Golfing Holidays in France

Golfing Holidays In France
By Martyn Davis

With stunning surroundings and wonderful gastronomy really makes France a top destination for golfers and from Biarritz to Brittany, France can offer a great variety of uncrowded golf courses, which range from the novice to the more experienced golfer. In fact some of the very top rated courses in Europe can be found in France!

In the South there is a terrific variety of golf courses plus the cuisine and temperate climate make this a great destination for all year round golfing holidays.

Also, France is ideal for a golf break at any time of year, with courses in all regions of France and with around a hundred new golf courses having been built over the past few years, and over 500 in total, you certainly have plenty of choice!

And although golf is a very popular past time in many countries, the game does not have the same popularity in France as it does in places like the United Kingdom, as they are more into sports such as cycling, and this is probably why you can still get to experience golf in peace and tranquillity at your own pace and not like being on a conveyor belt or being rushed when you least need it!

Now the main golfing areas most people think of in France are centred around places near to Le Touquet and Biarritz, but there are numerous other excellent golf courses dotted all over the country and some are still virtually undiscovered, which can mean some inexpensive quality time for the golfer when travelling through France.

One popular area is Provence and the Cote d'Azur which have golf courses from Monte Carlo to the Pyrenees and one of these would make an ideal destination for a longer golfing holiday especially with the weather. But in the Rhone Alpes region are private hotels with their own golf courses set amidst the stunning mountain scenery.

The fairways within the Loire and Burgundy regions are either a short flight to France or easy drive for most people and are in the ideal location for those that want other things to occupy them when not on the golf course.

If you are looking for a golf weekend or golf holiday, there is so much choice, but if you prefer a slightly cooler climate than the South of France, then the regions of Brittany, Normandy and Pas de Calais are good options, plus with well over 130 golf courses that are suitable for most handicaps along with very reasonable green fees, the short trip across the channel by ferry or short flight can make for a very reasonable weekend break with your golfing friends.

And in the Ile de France region, which hosts the capital of France, Paris, you have over 60 different golf courses to choose from, so it is very easy to slip away from the city and have a day of peace and tranquillity on the golf course with your work colleagues. Or if you are on holiday with your family you could combine some sight seeing in Paris with a half-day of golf while your family could enjoy some delicious French food at the clubhouse in settings of absolute beauty.

We all realise that the Loire valley is famous for its chateaux, but there are also numerous golf courses amongst the splendour of this region and what better place to play a round of golf, then enjoy the fine wine over a nice lunch before heading back to your accommodation.

Looking at the South West of France, which has a varied landscape and culture is an ideal place to enjoy the French food, wine, maybe even visiting some chateaux, glorious beaches, vineyards, distilleries and museums, so this area has so much to offer besides the golf, of which there are around 90 courses, which means that no one in your holiday party will become bored.

However, if you love sight seeing, being able to see snow capped mountains all year round or glorious beaches, then the South East of France is definitely the place for you, and with well over 100 golf courses to choose from, you will be spoilt for choice in this region, although you may find that your budget dictates a little, as some of the green fees can be far more expensive than the courses in the North of France.

Another region is Sologne, which is situated just south of Orleans and is famous for its lakes and its excellent hunting and fishing, yet has now also become a popular destination for golfers, who like experiencing the fine French food and wine in this area, and you will find delights such as pheasant, partridge, venison, wild boar, carp, eel and trout on the menu.

Yet the area around Bordeaux has now emerged as a great golfing area where one can not only enjoy the courses amid vineyards, but also get to experience the wine, which is another ideal place to enjoy the best of both pleasures!

So whether you decide to arrange the golf holiday to France yourself or go for a complete package holiday, you can discover fairways that rank some of the best in Europe, plus some virtually undiscovered gems.

Just Enjoy! www.placesinfrance.com

Martyn Davis European Traveller, Author, Photographer and Business Development Manager, For all your French holiday needs and travel guide to France, with tourist information, landmarks and attractions - Golfing Holidays In France

Article Source: Martyn Davis, EzineArticles.com

With over 225 French Hotels contracted at 50% off rack rate, enjoy your French golfing trips and save money as you do with Hotel Express. If you would like to see what we can do for you just contact us on +353 1 21302729 or e mail us, we'ld love to hear from you and save you time and money!

