Covid uncertainty means holiday bookings are a risk - 19 need-to-knows to cut costs and protect your pocket in the UK and abroad

3. Travel insurance is crucial, but WON'T cover cancellations due to future UK or foreign govt no-travel rules

No mainstream policies that we know of cover cancellations due to official Covid travel restrictions or a need to quarantine at your destination or on return, which means in reality you can't go. Nor will they cover you for cancelling if rules will let you travel, but you don't feel safe.

Though many (not all) will cover cancellations if you catch Covid pre-travel or are told by the NHS to self-isolate, and will cover medical treatment for Covid abroad.

Yet frankly all the normal reasons to get travel insurance still apply, especially if you're ill while away (Covid is just one health risk). So get it ASAB - as soon as you book. Full options in Cheap Travel Insurance - in brief though, MSE's top no-frills picks (ie, those that meet our min cover levels, but we can't vouch for the service) are...

• Annual policies: These cover all of a year's trips, within reason. Try Coverwise (Bronze)* and Axa (Silver). Prices range from £12 for a 30-yr-old in Europe to about £71 for a family worldwide.
  
  
• Single trips: Try Coverwise (Bronze)* and CoverForYou (Bronze)* as they tend to come up cheapest, eg, from £8.95 for seven days in Europe to £31.43 for a week's family worldwide cover.
  
  
• Over 65 or had a past medical issue? Check our Over-65s' Travel Insurance or Pre-Existing Conditions Travel Insurance guides.

And do note, if you get insurance and your claim is unfairly rejected, you can take the provider to the free Financial Ombudsman.

5. Flexible-booking protection may be useless if a firm goes bust, so pay via plastic for extra protection

Paying by credit card offers the strongest protection, as Section 75 refund rules mean the card provider is jointly liable for items costing £100+. So using a credit card (repaid IN FULL of course, so there's no interest) is best practice, and also helps if the travel firm were to go bust.

All credit cards, as well as debit cards, also get the lesser protection of the chargeback refund rules. So this is also a decent protection if you don't pay on a credit card, or if you do but go via a travel agent (when Section 75 rules don't usually count).

7. Check if you've a valid EHIC or GHIC. If not, get one FREE

If you plan to travel to the EU, these cards give you access to state-run hospitals or GPs at the same price as a local. So if it's free for them, it's free for you. Important right now.

If you have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), do check it is still valid - 6.4 million expire this year alone. If not, or if you don't have one, since Brexit it's been replaced for new applicants by the Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) and you can get one of these free.

9. The CHEAPEST way to spend abroad is on the right plastic - apply now

And breathe... I'm relaxing writing this bit, it's like the old pre-Covid days. As I've said many times before, the easiest and cheapest way to spend abroad is on the top specialist travel cards - you get the same near-perfect rates the banks do, smashing bureaux de change.

If you can't get a top credit or debit card, or prefer cash, our travel money comparison tool compares 14+ bureaux to show the best rates. This is fewer providers than usual, as many travel money services are paused - we'll add them back when they resume.

11. You CAN still roam like at home in the EU, but check your allowance

The legal guarantee of free mobile roaming in the EU ended with Brexit in January, but 10 of the biggest providers have told us they've no current plans to bring charges back. Travel outside Europe and costs rocket though - see Cheap Mobile and Data Roaming help.

1. Booking a stay away? Flexible terms are key

We all hope, possibly pray, that 'no more lockdowns' comes true. Yet there is sadly always the risk of a vicious variant, and change.

So, much like with travelling abroad, hedge towards bookings which, in order of preference:

• Allow free cancellation (preferably with no or low deposit)
• Allow cancellation for a low fee, or loss of small deposit
• Allow free change of booking to a different date

The competition watchdog says providers should give refunds for cancellations where you're legally unable to travel, but that's untested in court, and not all firms are following it.

3. How to find cheap UK hotels

We take you through it in our full 24 Cheap UK Hotel Tips guide. Here's just a taste...

Speedily use a comparison site to benchmark the best price. The same hotel room can be sold at a huge range of different prices, so check via Skyscanner*, Kayak* and TripAdvisor*.

Then call 'em up to see if you can beat that by booking direct with the hotel - it may offer you a better deal because it doesn't need to pay commission. Also check if you can get cashback, possibly of 10%, booking via hotel cashback deals.

And a final thought: don't think of hostels as dirty, think dirt-cheap - you could stay in a 19th century shooting lodge from £29/night. See MoneySavers' top UK hostel picks.

5. Want to go self-catered? How to find 'em and keep costs down - eg, £400/wk cottage in Cornwall

Holiday rental sites have seen a surge in UK bookings this year, and it's harder to nab a peak school holiday bargain on the coast or in the country (cities are easier). Yet using the tips in our Cheap Holiday Rentals guide, this month we found a two-bed cottage in north Cornwall for £402/wk for a mid-June stay.

7. You can get cheap UK travel insurance from £8/wk - but is it worth bothering? 

With many more people booking longer holidays in the UK this year, this has become a more common question. Full info is in our UK Travel Insurance guide, but briefly:

- What does UK travel insurance cover? It's usually for booked stays of 2+ nights at least 25 miles away from home. Though unlike foreign holidays, medical treatments in the UK are free as we have the NHS (or private medical cover), so medical cover, which is the key consideration when travelling abroad, is less of an issue.

- Are you covered for Covid cancellations? In a nutshell... yes if it's personal, even Covid personal, no if you need to cancel due to a lockdown. More details in UK Travel Insurance.

- OK, OK, just tell me if I should get it. Er, well, there's no right answer, but as many push us on this, let us tell you what we'd do. If it's a cheap weekend away, travelling without any valuables, with easy cancellation, we probably wouldn't bother. Yet if we'd booked a week away, as a full holiday - especially with excursions - and we could get some cheap peace of mind, we likely would.

- Already got an annual overseas policy? You're covered. It likely already includes UK travel (do check) - so you're set. If not and you may go abroad within the next year too, use our Cheap Annual (UK & Abroad) Travel Insurance guide to find yourself some cover.

- Cheapest no-frills UK single-trip policies from £8/wk. The full MSE top picks are in our Cheap UK Insurance guide. But in brief, for no-frills (ie, those providers that meet our min cover levels, but we can't vouch for the service) there's no one cheapest, so try Coverwise*, LV* and Allianz Assistance*. If you're over 65, add in Tesco Bank. Also see our cheapest UK cover for those with pre-existing conditions.

And do note - if you get insurance and your claim is unfairly rejected you can take the provider to the free Financial Ombudsman.