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I did a holiday in my £13 Uniqlo bag 🎒
Sharing how I pack light, my full £100 holiday itinerary (for you to recreate it!) and my google flight hack which gave me GRIEF this week 😅
Chelsea Dickenson
February 07, 2025
Your must read travel round up📍
Hello from CHE Towers (my bed) which is an achievement in itself let me tell you. Yes, I’m actually back in the country! As I mentioned I’ve had 4 trips in 2 weeks so I am so happy to be home for a bit BUT I’ve been up to so much cool stuff that I can’t wait to share with you… 🥳
Ooh also, did you catch on our deals newsletter last week that James and I have a new podcast?! It’s called Passports Please! and episode 3 is live now - thank you so much for the lovely comments so far!!
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This week, we’ve got another packed newsletter this week including:
What I did on my city break for under £100 (yes you did read that right) 🏙️
Packing for 3 days away in just a Uniqlo bag (and yes, you read that right too!) 🍌
The flight hack that gave me GRIEF this week 😭
Cheap as chips summer holidays ☀️
How to get the best deal on your travel insurance 🧳
£100 City Breaks in a Teeny Tiny Bag
I challenged myself to go on a £100 city break last year which had to include everything - flights, transfers, accommodation, meals, transport and activities. And I’ve typed up exactly what that trip included so that you can recreate it!
However, there was a secondary challenge on the go during this which I only revealed last week… Yep, I did this £100 holiday in a Uniqlo bag 😆 And it’s since gone a bit viral over on social media with over 4 million views on Instagram alone!
 Everything I spent on my £100 Tirana trip The full itinerary of my 3 day £100 holiday so that you can give it a go too if you fancy it! |  Packing for a city break in just my Uniqlo swing bag Yeah, I definitely put this bag’s reputation as a Mary Poppins bag to the test. |
Viral Vacay📲
Where we track down the accommodation that’s gone viral, find out how much it actually costs and if needs be, suggest a cheaper alternative 🕵️♀️
 | What is it? A hotel in an actual crane in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. And yes, it still turns in the wind! How viral? This video tour has over 600k views on TikTok. How much? Stay at the Crane Hotel Faralda, with seriously swanky interiors, from £967 per night. Cheaper alternative? Stay at THE KRANE in Copenhagen, Denmark, where a double room costs from £669 per night. Still not that cheap though is it… Cheaper still? Back in Amsterdam, you can bag an apartment stay at Numa Amsterdam The Crane for £274 per night. Who knew staying in a crane was so damn pricey?!! Sorry James, looks like we won’t be staying anytime soon… 😆 |
Seen a viral video you want me to do this for? Reply with it to this email! 📧
Get ready for summer
There are still some really good deals on summer holidays out there - even in school holidays. Whether you want a couples escape in July or a family trip in August, I’ve chosen some epic deals to show you can still go away for less this summer.
I’ve also got a bumper article on all things travel insurance to help you protect your hard-earned holiday. Insurance can be a confusing topic with so many policies and options, so I’ve blitzed through the jargon to bring you a no-nonsense guide that’ll help you pick the right policy for you.
 Summer holidays you can still book for under £500pp You can still bag a bargain to even the most popular destinations during the school summer holidays. |  How to find the best travel insurance policy for you Get the low down on what’s included in a travel insurance policy with our straightforward guide. |
My hack of the week
I caught some GRIEF this week with this clip from episode 2 of our podcast, where I spoke about a Google Flights hack.
Now. I’m hoping it’s just that people didn’t watch the clip until the end, but it could just be that they don’t understand HOW GOOD THIS HACK IS 😆
So here’s my chance to break it down and to make this as simple as possible, let’s create a scenario.
THE SCENARIO
I want a weekend trip to Lisbon but I don’t want to take much time off work, and so I want to fly after 3pm on a Friday. I also want to maximise my time away, and so I want to fly home from Lisbon after 4pm on a Sunday.
Head to Google Flights
I put in that I’m flying from London to Lisbon and to get started, I just choose a random weekend that could work for me. Let’s go for Fri 21st Feb - Sun 23rd Feb and click ‘search’.
Add what times I want
A number of results have come up, but before I browse these I can go into the filters and move the slider so that it only shows me flights departing London after 3pm on the Friday, and flights departing Lisbon after 4pm on the Sunday.
The flights that work for me show up but the only problem is… they’re pretty expensive! In fact, the cheapest is £191 return!
Head back to the calendar
And so this is where the hack comes in.
With the time filters still selected, you’re going to scroll back up and click on the departing date. This will bring up a calendar view with a load of dates on. In my case, these are showing the prices for 2 day trips, though I could change this at the bottom by clicking the arrows.
Tap through to find the cheapest dates
Now, I simply tap through the calendar to find the cheapest dates. As I am still keen to fly over a weekend, I’m just checking the prices on Fridays and in December, I find a 2 day trip for £83 return.
And yep, you’ve guessed it, these are only results that work for the time preferences I’ve already selected in the filter:
Who is this hack good for?
This hack is great for those of us who want to:
Maximise our travel days - by flying out early and returning late
Maximise our annual leave - by choosing flights that fit around our work hours
Want to avoid particular timed flights - such as early or late flights!
Travel on a budget - save over 100% of the ticket price just by travelling on different dates
It’s super handy and has really helped me out over the years - and so I hope it helps you too!!
Want to let me know it worked? Come and drop me a comment on the video!
Look mum, I’m on the telly!
This week I could finally share some really exciting news - that I have a travel feature on This Morning! It’s called Hundred Quid Holidays and in the first one we went on a 2 day jaunt to Copenhagen!
You can watch it in full on itvx - I’m on 37 mins 42 seconds into the episode!
Also - we wrote up our favourite hotels in Copenhagen for every budget this week so if you’re fancying a Danish trip of your own, that might help you out!
What the team’s been loving this week!
When we’ve not been working really hard - ahem - here’s some of the things that we’ve been enjoying over on socials.
Anna: Obsessed with this diva getting her cute pics out in the Seychelles! I see my future and it’s bright ✨
Katie: I can’t get over the incredible Northern Lights shows from this lass’s living room window.
Joe: If you want to make friends on holiday, take some lessons from this little lad.
Chelsea: I’m obsessed by this London night cafe where you get free tea and biscuits until 3am for only 7 quid. Sign me up.
And that’s a wrap!
That’s all for this week – thanks if you made it this far and why not let me know you did so by answering the poll below ⬇️
If you have a mate or family member who you think would love this newsletter too, they’ll just need to sign up here.
Could you fit everything you need for a city break into a Uniqlo swing bag?Tap to answer! |
Speak to you soon!
Chelsea x
Little sneak peek of an upcoming destination… 👀 Hit reply if you know where I am!!
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