nijjhar1http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/nijjhar1Reading, United Kingdom, RG1 5REEducationnijjhar, Satguru, Jesus, Nanak, Dev, Gobind, Arjun, Tegh, Bahadur, Allah, Ram, Harmandir, ABC, Gospel, Sikhism, Christian, James, -zealouJamesGnosticGospel-4:Be zealous to run the Race of Life.2008-10-07
Sprouted seeds or sprouts – not to be confused with the Brussel variety – are small plants, the next stage up from a seed. Sprouted seeds are young plants chock full of healthy minerals, vitamins, enzymes, proteins and fibre (practically all you need), and as they sprout their vitamin content increases. Because you eat them whilst they are growing, nearly all the nutrients remain intact! Your nutritious seed sprouts contain more vitamins and nutrients than nearly any other food and they make an important contribution to the recommended 5 portions of fruit and veg per day – 2 handfuls equal 1 portion.
How to Grow Sprouts
Growing sprouts is so cheap and easy – remember growing cress at school? It’s nearly as easy. You can buy a 3 level germinator or a single container, available from any good health food shop, add in a pack of seeds and your away. To grow your sprouts……
in cold water soak your seeds overnight
drain the seeds and spread them evenly in you germinator, making sure they are not clumped together
place them in a well lit spot but not in full sunlight
twice a day pour fresh cold water over the seeds and after 5-7 days – depending on seed variety – they’ll be ready to eat
they can then be stored in a container in your fridge for 5-7 days. If you’re using the 3 level germinator, the water will drain to the bottom to be thrown away. With the single germinator you have to tip the jar to let the water drain away
What To Grow
There are loads of things you can grow, some easier than others. Some of the most popular include:
One to definitely avoid are kidney beans, as they are toxic when raw.
How To Enjoy The Benefits
Eat your sprouted seeds raw and you’ll get all the benefits of this energy packed nutritious food. Or add them to your sandwiches, use as a side dish with a main course, sprinkle on top of soup, use them in a salad. Whilst it doesn’t do any harm, cooking or heating your sprouts is not recommended as this will strip them of the nutrients that you have lovingly grown them for.
I love the DBZ movies, but they've always missed that great score that Bruce Faulconer and Funi brought to the series. This is what I think scene should be like. Removing the original score from the dialogue was tough, so it might sound a little messy in some parts, and some dialogue was removed. 00:01 – Devastation – Faulconer 00:23 – Ginyu Transforms – Faulconer 01:32 – Majin Vegeta vs Goku – Faulconer 02:50 – Super Buu Theme – Faulconer THIS IS PURELY FANMADE AND IS FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY. I TAKE NO CREDIT FOR THE ANIMATION OR MUSIC USED IN THIS CLIP, ONLY THE EDITING.
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Get Life Skills – Not Student Loans
—————
Student loans? Who needs them? Take charge of your money for the
rest of your life.
=================
Part I (This article)
Part II Student loan consolidation has big benefits for losers
Part III Idea beats student loan consolidation and creates a
winning mindset.
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You’ll never need student loans with these ideas.
1.Grants in place of student loans – no repayments
2. Part time earning decreases student loans
3. Economising (builds life skills) avoids some student loans
—————-
1. Grants – Supreme way to avoid student loans
—————-
A grant is a gift of money that you don’t have to repay. Isn’t a
$50000 grant better than taking out student loans every year for
four or five years? There is a club that keeps its members
abreast of grants that they might use. You can avoid student
loans. These grants aren’t confined to education so you aren’t
confined to avoiding student loans. If you get a grant, save
actively to build a nest egg and the right mindset.
—————–
2. Part Time Earning
—————–
There are lots of ways for you to work your way through college.
What I like is that they encourage an aggressive “go and
get it” mindset. Student loans encourage the “wait for
it to come to me” mindset.
I have details of how a teenage girl made a profitable website.
She’ll never need student loans!
One girl runs dogs. That’s right, she runs for half an hour with
4 dogs that need lots of exercise, then picks up the next 4 dogs.
Don’t lose sight of your target. You want to avoid student
loans, not impress your friends with how much you can spend.
————–
3. Economising
————–
I had a grant for University. Fellow students complained their
student loans or college grants were too small. I saved money
from the grant by economising.
A dollar saved is four dollars earned. You pay back about twice
as much as you borrow, with money from which the IRS has stolen
50%. So each dollar you save avoids earning four.
You can economise on these and have better health.
1. Food
2. Lodgings
3. Health
4. Transport
5. Social life
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1. Food.
