Flights

If you're like me and like to be in control you'll want to research the flights yourself to find the cheapest ones. However I would fully recommend ringing a travel agent, as I got some great deals a lot cheaper than I could find myself. Also keep in mind January flights sales, our return flights were especially cheap as we bought them in January. You may also want to consider travelling at a more unpopular time of year as flights will also be cheaper then, if you choose to travel in school holidays you may be paying higher prices as there is a higher demand during these times.

When enquiring about flights try to keep your options open, although it's often hard as people have commitments and can only go away at certain times, the prices can vary massively and if you're willing to travel at any time your wallet will feel the benefit. We didn't set an specific dates and just knew we wanted to be away for the month of May so after the travel agent searched a whole load of different dates, some making our holiday 4 weeks long some making the holiday 6 weeks long we found the cheapest deal possible, deciding to fly to Hanoi, Vietnam at the end of April and return from Phuket, Thailand at the beginning of June making our holiday 4 and a half weeks long with return flights with Emirates and a generous luggage allowance for only £450.

My best advice is to call a travel agent and be willing to not only spend a fair amount of time on the phone with them (it does take time to check all the different routes, dates and destinations) but to be flexible with your plans as that's the only way you're going to get the cheapest fares possible.