Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Getting ready for summer hols abroad?
22 tips, tricks & checks to do NOW to slash cost & stress when you get there

Flight seats, cheap Euros, passport checks, cheap travel insurance, airport parking, cheap lounge access & lots more

Feeling hot, hot, hot. Scorching temperatures and Scottish and Northern Irish schools starting to break up mean summer is here! Over the next couple of months, millions will head off on holidays abroad. Yet don't leave prepping until the last second - scan down our to-do checklist now...

1. News. Ryanair now lets kids sit with parents for free - find out how (plus how to sit together free on other airlines). An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) looks to have pushed the firm to allocate seats next to parents without a fee on new bookings. See our Ryanair parents & kids sit together news story for how.

Other airlines have long allowed this, if you know how. See our airline-by-airline how to sit together free guide. Plus, if you want to find the best seats on any plane, use AeroLOPA.

2. New Tool. Airport Parking: Compare the comparisons to find the cheapest at speed. Pull up at, say, Manchester Airport without a booking, and it'll cost you £500/wk to park. Yet our new Airport Parking: Comparison of Comparisons tool today found official parking for £76/wk - bookable even while driving to the airport (by a passenger, obvs). Early booking is usually even cheaper.

The recently launched tool compares three of the big four sites (we're working on adding the fourth) and automatically includes the blagged discounts we've always listed. As Rachel emailed: "I needed parking at Liverpool airport, the cheapest was £94. Thought it was worth checking your comparison checker & literally 2mins later had booked for £68. It was super simple to use. Many thanks."

We want to make it as good as possible, so please feedback. For alternatives, need-to-knows & more, read our Cheap airport parking guide.

3. Two passport checks so you don't risk being denied boarding. Check NOW that, on the day you enter the country, your passport has...

a) at least 6mths left (3mths for EU)
b) even if so, if going to the EU, will your passport be under 10yrs old?

If it's no to EITHER, review our country-by-country UK passport rules and renew if necessary. The Passport Office says you should allow "up to three weeks" to renew. Full help in Cheapest passport renewals.

4. New Tool. Compare+ Travel Insurance (includes over-65s & pre-existing conditions). We launched our new Compare+ Travel Insurance tool a few weeks ago. With it, you fill in a short question set (which gives you tips to help), and it then gives you a comparison result from two comparison sites, plus loads of other special help you don't get elsewhere, to find you the right policy. 

Pip posted on the MSE Forum: "Thanks to MSE's new tool, I've just replaced our annual travel insurance for nearly £400 less than the price quoted on our renewal documents. Worldwide travel excluding the USA for £390, for two adults, one of which (me) is only 2 years post-treatment for lymphoma."

5. Booked a holiday and not got travel cover yet? Do it NOW! It's no coincidence that we've just launched the Compare+ tool. Martin's oft-quoted rule is: get cover ASAB (As Soon As You Book). If you've booked and haven't done it yet, then it becomes... do it NOW (ie, no delay... have you done it yet? No... how about now?).

Martin's big point is that half what you pay for with travel insurance is to cover you in case something happens before your trip that means you can't go...

At this time of year, inevitably someone asks me something like this... 'I've been diagnosed with a serious condition (eg, cancer). We can't go on our holiday as I need treatment, but the airline/hotel won't refund. What do we do?' Sadly, unless the ticket's flexible, there are no refund rights as nowt's faulty with the holiday (it's a bit like trying to argue your new tennis racket is faulty because you broke your arm using it). So I point them to travel insurance as that's what it's for. Yet some reply: 'We haven't got round to it yet.' And that's painful, as then there's often little left to try.

So what counts as 'having a policy in place now'?

• Single-trip policies: You just get insurance to cover a specific future trip (eg, 10-17 Aug) and once that's paid for, you're done. If you've a trip booked over a year ahead, see our single-trip policies for over a year in advance info.
  
  
• Annual policies: You need an active policy in place from the period of booking (or now if not) to the end of your trip. So if you don't already have one, get an annual policy starting from now, if the trip's booked, not from when you go away.
  
  If you already have an annual policy in place, you're good, unless it ends before the date you return from holiday, in which case you need a new policy that runs straight on, ie, starts when your existing cover ends. Most policies will cover you for issues that happen within the cover period for booked trips, even if the travel is after your renewal date (a few don't, do check). 

