A FILOFACTS ON … TRAVEL
Some of this is old material from the Filofacts vaults but updated from best travel sites lists in Times, 29.1.13 and Inde august 2013.
Some work still to do. I might break it up into sections. Meanwhile, you could break it up into sections. Attempting index below … ok, it’s worked but numbers refer to printed pages. Come back later for a more sophisticated arrangement.
ACCOMMODATION, 1
AIRPORTS, 4
APPS, 4
BEACHES, 5
CRUISING, 6
CYCLING, 7
EATING, 7
FERRIES, 8
FLIGHTS, 10
GUIDES, 13
INSURANCE, 14
KIT, 15
LONDON & UK, 15
LUGGAGE, 18
MONEY, 18
MOTORING, 20
PHONES, 21
PREPARATION & PACKAGES, 21
TRAINS, 24
TRAVEL NEWS, 25
USA, 26
WEATHER, 26
ACCOMMODATION
(patrick collinson, gdn 25.8.12, says try hotel website too, before booking)
hotelscombined.com –Times’s first choice
hotels.com and expedia.com (same ownership)
booking.com
thehotelguru.com … sawdays.com … travelintelligence.com – opinionated guides
meethalfway.com – designed to find venues for guests/delegates coming from all directions
i-escape.com – boutique hotels, b&bs and houses to rent
slh.com – small luxury hotels
mrandmrssmith.com – as above
thewowhousecompany.co.uk – big bash venues
couchsurfing.org – hippie swappies
housetrip.com – private homes to rent
airbnb.co.uk – as above
craigslist.com and housetrip.com – private lets advertised
homesitters.co.uk and camelotproperty.com – cheap lets for house-minding
Home Swaps
from S Times via The Week
homeexchange.com -152 countries; £72 a yr.
homeexchangegold.com – top properties; £310 a yr.
homelink.org.uk – big in uk; £115 a yr.
swapymycitypad.com – £40 a yr.
i-escape.com – “privately owned and stylish” accommodation of all kinds
campinmygarden.com – pitches for festivals etc
coolcamping.co.uk
canopyandstars.co.uk – boats, yurts, caravans, etc.
hostelworld.com and hostelz.com – backpacker stops
hotwire.com … lastminute.com …. laterooms.com … lowcostbeds.com … discounthotels.com – discount specialists
quikbook.com –USA specialist
cntraveller.com – condé nast guide
fivestaralliance.com
exclusivehotels.co.uk
lhw.com – leading hotels of world
avantgardehotels.com – interesting comes first
uhotw.com – unusual hotels of world, for castles, caves, etc
sofitel.com – international luxury chain
swallowhotels.com – middling hotels chain
ibishotel.com and hiexpress.co.uk – budget chains
charmingsmallhotels.com – telegraph guide
house swaps:
intervac.co.uk … homebase-hols.com … homelink.org … slowtrav.com … gumtree.com … vivastreet.com … kijiji.com
old but check …
citadines.com for serviced apartments, or
sacoapartments.co.uk
lsevacations.co.uk for cheap london b& b in college holidays
london hotels …
londonreservations.net
berkeleypark.co.uk – has free parking and is near heathrow airport.
cheapish chain hotels in London:
belvedere rd se1 from
premiertravelinn.com;
southwark st se1 from
hiexpress.co.uk;
gypsy corner w3 from
encorelondonwest.co.uk;
also see
travelodge.co.uk.
old but check …
matchhotels.com is football specialist
**
AIRPORTS
aph.com – airport parking and hotels
ifly.com – airport guides
**
APPS
sun teleg may 20 2012:
National Rail Enquiries released an official app this month. Just like the website (nationalrail.co.uk), it includes schedule information, and also shows live departures and delays for any station. It is free and available on Apple and android devices, though there’s a £4.99 upgrade fee if you want a version without ads. Rail Planner (sprite-dynamics.com; £4.99) does a similar job for Windows Phone.
- Train apps by Masabi (masabi.com) are an even better bet. Although these are branded for individual operators, you can use them to get tickets and timetables for any UK train. All their apps are free, run without ads and work on most phones with colour screens. These apps don’t charge a booking fee, even if you use a credit card, and commuters will love a facility that pinpoints your platform before it appears on station departure boards. Their best apps, for Trans Pennine and CrossCountry, also offer ticketless travel via on-phone “mTickets” for many advance purchases and allow you to book complex journeys, with multiple passengers and railcards.
