solo travel – how many holidays

Where are the best value places to go as a solo traveller?

On this week’s Holiday Hotline, I noticed a bit of a theme.

Lots of people asking about solo travel.

As someone who travels often with someone else, I take for granted how lucky I am when it comes to costs because being able to split a hotel here, a car hire there, can really help when keeping down the price.

However, with a growing demand for solo travel, it’s about time I put my bargain hunting hat on to share some of my top tips when it comes to holidaying on your own.

New to the Holiday Hotline?

Once a week, I take in your cheap holiday requests over on my Instagram and select one to do a deep dive on.

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A post shared by Chelsea Dickenson (@howmanyholidays) on Jan 2, 2020 at 9:37am PST

If you want to be involved in the future, make sure you’re following me and keeping an eye out for my stories.

Top Tips for Cheap Solo Travel

Before we crack on with the specific request at hand, I wanted to whizz though some general top tips that will help you book your next solo trip.

However, make sure you keep on scrolling to see what 3 night holiday you could be going on, on your own, for less than £90!

Destinations

Perhaps the most important things to keep in mind… Visit somewhere cheap!

I’m not just talking about cheap flights – they’re a one off cost – I’m on about somewhere that is cheap to stay, eat, drink, do and travel about.

Here’s some of my recommendations:

Please note: the average costs for hotels come from Kayak based on what’s been booked in the last three days – therefore you will definitely be able to find something much cheaper by staying in a basic hotel, hostel or airbnb – or just by scoring an unreal deal!

GDAŃSK,
POLAND

Hotel: £47 a night

Inexpensive meal: £5.04

0.5l beer: £1.81

Transport: 65p

Also try: Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Łódź and Warsaw

BUDAPEST,
HUNGARY

Hotel: £67 a night

Inexpensive meal: £5.12

0.5l beer: £1.28

Transport: 90p

Also try: Debrecen, Eger, Lake Balaton, Sopron, Heviz

PORTO,
PORTUGAL

Hotel: £71 a night

Inexpensive meal: £5.98

0.5l beer: £1.71

Transport: £1.07

Also try: Lisbon, Faro, Funchal, The Azores and Olhão

ISTANBUL,
TURKEY

Hotel: £53 a night

Inexpensive meal: £3.92

0.5l beer: £2.61

Transport: 35p

Also try: Antalya, Bodrum, Cappadocia and Ephesus

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA

Hotel: £45 a night

Inexpensive meal: £1.53

0.5l beer: 38p

Transport: 96p

Also try: Phnom Penh, Koh Rong and Bangkok, Thailand

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA

Hotel: £78 a night

Inexpensive meal: £3.66

0.5l beer: 95p

Transport: 57p

Also try: Medellin, Bogata and Tayrona National Park

More average daily costs can be found using Numbeo.

Accommodation

Look for accommodation first
This may well turn out to be a bigger cost than your flight so take a look at when there’s good availability first and then get your flight!

Change the number of people staying to 1
Lots of booking sites autofill to 2 people and there are many hotels that do offer a single occupancy discount or single bed rooms

Find the cheapest dates to stay
If you have a hotel in mind, use Google Hotels to scour for the best rates available using their handy calendar view. Then use Trivago to find which site offers the cheapest price

Use Trivago to help whittle down the options
If you’re not so sure where to stay, use Trivago and its handy filters to really nail what you’re after. Always remember to click ‘more deals’ to see the cheapest prices!

Stay in a hostel
If you’re wanting to meet other solo travellers, or just really keep the cost down, hostels are perfect – I recommend using hostelworld and using the filters to sort by best rated

Many hostels also offer private rooms if you want to mingle but also have space to yourself

Stay in a Bed and Breakfast
B&Bs are also a great shout and if you’re refining your search by selecting how many stars you want, you can often miss out on these as many aren’t starred like hotels.

Booking.com has a helpful B&B search section for this!

Stay in an Airbnb
Airbnb has become standard issue when it comes to travel these days and are a great way to cut down daily costs, especially if they come with a kitchen!

If you haven’t used it before, you can get £25 off your first stay here.