6. Flight cancelled or delayed? Save key pages on your phone. If your flight's cancelled or delayed, you often have a right to £200+ per person compensation. Download or save our Flight delay and Flight cancellation guides to your phone so you can check your rights offline if disruption hits.

7. Going to Europe? You likely need to allow far more time on entry & exit for new checks. The new Entry-Exit System (EES) means you now need your fingerprints and face scanned as you enter and exit many European countries. Its introduction this year has meant long queues and delays at many borders. So much so, Greece has temporarily suspended the checks (so shorter queue there hopefully) and it's rumoured other destinations may follow suit. See our regularly updated EES info for full help.

PS: Beware over 150 shyster sites trying to get your to pay for the new 'European Travel Information & Authorisation System' (ETIAS). It hasn't launched yet, it's planned for October, so you can't get one. See ETIAS info.

8. The cheapest way to spend abroad - just grab the right plastic now and it works everywhere. Specialist overseas debit and credit cards are by far the easiest way to ensure you get value on your spending abroad. They smash bureau de change. 

Normally, spend abroad and the bank/card firm gets near-perfect rates, but then adds around 3% on what it charges you. These cards don't, so you get the same near-perfect rate the bank does. There's a growing number of them, so we pick not by the rate, but what else you get! Here's the current top three... 

A new specialist overseas credit card some may prefer to Lloyds is the Santander Rewards credit card. It pays 3% cashback for a year on petrol, diesel, train travel, EV charging (not at home), eating out and takeaways in the UK or abroad and 0.25% on almost everything else. So if you drive, it's a strong deal. Yet only do it if you'll pay it off IN FULL every month or the 24.9% rep APR dwarfs the gain. See our full Santander Rewards review.

9. Just want to take cash? Speedily compare 10+ bureaux.
If you just want a little foreign cash in your pocket for safety before you go, or if it helps you budget, then our TravelMoneyMax comparison tool quickly compares 10+ bureaux, factoring in all rates & costs to find your best. It won't beat the top plastic, but it's far better than AAARGH! getting it at the airport (terrible rates).

10. The Rebook & Cancel Trick: Is your hotel or car hire cheaper than when you booked? If your booking has low-cost or free cancellation, regularly check if you can get the same for less. Try using Skyscanner*, Kayak*, Carrentals* and Trivago*.

If you find it cheaper, just rebook, then cancel your original (best to do in that order so you're sure you can really get that price before cancelling). As Bob emailed: "As you recommend, I booked my hire car early for my Spain holiday. I paid £663 for two weeks. I later checked the prices again for the same car, same company and was amazed to find the price had dropped to £252 - a saving of £411. Keep up the good work and many thanks to you and your team." See step-by-step cancel & rebook hotels and cancel & rebook car hire help.

11. Going to the EU? Ensure you've a valid EHIC/GHIC. Over 2m expire this year. You should have a free Global Health Insurance Card as well as travel insurance. It gives you access to state-run hospitals or GPs in mostly EU countries for the same price as a local, so if they don't pay, you don't either. It also means it can reduce what you pay towards a travel insurance medical excess. 

As William emailed last week: "In Spain, I had an extreme reaction to food I was wrongly served. My travel insurer was hopeless at responding to my calls, so I saw a private GP for £80. I was told before flying I needed a stomach X-ray and other tests, which would've cost nearly €1,000. Luckily, I'd got a GHIC after reading MSE. I took a cab to a public hospital, was X-rayed in 3 hours, and ruled fit to fly home - total cost €104 instead of €1,000+."

Over two million expire this year - check yours. And beware searching it on the web, you'll find shyster sites trying to make you pay unnecessarily (there's no such thing as fast track). Instead, see our how to safely get a GHIC. 

12. Big change. EU pet passports no longer valid for most UK residents. Instead, you must get a possibly costly, single-use Animal Health Certificate (AHC), which will be valid for 10 days after issue for entry into the EU. See our Taking pets abroad help.

13. Going to the USA? Get an ESTA - but don't overpay. Unless you've a visa, you'll need an ESTA. It lasts two years and now costs $40.27. Again, beware scam sites trying to overcharge, and even watch out for clicking your airline or tour operator's links, as some push people to overpay...

14. New. Going to Disney? Tips and tricks to slash costs. Whether you're planning a trip and want to reduce the cost of tickets, or have booked and want to cut down queue times and save cash while you're there, see our new Disneyland Paris guide or our updated Disney World Florida guide.

