Are you planning a summer holiday this year? Find out how to book a Summer Holiday abroad. We’ve just booked a big family holiday in Cyprus with no risk of losing our money if it is cancelled.
This is a big dilemma for all of us. With all the uncertainty of safety, flying restrictions, entry rules to Countries and self isolation on return. How can we plan for a holiday and make sure we don’t risk losing our money if we can’t travel? Is it safe to book a summer holiday abroad?
Have a look at our 5 top tips for booking a refundable August Holiday abroad.
In this BBC article ‘Summer holidays – we’re not really going anywhere‘ Simon Read has spoken with three families each with very different opinions on holidays this summer. Taz and I are featured in the article, have a read. Which are you doing?
- Not going anywhere. No holiday at all
- Holidaying in the UK. The UK is opening up and there are fantastic holidays, and deals to be found. Staycations are very popular this year.
- Planning on going abroad. There is a real chance that Europe will be open. Should you take a chance and book a summer holiday abroad?
We had a trip to Cyprus planned for the 2 of us and have decided to now make it a family holiday – all our 4 (grown up) kids, we’ve booked flights for all of us and a much bigger villa. Why?
Cyprus is not even accepting British visitors yet? Why would we book a summer holiday abroad now?
This is the most ridiculous quote and always pops into my head.
Hope for the best, plan for the worst, expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed.
Unknown misery
What a miserable way to live, hoping for the best, planning for the worst expecting nothing – all to avoid disappointment.
I much prefer to live like this:
Plan for the best, plan B in case that doesn’t happen. It’s going to be fab, if not then start planning for next time. You still have it to look forward to.
Tracy Mc
I am going to digress for a minute and share a story to explain why it is so important to plan for the best.
Everyone of us has heroes who inspire us – people we admire and respect. One of mine is Professor Dan Ariely. I read his book Predictably Irrational over a decade ago and that gave me a whole now outlook on how I live my life. His books, videos and insights have helped shape my world.
When I learned he was visiting England and giving a Keynote speech at the Behavioural Exchange Conference, I knew I had to see him talk in real life. And I also wanted to shake his hand and say thank you, if at all possible.
Now ‘hope for the best’ would not have got me tickets to that conference. ‘Hope for the best’ would not have got me in a central seat in the second row in the huge theatre. Hope for the best would not have given me the most memorable day of the year.
Dan Ariely was doing a book signing after his keynote speech, the queues were huge. I was so nervous that I was actually going to meet him but I had a wonderful time waiting in the queue, chatting to some really interesting people. To keep the queue flowing we were told to have the first page in our books open and ready for signing.
I knew exactly which page I was going to chose.
So do you see the relevance?
We are planning to go to Cyprus. We are taking the whole family and we’re going to have a brilliant time and enjoy every moment as we have not seen much of our family over lockdown. So after getting refunds from cancelled trips we decided to put some of the money towards another fabulous family holiday.
Planning for the worst is planning for failure.
What trips have we had cancelled this year?
We are extremely organised holiday planners. So by last September we had 4 holidays booked for 2020. One by one they have been cancelled due to the pandemic, the only one remaining is our 2 week holiday to Cyprus in August. Have a read of our bookings and the ways we have got our refunds.
- New York for our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Virgin flights – with Virgin Air Miles. Hotel booked through hotels.com. We got refunded by Amex for the Virgin flights as Virgin were taking over 90 days to refund. hotels.com refunded immediately as we had booked with free cancellation.
- Cyprus for 10 days over Easter. BA Avios flights and villa booked through TripAdvisor rentals. We received a full refund for the flights and villa very quickly.
- Las Vegas in June with Virgin Holidays. Virgin are an absolute nightmare for refunds, they are saying 120 days so we will be doing a Section 75 chargeback. Read about how to get a refund for your cancelled trip.
- Cyprus in August for 2 weeks. Booked with BA Avios and Villa booked with TripAdvisor rentals.
How we booked without risking any money
Our original booking was for Taz and I for 2 weeks, booked using Avios, flying with BA Club Europe (Business Class) This cost us £50 each. The benefits of booking with Avios include Fast track through security, lounge access, and cancellation 48 hours before travel for £35 each.
Our original villa booking with Tripadvisor rentals now has free cancellation up to 2 weeks before travel.
The new flight bookings for the kids, for 1 week, are booked directly with British Airways. Flights at the moment are much cheaper than usual. We got them for £260 for a return, with luggage, instead of over £400 for a peak summer return. And even though we could’ve used the Avios in our household account for some of the flights, we decided they’re better saved for future bookings.
We have booked a new huge Villa through booking.com for the week. And there’s no deposit to pay plus we can cancel for free up to one month before travel.
What happens next ?
A couple of things could happen and here is what we will do depending on the situation.
One month before travel we will have to decide whether or not to pay for the new villa. This will depend on getting a yes to the following questions?
- Has the Foreign Office travel ban been lifted?
- Will Cyprus allow us into the Country?
- Is the British Airways flight still scheduled?
What if any of the answers are no?
The kids will cancel their flights. These were booked with a cancellation guarantee. If you cancel, you receive a voucher valid for 2 years. As Taz’s mum and Dad live in Cyprus, these vouchers will definitely be used for visits in that time. Yes they will have to pay the fare difference but how lovely knowing you will be going in the next couple of years and to have £260 towards the flight. A good investment we think.
Booking flights in normal times does not give you this option. You either pay a horrendous change fee and the fare difference or lose pretty much all the fare, you only get the fees and taxes refunded (about £40).
Which is why we book with Air Miles.
Then we will cancel the new villa which cost us £2,400. That is not money we will risk. That may seem like alot of money for a villa for a week. It is, and we booked it locking in our booking.com discount. We searched all booking sites for availability for this villa and we could have paid £1000 more on other sites. We want this trip to be perfect. The villa is in an excellent location, has 5 bedrooms and a fab pool. Have a look at Greco Villas on booking.com and you’ll see why we chose it.
Then two weeks before our date we will decide whether to cancel for Taz and I, before the original villa needs to be paid for.
So we are planning for the best and hoping for the best.
Which would you prefer?
- Have a holiday booked that you can look forward to, with no loss of money if it gets cancelled?
- Get to August and find that you could go but struggle to book what you want at a much higher price?
A big part of the holiday is the planning and anticipation. What are you going to do?
How do I book my next holiday?
Have a look around our site, we have plenty of ideas to help you Spend Smarter and Travel Smarter including:
- Beginners guide to Air Miles Flights are cancellable for a small fee
- Booking flights and hotels separately guide
- Flight delays and cancellations need to knows
- Las Vegas How to find the best deal for booking Las Vegas
- Weekend away without going anywhere Daft and fun, give it a try
- Intro to Travelscoop Our favourite travel website
- Turn £1 into £100s Start with a free share and get yourself free shares
- Compare cashback with CashbackAngel Compares Cashback rates and Airmiles
Let me know what you are doing with your Holiday? Will you book a Summer holiday abroad? Where would you love to go if you could?
Now you are here…
You’ll find lots of information on ways to Spend Smarter and Travel Smarter, from making the most of freebies from loyalty cards to essential travel guidance and moneysaving information. And some fun and #SmallJoy to like The perfect weekend break, without going anywhere? Silly, fun, cheap and AWESOME.
Now you can Visit Cyprus Smarter. Helping you plan a memorable trip, making the most of your time (and money). Enjoy the fabulous Island with confidence using our insider tips and reviews.
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