The private room option is a great way to keep costs down, still have access to a kitchen (normally!) and be able to have a local on hand to help you out

Stay for free
Did you know that you can bag free accommodation by looking after someone’s house, watering their plants or even feeding their pets? I’ve done it twice and it is amazing.

Flights

Obviously, it’s always important to get the cheapest price possible so click here for my ultimate cheap flight checklist

Meeting New People

Book a group activity
Solo travel can be amazing but if you, like me, can send yourself a little crazy after too much time alone, then why not plan for a group activity during your trip? It may just be a free walking tour (google whether the place you’re going has one) or a cookery class/hike or food tour!

I’ve used Airbnb Experiences in the past and have always met amazing people along the way. You’ll get money off your first one if you don’t have an Airbnb account already.

Book a group tour
Like meeting new people so much you want to travel with them? There are loads of great tours available which will even pair you up in a room (hello splitting costs). Plus, most tours organise everything for you so you can relax on all the details.

Tour Radar is a great site that compiles tours from load of different companies.

The Request

Right, let’s put all these tips into action so that we can help out Liam who has asked for:

Somewhere photogenic
From London or Edinburgh
End of Feb/early March
1 person
3/4 days
£300 budget

First thoughts

As London tends to be easier to find cheap flights from, I’m going to challenge myself by finding a cheap flight from Edinburgh first and hopefully the London option will come in at around the same cost.

Flights

When there’s no specific destination in mind, it can often be difficult to know where to start so I’m going to show you a really handy trick you can use on Google Flights to help you out.

I discovered this by total accident – I don’t know why they’re not screaming it from the rooftops as it is SO HELPFUL!

Step 1 – Enter your departure airport but leave the destination blank. Don’t worry about what dates are in, just press search.

Step 2 – In front of you will be a list of destinations to the left and a map with prices on the right. You’re going to click on the dates and next to ‘Specific dates’, you’re going to click on ‘Flexible dates’

Step 3 – Now, select what month you’d like to go away in (or you can just select ‘all’) and then select whether you want to go away across a weekend, 1 week or 2 weeks.

For Liam, I’ve selected ‘February’ and ‘Weekend’ and this is what comes up.

ISN’T THAT THE MOST HELPFUL THING EVER?!!

Though make sure to cross check your dates in Skyscanner and Momondo as they can often come up cheaper.

Now, you may be thinking ‘but Liam wanted 3/4 days Chelsea, not 2 and he didn’t specify weekend travel‘ well… You’re right. But as Google Flights is scouring for the cheapest flights across a weekend, most of them do tend to be 3 night stays as 2 nights is often more expensive.

Also, taking less annual leave means more holidays in the future so what’s not to love?!

There are some great options coming up from Edinburgh including:

Warsaw – £23 return
Gothenburg – £23 return
Milan – £32 return
Gdańsk – £33 return
Copenhagen – £48 return
Berlin – £50 return

But in the spirit of keeping daily costs down (and not choosing Poland which I’m sure you’re all sick of me banging on about!), I’ve decided to go for:

Edinburgh to Bratislava
Thu 27th Feb – Sun 1st March
Ryanair – small hand luggage only
£38 return

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and I think Liam will definitely be able to find some photogenic spots!

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Hviezdoslavovo Square Photo: @hunjavela #thisisbratislava #visitbratislava #bratislava #slovakia

A post shared by @BRATISLAVA_ (@bratislava_) on Nov 29, 2019 at 2:16am PST

What’s more, with an average inexpensive meal coming in at £5.12, a beer coming in at £1.71 and ticket on the local transport costing only 77p, his money will go really far.

Also, as it’s only 64km from Vienna, it’s very possible to do a day trip to the Austrian capital, or even a twin city break!

You can even catch a boat between the two from 30 euros (though check the site for winter times as they aren’t daily!) or take a train for around £10, or a bus for around £5 via omio.

Now, let’s hope we can find a flight from London for a similar price!

London to Bratislava
Thu 27th Feb – Sun 1st March
Ryanair – small hand luggage only
£46 return

So, Liam will get a much fuller schedule if he flies from London but I think it’s fair to say that both prices are looking GREAT.