——-
Learn to cook. You’re at the mercy of food suppliers until you
can cook. One student got into the news because student loans
only covered tinned dog-food for him to eat. That’s too
expensive! I’m cooking my own food and eating well on about$17
per week.
———-
2.Lodgings
———-
I can only suggest that you shop around. Remember that $20 saved
per week is $1000 saved from your student loans each year even
without interest payments.
——–
3. Health
——–
The damage you do to your body adds up over your lifetime, so
it’s a good idea to stay healthy. What has that to do with
student loans?
It turns out that fast food is bad for your health, and so are
most processed foods, and cooking your own food means that you
can avoid trans-fatty acids, sugar, and all the other things
that cause obesity. Curry, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic, brazil
nuts, and cabbage among other things fight cancer. And they all
make less demands on student loans.
———-
4.Transport
———-
Make enquiries. How much would you save from your student loans
by buying a bike instead of a car? Would public transport be
better? Would walking or running for exercise be even better?
How much would it cramp your style for dating?
Remember, buying a car with a student loan involves not only
repayments, but fuel and oil, repairs, licensing, and
depreciation. I travelled 2 hrs/day on my pushbike getting
exercise and no college loans.
———–
5. Social Life
———–
Look for free pastimes. If your friends aren’t interested in
ways to avoid college loans perhaps you have the wrong friends.
If you finish study at 25 and work till 60 that gives you a
working life of 35 years. So a 25 year student loan takes a big
chunk out of your life, even if you are never unemployed.
And that’s before you take out a mortgage!
———————–
Other ways to economise
———————–
Buy second-hand whenever possible – even your textbooks. Clothes
from the Salvation Army are cheap. Use eBay, but don’t buy
anything you don’t need. My first boss said I’d furnished my
house for less than he spent on his bedroom. Negotiate -
Important for second hand, even more for new goods. When you go
in to buy a new fridge, the attendant waits to see if you’re
stupid enough to pay the price tag, or ask for a discount.
Remember a dollar saved is four dollars in student loans that
you won’t have to pay back.
Sharm El Sheikh is increasingly becoming more and more popular each year with thousands of visitors flocking to the resort all year round. Many holiday makers who have visited the resort before and stayed in one of the hotel chains are seeking alternatives and that’s self catering in one of the many apartments and studios.
Sharm El Sheikh now has many privately owned apartments, studios and condos and a lot of these are rented out for self catering holidays.
Some of the advantages to renting a self catering apartment in sharm el sheikh is that your not tied to your hotel by having to be back for lunch and dinner, giving you more quality time to explore the resort. You can also bring in your own alcohol which is not allowed in most hotels and in some cases alcohol being confiscated. Other advantages are a more quieter atmosphere, no loud music blurring out late at night or being pulled into the hotel entertainments, after all it is your holiday and you can find plenty of your own entertainments in one of the busy resorts. And more importantly you have the choice to cook your own food.
It’s a good idea to buy your food and supplies at the beginning of your holiday, and to buy enough for the whole duration of your stay, most self catering apartments do have Fridge Freezers to keep meats and vegetables fresh, but do check when booking your holiday apartment.
Sharm El Sheikh has improved drastically in recent years and now provides for the self catering holiday, supermarkets selling meats, vegetables and dairy products, some of the best are the Metro supermarkets found in Nabq Bay and just past Naama Bay on the way to Old Market and Hadaba. The Metro supermarkets are the nearest you will get to our supermarkets back home selling fresh meat, vegetables and dairy products in fact everything you will need for your self catering holiday in sharm el sheikh, they also have a home delivery service making it even easier for you.
Other large supermarkets in sharm are 24 7 situated are in Naama Bay and Old market along with smaller shops selling food and kitchenware. for details of where the nearest supermarket is to you there is a couple of free informational booklets issued monthly, these directories tell you where to eat, shop, and places to go and lists all supermarkets in Sharm El Sheikh, the booklets are called The Mix and The Book these can be found in coffee shops, supermarkets, Restaurants and Bars.
Alcohol and cigarettes are best bought at Old Market situated in Sharm El Maya about 6 Km south of Naama Bay. Old Market has the charm of ancient Egypt with its Bazaars, souvenir shops, perfume shops and colourful displays of spices, Old market has everything you will need for your self catering Holiday, and at very good prices. Look out for the Heineken shop in the centre of Old market this is the cheapest I have found for Beer and spirits.
try the local beers like Sakara or there brand of stella imported Beers are more expensive.