Hotel Express - Client Profile - Noel Hanna

Noel Hanna, Everest Climber, Endurance Racer, Guinness World Record Holder, Adventurer.



In the course of carrying out bookings for one of our clients, Noel Hanna, we could not help but notice that he stayed all over the world. Indeed, one particular day he called our booking service and asked Fran could she book him a room for two days hence. But he said he would be out of phone range for the next two days as he was about to set off on the final stage of a mountain ascent!





Needless to say this twigged our intrest in the office and we decided to "investigate" Noel. What a guy he has turned out to be! Noel has climbed Everest twice, has competed in numerous long distance and endurance events. To see all that Noel has already achieved just open this link http://www.7summits2sealevel.com/pages/thechallenger.asp




But that's not all! Noel is also a Guinness Book of Records record holder and holds the record for Maxtrek going from sea level to the height of mount Everest (8848m) and back again. This he completed in just 21 hours and 50 minutes.



And there's more! Noel is currently completing the 7 summits to sea level challenge. Noel will climb the 7 highest peaks on the 7 continents and then descend to sea level as quickly as possible. He has already completed 5 of the 7 ascents (and descents). Climbing the 7 highest peaks will put Noel in a very illustrious group - Only 198 climbers have completed this challenge.

Nobody has completed Noels 7 summits to sea level challenge.




Noel is about to set off on another Everest ascent for a most worthy cause - hopefully raising £150, 000 (or more) for the charity Ulster Cancer Foundation climbing with Lynne Stark and cancer survivor Peter McAlindon. A previous Everest ascent of Noels raised over £80,000 for Barnardos.



It's a fantastic worthy cause and if you would like to support Noel, Lynne and Peter's efforts to raise £150,000 for the Ulster Cancer Foundation just open the following link

http://www.ulstercancer.org/events/everest.asp

You can follow Noel, Lynnes and Peters ascent online on Noels Blog. They'll be travelling and climbing for the next two months.

If you want to see more about Noel have a look on Mount Everest Net, Team Geared Up, Everest Ascent and on the BBC News site.

Of course when Noel travels and needs Hotel Rooms he uses Hotel Express. Noel says "I joined Hotel express 2/3 years ago and have never had a problem getting a hotel since. I travel a lot and need to book hotels at the last minute. I ring hotelexpress with my request and with in minutes they have a room available for me. When travelling no matter what part of the world you are in,the only tel.no. you need is hotelexpress. Their hotels are excellent and are up to 1/2 price -what more can I say"

Noel Hanna, 21 Feb 08.

Follow Noel, Lynne and Peter's progress on Noel's blog. We certainly will be.

If you would like to experience the hotel rates and service that Noel gets, just contact us by e mail or call us on +353 1 2130729. Membership costs just £119 plus VAT (€169 plus VAT) per annum. If you decided to avail of Hotel Express's services and mention Noel, Lynne, and Peter's ascent or this Blog article we'll send a £10 donation to the Ulster Cancer Foundation!

VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol)

We use VOIP (voice over internet protocol) extensively in our office. For those of you not in the know this basically means using the internet for your phone calls rather than traditional phone lines and at a considerable saving on the "normal cost" of traditional phonecalls.

You can use VOIP in a number of ways:

1. Using a VoIP telephone
2. Using a "normal" telephone with a VoIP adapter
3. Using a computer with speakers and a microphone

Here in the office our experience with VOIP has been largely positive. It is vastly cheaper than using normal phone lines especially for long distance calls. Indeed with many of the providers a number of long distance locations are actually free.

Quality of the line can be variable and because of that we use three different providers: Skype, VOIPbuster and Blueface. We have found that when sound quality on one provider is poor on a particular day we just switch to one of the other providers. Skype in our experience is the most expensive of these three providers. We use these on a "pay as you go basis" and each charges a per minute fee to various destinations. As I mentioned they provide free calls to some locations. If you were very clever you could only use each provider for locations to which their calls are free.

