If you fancy treating your loved one for less this February, here is a handful of tips.
St Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and many of us will be thinking of ways to treat our partners. Unfortunately for us, most hotels and travel companies know this, and bump up their prices accordingly! Now, obviously if you can avoid the day itself (or following weekend) you'll usually save money, but there are some deals around. Here are some of the offers I found:
Hotels
A number of UK hotels still have offers on for February. You can currently book two nights for the price of one at a large number of Best Western hotels until the end of February. Prices for two nights with bed and breakfast thus start at around £60, but check carefully if you fancy the St Valentine's weekend, as some hotels do not include this period in the offer. And Lastminute.com currently has a wide variety of offers for Valentine's hotels.
If you aren't too worried about extras, you can still book the weekend before or after St Valentine's Day at a Travelodge in a number of locations for as little as £26 per night. What's more, it still offers its supersaver rooms for just £15 -- although these do need to be booked 21 days in advance, making it a little late for 14 February. As always, check in early with a saver/supersaver room as we've heard they often get double booked.
Eurostar
If you fancy a city break, Lastminute is currently offering Eurostar breaks to Brussels, Lille and Paris. I did a bit of checking and found that two people can travel to Brussels on 14 February for two nights, in a three star hotel for £139 each (although if you can wait until March, the price drops to just £88 each). Alternatively, you can stay for two nights in a four star hotel in Paris for £162 each (and this falls to just £97 in March).
Spas
Lastminute is currently offering an exclusive two for the price of one offer for the Serenity Spa in London. Two people can spend the day at the spa with access to all facilities, a choice of treatment and lunch for £99.95.
Gifts
Boots.com is currently offering 1/3 off a number of St Valentine's Day themed gifts, including perfume. What's more, you'll get 500 extra Advantage card points (worth £5) when you spend £35 or more before 5 February. And Marks & Spencer is offering free Belgian chocolates with selected bouquets.
Flying
Of course, an article on things to do for St Valentine's day wouldn't be complete without the option of flying our loved ones abroad for a romantic city break -- especially as the advent of the budget airlines has made this type of trip far more affordable.
However, air travel currently accounts for between 3 and 5% of carbon emissions, and is one of the fastest growing causes of global warming. And in light of this, the government has recently decided to act by doubling air passenger duty as of yesterday (1 February).
Economy flights to Europe (including UK internal flights) are now taxed by £10 (up from £5), with business and first class flights charged £20. And long haul flights now attract taxes of £40 for economy passengers, and £80 for those travelling business and first class. And while a few airlines, including BA, decided to absorb the difference for tickets purchased before the increase was announced, the majority will be passing this tax onto their customers, meaning travellers could find themselves charged retrospectively at the check-in desk.
Of course, even with this increase few will be put off flying -- especially with the budget airlines. Ryanair, for example, is currently offering free seats to many European destinations -- you just pay the taxes and charges, which should come to no more than £23 each way. And Thomsonfly.com is offering a number of flights from 49p each, excluding taxes and charges. With prices like this, there will still be plenty of takers.
However, one solution we can take is to use an Air travel calculator to find out how much our flight adds to global warming and use the money saved to offset it. For example, according to ClimateCare.org, two people flying to Rome and back would produce 0.66 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which would cost £4.91 to offset. This money would then be used to fund projects around the world that reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by the same amount your flight added.
Of course, choosing to fly is a personal choice and many of us will wish to continue doing so. However, in an effort to manage and minimise your own emissions, here is some advice from ResponsibleTravel.com:
- Reduce the amount you travel each year by taking fewer, longer holidays, and minimising short breaks.
- Fly directly to your destination when possible; the greatest emissions occur during take-off and landing
- Reduce the damage by visiting local destinations that require shorter car journeys, car sharing or using local transport/walking/cycling.
Finally, remember that our homes account for a whopping 25% of carbon emissions, so we should all be looking to reduce our energy usage here. Why not check out these tips -- you could even end up saving money too.