Cigarettes can be bought in the small food shops dotted in and around Old Market these are the cheapest with set prices.
Watch out for street sellers who sell cigarettes these may be fake and you will have to haggle the price. Fruit, vegetables and meat can be bought at Old Market at cheap prices.
As Old Market is a popular tourist spot there are many souvenir shops, as with Cairo and Luxor you will have to Haggle in the shops for the best price, once you get the hang of it, it is quite good fun. One of my Tips for Haggling is to ask the price, half it and work around that figure, try not to pay over two thirds of the original figure. Remember there will probably be another shop a few meters away selling the same thing, so if you fail to get a good price from the first you may get a better deal from the second, third and so on.
The whole of sharm El Sheikh stretches from Nabq Bay right to the Bay of Sharm El Maya over 30 miles in total. so if you intend to see a bit of the place you will need to get around by some mode of transport Taxi, Micro Bus, or Hire Car. Taxis are a reasonably cheap way of getting round, depending of how much you use them, they have recently had a overhaul from cranky old Peugeots to shiny new ones, this was to give Sharm El Sheikh the new up market look. All official taxis are blue and white with there own unique fleet number, make a note of its number if you want to use the driver again, the driver will probably hassle you for business.
Blue and white taxis do have fixed rates for the destination but before you get in, state destination and cost of fare as some drivers still ask for more money or a tip at the end of the journey.
Never get in blue and white pickups they are not taxis, some will ask you if you want a lift and then demand paying for there service. Keep clear of taxi touts in Naama Bay they are on a commission. There are hundreds of taxis at Naama Bay so its easy to get your own, You may even be able to negotiate a lower price than the set fee.
Cheaper ways of transport to get you out and about from your self catering apartment are the public microbuses, these are also blue and white and they also have fixed prices for there destination, but will try to charge tourists a lot more for the fare, The fare Tariffs can be found at bus stops in Naama Bay on large Boards or free information Booklets like the Mix or the Book. Micro Buses do get very crowded at peak times especially in the morning taking Egyptian workers to work, but if you don’t mind this then it’s a very cheap way of getting around.
If you have an international driving licence and want to drive in Sharm El Sheikh then rent a car, this might be the best option in the long term for getting you around, Fuel is very cheap around 2 LE a litre in Egypt. Having the freedom of you own car gives you more options to fully explore Sharm El Sheikh’s many attractions. International licence will have to be applied back in your own country. UK application forms can be downloaded from the RAC website.
“Feed a Family on $25- a Week! (Without clipping coupons!)Subscribe!~Comment!~Rate!~Favorite!~Share! gabysunheart.blogspot.com Subscribe to my Blog! www.facebook.com Become a Fan and Keep in touch with me! To get a copy of ” Feed A Family On $25- A Week! (Without Coupons!)” Email me at gabriellesunheart@Gmail.com or Fan/Message me www.facebook.com My book has a full 1 month menu! With recipes for breakfasts, snacks, lunches, kids lunches, dinners and desserts! Includes hearty satisfying soups, elegant dinner party ideas AND easy eco-friendly tips that will save you even more cash! I look forward to your email! gabriellesunheart@Gmail.com www.facebook.com gabysunheart.blogspot.com Twitter.com www.myspace.com Gaby Sunheart ~ Author/Model/Artist BE SURE TO WATCH MY OTHER VIDEOS AND SUBSCRIBE! This book will teach you how to not only eat for verry little money but eat healthy at the same time. Yes you can eat cheap but eat healthy too! And the recipes in this book are a mouth watering crave able way to get your much needed veggies into your body! If you would like to get a copy please add me on facebook and I will give you my certified paypal account info. Facebook.com/gabriellesunheart Gabrielle Sunheart Author of “How to Feed A Family Of 4 on $25- a Week! (Without clipping coupons!)
1. Eliminate junk food – gawd! This was very hard at first!
Doing your shopping on your own is the easiest way to shop, as children and sometimes spouses are usually the ones requesting junk food. Gotta blame someone, right?
Shopping alone takes some discipline and, once you get the hang of it, will ensure that you only buy foods your body really needs for optimal health.
2. Buy and drink water or milk instead of soft drinks.
You can still enjoy your favorite drinks at a sporting event or night out, although you should cut the number you imbibe. When shopping, stick with the smallest size of that taboo drink, to save money and calories. And, don’t buy the diet cola hype.
Read the label for ingredients and look for syrup content. That’s where the fat devils are hiding.