- It can be cheaper to divide a train journey into two tickets, known as “ticket splitting”. A new app called Tickety Split Lite (iPhone; free) calculates when a split ticket costs less. For example, buying two singles, from Manchester to Cheltenham then Cheltenham to Bristol, could cost £62 instead of £75 for a Manchester-Bristol journey, on exactly the same train without the need to leave your seat. For non-Apple users there’s the mobile-enabled website, splitticket.moneysavingexpert.com.
- Bus travel is also easier by app: no more waiting at the stop hoping you haven’t just missed the last bus for ages. London Bus Checker (buschecker.com; iPhone, android; £1.99) locates you on a map, and shows the nearest stops, plus live departure information for buses due at each. A free upgrade, to become UK Bus Checker, is planned before the Olympic Games.
- On Windows Phone, Next Bus UK (trafficandtravel.net; £1.49) performs a similar task, though not quite so elegantly.
- Outside London, bus apps use a mix of live and timetable data provided by Traveline (traveline.info). Buses Due (Windows Phone) works in London only, and is free. London Tube Deluxe (mbarclay.net/tubedeluxe; iPhone; 69p) is a useful for navigating the London Underground.
- Taxis aren’t getting left behind either. Gone are the days of standing in the street with an outstretched arm, in London at least. With GetTaxi (gettaxi.co.uk; iPhone, android, Blackberry; free), you can summon a cab, get an instant estimated arrival time, and watch on a map as it gets closer. There are no extra charges, and you can pay with cash or credit you have pre-loaded onto the app. More than 1,000 London cabbies are signed up and GetTaxi plans to roll into more cities “this year”.
- Hailo (hailocab.com; iPhone, android; free) runs a similar service, with 4,000 London black-cab drivers, and is also looking into Blackberry and Windows Phone releases. Response times for central London average around five minutes. Just don’t leave your phone in the back of the cab.
- reader comment:
- Hailo is excellent in the Capital, but for journeys in and especially out of London, I’d recommend
http://taxiroute.co.uk – that has iOS, Windows Phone and a facebook app. It gives you the Hackney carriage fare between 2 locations, so you know what a fair price is.
**
BEACHES
10 beautiful beaches
chosen by Tom Bell, editor of
goodbeachguide.co.uk
for teleg, march 08:
Redpoint North, Gairloch, Wester Ross
Rhosneigr Beach, Isle of Anglesey
Rhossili Bay, Gower Peninsula, South Wales
Silver Sands, Aberdour, Fife
Croyde Bay, North Devon
Burgh Island, Bigbury, Devon
Holy Island, Northumberland
Porthmeor Beach, St Ives, Cornwall
Magilligan Strand, Benone, Londonderry
Hemsby Beach, Winterton-on-Sea, Norfolk
**
CRUISING
See http://tinyurl.com/q7yvdag
for a separate Filofacts on cruising, including a Teleg guide to offbeat cruises.
discovercruises.co.uk – run by the passenger shippg assn
cruise.co.uk – indie guide
cruisecritic.co.uk – a TripAdvisor spin-off
old but maybe still good …
teleg guide to river cruises march 2010:
teleg guide to cruise companies august 09:
cruiseselect.co.uk – Fred Olsen
cruise1st.co.uk – royal caribbean
voyanacruise.com – bargains
strandtravel.co.uk
and
cruisepeople.co.uk
specialise in putting passengers on cargo ships
berlitzpublishing.com
does The Complete Guide To Cruising & Cruise Ships
seafarercruises.com is a specialist in small ship and yacht cruises
scottish cruises:
themajesticline.co.uk
0131 623 5012
**
CYCLING
Bikely.com – cyclists swap route info
sustrans.org.uk
**
EATING
chowhound.com – mainly usa
eater.com – usa
toptable.co.uk
**
FERRIES
old but check …
ferrycheap.com does offers
seat61.com does combined rail/ferry offers
also see ferrywebsites.co.uk … ferryto.com … ferrybooker.com … ferrysaver.com … ferrysale.com … directferries.co.uk/offers.htm … speedferries.com is a budget channel-hop specialist
channel crossing:
dover-calais 90 mins w seafrance.com or poferries.com
dover-boulogne 55 mins w speedferries.com
portsmouth-cherbourg 180m w brittanyferries.com
newhaven-dieppe 180m w transmanche
folkestone-calais by eurotunnel 35m
BrittanyFerries.com: Portsmouth to Caen, Cherbourg, St Malo … Poole to Cherbourg … Plymouth-Roscoff
CondorFerries.com: Poole and Weymouth to St Malo … Portsmouth-Cherbourg
dfdsseaways.co.uk for newcastle-amsterdam
and harwich-esbjerg
irishferries.co.uk for britain-dublin
LDLines.co.uk: Newhaven or Portsmouth to Le Havre
NorfolkLine.com: Dover-Dunkerque
Poferries.com: Dover-Calais
Seafrance.com: Dover-Calais
SpeedFerries.com: Dover-Boulogne
stenaline.co.uk – harwich-hoek and rail-sail deals from london to holland
TransmancheFerries.com: Portsmouth-St Malo and Newhaven to Dieppe (much cheaper than Portsmouth routes).