The bottom line is that we use VOIP extensively for our Hotel Bookings to overseas locations and our normal phone lines for local calls and to speak with clients.

I came across a company Vonage in the UK the other day. I had not heard of them before (perhaps I have been living in a cave!). The reason they stood out to me is that they offer a number of set price packages i.e. all calls to certain locations are "free" for a set monthly rate. So you can spend hours on the phone and know that at the end of the month your charge is the same.

Their packages start at £5.99 per month (it rises to £7.99 after 6 months - they'll get you eventually!) for unlimited calls to the UK and Ireland. Their top plan costs £18.99 per month for unlimited free calls to 45 countries worldwide. You need some equipment (a box between your computer and your phone) and these cost from Free to £9.99. These are their home user rates and they offer business packages as well. What caught my attention was the low monthly cost. As with all these things of course there is a catch - a 12 month contract and you don't know how well it's going to work on your broadband connection until you try it (Hobsons choice!).

As I hadn't heard of them before I had a quick scoot around the internet and found plenty of positive words e.g. Review Centre, Mybroadband. There are some negative as well e.g. SMStextnews. Mainly positive reviews from what I see.

With any of these VOIP services the quality of your calls - sound quality, interference, delay etc. is definitely related to the quality of your broadband connection. So if your still on dial up or your broadband is slow VOIP is definitely not for you.

However, if you need to make extensive long distance phone calls VOIP is certainly worth considering. Untill the quality is consistently perfect (which in my experience it isn't) I am inclined to hold on to my landlines as well. As we say in Ireland "just to be sure to be sure"

Related (vaguely related only) articles:

Maxroam further improves - now you can roam for free

Need a Wi-Fi Hotspot

Maxroam reduces your roaming charges when travelling

Here at Hotel Express we are all about saving our clients money on their Hotel Expenses. Why not have a look at our website and see how we work. If you are interested in reducing the money you spend on Hotels for your business travel and want to save the time you waste booking them why not e mail us.

Blatant Self Promotion!

OK this is blatant self promotion!

But in our defense we need new clients to continue to expand and grow our business - so please forgive the self adulation. We are proud of the job we do for our clients and Hotel Express saves our clients lots and lots of money on their Hotel Reservations. Below are some of the savings some of our clients have recently made.

Ref.	Hotel	Date	Nights	Room	Internet	Our Rate	Saving	Cur
320	St. James & Albany Paris	4/2/08	3	Suite	290	220	210	€
450	Radisson SAS Daugava	30/1/08	2	Sing. Bus Class	177	94	167	€
337	Commodore Hotel London	25/1/08	4	family	222	155	268	€
295	Hastings Culloden Belfast	12/01/08	1	fam. room	250	125	125	£
440	Commodore Hotel Rome	27/5/08	2	double	190	150	80	€
459	Rochestown Park Hotel	24/1/08	1	single	135	71	64	€
483	First Hotel Kolding Sweden	30/1/08	1	single	138	110	28	€
571	du Bois Hotel Paris	8/2/08	4	twin	207	116	366	€
593	Regina Hotel Vienna	18/4/08	3	superior twin	200	100	300	€
558	Park Inn Dundalk	1/2/08	2	twin	119	60	119	€
316	Crowne Plaza San Francisco A'pt	12/2/08	1	king club	209	80	129	US$
566	Norfolk Royale Bournemouth	15/3/08	2	triple	130	100	60	£

I have carried out blatant self promotion on this blog before and if you want to see more of it have a look at:

10% off best available online rates
Franchises Subdistributors etc.

It's not a lot really!

If you would like to see what Hotel Express can do for you why not contact us on +353 1 2130729 or send us an e mail We'll be delighted to speak with you and save your company money and time. You can concentrate on what you do best and earn money for yourself and your company and we do what we do best save you time and money!

Disneyland Anaheim offer

If you're planning a trip to Disneyland over the coming months, you might want to check out this offer - 5 days access for the price of 3 with a fourth Hotel room night free. You can see the offer on the Disneyland site here.


The detail of this Disney offer is "purchase a three-night or longer Disneyland® Resort vacation package with tickets and get two extra days of Theme Park admission and a fourth hotel night — absolutely FREE!


