Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
10 hours to save your summer...
Use your time wisely to research the perfect sunny break Your guide to booking hols
So Labour folk calling for this charmless specimen’s resignation should perhaps be careful what they wish for, as no Left-wing double agent could do more harm.
Every one of the poisonous insults uncovered, the latest his wish to play “splat the chav”, reeks of prejudice against the very working people of our country that Theresa May pretended she wanted to represent.
Behind the recent spin, Bradley is exposed as a Tory brat, a self-entitled chap-on-themake who looks down on those who didn’t enjoy his comfortable start in life.
Bradley has been caught out time after time, unable to delete his rancid record quickly enough, and sorry certainly seems to be the easiest word. In fact, he’s beginning to sound like a stuck record.
What the whole country knows is that he was really nasty and is now the nasty poster boy for a nasty Tory Party.
Trump has spent much of his time whining or tweeting “fake news” at provable if inconvenient facts, while displaying barely a passing acquaintance with the truth himself.
Assaults on healthcare for poor Americans and huge tax gifts to the wealthy forms part of a dreadful record. Sadly, he is destined to go down as one of the worst presidents in history.
Digging by the Daily Mirror elicited a warmer response than anything Theresa May said so maybe he might cut us a bit of slack instead of stealing City jobs. We live in hope.
BE FLEXIBLE WITH YOUR DATES
Travelling in school term time is one, hugely controversial, way to save a small fortune.
But it’s also worth considering which day you travel. Weekdays will almost always be cheaper than a weekend.
Tripadvisor’s flight search lets you compare prices across a whole month, so you can find the cheapest days.
Skyscanner has a similar option but also allows you to keep the destination open to help you find some real bargains.
HOW TO GET THE BEST PRICE
The early bird doesn’t always catch the worm. Nearly 40% of people who checked the cost of their holiday after they booked found it went down in price.
Savings of up to 57% can be made on flights and 43% on hotels in the most popular destinations when you time it right, according to Kayak.
On international breaks, most leave it too late to score the best deals. Six to eight months ahead is the best time to commit, apart from Orlando and Miami, where it’s one and two months respectively.
Most people currently book too early to get the best deals on European breaks – 11 months in advance is the most expensive time to book. On average, we book around three months in advance for holidays to Europe. But data shows flights to six out of our top 10 European destinations get cheaper in the final month before travel.
Waiting could save travellers as much as 54% for tickets to Lanzarote and 51% for Palma, compared with the most expensive month.
The best prices for Reykjavik can be found four months in advance and offers the biggest savings if booked at the right time – up to 57%.
HOW TO MAXIMISE YOUR HOLIDAY ALLOWANCE
Thanks to the way the bank holidays fall this year, you could get 24 days off in a row using just 14 holiday days.
If you are able to book your trip from May 5 to May 28 you can straddle two bank holidays and bag some bonus time off.
Or if you want a shorter trip, you could book time off from March 24 to April 9 and get 16 days off work, using just eight days of leave. AS winter storms batter the UK, a summer break can’t come soon enough.
Many will spend 10 hours this weekend tucked up in the warm, researching a holiday, with women taking on average 80 minutes longer than men.
Nearly 90% of us use the internet to book trips – one in seven pushing the painstaking hunt to 24 hours – says travel search engine Kayak. That might beat venturing out to a travel agent on the high street. But it can also mean missing good advice on destinations and negotiating a better deal.
So make up for that, and save time, by first reading our essential guide to booking your trip.
We tell you the best time to book and how to maximise time off and avoid fraudsters...
HOLIDAY FRAUD
Scammers are already using an array of methods to trap the unwary into parting with cash and leaving them with no trip.
Booking a break direct with the owner of, say, a holiday let is now incredibly simple online – but it is also a gift for con artists.
Figures show 100 people a week were duped last year by criminals – costing them an average £1,200 each. But these figures are just the tip of the iceberg as many victims fail to report the scams because they are too ashamed to admit they have been tricked.
Top ruses include crooks posing as property owners on genuine sites such as Airbnb – or setting up sham villa letting companies. Either way, fraudsters often offer eye-catching deals – a temptation for those feeling the pinch after the festive blow-out.
Fake websites also lure holidaymakers by paying to be top of searches, using search engine pay-per-click deals to look even more convincing.
ACCOMMODATION SAFEGUARDS
Check reviews on sites such as Tripadvisor, booking.com and Trivago but add “fraud”, “scam” or “con” to the search to see if any complaints have been made.
Also scrutinise the name of the firm as many criminals will choose a site name very close to a genuine company’s.
Check they have not altered a genuine web address suffix slightly – like .co.uk to .org.
Be wary of any bargains that look too good to be true, especially if the price is much lower than for similar properties or asks for rapid payment. Also be suspicious of unsolicited approaches made by a firm you don’t know.
If you are considering booking, speak to the owner direct and make sure the payment system is for a genuine firm. Look for https (“s” is for secure) and a padlock icon.
And never transfer cash to a bank account.
You can also double-check the information hasn’t been lifted from a genuine site by Googling the description of the villa.
If you think you are a victim of this type of fraud, act quickly by notifying your bank to put a stop on the money.
Also, report the scam to the national crime reporting centre Action Fraud , either online or by calling 0300 123 2040.