To Spain
Portsmouth-Bilbao w P&O
Plymouth to Santander w Brittany: 32 hrs
portsmouth-santander in 24 hrs w brittany fm april 09
To Low Countries
Newcastle-Amsterdam w DFDS.
Rosyth-Zeebrugge w Superfast.
Ramsgate-Ostend w Transeuropa
Hull-Zeebrugge/Rotterdam w P &O
To Channel Isles
Weymouth-Guernsey w Condor
Portsmouth, Poole or Weymouth to Jersey w Condor
To Denmark
harwich-esbjerg w dfds.co.uk
To Iceland
iceland-faroes-shetland (about 30 hours all through):
smyril.ferries.org
To Ireland
Holyhead to Dublin or Dun Laoghaire: 1.5 hrs w Stena or Irish
Fishguard or Pembroke to Rosslare: 3.45h w Irish
Swansea-Cork: 10 hrs w Swansea-Cork (suspended service, 2007)
L’pool-Dublin: 8h w P&O or Norfolkline
Troon-Larne w P&O
Scottish ferries
Calmac.co.uk for Western Isles
Northlinkferries.co.uk for Shetland/Orkney
**
FLIGHTS
short cut:
dialaflight – 020 8225 0066
notes from the vaults: there is no surefire way to the cheapest fare and the cheapest fare can have costs in leg-room, meals, excess luggage etc … agents put packages together to try to beat the market and “screenscrapers” search agents for the best deals … neither is infallible … a live travel agent might help pin down possible dates, routes, and packages …
airlinedestinations.co.uk lists is a good first check on possibilities – who flies fm whr, searchable by region
Flightmapping.com gives a-to-b info in graphic form
then get ballpark figs from the likes of
skyscanner.net or skyscanner.com
cheapflights.co.uk
flycheapo.com
opodo.co.uk – searches charters as well as schedules
expedia.co.uk does the same and is good on “open jaw” tickets (fly to one airport and back from another), which are cheaper than two one-ways but hard to find. Other specialists in this option are:
travelocity.co.uk – said to be good on long-haul bargains if you are flexible re dates
statravel.com – was a student travel specialist and is said to be good on point-to-point travel, as opposed to standard out-and-back
Other contenders …
Travelsupermarket.co.uk
Traveljungle.co.uk
travelzoo.co.uk
travelbag.co.uk
kayak.com
sidestep.com
lastminute.com
ebookers.com
mobissimo.com
momondo.com
adioso.com
skypicker.com
momondo.com
a2btravel.com
sidestep.com
kelkoo.co.uk
openjet.com
lowcostairlines.org
flycheapo.com: europe only
whichbudget.com
moneysavingexpert.com/flightchecker
and if really getting serious …
gooflight.com finds the cheapest way between two points in Europe, switching airlines if necessary and …
flightscanner.biz is a commercial service for travel agents
but for long-haul, and for quicker answers, and for flight-accom. packages, try brokers like …
trailfinders.com
expedia.co.uk
ebookers
travelocity.com
airline-network.co.uk
travelbag.co.uk
likely extra costs to check …
fuel supplement
passenger duty
ticket-on-departure charge (for late bookgs)
in-flight meal charge
costs of getting fm airport to destination
charge for credit card instead of debit card
booking fees, for using the phone
boarding rules for on-line check-in
deep research at …
airlinemeals.net
ifly.com – airport guides
airlinequality.com for standards of seats, food, etc
seatguru.com for seat numbering maps
Oag.com – Official Airline Guide
Airwise.com – complete schedules for airports and airlines around the world – plus an airport guide
Professionals subscribe to a guide to ticket sources from
globalguidebook.net/
Air passengers’ rights:
Ec regulation 261/2004
**
GUIDES
tourist-offices.org.uk – links to official sites round the world
spottedbylocals.com – bloggers introduce their cities
oyster.com – pro alternative to tripadvisor
travellerspoint.com – forum
lonelyplanet.com/thorntree – forum
inyourpocket.com – web version of established printed city guides
rough guides are aimed at penny-pinchers
lonely planet guides are aimed at backpackers
Time Out guides are more about going out