The packages include lots of extras:

• A phone call from Mickey, Minnie or Goofy (I think I want that myself!)
• One Magic Morning early admission to Disneyland® Park before it opens to the public.
• Mickey's Toontown Morning Madness (whatever that might be?)
• Preferred Seating to select shows in Disney's California Adventure® Park.
• Dream Coin, a collectible keepsake
• Walt Disney Travel Company collectible pin and lanyard
• Walt Disney Travel Company luggage tag
• Walt Disney Travel Company Downtown Disney® District Fun Card

There's a really helpful blog Disneyland Family Vacation which has lots of great tips about your visit to Disneyland inlcuding 10 Reasons to Stay on or off the Disneyland Property, 10 not so common things not to be missed at Disneyland and lots more. The blogs author is clearly a "Disneyland addict" - what a great thing to be addicted to!

It may seem strange that we would highlight an offer which includes hotel accomodation but here at Hotel Express we don't claim to be package holiday specialists. We reduce the cost of Hotel Accomodation worldwide. This blog is dedicated to bring you the best in Travel related offers and this Disney offer seems like a good one. But if you travel on business and want to reduce your hotel costs why not e mail us and we'll show you what we can do for you.

Doolin, County Clare, Ireland, the perfect location for a family getaway.

Need to get out of the fast lane for a few days? Doolin located in country Clare, close to the world renowned Burren, is a fantastic place to visit. Better still there’s lots to do. This article describes just a few of the many attractions in the area.

The Burren: The name Burren comes from the Irish word “Bhuireann” which means a stoney place. Stoney it certainly is: 300 sq. kilometres of limestone covered countryside. However, it is not as desolate as it sounds. Rare Mediterranean and Alpine plants flourish side by side. A guided tour is a must. Unless you are a botanist, you will be astounded by its rocky beauty but without a guide you’ll miss the incredible flora. If you’re feeling energetic there are many mapped walks across the Burren.

Aillwee Cave: if you have children you should visit Aillwee cave. Jack McCann a local man originally discovered the cave and investigated it by candlelight. However, Jack kept his find secret for decades and only showed the cave to others in the 1970’s. The cave was opened to the public in 1976 and extends for at least 1 km underground. This hugely impressive cave contains waterfalls, stalagmites, stalactites, brown bear bones and lots more. Surrounded by a forest walk with a restaurant on site, it’s a half days entertainment in itself.

Cliffs of Moher: The cliffs of Moher tower over 200 metres above the Atlantic Ocean. There’s a new visitor centre with an excellent Cliffs of Moher interpretive display –“Atlantic Edge”. The virtual reality cliff face show – “The Ledge” – should not be missed. After that a walk along the cliff edge gives outstanding views of the cliffs and Atlantic. Don’t worry it’s walled and safe for kids.

Cliffs of Moher boat trip: drive to Doolin pier and you can book a boat trip to the base of the Cliffs of Moher. Once there you cannot but be amazed at the sheer size and rugged beauty of the cliffs. The tourists on top of the cliffs are but distant specs and you can get a close up view of the bird population of Atlantic Puffins, Gulls, Guillemots, Shags, Ravens and Choughs. You can also book trips to the nearby Aran Islands from Doolin pier. These trips range from a ½ a day to an overnight stay.

Doolin pubs: The pubs of Doolin have been a breeding ground for world renowned traditional Irish musicians. There are three traditional pubs McGanns, O’Connors and McDermotts in Doolin. All have lots of traditional music and home cooked food. Kids are allowed until 9:00pm.

The Burren Perfumery: a most interesting visit with all the flowers and herbs that form the basis of the perfumes and soaps locally sourced on the Burren. There’s a small tea room and herb garden.

The Burren Interpretive Centre, Kilfenora: there’s an excellent “walk through time" Burren exhibit, a video, craft centre and tea room.

A visit to Lahinch beach on a summers day is reminiscent of Hawaii with surf schools the length of the beach.

Liscannor Stone and Rock Shop: full of precious stones, semi precious stone, local stone and lots and lots of prehistoric fossils. As you drive back from one of the other many attractions in the area you can just call in to have look! But beware you'll probably emerge with a 10,000 year old fossil souvenir!

