1. Book your flights separately, rather than return.

It sounds crazy right? It’s like getting two singles rather than a return on the bus. Yes, I am 26 and still get the bus. You can judge me when your blog gets 10,000 views. Anyway, even though it sounds as crazy as Justin Bieber cleaning up his act and stopping abusing minorities, its actually true.

Booking a flight separately can sometimes work out way cheaper. My recent flight to Crete was clocking in at £350 return with a well known budget airline. The single bookings totalled £220, and even though I am flying with two different airlines, its actually the same airport.

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You can save even MORE but not being bothered if you leave and return at the same airport.

2. Book a lounge.

Not just because, like me, you cannot accept the fact you are not an international celebrity. Booking a lounge may actually work out cheaper. The average breakfast in the airport is about £15 with drinks anyway, and even on board it can set you back a tenner for a Panini and a coffee. Most of the lounges can be booked with http://www.prioritypass.com/ and range from £15 – £25, which is all you can eat and drink before you board. The best thing to do is get annihilated before hand and pass out with your head on the tray, and then get told by an air hostess you have arrived at your destination. Just to clarify this has never happened to me.

If you have a particularly long stop over, the showers in the lounge can be a god send. After flying 9 hours from Manila, the ‘Al Reem’ lounge in Abu Dhabi airport was possibly the best thing that ever happened to me, until I nearly got sectioned for doing Yoga in an empty gate.

3. Book through Booking.com.

Booking.com have not paid me to say this by the way. Although is any chief execs look at this, I like Tropical islands. The great thing about Booking.com, is they do not charge anything up front, and for the most part you can change your booking up to a day before. So start having some fun with www.booking.com

Book everything. Book a hut in the Venezuelan amazon. Book an igloo. Book one of them little fucking houses in Iceland that look like barns. Why not? You can always cancel it if you spend all your money on loom bands.

4. Upgrade your bank account.

Most bank accounts now will give away free travel and mobile phone insurance and better travel rates. If you travel a lot, it may be worth looking at spending an extra £15 a month to get these perks. I personally think Halifax are absolute wankers, but it’s nice to know I’m covered if I say for instance, need my tow sewn back on, cut my thumb open on a shower plug, or fall down some stone steps after a bottle of ouzo.

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Most banks are absolute begs who will give you £100 for switching to them, so have a look at other banks as well.

5. Get a travel debit card.

I have a cash passport which is through MasterCard. Aside from the obvious, if I lose it I can cancel it and get a new one (the number for lost and stolen cards is free from any country on a Travelex cash passport), the rate is better. You can use it like a debit card with no charge, and the charge to take money out abroad is a flat rate. Most of the time the bank charge you to convert the money into whatever currency you want to take it out in, but with a cash passport you just load it up and get a flat rate for taking money out.

6. Book your flight 6 weeks before.

6 weeks before and after midnight on a Wednesday. That is what ACTUAL science says is the time to get the best deal on your flight. Use a comparison website like www.skyscanner.com be prepared to be tired Thursday for work. I wouldn’t recommend booking the Thursday off, staying up, getting pissed and booking your flight. I was sober as a judge and I booked my flight for the wrong day, imagine what could of happened after a few vinos, I could of ended up on a Monarch to North Korea.

7. Only take hand luggage.

I have now managed, twice, to live with what I can pack in a suitcase for 3 months. I even took decks when I worked in Greece. If you are off to Spain for a week you really don’t need to take 16 beach towels, 3 tubes of Colgate and bin liners and tea bags ‘just in case’. You can save well into £100 by not taking hold luggage, so think about how much that extra bikini is worth.

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Unless you are going to Siberia, there WILL be shops that sell anything you cant get in your case. Funnily enough, they do have shops in other countries.

8. Remember your plug adaptors.

Anyone who reads my blog will remember my agg in Lille with my plug adaptors (https://confessionsofasoberessexgirl.co.uk/?s=lille). If you forget your plug adaptor you will get absolutely smacked, SMACKED up the arse for one. Mine was 15 euro, and you can buy them in the pound shop. I’m by no means cheap (even though I am from Basildon), but seriously, it will destroy your soul when you pay through the nose for something you could of just packed.

9. Keep your passport safe.

I am 26, have travelled alone, 10,000 miles to LITERALLY the opposite side of the earth, but I still give my passport to my Mum for safe keeping.

And what? at least I wont get to the airport, realise I don’t have it, cry and kick off at Easyjet for my mistake like the people on ‘Airline’.

10. Tell your mobile phone company you are going away & de-activate your roaming.

Cheeky wee shits these mobile phone companies are. They either don’t let your phone work abroad at all, or they charge you £60 for 30 seconds of data. the best bet is to call your provider before you go. Believe it or not, they actually DONT want countless people complaining to them.

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By a cheap shit phone to take away so you cant even access the internet from it and you don’t lose your beloved iphone.