15. Cheapest car hire in minutes (early booking tends to be cheaper). There are some easy top comparison sites which do this easily, always check a couple.

Kayak* | TravelSupermarket* | Carrentals* | Enjoy Travel*
Swerve over to our Cheap holiday car hire guide for more.

Early booking tends to be cheapest, but we've also seen some super-cheap last-minute deals in places where there's spare capacity (so if you can get free cancellation, use the cancel & rebook tip - see more above). Either way, don't leave it till you get there. Plus, when getting your car hire always...

16. Beware the car hire insurance hard sell... get standalone insurance for 90% less. Car hire almost always includes basic insurance. Yet, at pick-up many firms will push their 'excess cover insurance' at up to £42/day with scare stories of huge bills for just a scratch (or even implying it's mandatory). Say no - standalone car hire excess insurance can cut the cost by 90%. Here's our ABC:

1. Compare via MoneyMaxim's* excess insurance comparison.
2. Check against MSE Blagged discounts, eg, our 20% off Leisure Guard* (with code MSE20), 20% off ReduceMyExcess* and 17% off Eversure* (code will be auto-filled when you follow these links).
3. If you hire cars a lot, you can buy an annual policy (same links).

Yet even if you get this, your car hire firm will likely try to put you off, say it doesn't work, or make you jump through hoops, so be prepared. You must usually...

- Leave a refundable deposit of possibly up to €1,200 on a credit card.
- Have a credit card, as often debit cards aren't accepted.
- Have the card in the name of the booker (though some say it needs to be the main driver). If not, they won't accept it, so check first.

Don't be overly put off by these tactics. Many successfully do this with no problems. Matt, emailed a couple of weeks ago: "Thank you for highlighting car hire excess insurance, something I learnt about from you. My wife and I took it out for our Sicily honeymoon. I reversed into a lamppost on the third day - door, wing and bumper all dented, triggering the full €1,400 excess. Insurance covered every penny and the premium was only £21. So we could carry on enjoying the trip without worrying about a huge upcoming bill. Everyone should be considering it!"

17. Planning to vape in Thailand or pee in the sea in Spain? Think again - you could get a holiday fine. Wearing fancy dress, feeding pigeons and not flushing the toilet could also land you in hot water depending on where you're going. Getting in trouble or being fined may spoil your break, so it's worth swatting up on local laws before you go abroad - see our unexpected holiday fines blog.

18. Avoid £3 to £13 'Kiss & Fly'... though you may need to get your steps in. How to ditch the pesky charges for dropping people off at the airport - if you know where to go and can walk just a little bit. We've a newly updated airport-by-airport guide

19. Don't believe the hype - free EU roaming is common. Vodafone, Three and EE all now charge £2ish/day to use your home phone & data package in the EU, and many therefore say O2 is the only one still free. Nonsense - many virtual networks give EU roaming at no extra cost too, including Lebara, Smarty, and Giffgaff.

Most people are overpaying with the big providers anyway, so assuming you're one of 14m out of contract (just text 85075 to find out), why not ditch and switch to save, not just on holiday but in the UK too. Our Cheap Mobile Sim Finder will match your use and show you EU roaming info. As examples, both these include EU roaming:

- Lebara (via Vodafone signal): 5GB for '£2.39/mth' (includes full allowance) or 35GB for '£2.70/mth' (max 30GB abroad).
- iD Mobile (via Three signal): 120GB for '£7.32/mth' (max 30GB abroad).

20. Roaming outside the EU? There's an eSIMple way to cut costs. Your home network will charge up to £15/day for very limited data via a costly add-on. Instead, buy cheap international eSims online (eg, £9.50 for 9GB USA data for 30 days), which temporarily routes your phone via another provider, so it provides your data allowance overseas.

Prices differ based on your destination and the length of your trip, so compare a few providers to find the best eSim for your needs. Popular providers to try: Airalo* | Amigo* | Breeze* | Easysim* | Firsty* | GoMoWorld | Holafly | Kolet | Nomad | Mozillion* | Saily* | Vodafone*.

21. When they ask, 'Want to pay in pounds or euros/dollars?' always pay in the local currency. Buy things abroad on plastic or take cash out, and the store or ATM will often pressure you to pay in pounds. That's so they can do the conversion themselves and add to the cost. Always pay in local currency. Full explanation in Martin's old but still relevant Pay in pounds? video & blog.

22. Cheap access to an airport lounge before your flight? See our Airport lounge access tips.