Children and even adults need milk or milk products on a daily basis. Milk will also help you feel stronger, provide calcium for
healthy bones and healthy teeth, and you’ll sleep better. Calcium has relaxing qualities. Remember the advice – drink a warm glass of milk before bed?
3. Buy fruits in quantity.
When they are in season, buy fruits in quantity and freeze any extras. You can buy several pounds this way, and freeze extras to have them when the fruit goes out of season. Wash the fruit well, remove any spoiled pieces, dry thoroughly, then freeze in plastic zipper bags.
You can even buy apples in season and not freeze them. Just place in a plastic bag in the bottom drawer of the fridge. They will stay fresh for weeks on end. My wife does this and we have fresh apple pies all Winter.
4. Meats and beans are a super health source.
Meats and beans are the best sources for protein. Lean meat is more expensive than meats with a lot of fat but here’s a tip: Buy the cheap stuff, fry the meat in a pan with some water in it so the fat floats. I like to season the meat while it’s frying. The water floats off the excess seasoning. Then, scoop the meat onto a plate lined several paper towels thick to soak up the grease and you have your own version of low-fat meat.
Canned beans are always a great deal as well, as they give you protein at a great low price. Buy the cheapest store brand too. Likely they were canned by a name brand company anyway.
5. Use beans as a substitute in meals.
You should use beans a substitute for meat frequently. There are several varieties. Prepare them in a crock pot so, when you get home, they are ready to consume.
The USDA recommends eating beans at least 4 times per week. If you experience gas after eating beans you should try washing them, covering them with water, bringing the water to a boil, then draining it off and refilling the pot.
6. Cast your fishing line at the dock or at the market.
If you live in a coastal area or an area where fish abound, make that an integral part of your diet. You can catch them from the
lakes or rivers, saving money in the process but don’t overdo it. Mecury, you know? Once a week is good.
7. Peanut butter isn’t just for kids.
Peanut butter is great for those on a budget. as it’s popular with almost everyone. You can use it for sandwiches instead of eating hot dogs. It does need to be refrigerated. Bigger jars can last you for weeks.
One word of caution. Peanut butter contains some mold. If you are allergic, well, you probably already know it and already know to not overdo it. In Canada, candy bars no longer contain peanuts. Imagine that!
8. Water, water, and more water.
You should fill up with foods that have a high content of water. Watermelon, salads, and even sugar free gelatin are all great examples. Water is nature’s elixir and a source of life to the body.
Eating healthy is a lifestyle you will not regret. You can eat healthy for just a few bucks, which makes it perfect for those of us on a
budget.
Now, you know, you really don’t need a lot of money to have the lifestyle and health you’ve always wanted.
You can reach Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava by flying to Barcelona or Gerona airports. Gerona is about 40k from the coast and takes about 40 minutes to get there but Barcelona is around 90k away and the transfer takes about an hour to Lloret.
The main coastal resorts near Lloret de Mar are Roses, Tossa de Mar, Santa Susana, Calella, Pineda, Malgrat and Blanes.
What are the hotels like? There is every kind of hotel and apartment complex you could imagine in Lloret. All-inclusive hotels, self-catering apartments, a hostel, small tent city and probably many other places as well.
We stayed at the Blau apartments half way up Lloret high street and, the hotel Rosamar, which is on the opposite side of all the shops and narrow streets, near the beach.
Our room at the Blau was quite nice, fridge and TV, balcony and good-sized bathroom but rather noisy though being above the high street. The staff at the apartments not too friendly and the facilities substandard. There is a tiny roof pool full of kids and the laundry facilities consist of a washing machine in a room, which was always flooded.
A major plus was having a supermarket right next door. The supermarket had everything we needed as we went self-catering, and what we couldn’t get we only had to take a short walk up the high street.
The hotel Rosamar was quite different though. The room was very basic and the whole ambiance of the hotel was depressing. My wife and I chose to go half board this time, thinking we would save on washing up, cleaning the apartment etc.
Bad mistake! The food was terrible and very poor quality for the whole two weeks but because it was so cheap to eat out, we did have many evening meals out and even some breakfasts we skipped and went to our favourite pizza restaurant for brunch near the hotel. Sat watching over the beach, sun beating down, large jug of sangria, aaah yes, paradise in Lloret.
Anyway, the Rosamar had a nice big pool, plenty of umbrellas and sun beds, Jacuzzi, gym, sauna and activities for the kids. The evening entertainment in the hotel was varied and lively. We met a great couple called Graham and Rosemary, we spent many nights with them sat in the corner of the entertainment lounge drinking and talking until the small hours.
