"Runnin' On".

Janet provides a lesson on how to get cheaper foreign holidays!

I thought one or two readers might like to hear of a way of saving a small amount of money while on holiday.

In November we made our annual pilgrimage to the Canary Islands to extend our summer sun, and I know many people will be saying we could save much more by staying at home, but that's not the point. The point is that if you like to see lots of the Islands rather than lie on the beach for a fortnight, one of the ways of doing it is by one of the many tour operators that advertise on every street corner. If you've gone on holiday with one of the U.K. company's, the first thing they will try and do is to sell their tours but avoid these and nip out to the nearest street corner and pick up a few of the leaflets laying there.

You will find that their prices are less than half your tour operator's tariffs and they provide the same if not better service. But there is a catch! And this is where you have to be a bit thick skinned. Although it's never mentioned directly they are known as "Blanket Trips" and you are transported to a factory outlet, where you are wined and subjected to a couple of hours of lectures on the beauties of this company's products, mainly beds and mattresses and all the extra's needed for a good nights sleep. If you can switch off to this, (actually the first one is quite interesting and possibly amusing but can get a bit of a bore if you plan on doing a few trips) then the rest of the day is spent on the trip you planned with food, wine and photo stops and very enjoyable

This is not to everyone's liking but it does save quite a bit of the holiday spending money and when one is married to a Yorkshire man, it is worth considering!

p.s. By the way, This trip we bought a mattress. And no we don't have to carry it home, it's being delivered this month.

Janet Tilburn