Now onto the fun bit…

Cheap Bratislava Accommodation

Airbnb
Entire Apartment
£73 for 3 nights

Save £25 on your very first Airbnb here

This highly rated and central Airbnb came in even cheaper than the private room options available. What a bargain!

Boutique Hostel CHORS
Capsule in 10 bed dorm
Breakfast included
£52 for 3 nights

Now, there are plenty of hostels to choose from with beds for £10 a night on hostelworld but I’m a big fan of these new ’boutique hostels’ that are popping up! You can even pay £4 more to stay in a room with just 3 others.

Apollo Hotel Bratislava
4 star
Includes breakfast
£126 for 3 nights

That’s right, just because you’re travelling solo, it doesn’t mean you have to rough it. The great news is that Bratislava means 4 star hotels for under £50 a night.

YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

Total cost

So, if Liam was to go with the cheapest flight and the cheapest accommodation, his 3 night trip to Bratislava would only cost £90.

Even with the better flight times from London and the four star hotel, his total cost would be £172 which really isn’t too shabby at all.

Get it booked, lad!

Wanna say thanks?

If I’ve helped you out, or you fancy getting access to more perks (and more holiday hotlines!) then you can also support me over on Patreon for the price of a really average coffee once a month.

Also, make sure you’re following me over on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Want my help?

To be in with a chance of getting your request selected, make sure you’re following me on Instagram where I’ll give you a weekly reminder to get your request in.

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A post shared by Chelsea Dickenson (@howmanyholidays) on Jan 5, 2020 at 12:21pm PST

Until next week!

the millennials kyoto | full review with pictures

There’s nothing more quintessentially Japanese than a capsule hotel. Yet, shuffling your body into a pod the size of a portaloo is not for everybody.

And that’s where The Millennials comes in.

With a room measuring in at 3 square metres, it may not be enough room to swing a cat, yet its floor to ceiling height does mean that you’ll be able to get through a full rendition of the YMCA before bedtime (you mean you don’t do that before a night’s kip??!?).

Your Key

Before we get stuck in, it’s worth explaining that you’ll operate most things at the hotel with your very own iPod touch (how very 2007). Not only is it your key, but it’s also your light switch, bed shuffler and alarm clock.

The Pods

After you’ve checked in, you’ll use your key to scan your way onto your designated floor – you can choose to stay with just men, just women or a mix (you don’t always get that last option in Japanese capsule hotels).

The vibes when you enter are very Malmaison meets Big Yellow Self Storage. It’s also dark. The exterior windows are blacked out, but the warm glow from each of the pods stop it from feeling like you’re about to take part in a sordid, x-rated version of Storage Hunters.

The Bed

Next, you’ll arrive at your pod (it will have your ‘number’ on top) and find the bed in ‘sofa mode’. Squeezed in between each wall is a queen sized mattress but steady on fellas – THIS IS A NO SHARING ZONE. That bad boy is all yours. But to enjoy it to its fullest, you’d best straighten that bad boy out.

Oh yes. IT’S TIME TO USE THE IPOD!

Following a couple of prods, you’ll not only be able to turn the lights on and off, but watch in awe as the mattress slowly pans out to fill the entire size of the pod. I’d recommend doing it whilst you’re sat on it to give yourself that whole ‘going in for an MRI scan’ vibe without having to, you know, go in for an MRI scan.

Your key also gives you the option to set an alarm that not only dims up the light for you, but can also lift the bed too. For snoozers, there’s even a setting that rises in increments meaning that in 10 whole minutes, you’ll finally be upright. Absolute genius.

Other things worth noting about the pod are that it’s got a slide out storage rack (big enough for a large suitcase), mirror and a helpful shelf with 2 plug points above the bed.

Your iPod touch will plug into a charger provided for you next to your bed.

On your bed when you arrive will be:

towel
slippers
toiletries bag (earplugs, cotton wool, toothbrush and hairbrush)

You can also hire pyjamas for 300 yen a pop (that’s about £2.20).