How about the nightlife? The nightlife of Lloret is wild! There are plenty of pubs and clubs run by English people, the most popular probably being The Queen Vic, Texas and The Seven Seas. There was a great pub called the white Horse but this is now closed down.
You can even find a few theme bars in Lloret. A rock bar, disco place, clubs open until 4 or 5 in the morning, Rockafellas is one and don’t go to the Flamingo hotel unless you want to see a little more flesh than you normally would in a public place. There are burger places and kebab houses open all night long not too mention all the fast food restaurants open all the time. How to Make a Fridge Root Cellar
And the daylife…? The day life is quite relaxed. The Costa Brava might have a reputation for being the wild and rugged coast of Spain, but remember, this is Spain and in Spain everything goes slow and no one misses an afternoon siesta. If you have kids, take them to the Water Park at Lloret, it is fantastic and you could easily spend a whole day there. There is a marine life centre, and there are some fantastic bays and beaches to visit all around Lloret.
Best way to reach all the bays and coves is by very reasonably priced water taxis. You won’t regret your little trips up and down the coast, the coastline is amazing! Tossa de Mar, Santa Susana, Santa Christina, Blanes and a few others. Our favourite? Santa Christina, there can’t be many places in the world where you have a sandy beach, restaurant and bar and fast food all in one place, with not too many people? Sounds to good to be true, but its not!
As you cruise up and down the coast you will see old castles, rugged cliffs and churches you can see for miles. They have the glass bottom boats so you can visit the uninhabited islands off the coast where there is plenty of marine life to watch under the boat, fish, octopus etc… or you can sit on the top deck, see everything, and have an ice cream or soft drink.
If you find yourself with a spare morning or afternoon, the old church right in the centre of Lloret is beautiful. See if you can get inside. They will not let you take pictures but it is worth the hassle of talking to the person in charge to get a peep inside.
We took a trip on the little train that does the rounds on the streets. Thinking it was a way to kill an hour and would be a good chance for an afternoon kip, we were pleasantly surprised. After about 5 minutes we were heading out of Lloret and up into the hills. The little train carried us past stunning villas and the view from the top of the hill was breathtaking. There is a man who takes a camcorder and you can buy a video of the whole experience, great souvenir to bring home.
If you want to get out of Lloret for a day, try, Montserrat, Andorra, Barcelona, Vic and one or two other places away from Lloret but near enough away for a day trip. I recommend all the above, especially Barcelona. If you go there, visit Goudy’s church, the football stadium and the kids will love the zoo. Whilst you have lunch at the café in the zoo, you can watch the giraffes up close and very personal.
At the bottom of Lloret high street there is a children’s carousel and up the top of the high street there is an adult’s carousel. You could probably take the kids on both but the one at the top of the street is double decked and has a very cozy Cinderella’s coach.
The fact that the constant barrage of credit crunch related news is so grim at home only makes me more desperate to escape to a place where at least if the news isn’t any less grim I can’t understand what they’re saying. And some sun would be nice too. That always cheers me up. As well as shopping around for credit crunch travel discounts there are some other ways come up with cheap holiday ideas, without cheap holiday meaning a fortnight sitting in a house you can’t really afford the mortgage for. These are the World Reviewer Top Tips for Cheap Credit Crunch Travel.
Like the scouts and Dentists will tell you – be prepared
No point going to Egypt and skipping the pyramids because they’re a bit pricey, if you look around in advance many destinations can offer you a combo deal, tickets to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower with a boat ride down the Seine thrown in for example. There’s also no point going to a place where the shopping is bound to tempt with your suitcase at full weight on the way out. Leave a bit of breathing room in your luggage to avoid a scene at the airport where you have to start jettisoning your smalls to fit that coat that was too cheap not to buy.
We all know mobile phone charges on holidays are hideous and the credit crunch isn’t going to improve that, but if you get your phone unlocked before you leave you can get a local SIM card and at least make cheap local calls if you need to.
Know what you’re got coming to you
European travellers are entitled to a free European Health Insurance Card which means if something untoward befalls you medically you can save yourself a lot of extra cash and worry! British travellers should also check out if they’re entitled to get their travel jabs free on the NHS from their GP – a lot of people will find they are.
If you’re still a student in any way shape or form make sure you pick up an internationally recognised student card – like one from STA travel – waving your school library card at the charming people in the ticket office of Beijing’s Forbidden City won’t do you any favours.
