Package holiday VS. DIY travelling

As our travel horizons broaden, so do our ideas about what constitute the perfect holiday. For a long time the package holiday has reigned supreme for many holiday makers. It’s easy, simple and often a cheap option. Most of us go on holiday to relax and what could be more stress-free than having someone else arrange your whole holiday for you in a convenient family-sized package? Well, it seems these days many wannabe holiday makers are looking for something a little different from their travel experiences. Cheap air-bus e-tickets are being traded for rail-cards, cramped hotel rooms are being left aside in favour B&B’s and spacious local apartments, and tepid buffet food is losing favour as tourists interest in authentic local cuisine heightens.

For a long time a 2 week beach holiday on the Spanish coast was an annual event for many holiday makers. However, it seems the current economic climate has created a generation of temporary nomads all desperate to experience the ‘real’ people, food and culture of the country in which they find themselves. People no longer necessarily want to spend their 2 weeks of annual leave in the same place (on that same sun-lounger), they want to see 2 or 3 cities, meet different groups of people and soak up as much of their surroundings as possible.

At a loss in the UK? Head to London (centre of the transport universe) and pick a form of transport. Ferry to france? Euro tunnel? Cheap flights to most of Europe? Its up to you. The selection of travel guides now available for, well, pretty much everywhere, means that you can literally arrive anywhere in the world armed with your trusty guide and a local pay and go phone and have the most amazing (and somewhat spontaneous!) holiday.

For those of you not lucky enough to own your own motor-home/VW Campervan- there are accommodation options suitable for all budgets all across Europe. For whatever reason, the word ‘hostel’ used to have pretty bad connotations. These days, this is very much a thing of the past. Hostels are a brilliant way to travel on a budget and meet new people. Your cheap shelter options however, do not end there. There are are so many ways to sleep cheaply these days.

So what’s it to be? Couchsurfing in Paris? Apartments in Prague? B&B in Vienna? It really is up to you!