Travel Page 9

Holidays & Accommodation

Airbnb

icelolly.com Great website to compare package holidays or here at  Travel Supermarket

VisitBritain

F.C.O.  Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice by country F.C.O. Embassies Make a note of your holiday destination embassy BEFORE travelling IATA website with the latest international travel requirements

NHS Medical travel advice by country and       here             Travel Health Notices from CDC

Apply for the European Health Insurance Card GHIC (previously EHIC)

Travel Abroad (Step by Step Guide) .Gov website  e.g.

Pyramid Travel Shop Shop online for travel accessories

Travelling to USA then click ESTA  US$14 - beware of websites that charge more    e-Visa for Turkey New rules from 2014     Check TravelVisaCo for more info. on Visas or     here

ETIAS New EU Visa regulations

Travel Safe Spain Official up to date entry requirements

Tour Operators      1.Tui/First Choice    2. Jet2 Holidays    3. AITO Note that the first 2 operators are the main travel companies operating in the UK - most other companies are subsidiaries. The AITO website lists all the other independent travel companies.

Hotels Combined  &  HotelsComparison & Tripadvisor   Use these 3 to find hotel accommodation in Europe and the rest of the World    B&B's Use to search UK

ProtectMyHoliday Useful website to insure against airline failure if you're not booking a package holiday 

Hostels  Use the search for Youth Hostels around the world. FarmStayUK Home cooking in superb rural locations

Travel Money Compare Use to find the best deal  Currency Convert pounds into Euros and vice-versa

Google Maps Great site for UK and worldwide maps, also try bing maps including satellite overlays from Microsoft

See customer reviews of what your resort is really like at TripAdvisor and FodorsOnline Worldwide City Guides are available at Time Out

Plug Adapters Check here to see which ones to take on holiday

OMIO Brilliant site for travel options point to point

Road Travel

Car hire sites      1. Avis    2. Europcar    3. Hertz    4. HolidayAutos    5. Dollar     6. Alamo   also try either industry leading comparison website Kayak or the excellent CarRentals for independent local car hire firms                           MoneyMaxim Compare excess costs by taking out an insurance policy - from 3 Euros/day or try another great company is Questor Insurance (recommended by Which Travel)

Zest Car Hire  - Which? Magazine recommended broker comparison website

Vehicle Recall Check Use this website to check if your car has a recall notice    Check E10 fuel GOV.UK. to see if your car is compatible (currently E5) V5C Change address

Travelling Abroad Click here for best advice    GOV.UK. Click here to generate a code for car hire 

International Driving Permit  Buy from the Post Office for £5.50 - lasts 12 months   Required for certain countries AA website lists those countries

French Air Quality Certificate Apply here for mandatory certificate

Traveline Very good site for public transport travel planning.

BusTimes a great site with real time monitoring and covers all of UK

National Express Bus Book Tickets online Scottish Citylink Bus Book Tickets online (Print ticket or postage free!!)

1. AA    2.  ViaMichelin  UK and European Route Planners

TrafficScotland road cameras or here for weather    TrafficEngland road cameras (tick box)   TrafficWales road cameras (click CCTV button)

Motorway Cams Very useful with Google data showing traffic speeds    Also available by Motorway

Transport for London Road cams - click on menu to change options

Sustrans Cycle routes around the UK  with cycle routes and postcode search

Rail Travel

RailEurope (Was Loco2 until Nov 2019) Buy cheapest (split-fare) tickets (small charge for service)

RedSpottedHanky Great websites! - No fees and free postage Trans-Pennine Express Great site for buying tickets Promotions Listed by region Ticket Alert  Be notified when tickets are available to buy

MegaTrain

Signal Box  Live map view of trains across UK network

Delay Repay Compensation scheme for 30mins delays     Find recent train times here         RealTimeTrains Great resource for past 7 days and 90 days ahead

Split Tickets Use this website to make savings - now includes advance fares Autumn 2014   Split My Fare

The Trainline Another very good value for buying European train tickets

Train Taxi Website listing taxi company contact details at each station

PlusBus Add bus travel to your rail journey

National Rail Enquiries Live Departure Boards Train departure information that updates every 2 minutes Exeter also try here with real time boards (Exeter St Davids)

Rail Canterbury Buy tickets for European travel from a company with more than 60 years experience         or try Ffestiniog Travel as a great alternative

Seat61 Fantastic resource for travelling by train worldwide

Heritage Railways Find out where your nearest steam trainline is. Also try here  UK Steam        GreatScenicRailways Devon&Cornwall's branch line network

UK Ultraspeed The very high speed train of the future? 

HS1 London to Kent high speed rail 

HS2 London to Scotland high speed rail network

HSUK Map showing all HS lines planned for UK

Virgin HyperLoop Travel at 600 mph in 10 or 20 years time?

London Tube London UnderGround map RailScot Latest Scottish rail news

Sea Travel

FerrySavers Check route options and prices for European ferries.                 Similar website at aFerry

Ferry Operators World wide list of operators

Air Travel

Insurance Cover for Medical Conditions and here from BIBA

FlightPlus  ATOL holiday compensation scheme introduced in 2012. Also see Which Travel Rights

Flight Delays Click here for CAA advice on compensation   CAA Claiming compensation       Alternative Dispute Resolution

Travel Compensation Tool from Which     Flight Compensation Tool from Which  

Flight Aware Enter flight code to see history of previous flights

Momondo Comparison site worth looking at

Airport Security Very latest info. on dos and don'ts and what liquids you can carry...............

Holiday Extras Brilliant website for finding and booking airport hotels and holiday car parking. Also try Airport Parking Holiday Extras price comparison

London Airports Links Gives a guide to the links between Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton Airports. Look down right hand side of page

NetFlights Was Airline-Network - one of the better sites for worldwide flights

SeatGuru  Gives statistics on airports and airlines and click here for seat pitches

FlightMapper  Useful resource with clickable route maps Also try WhichBudget Budget airlines from European airports e.g. Exeter

No-frills airline operators from the UK. The routes used by the 10 airlines are shown on the maps below

1. Jet2     2. EasyJet     3. TUI Airlines     4. RyanAir   5. Wizz Air    6. Norwegian   or use the following sites Kayak/Sidestep    or     SkyScanner  

1. Jet2 Main hubs are Edinburgh, Belfast, Newcastle, Leeds, Blackpool, Manchester, London. See map below.

2. EasyJet  See map below Greenline Bus Travel Luton to Victoria Stn

3. TUI Airways See map below

4.RyanAir Main hubs are Glasgow, Dublin, Shannon, London and Brussels. See map below.

5. Wizz Air See map below

6. Norwegian See map below

7. Exeter Airport Map shows destinations available

1. Jet2     2. EasyJet     3. TUI Airlines     4. RyanAir   5. Wizz Air    6. Norwegian   or use the following sites Kayak/Sidestep    or     SkyScanner    These two previous links effectively makes the budget UK to Europe airline links, below, redundant, with excellent search and mapping facilities

Happy travelling!!

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