Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Booked a holiday abroad?
Martin's 18 things to do NOW to slash costs when you go

Includes cheapest way to spend for adults & kids, GHICs, sun cream, insurance, eSims and more

Overseas holidays are still on for many. Around 50% of the 95,000 who replied to my Twitter poll yesterday plan to leave UK shores and vacation overseas - some of the rest have already been. Yet with the mortgage squeeze tightening since many booked, cost control will often be key. The key route to that is to pre-prep, as last-minute action adds pounds and pressure.

PS: For the 11% who still plan to book, speed often helps there too. Use our Cheap flights | Cheap hotels | Cheap package holidays guides.

1. Check your passport. Beware if it has under 6mths left OR is over 10yrs old when you go. Renewals can take MONTHS. And post Brexit, what counts as a valid passport has got stricter in some places. Check our country-by-country UK passport rules list.

Need to renew? Don't dawdle. The Passport Office says you should allow 'up to 10 weeks', but I'm hearing far longer delays for some, and 'fast-track' appointments are less common. Full help in Passport renewals.

PS: Heading to the US? See our ESTA guide, and elsewhere use the Government's foreign travel advice to check visa requirements.

2. Rebook trick: is the hotel cheaper than when you booked? I'd keep your eyes on comparison sites such as Skyscanner*, Kayak*, TripAdvisor and Trivago*. If the price has dropped and your booking allows free cancellation, rebook for less. As Andrew emailed: "Followed your advice, checked our hotel price. I cancelled and rebooked, saving over £1,000. Thanks for all your help." See cancel & rebook step-by-step for more help.

3. Sit together for FREE on BA, Easyjet, Virgin and more. A family of four may pay up to £240 extra for peace of mind to book seats to sit together on return flights. Yet follow our Airline-by-airline seating guide and you can oft do it free (though even we struggle to beat Ryanair's charges).

4. Cheapest way to spend abroad and cashback / free £20. Spend in a foreign currency on most plastic and while the banks get a near-perfect exchange rate, they charge us a 3% non-sterling exchange fee, so £100 worth of euros / dollars / dong costs £103. Yet top specialist overseas cards don't add this, so you get the same near-perfect rates banks get holiday after holiday.

 
Which wins? It's close - all are good abroad. Chase is easiest to get, and if you spend £2,000+ on it (over the year), it beats Halifax's cashback. You must preload it, and it's not a winner if you withdraw lots of cash. With the two credit cards, you just use them and are billed later (always pay off IN FULL each month to avoid interest), and you get Section 75 spending protection.

Halifax's boon is a free £20, but its cash withdrawal interest means it's best to spend on it rather than withdraw cash. Barclaycard's better for that and its cashback can win for really big spenders.

If you've already got a specialist card (check yours), such as Santander Zero, Monzo, Starling, and some Virgin Money and NatWest credit cards, the cards above are only marginally better, so don't feel you need switch.

Want to lock in the rate? The cards above give you top exchange rates on the day you spend. To lock in today's rate instead (which can be a winner or a loser), top prepaid cards give you the rate at top-up.

5. Approx 5.4m EHICs expire this year - check yours. These cards give access to state-run hospitals or GPs in EU countries for the same price as a local - so if it's free for them, it's free for you. Yet check point 9 on your card, as 5.4m become invalid this year. If so, you'll need to get a new GHIC instead. See (it does the same thing) how to safely get a free GHIC.

6. Find your cheapest bureau de change in seconds. Taking cash abroad isn't as cheap as top plastic, but a little bit can be useful. Our Travel money comparison tool compares 26 bureaux for best rates.

7. Using plastic? Should you pay in pounds if offered? My old Pay in euros? blog explains why you should say no to pounds abroad.

9. Beat EU roaming charges. Virgin Media O2 is the only 'big four' network not to have brought back EU roaming fees post Brexit. The rest charge £1 to £2.50/day to use your phone & data package abroad.

Yet many smaller mobile operators still don't charge EU roaming fees (see which). So if you're one of the 9m out of contract and often already massively overpaying, why not ditch and switch to save in the UK and when in the EU? Here are the team's top picks for unlimited UK data & texts, with EU roaming (links explain details of how prices work):

- Lebara (via Vodafone signal) - 12GB for '£3.15/mth'
- iD Mobile (via Three signal) - 20GB for '£4.25/mth'
- iD Mobile (via Three signal) - 100GB for '£7.84/mth'

Or you can do more specific searches via our Cheap Mobile Finder. If you don't want to ditch your existing UK network, always check for EU roaming fees and add-on options.

10. New. Going outside the EU? Use an eSim to roam. Providers charge up to £8/day for limited data via costly add-ons. Instead you can get top international eSims, which aren't physical Sims. You just buy online (eg, 10GB USA data for £21, lasting 30 days), adjust your phone's settings and it gives you a data allowance overseas. Read my story of trying an eSim (spoiler: it worked well and was far cheaper).

Also ensure you've got a spend cap in place and use tips for using less data, such as turning your mobile into a free worldwide sat-nav.

11. Know your flight delay and cancellation rights. This is important - if your flight's delayed or cancelled, you could get a refund AND £100s in compensation. Bookmark our Flight delay & cancellation rights guide (some read it on the plane as they're landing).

13. Parking at the airport? Book ahead, even on the day. Turn up at Manchester Airport without booking and it's £350/week to park there, yet pre-booked on the same day using a comparison site, it's as little as £64/week, though even earlier is obviously better.

Use our special discounted comparison site links: FHR 10%-45% off* | Holiday Extras 10%-40% off* | Airparks 10%-40% off* | SkyParkSecure 5%-28% off*. For other sites worth checking and more creative options, see Cheap airport parking.

PS: Avoid £5 'kiss and fly' charges for dropping people off at airports too.

14. 'Avete delle salsicce, per favore?' Free apps to help you learn the lingo before you go. Download a free language app now. Yet if there's no time to master a new lingo, Google Translate can translate over 100 languages and even scan and translate written text (eg, on food jars or menus) via camera.

16. Outside the EU: beware the debit cards from helllll... Most debit cards add a 3%-ish load on the exchange rate, but some ALSO add a charge each time you spend outside of the EU (plus Iceland, Liechtenstein & Norway), so buy something for a fiver and you can pay £6.65 for it. So these are the worst cards to use in the USA and elsewhere. See our card-by-card overseas charges calc to find out how much your cards cost. The main offenders are:

Bank of Scotland (50p) | Halifax (50p) | Lloyds (50p) | TSB (£1)

17. Beware holiday scams. If you get an out-of-the-blue email or WhatsApp message offering deals, be very careful. Scams are rife - it's a Wild West out there. Any source contacting you that you haven't asked is a risk. See our full list of holiday scams to be aware of.

And don't just click on the top link on search engines

If you're applying for an official document, these can often be shyster sites - firms that exploit loopholes to charge you to make official applications through them, even though it adds nowt. The big, big travel ones to watch for are GHIC / EHIC / ESTA / Passports / Visas. Always check you're on the official site, or use these safe links. Full details in Copycat websites warning.

18. Finally, turn your sun cream around to save cash. It works. See turning sun cream around and our Cheap safe sun cream guide.