Stick to your budget
You can be thrifty even after you hit the ground. Simple things like eating out where the locals do rather than in the often over priced and less authentic tourist areas, and carrying a drink in your bag can help you stick to a daily budget.
Mind the false economy
Being flexible about your travel arrangements will always save you money but if the cheapest flight available means you’re going to get into the airport at 3am and have to catch a cab to the hotel – which will promptly charge you for a whole additional night – then you may want to reconsider.
Self catering options may be worth considering – some people can eat their money’s worth at the breakfast buffet, but it might be worth looking for accommodation with at least a fridge, kettle and a toaster in case of emergencies? Car rental is another travel expenditure that should be considered carefully at the moment. It can be a cheap way to get around but remember that petrol prices are sky high in many places at the moment. If you do rent a car returning it with a full tank can help avoid any pesky additional charges.
It’s a precarious economy that has people withdrawing all the cash for their trip at the commission free money exchange post office – if you lose it you lose it all – but it’s still worth changing some currency before you go and looking for a cheaper exchange rate than you’ll get from your hotel.
Don’t scrimp on insurance. If you’re that lucky you must be one of the people who has benefited from the credit crunch – but how many of those people do you know? Coming home from holiday is bad enough without coming home in an air ambulance you’re going to spend the next thousand years paying off, or scoring all those wonderful shopping bargains on vacation and then losing your bag on the way home and not even having a decent pair of underwear to call your own.
Don’t leave it to the last minute
Leaving it until the last minute only really works if you can be flexible. If you’re hoping you’ll be able to arrange cheap parking at the airport on the day you probably also think credit crunch is a cereal. These little details all add up in the end.
SarahC
Jo Tweedy, travel editor at the Daily Mail Online, travels to Los Angeles and offers her top tips on getting the best from the City of Angels without blowing the bank…
www.search-fares.com enteryour data just ONCE, and compare many vendors at the same time. You get better deals going DIRECTLY to the merchant’s site, than to use a metasearch or price scraper! 1) France (76.7 million visitors a year) 2) Spain (51.7 million visitors) 3) US (41.9 million visitors) 4) Italy (39.8 million visitors) 5) China (36.8 million visitors) This is the data of 1998 1) France (70 million visitors) 2) Spain (47,7 million visitors) 3) United States (47 million visitors) 4) Italy (34,8 million visitors) 5) United Kingdom (25,4 million visitors) cheap flights hotels cruise tickets airfare car rental travel vacation low cost budget parody comedy funny hilarious travel fly flight plane hawaii surf surfing trip cheap waves wave neach sand
With the price of holidays on the rise, more of us are seeking out cheaper deals on flights, hotels and car hire. But thousands of out-of-pocket holiday makers are coming to the realisation that cheap doesn’t always mean cheap. You can avoid paying more than you expected for your so-called ‘cheap’ hotel if you know what to look for.
The most obvious, and perhaps the best-known, is the mini-bar. Having a fridge full of treats, snacks and alcohol in your hotel room might be tempting, but unless you really want to pay upwards of £1 for a small chocolate bar, or £4+ for a tiny bottle of vodka, it’s better to grab any snacks from the shop down the road. If you do decide to throw caution to the wind and raid the mini-bar, make note of exactly which items you consume, and their listed prices. It is not unheard of for tourists to be billed for items they didn’t take out, or overcharged. Keep all wrappers/cans/bottles if necessary, and check your bill thoroughly before you leave.
On the subject of food, some hotels charge for breakfasts separately, yet don’t always make this immediately clear. You may be able to get a reduction in the cost of your room by making your own arrangements of a morning; going to the local café for breakfast will undoubtedly get you nicer food for the same, if not less, than you’d pay in the hotel for coffee and a muffin.
Beware of hotels which offer a laundry service. While not a bad thing in itself, you’ll pay dearly for the convenience. Better to buy a cheap box of washing powder and wash your smalls in the bathroom sink, and use a local launderette for larger items. Using the hotel service may end up costing you more than you paid for your clothes brand new!
Perhaps the most important thing to watch out for, before you book, is VAT. Currently set at 15% in Britain, different countries have different rates. The Czech Republic, for example, sets a rate of 22%. These amounts are not always included in the advertised price of the holiday, as travel agents want to make their prices look as low as possible. So look out for the magic words ‘including VAT’ before you book.
Cheap hotels can be just that if you opt out of the overpriced extras. Most hotels will inform you beforehand of their prices, so avoiding them is easy. When you compare hotels for different prices look for VAT being added or excluded.