Flights - I took recommendations for friends in Crete as they get to hear about deals from earlu visitors. I spend long hours on flight price comparison sites. I finally narrowed it down to two airlines. Easyjet and Aegean. I found the days which were most affordable and arrange my holiday around them. This saved us hundreds on booking our up front date preferences. I eventually booked flights out with Easyjet from Gatwick, one day later than intended. On the way back we are flying with Aegean to Heathrow. I wasn't so careful with my parents flights as they are happy to pay the extra to fit their dates. I got the kids tickets half price by choosing flights that arrive at 4am but they are happy with the times and it worries them not.
Transport on the island - there are few buses and none are near our house, there are no trains, you can;t walk very far in 40 degrees. We went for car hire. We get a good deal any (about 25% cheaper than Easyjets car hire company) but we made sure to get the right size car for the number of visitors and not pay extra rental or extra fuel for carrying a too big car around with us.
Airport parking - Cant be done. We fly out of Gatwick and back to Heathrow, so airports are 40 miles apart. We looked at taxi far but because we don't all travel together its too expensive. Trainfare was even more than taxi. We are going with National Express buses. If we book near the travel date then it is between £50 and £72 each way per person. If we book now it is £14 & £17 per person. No contest.
With Easyjet we maxed out everyones luggage allowance. We will be nine in total but the couples all feel one case between them is enough so I get 5 or 6 cases to fill with things to go to the house. That will save me a whole lot of re-purchasing of things we already have.
It is definitely not cheapo but I think I did my best and maybe we will be brave and rent it our through the winter, start making it pay for itself a bit
Is that a picture of the town your house is in?
ReplyDeleteAll sounds good Lizzie...renting it out for the winter sounds like a good idea :)
ReplyDeleteHi Daizy
ReplyDeleteOur village is just up the road. This is the village where we met and used to live but sadly it was out of our price range.
Hi Laura
I am trying to be sensible about it. Maybe if I try it once and we don't have problems I will be more at ease with the idea.
Lizzie