The best thing about all of these attractions is that none is more than a half an hour drive from Doolin. Doolin can be very busy in the summer but it’s great place to visit and lots to do. You could consider a few days away outside the bustling summer season and if you are lucky enough to get good weather a great time is guaranteed.

Similar posts can be seen at:

6 different and unusual things to do in Dublin
Planning a trip to see FC Barcelona

Hotel Express saves it's clients millions every year. If you would like to hear what Hotel Express can do for you, why not send us an e-mail. Just send us an e mail enquiry and we'll be delighted to send you a FREE copy of our guide to finding the cheapest flights.

FOTO.COM 50 free prints for Irish Customers

Digital cameras and inbuilt phone cameras are fantastic, but I still find myself needing to travel to the local chemist shop / supermarket whenever I need prints. I really like the www.foto.com website. There you can upload your photos online and click a button. Hey presto, four days later your prints arrive by post.

For Irish users they currently have a promotion advertising, 50 free prints with every print order. For large orders they are promoting a price of 1c per print for prints 501 - 1,000 on 6 X 4" prints ( a saving of €40 apparently).

Need some photos printed in Ireland, why not take advantage of their offer.

Don't forget that Hotel Express saves individuals small and medium sized businesses money every day. If you travel on business and use hotels and are interested in saving money why not contact us.

Maxroam Further Improves - now you can "roam for free"

Remember that company Maxroam, we mentioned them previously. Their Sim card

reduces your roaming charges hugely

allows your callers only pay landline charges when calling you

allows you to have fixed landline numbers (from 52 countries)directed to your mobile, creating a virtual presence in all those countries

Ronan O'Brien highlighted in a comment to our earlier post that they have further improved their service and now they allow free call forwarding.

What does this really mean for Maxroam Sim Card Users?

arrive at your destination

if you have a Hotel direct telephone number in your room, or office or other landline number you can forward all your Maxroam numbers to that number FOR FREE

Your clients dial your Maxroam local number which goes straight to your Hotel Room (or other landline number

You pay no call forwarding charges, no roaming charges, your caller pays a local call charge.

The bottom line is that you are now roaming for free and your clients are just paying a landline call to call you - a win / win all round.

You can just change your call forwarding number as you move from hotel to hotel and your callers just call the same maxroam local landline number to call you.

Lally Logic also gives a very positive reveiw of the Cubic telecom phone and Maxroam.

I know that a number of our Hotel Express clients are now using the Maxroam Sim and feedback is very good. So if you travel on business and want to reduce your roaming charges. Or if you are a small business and want to create a virtual global presence with lots of (normally priced-not premium priced) landline numbers forwarded to your phone then you should have a look at Maxroam.

P.s On a totally seperate unrelated issue Ronan O'Brien runs an excellent online fancydress costume business in Ireland www.irelandcostumes.com . So the next time you are invited to a fancy dress party (yes I hate them too), you can order your fancy dress costume on line at the click of a button. The party might be painful but at least ordering the costume isn't!





Remember that these blog tips to help you further reduce your business related travel costs are just the tip of the iceberg. Hotel Express clients saved over £50 million worldwide on their Hotel expenses last year. If you want to reduce your hotel costs and the time you waste booking them just e-mail us.

Need a Wifi Hotspot?

I came across a collabrative (you can add to it) map of Irish WiFi hotspots yesterday. It highlights over 100 Wifi hotspots in Ireland (some free / some not) but at least you know where they are. So if you're travelling and need to check those e mails have a look. It is promoted by the Eirpreneur Blog and you can see the map here.

There are other Wifi hotspot locators as well:

Hotspot Locations provides location listings worldwide and gives a particualrly extensive listing for the UK.

Wefi a US company provides software which apparently identifies the best Wifi connections in the USA (over 280,000 mapped)and they are currently running a "Wardriving" contest. What?

