourself. That way, you’ll always have access to them in an emergency.

Vaccinate before you go

You should also check at least six weeks before you travel whether or not you’ll need any vaccinations or specific medical precautions for your destination. You can find out how to get information on vaccinations and other health advice for whichever country you are travelling to on the NHS website

The Government’s ‘Know Before You Go’ advice is helpful to remind you of how to stay safe when abroad and reduce the likelihood of accidents or medical emergencies.

EXTRA TIPS

Get the inside track on local food

Pick up the latest travel guides from Lonely Planet, Rough Guides or Let’s Go and see what they say about eating. Most will give you an idea of those tourist-centred places where you’re bound to get ripped off, and instead direct you to cheaper, nicer places that will give you more of a local experience. You can also book abroad with OpenTable and gain points that will help you towards a free meal.

Speak the lingo for free

You can download a free phrasebook on to your mobile phone, iPod or iPhone from Coolgorilla. You can either learn them by listening to them or simply play the relevant phrase out loud to the person you are trying to communicate with. Languages available are French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Get your guide book out of the library instead of paying for a new one

This can save you £10 plus, especially if you are going to several destinations with a different guide for each. You can sort out extended loans on books if you are going to be away longer than the loan period, or just renew online. If you want recommendations from people who have really been there and done it, there are some great review sites that also have online travel guides. Check out:

• Trip Advisor

• Virtual Tourist

• Worldreviewer

If you love a bit of gossip…

Check out Gridskipper.com. This is a travel blog full of quirky bits of information on various cities around the world. There are blog entries for New

York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Berlin, Washington DC, Sydney, Tokyo and San Francisco so if you’re going to visit any of these cities it’s well worth a look.

If you need some travel safety advice…

... it’s a good idea to check with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before you go. There is a travel advice section so that you’re aware of any precautions you should take and any local customs and laws. There is also a thorough checklist so you can make sure you haven’t forgotten anything important.

Watch your Baggage

One sure-fire way to put a downer on your holiday is to find yourself forking out to your airline for excess baggage charges. To avoid this, always be sure to pack light.

Buy a light suitcase (you’d be amazed how heavy some can be), and remember, the amount of stuff you take away is never going to be the same as the amount that you bring back.

If you plan on hitting the shops for a few souvenirs, make sure you have space for them.

If you’re going somewhere that is great for clothes shopping (New York for example) you could leave some clothes at home, and do your summer shopping while on holiday.

And see what other ideas we have for saving and even making money when you’re abroad here.

Check out Moneymagpie.com for more ideas

… and get a free eBook when you sign up for our free weekly newsletter here