‘You MUST take your holidays!’ said your older and wiser colleagues when you started your job. ‘Of course!’ you replied, silently crossing them off your list of sane people you should probably hang out with. Who takes all their holidays? Slackers, that’s who.
Fast forward a few months and you realise that those colleagues weren’t trying to sabotage the new girl and were actually probably just looking out for your best interests. 52 weeks with only one day off for your sister’s graduation? What the hell were you thinking? You’re more frazzled than Tara Reid’s hair. Anyways now you’ve found yourself in October with four weeks holiday left to take before it runs out at the end of the year. The only problem is, you’ve got no money.
Here’s some ways to get round that.
Go For a Cheap Holiday When School's In
And by this we mean Center Parcs. For reals. Yes it’s the cringe-tastic venue responsible for the advert that shows perky families doing fun team building activities like abseiling from trees, but hit Center Parcs up during non-holiday weeks and the place can be your (very cheap) oyster. Take four adults in November and December and you’re looking at prices as low as £60 each for a cabin for four days plus crazy cheap prices to do all the activities. WHICH, by the way, range from hanging out with owls to getting a massage at a spa. Bit better than sitting in your local Wetherspoons ready for your mates to finish work eh?
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Cottages to rent in the middle of nowhere are ace in that you can get a few days away from pollution, tourists and other annoying everyday annoyances of living in the city and, more importantly, you can be as loud as you very well please. Just take a look at this fancy house in Anglesea which sleeps EIGHT at less than £20 a night. That’s alright isn’t it?
Take a European City Break That No-One Has Heard Of
And it's called Kaunas in Lithuania. Once you get flights out of the way (£46 return, thanks Ryan Air!) and accommodation (from £8 a night on AirBnB) you’ll find yourself struggling to spend as much as you normally would at home. Pints are about a quid, and meals at nice resturants can be done for abour 3-6 quid. Plus, the city is beautiful. Expect crumbling old churches and museums detailing Lithuania’s weird, wonderful and if we’re honest pretty damn dark history.
Day Trips Are The New Nights Out
Think day trips are just for Nanas and schoolkids? Hells no. With National Express’s £15 day return on Tuesdays you can head anywhere you fancy just for a day. This is mainly excellent for going to a city when you can’t afford accommodation but fancy actually being a tourist for the day. You can pinch Werther's Orginals off your fellow old lady coach mates on the way there, spend a day sightseeing in amongst Asian tourists and their cameras before day drinking red wine from a water bottle until you fall into a well-deserved nap on the way back.
Make A Holiday Out Of Housesitting
You know that slightly questionable look you've given people in the past that say they're 'house sitting', shocked as you are at the very concept? What do people have in their houses that need such ferocious guarding? MindMyHouse.com sets up people looking to house sit with people who need their houses looking after (turns out this is normally because they've got a pet that needs looking after too). So, want a new animal pal AND a new place to visit for free? Here's your chance. Check out Wallace the elderly cat and his near city centre flat in Edinburgh here.
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Follow Jess on Twitter @Jess_Commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.