Cadogan guides are more upmarket
insideragency.com for links to local human guides
gridskipper.com majors on the alt. side of cities
boo.com is strong on cheap accommodation
wikitravel.org aims to build an encyclopaedia for travellers
I’vebeenthere.co.uk/places – guardian readers’ tips
telegraph.co.uk/destinations – telegraph city guides
guardian.co.uk/travel – guardian travel archive
whatsonwhen.com for events worldwide
shiphappens.co.uk – cruise criticism
travelfish.org – s.e. asia
contexttravel.com – serious backgrounders
old but check …
walkit.com for city directions
(see also London)
podcast guides from travelstreet.com …. soundwalk.com … soundsforsights.com … digitalpodcast.com … podcast.net
**
INSURANCE
Make sure it includes comprehensive medical and repatriation cover.
Make sure it covers you for all activities, including hazardous sports.
Disclose pre-existing medical conditions.
Take your policy number and the 24-hour emergency number with you.
Teleg says: Experts recommend having cover for £2m of medical expenses, £1m personal liability, £3,000 cancellation cover and £1,500 baggage cover.
Gdn, 5.9.9, says older people with pre-existing medical conditions can get cover from
ehicplus.com (assumes u hv european health insurance card)
advertises may 2010 in sun tel for insurance for “thousands of medical conditions”
holiday car hire insurance:
moneymaxim.co.uk is guide to best deals
holidayautos.co.uk offers cheap excess cover
carhire3000 has had special offers on it
insure against payouts thro
dailyexcess.com
insurance4carhire.com
questor-insurance.co.uk
worldwideinsure.com
**
KIT
ifsogo.com
Stanfords.co.uk – maps and more
Nomadtravel.co.uk
travelhealth.co.uk
**
LONDON & UK
bhrc.co.uk – british hotel reservation centre
smoothhound.co.uk – indie b&b at all levels
English-inns.co.uk – pubs
farmstay.co.uk – farms
yha.org.uk – hostels
special-escapes.co.uk and cottagehols.co.uk are self-catering specialists
i-escape.com – offbeat hols
holidaypad.net – alternative digs
interhome.co.uk – pets welcome
thebigdomain.co.uk – rentals for 12-plus
thelittledomain.co.uk – two- berth rentals
londonist.com – guide
secret-london.co.uk – guide
thenudge.com – guide
golondon.about.com – guide
sustrans.org.uk – cycle routes
thefestivalcalendar.co.uk
whats-on-guide.co.uk
http://tinyurl.com/bookfair1 – book festivals
spottedbylocals.com – bloggers introduce their cities
thenudge.com – on London
londontransport.co.uk and/or thetube.com
lsevacations.co.uk for cheap london b& b in college holidays
goodbeachguide.co.uk – Marine Conservation Society guide
old but check …
walkit.com for city directions
touristnetuk.com
toptable.co.uk (restaurant deals)
visionofbritain.org.uk
old but check …
londonreservations.net
berkeleypark.co.uk:
has free parking and is near heathrow airport
cheapish chain hotels in London:
belvedere rd se1 from
premiertravelinn.com;
southwark st se1 from
hiexpress.co.uk;
gypsy corner w3 from
encorelondonwest.co.uk;
old but check …
rough trade record shop, w11:
020 7229 8541
uk record shops directory at spinningwax.com/
whatsonstage.com:
for London theatre
events24.com includes cinema
londontouristboard.com
londontown.com
officiallondontheatre.co.uk
old but check …
travelengland.org.uk
visitscotland.com
visitwales.com
waterscape.com for boat hols
garden-links.ndo.co.uk
rspb.org.uk/reserves
plantlife.org.uk – flowers guide
Nationaltrail.co.uk – long-distance walks
naturalengland.org.uk/visitors
snh.org.uk/nnr-scotland
ccw.gov.uk/places/
countrysideaccess.gov.uk
countrywalks.defra.gov.uk
forestry.gov.uk
nationaltrust.org.uk
**
LUGGAGE
In D. Tel. 24.8.13, Steve Hawkes reports on a survey by Which Travel? pointing out it is often cheaper to use a specialist luggage courier rather than paying to go over the allowance on a budget airline. But it requires a bit of forward planning.
