Your family deserves a holiday –7 ways to do it on the cheap

Armed with a little insider info, you can enjoy a summer vacation that won’t blow a hole in your bank balance

Summer has arrived, and everyone is yearning to get away from it all to enjoy a long-overdue break. After all, the past couple of years have been tough on us all – mentally, emotionally, and even physically.

But financial stress has also risen, meaning that the idea of a holiday nowadays is often so foreign to many South Africans, that they simply don’t even consider it due to the perceived cost. Yet armed with a little insider info, your holiday could cost less than you think.

Rioma Cominelli, director of First Loyalty Plus and a seasoned traveller, offers the following tips to get you moving in the right holiday direction:

1. Local destination

Choose a destination that is close to home as this will result in a significant saving on fuel. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you must travel miles to relax and unwind – sometimes the very best gems are right on your doorstep.

2. Book in advance and for a shorter period

Booking far in advance will not only allow you more time to save for the trip but will also be significantly cheaper than booking at the last minute, when demand is higher.

Choosing to go away for four nights instead of six is savvy; that way you won’t rack up the cost of a full week, and while this may seem too short, consider that five days away is still better than only a weekend away.

3. Consider off-peak times

If you have small children or are retired, and you’re not governed by school holidays or weekends, then take advantage of outof-season/mid-week specials. This way you’ll be assured of stretching your budget even further as school holidays and weekends are usually charged at higher rates.

4. Self-catering

It is almost always cheaper to book self-catering apartments or cottages rather than hotel rooms. Eating out is also expensive, so save costs by eating in. This needn’t mean hours in the kitchen for mom; pack a picnic for a fun, outdoor adventure, enjoy family braais or make use of ready-made pizzas or meals.

5. Make a list

What good is a summer holiday without your fave cozzie, hat and book that you’ve now forgotten at home? If you don’t make a list to ensure that everything gets packed, you’ll be forced to waste time and money shopping for things you have left behind. So, keep costs down by not having to spend unnecessarily.

6. Free activities

They say that the best things in life are free, and how much better when you’re on holiday. Many hotels, for example, have daily planned activities that won’t cost you a cent. In addition, you can go on a hike, go for a bike ride in the mountains, make use of sports facilities such as tennis courts, do some fishing or spend a day at the beach. Don’t be pressurised into thinking that you need to jam activities into every minute of the day to enjoy your holiday as this will be a stressful and expensive mistake.

7. Join a loyalty programme

Accommodation is notorious for eating up the largest slice of your holiday budget, and one of the easiest ways to minimise this is to sign up for a loyalty programme.

Rioma concludes: “The benefits of a family holiday go far beyond the obvious rest and relaxation; it’s the lifelong memories that you’ll create when you’re away from the daily grind that will last for years to come. By planning your next holiday smartly, you’ll be far more likely to make that dream an affordable reality.”