Well I had no idea what Wardriving is either (something to do with tank commanders perhaps!) but Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle using a Wi-Fi-equipped computer such as a laptop or a PDA. So if you are located in the USA and drive extensively you upload their software and as you drive you map Wifi hotspots which their software asseses. Whoever maps the most wis the prize! Bottom line you spend €20,000 on petrol and car depreciation to win a Wii or an ipod worth $500. But I guess if you driving anyway it's worth a look and the competition is here

Hotel Express clients save in excess of €50,0000,0000 every year on their Hotel Costs. If you travel on business and are interested in saving time and money, why not contact us.

Free Ink Cartridge or Free Photo Paper Offer

Whilst looking through some marketing material I received over the past few days. I came across and offer from www.InkCLub.com. They are currently giving away free ink cartridges for Epson and Cannon printers and free photo paper (20 pages) when you order HP and Lexmark cartridges. They do charge a delivery charge (Ireland €4.95, UK £2.99),but even with the delivery charge that's good value for a print cartridge or alternately with a cartridge the 20 free sheets of photo paper are a good deal.

Of course there's no such thing as a free lunch and their expectation is:

You will probably order more than either the 1 free cartridge or the 1 cartridge and free photo paper.

You will use them again for your next order and you can only use the free offer once

I had a quick look through their prices and they seem competitive and a free cartridge is a free cartridge, free photo paper is free photo paper. So if your printer is running out of ink and your print is fading away you could do worse than have a look at www.InkCLub.com.

6 Different Things To Do In Dublin

6 different and unusual things to do the next time you visit Dublin

• Visit St. Michan’s Church: Rebuilt in 1686 but originally dating from the 11th century, St. Michan’s church hides an unusual secret – it’s vaults contain preserved bodies (guaranteed to keep the children awake at night!). Within the church are magnificent carvings and an organ which is said to have been played by Handel. From the 1st November to 16th March open Monday to Friday 12:30pm to3:30pm. From the 17th March to 31st October open Monday to Friday 10:00am to 12:45pm and 2:00pm to 4:30pm. Open Saturday all year from 10:00am to 12:45pm. There is a charge for the guided tour of our vaults. Admission charges:- Adults €3.50. Students €3.00. Child €2.50. Senior Citizen€3.00.

• Go Horse Racing in Leopardstown: just a 15 minute taxi ride from the centre of the city Leopardstown racecourse has year round racing and is a great day or evening out. The evening racing during the Summer particularly good as a family evening out.

• Visit the Francis Bacon Studio at the Hugh Lane Gallery: Francis Bacon's heir, John Edwards, donated the contents of the 20th-century figurative painter's London studio to the Hugh Lane Gallery in 1998. The studio, at 7 Reece Mews, South Kensington, was mapped and removed piece by piece and meticulously reconstructed in the Hugh Lane Gallery. The reconstructed studio features the original door, walls, floors, ceiling and shelves. Over 7,000 items appear here, including 570 books, 1,500 photographs, 100 slashed canvases, 2,000 artist's materials and 70 drawings. Bacon said of his cluttered studio: "I feel at home here in this chaos, because chaos suggests images to me''. Tel 01-8741903 or visit http://www.hughlane.ie/

• Climb the sugar loaf – OK this is not quite Dublin as it is technically North Wicklow but if you fancy fantastic bracing walk with magnificent views. The sugar loaf is about 30 minutes from the centre of Dublin.

• Have an old-fashioned hot towel shave: White-coated barbers at the Waldorf barber shop on Westmoreland Street in Dublin 2 have been trimming and preening men at the premises since 1929. The barber shop also boasts one of the few female barbers in Dublin – Linda Finnegan. Telephone 01-6778608.

• Have a drink in the “highest pub in Ireland”: Johnny Fox's in the Dublin mountains claims to be “undoubtedly'' the highest pub in the country. There are a number of other pubs around Ireland with the same claim - the Ponderosa pub on the Glenshane Pass in Derry (where you can join the mysterious 1,000 feet high club) and Creedon’s pub on the top of Coom in KIlgarvan, Co. Kerry. But Johnny Fox's serves great food and great Craic year round. Telephone: Johnny Fox's 01-2955647

Similar posts can be seen at

Planning a trip to see FC Barcelona

Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland - perfect for a family getaway

And of course whilst you are in Dublin and elsewhere worldwide Hotel Express saves you money on your Hotel Reservations.