The Bathrooms

You may get one whole pod to yourself but don’t get excited about a personal bidet. Instead, you’ll have a shared bathroom which is… Well, okay fine. It’s pretty damn nice actually. There’s hairdryers, a washer and dryer, hand soaps, hand creams, extra towels… The showers are also really decent with rainfall heads, shampoo and body wash. There’s also space to dress and undress behind your own locked door so you can make sure you don’t go flashing your bits to Kazimo from pod A19.

The toilets, too, are kitted out really nicely and yes, the loos are electronic. Bum spritz, anyone?

The Lounge and Kitchen

You know when you see a picture on a booking website and you’re like ‘yeah, yeah, someone’s had photoshop out here’ well DAMN. The lounge looks proper legit in real life as well. We’re talking serious boutique hotel vibes.

The kitchen has a whole host of contraptions (rice cooker, blender, mincer…) for you to use. There’s also a hob for cooking and a fridge to keep food fresh (when I say food, I obviously mean prosecco).

Now, with shared kitchen spaces I’m always a bit worried that there will be one Lazy Lorraine who doesn’t pull her weight and ruins it for EVERYONE yet the place was immaculate during our 2 night stay. It almost felt like everyone couldn’t quite believe their luck with the place and therefore were refusing to defy the hotel gods by leaving an empty mug out.

Extras

Theres free decent Wifi, irons for lending and bikes for renting. There’s even a ‘roof terrace’ (don’t get excited, there’s no view) if you need a bit of fresh air without having to leave.

However, the best extra has got to be the daily free beer hour.

YES YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT.

Between 5:30pm – 6:30pm every single day, the staff wheel out a ‘do it yourself’ beer pump and it’s a help yourself affair.

If you’re thinking, ‘I’ll just rock up with some empty bottles and make the most of this thang’ then you’re probably going to get kneecapped. (I managed three glasses each night which I feel is getting to the limits of taking the piss).

Everyone was pretty respectful and it was a great chance to meet other people staying at The Millennials. In fact, that’s probably the reason they do it. That and the fact that they probably don’t have a licence which means that bringing a couple of beers or a bottle of wine back of an evening to enjoy is totally fine to do as well. WINNER.

Breakfast

When booking, you may also notice that breakfast is included but don’t get too excited. It’s a fairly basic offering of a few breads and pastries. To the extent that we didn’t take it up on the second morning (more time for sleep) but if you’re on a budget, hell, it is free!

Cost

We stayed at The Millennials in Kyoto bang smack in the middle of Easter and Cherry Blossom Season. I may also have left booking quite late (what a plonker) and so the pods ended up costing us £65 a night each – including all taxes and fees. However, I have found the pods for as a little as £18 a night each and have done so on several occasions. Therefore, my tip would definitely be to BOOK EARLY!

£18 is unreal value and you could probably make that back in beer alone! Even at £65 a night each, I’d say it was definitely worth it as in comparison to other hotels at that time it was 1) cheaper and 2) so much nicer!

Booking

As there were two of us, I booked the ‘adjoining smart capsule – mixed’ via Booking.com. This means that they’ll place you either next door or opposite one another (contrary to the photo above, we were actually opposite one another).

We were on the fourth floor and in pods A14 and A13. They felt really private however you are next to the showers and therefore if you’re a light sleeper, the sound of the door rolling back and forth may wake you in the morning.

The most private (and quiet!) would definitely be A08, A09 and A10 as you’re by the fire exit there meaning no through fare and off the main corridor. So why not email master@themillennials.jp and request them!

There’s also the option of having a pod with a projection screen (FANCY) for a couple of quid more.

Would I stay again?

Abso-bloody-lutely. I feel like I’m going a little overkill here but I’d genuinely say it’s one of the best places I’ve ever stayed in. I really expected it to be a bit gimmicky and was blown away with the high standard of features and service.

Since our stay in Kyoto, they’ve also opened a branch in Shibuya, Tokyo and are planning to open even more. So here’s hoping there will be even more to choose from in the near future. Hurrah!

You can also watch the video of my stay here.