Couriers include SendmyBag, FetchMy and the Luggage Delivery Company.
travelwithcare.com sells locks which security staff can open.
**
MONEY
Latest post on this …
Emma Simon, Your Money, Teleg. 13.7.13, has worked with Travelsupermarket.com to check costs of using plastic abroad. Best bet all round is a debit card on a Norwich & Peterborough account, which would charge £428 to withdraw 500 Euros in cash, in one go or instalments. Some banks would charge £450.
Short of opening a new bank account, you can use a Halifax Clarity Credit to get the same bill for £500 of spending but cash on a credit card costs extra.
Halfway up the table of costliness, pre-paid cards are a good compromise solution, with some advantages in security.
previously:
xe.com – currency conversions and purchases
travellers’ cheques still have some advantages – try M&S
get pre-paid plastic in local currencies from:
mytravelcash.com
fairfx.com
cashpassport.com (travelex)
get cash from:
travelmoneyservices.co.uk
iceplc.com
bestforeignexchange.com
travelmoneymax.com
debit cards are cheaper than credit cards but credit cards offer insurance.
check card costs at uswitch.com
try also
moneysavingexpert.com/foreigncharge
saga & nationwide hv bn best in past
try m&s for travel cheques
international money transfers
globalwebpay – new cut-price competitor
hifx.co.uk
currenciesdirect.com
**
MOTORING
insurance:
holiday car hire insurance:
icarhireinsurance.com
moneymaxim.co.uk is guide to best deals
holidayautos.co.uk offers cheap excess cover
carhire3000 has had special offers on it
insure against payouts thro
dailyexcess.com
insurance4carhire.com
questor-insurance.co.uk
worldwideinsure.com
route planning:
Nick Trend, Tel, 16.6.12, on alcohol limits for driving abroad …
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-advice/9338731/Driving-abroad-k
Route planning …
theaa.com
rac.co.uk/route-planner
viamichelin.co.uk
routes.tomtom.com
maps.google.co.uk
greenflag.com
**
PHONES
needs updating but old notes say …
* A dual sim-card adapter, around £10, could enable your phone to take calls on your usual number but call out on the local network .
* Ask your phone company about special offers on “roaming”.
* Get a temporary number in the country or countries you are going to by buying a pre-paid card from
0044.co.uk or
Sim4travel.com
* Check costs at onecompare.com/
**
PREPARATION & PACKAGES
* go mid-day, mid-week, to avoid queues and get best prices
* early July is cheaper than late July; late August is cheaper than early August; and Whitsun (mid-June) is cheaper than high summer
* busiest fortnight of the year is last 2 weeks in June
rome2rio.com – possible routes from a to b
theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp – goes beyond uk
aito.co.uk – assn of inde tour operators
lastminute.com – bargain packages
hipmunk.com – new contender
travelfusion.com – subscribers’ site for business-class travellers?