Using Your Credit Card Abroad

by Peter Kenny

If you are going abroad, then using a credit card can be the safest and most effective way of carrying currency. But what steps should you take to make sure your card is the best one to use abroad? Here is some advice about how to effectively use your credit cards whilst abroad:

Pick a universal card

If you are travelling overseas, then try and pick a card that you know will work in most countries. Taking store cards or lesser known cards can defeat the point of bringing your card with you. Stick to widely accepted credit types like Visa and MasterCard.

Ask about fees

Before you go away, ask your card issuer what the fees are for using your card abroad. If you have more than one card, then take the one with the best rates for withdrawing money and making transactions. Although you get better exchange rates with your card, this is useless if you are charged high fees for taking out foreign currency by your card issuer.

Carry card issuer numbers

Make sure that you have a number that you can call your card issuer on should anything go wrong. The normal number you call is unlikely to work, so before you go you should get their number for international calls. Ask your card issuer about arrangements should your card be lost or stolen.

Notify your issuer

If you are going somewhere that is out of your regular routine, then it is a good idea to notify your card issuer that you are going away. If your card company sees your card being used in strange places, they might suspend your account. Although you can sort this out quickly, it saves you worries and trouble if you just let them know before you go away that you will be using your card abroad.

Check your dates

Before you go abroad, check the expiration dates and credit limits of your cards. You don't want to be on holiday and not be able to enjoy yourself because your card has expired or you have run out of credit. If you don't think you will have enough credit then you could get your limit extended or take a couple of cards.

Keep all receipts

The most important thing to do when abroad is to keep all your receipts. If you are overcharged for anything then you want to be able to prove this, and if you keep all of your receipts you can track exactly what and how much you have spent.

Credit is safest

Although you might think that taking an ATM card is the best idea, credit cards are much safer as they have added security measures such as purchase protection. Most of the time you can use your credit card in an ATM if you need to, but you should try and charge it as much as possible as this will save you money. If you can be disciplined with your record keeping and plan in advance, then taking your credit card abroad will make your spending safer and hassle free.

Peter Kenny is a writer for creditcards-gb.co.uk.
For additional articles and an extensive resource for everything about credit cards, please visit us at Credit Cards and Credit Cards

Article Source: Patant Consultants' Articles Vault

More Current Airline Offers

BRITISH AIRWAYS

• British Airways are running a "February Ski Sale" in which they are promoting their lowest fares to many top skiing destinations. The promotion runs from the 30th of January through to the 28th of February and Ski's and Snowboards travel free!
• From the 30th of January to the 31st March anyone who flies 2 or more full fare return flights (Domestic,Euro Traveller,Club Europe,First & Club) will receive thousands of extra BA Miles. This offer is open to Executive Club members, registration to the Executive Club is free. You can register on the British Airways website

KLM

• KLM are promoting a flight sale from whcih runs from the 1st February to the 29th of February (USA destination sale runs from the 1st of February to the 20th of February). They are listing the following prices
• Top Deals from London
  Amsterdam From £ 80 Return
  New York From £ 292 Return
  Lagos From £ 456 Return
  Muscat From £ 316 Return
  Panama From £ 640 Return
  Beijing From £ 404 Return
• London Direct Routes (sale runs to 29Feb)
  Detroit From £ 300 Return
  Minneapolis From £ 314 Return
  Seattle From £ 336 Return
• Other sample offers
  Manchester - San Francisco From £ 347 Return
  Birmingham - Atlanta From £ 327 Return
  Glasgow - Lima From £ 716 Return
  Durham Tees Valley - Cairo From £ 336 Return
  Leeds Bradford - Dubai From £ 379 Return
  Edinburgh - Bahrain From £ 384 Return
  Humberside - Shanghai From £ 466 Return
  Bristol - Johannesburg From £ 504 Return
  Cardiff - Hong Kong From £ 439 Return
  Aberdeen - Houston From £ 401 Return
  Newcastle - Tokyo From £ 496 Return
  Norwich - Singapore From £ 505 Return
• All fares listed include taxes and charges