Start Saving for These Holidays Abroad

Do you have a dream holiday? They may seem like pipe dreams. They are so expensive, and finding the time to jet off for a couple of weeks isn’t so easy for those of us who have to work for a living.

In actual fact, it’s cheaper and easier to travel around the world than it ever has been. In fact, if you start saving now, you may be able to go on these holidays abroad by the end of the year!

Have an African safari

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Whether you love animals or you love grand adventures, you’ll really enjoy an African safari. Generally, when you think about safari, you think about being able to capture (in photographs, of course) the Big Five – leopards, Cape buffalo, rhinos, lions and African elephants. The best place to find these amazing creatures is around the Serengeti, the plains in central Africa. Generally, safaris in the Serengeti take place in the national parks of Tanzania and Kenya. You can also find Big Five safari tours in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

Tanzanian tours tend to be a bit cheaper than those in other countries, so we’re going to concentrate on that. The website SafariBookings.com lists five-day tours from £438 per person, not including flights.

See the Northern Lights

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The Northern Lights have captured the popular imagination lately. Maybe it’s all the Nordic dramas on television. Maybe we’re all just a little more interested in experiencing the vastness and mystery of the natural world. Whatever it is, the dancing bands of greens, blues and purples have mesmerised people for millennia.

The Northern Lights are best viewed from countries that are near the Artic circle: Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Iceland is the most common destination for British Northern Lights viewers, though, as it is close and relatively cheap. DiscoverTheWorld.co.uk offers three-day long tours of the Northern Lights in Iceland which start from £206 per person. They also have a tour that promises glimpses of both the Northern Lights and killer whales, if you really want to pack in the best of the Artic.

Holiday on a private island

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Have you ever just wanted to get away from it all? Pretend you’re on I’m a Celebrity or Desert Island Discs? You can leave everything behind – including the hoi polloi – when you holiday on a private island. There are thousands of barely populated islands in the world, and not all of them are owned by billionaires. Some, like Cooper Island in the British Virgin Islands, is home to a resort that is amazing value for money.

The Cooper Island Beach Club (the only resort on the island) has double rooms available from $125 (that’s about 76.35 sterling) per night. It’s everything you could want in a deserted island: no nightclubs, no televisions, no cars. But there is a white sand beach, crystal clear water, palm trees and plenty of rum. Plus, there’s a restaurant, a boutique shop and a bar, if you don’t want to get too far away from it all.

Hobnob with celebrities at the Istrian Riviera

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Where are the chicest beaches in Europe? The French Riviera? Think again. These days, celebrities avoid the crowds of the Cote d’Azur in favour of the quiet hideaways along the Istrian Riviera, in Croatia. Steven Spielberg, Sharon Stone and Clint Eastwood all spend time there, and Princess Caroline of Monaco has bought a home there. So what do they love so much? In addition to the gorgeous beaches and surprisingly nice weather, the Riviera has the fishing villages, olive groves and vineyards you want in a European coastline, but it also has Dubrovnik and the island of Hvar, which is famed for its honey, lavender and rosemary. Whether you’re in the mood for an urban explore, a relaxing day of sunbathing or a nose around local foods and wines, you’ll find something to your taste in the Istrian Riviera.

Best of all? It’s still remarkably cheap. Thomson for example has a whole host of packages to the Riviera, some for as little as £300 per person for a whole week.

Follow the Fellowship around New Zealand

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Much like The Lord of the Rings films themselves, there are seemingly countless tours that you can take to retrace the steps of Peter Jackson and the cohort of elves, hobbits and orcs he filmed. After all, the film crew built real-life sets into the countryside, so you can physically visit the Hobbiton set, where the Hobbits lived, and the sets of famous battles for Gondor and Rohan.

The Lord of the Rings Tours is probably the most well-known Lord of the Rings touring company. They offer packages for families and for couples which include their tour of the films. The actual Lord of Rings tour only takes a day, so you can still tour around Queenstown and the rest of the South Island if you wish. Or you could see what the company’s “full immersion LOTR experience” is all about, if you want. Package holidays cost from NZ$745 (about £372) per person for a three-day, two-night trip, or, for the full-on LOTR holiday experience, $999 (about £500) per person for three days and two nights.

 

These five holidays abroad are actually realistic options for most of us, provided we start saving now. Of course, there’s also plenty to do here in the UK as well. All you have to do is pick a place and save your pennies, and you could have a great holiday.

So what holidays are you saving for this year?