intrepidtravel.com – aussie-run adventures
viator.com – offbeat experiences
greentraveller.co.uk – Europe without flying
weather2travel.com
accuweather.com
walkjogrun.net – downloadable footslogging maps
theweekenders.co.uk – short breaks
501places.com – travel blogger’s guide
gov.uk/foreign-traveladvice-guide – foreign and comm. office advice
get European Health Insurance Card from ehic.org.uk (or get form fm post office)
cdc.gov/travel – American guide to health risks and precautions
masta.org represents private clinics offering a traveller service
http://traveline.info/ – uk public transport
here follows an old list which might still be useful:
for bargain offers … Mobissimo.com … expedia.com is now a veteran … ebookers.com is a big rival … teletext.co.uk is nice and simple … latedeals.com and lastminute.com specialise in cancellations … blacktomato.co.uk has picked up a lot of praise for offbeat package organisation … bargainholidays.co.uk … otbeach.com … travelsupermarket.com …
kayak.com (for budget travellers)… cheapflights.co.uk … trailfinders.com … expedia.co.uk … travelocity.com … travelbag.co.uk … kuoni.co.uk … travelzoo.com … onlinetravel.com … lowcostholidays.com … packyourbags.com.
High St gone online: thomascook.com … thomson.co.uk … firstchoice.co.uk …
Abta membership: check provider for abta membership and insurance at abta.com
specialists: itcclassics.co.uk and jod.uk.com (journeys of distinction) and vjv.com (voyages jules verne) specialise in interesting rather than cheap …
travelcounsellors.com gives you travel agents working from home … slowtrav.com specialises in stop-and-savour tours
audleytravel.com is an exotic locations specialist (africa etc) … so are regent-holidays.co.uk and expertafrica.com and transindus.co.uk (china etc) … and latinamerica.co.uk … and pettitts.co.uk (india etc) and somak.co.uk (africa, china etc)
aito.co.uk and realholiday.co.uk list independent specialist travel agents …
trailfinders.com has human back-up … statravel.co.uk was a student travel specialist and is said to be v. good on point-to-point travel, as opposed to standard out-and-back … responsibletravel.com and ethicalescape.co.uk tryto do it Right … rovos.co.za for vintage plane travel
holidayaccessdirect.com for the disabled … solotravelonline.com or singlesholidays.com for the single … or solitairhols.com … thelmaandlouise.com for females … companions2travel.co.uk tries to link up people planning the same trips
AUSTRALIA: austravel.com or bridgeandwickers.co.uk
Aussie internal budget airline is jetstar.com
FAR EAST: coxandkings.co.uk
CHINA: sanyachinatravel.com
**
SKI
skiclub.co.uk
welove2ski.com
**
TRAINS
seat61.com – the original online guide to railways of Europe and beyond, by mark smith
trainline.com
redspottedhanky.com
some of the rest is old and needs checking …
for railway maps:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/maps.aspx
or buy a Thomas Cook map via Amazon
for London see
londontransport.co.uk and/or thetube.com
railcards at £20 are worthwhile if you are going to spend at least £60 on standard fares
railcard.co.uk/
see railchoice.co.uk for a selection of all-in passes
tip: if you hold a discount card, check offers without it – system has been known to glitch …
eurotunnel.com for car train thro Chunnel
eurostar.com for passenger services to Paris or Brussels
raileurope.co.uk for info on tickets and passes for 31 countries, including Eurostar services
euro-network guide:
railteam.eu/en/
specialist Great Rail Journeys at greatrail.com
sun tel guide to 5-star rail journeys (16/9/07):
bahn.co.uk hs good euro timetables esdp. for germany, scandinavia, central and eastern europe.
french trains
voyages-sncf.fr
(click the union flag for translation or see english version at raileurope.co.uk):
good for france, switz, italy, spain.
see also idgtv.com?
see Thomascookpublishing.com for the Independent Travellers’ Edition of the European Rail Timetable
aussie trains … bridgeandwickers.co.uk
indian trains … gwtravelco.uk
the rockies explorer … titanhitours.co.uk
andean highlights tour … orient-express.com
**
TRAVEL NEWS
your-hols.com
skift.com
gadling.com
**
UK
see London and UK
**
USA
zoom.com is new budget line fm gatwick
check covacations.co.uk for new york packages
check titanhitours.co.uk for canada packs
check travelsphere.co.uk for california tours
rv hire via cruiseamerica.com
funwayholidays.co.uk and americanavacations.com are us package specialists
New York:
check nymag.com for guide
check for sample sales in garment district
saksfifthavenue.com is a must
anthropologie.com for homeware – w broadway
see nycgo.com for deals on hotels, broadway shows and restaurants
WEATHER
weather2travel.com
accuweather.com
bbc.co.uk/weather
