Thrifty Pages

Travel insurance may not cover 'acts of God'

If you have been travelling recently you will know all about a certain volcano called Eyjafjallajökull (pronounce that?!) in Iceland. It has been erupting recently, for those who have been asleep.

The Irish Independent ran an great article on how your travel insurance may or may not cover you:

Brokers here say that insurers are refusing, in most cases, to cover claims resulting from the volcanic ash disruption because they are interpreting the event as an 'act of God'.

They offer some advice from the Irish Insurance Federation about making a claim...

However, Jane O'Driscoll of the Irish Insurance Federation, which represents insurance companies, dismisses claims about 'act of God' exclusions.

"The act of God argument is a red herring," she said. "The disruption was caused by a volcanic eruption."

Link: http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/surviving-the-recession/unholy-smoke-travel-insurance-may-not-cover-acts-of-god-2166580.html

Thrifty Specials for Hotel breaks in Kerry

As you know, we at Thrifty Pages are delighted to publicise a good deal when we find out about one. 

That is why I am delighted to say that Lee Dowling contacted us to tell me about three beautiful hotels in county Kerry that are offering some great deals at the moment. 

The three hotels in question are:

The Riverside Hotel Killarney  - http://www.riversidehotelkillarney.com

The Kenmare Bay Hotel & Resort  - http://www.kenmarebayhotel.com

The Killarney Court Hotel  - http://www.killarneycourthotel.com

Not only have they fantastic offers on weekends for couples in January (For instance - €99 pps for 2 B&B & 1 Dinner & 1 Bottle of House Wine per couple!) but they also have some lovely deals for that special Valentines Day!

To top it all off, Thrifty Pages readers will get free room upgrades or a 5% discount if you mention us when booking. Now that is not bad at all.

You can download a PDF file with all the details: 

Thrifty Specials for Hotel breaks in Kerry

 Have fun!

Get a recycled bicycle for less than €100 with rothar.ie

Rothar.ie  was set up by Social Entreprenuers Ireland Award Winner Anne Bedos. 

She wanted to work again the 'throwawayism" endemic in Irish society by opening a shop where recycled and refurbished bikes can be bought. 

Rothar.ie is a community based bicycle shop that sells refurbished bicycles, accessories and second hand parts and offers classes on bicycle repairs and a workshop for repairs. Rothar takes bikes that would be otherwise scrapped and offers works to at-risk young Dublin people in fixing them. 

Their mission statement says:

Rothar reuses and recycles scrap bicycles, reducing waste, providing a sustainable mode of transport and community-based education to promote social inclusion. Our organisation advocates for self-empowerment of disadvantaged communities by promoting vocational training and eco-friendly mobility.

So not only is it good for the planet and the local community, you can get a a recycled bicycle for less than €100 if you look :)

Link: http://www.rothar.ie/bikes_for_sale.html

Planning a trip in Ireland? Save money on taxis or petrol...

Two nice tips from Caitriona O!

If you are travelling around Dublin, then a quick visit to the Dublin Bus Timetable page could save on taxis. All of the bus timetables are listed and where each bus goes. There are links to the Rail and Ferry connections also. Save money and be kind to the planet...

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Your-Journey1/Timetables/

If you are driving down the country, then a quick visit to the new AA route planner could save time and money by planning the route more efficiently...

http://www.aaireland.ie/routes_beta/

That is presuming that you do not want the scenic route of course!

High quality, affordable city accommodation

If you are thinking of taking a quick (and cheap!) city break this year, you could do worse than check out stayCity.

They specialise "in providing top-quality, reasonably priced self-catering apartment accommodation."

The destinations currently advertised include Dublin, Birmingham, Liverpool, Amsterdam, Paris, Ljubljana, Dubai and Florida. The charge is typically €60+ a night for a 1 bedroom apartment.

Great value and if you keep an eye on the upcoming Ryanair sales, you could get away for a weekend for in or around a €150. Nice :)

Cheap deals on Dublin Hotels!

Cubic Telecom entrepreneur Pat Phelan has just shared a magnificent deal with his readers!

€20 a night for a 5 star hotel in Ireland. Not bad way to start the year if you have to come to cold, wet Dublin. At least it could be cheap :)

Link: http://patphelan.net/e20-a-night-5-star-hotels-in-ireland/

Want a cheap flight? Get live updates about Ryanair bargains

I just found a great way to keep abreast of the sales and bargains that Ryanair have from time to time...

They have released a small Windows application that sits in the corner of your computer screen and alerts you to any upcoming bargain flights to specific airports (you can choose these before installation).

If you don't want to run a program on your computer, or if you use Linux or a Mac, they also offer the option to get your bargain flight news on an RSS feed.

Neat, eh?

Booking holiday accommodation? Here's four websites that could save you thousands

The summer is meant to be wet here again this year and with all the economic doom and gloom about, it may not be surprising to hear people talking about booking holidays already. The trouble is, can you go away for a holiday abroad and still be thrifty?

Of course you can, you just have to think a little laterally!

Photo by muha

A recent article in the Irish Times outlined the options available to holiday bargain hunters:

The biggest growth area is renting holiday homes directly from the owners. Another area that is growing is home exchanges, the perfect way for families to find similar accommodation to their own home at a reasonable price.

There are a few websites that can help with these choices:

• HomeExchange.com is an internet leader in home swapping that has 24,000+ listings in 110 countries. Home swapping through the website offers a cost effective and comfortable way to find accommodation. The website has 50,000 members who take over 100,000 individual holiday trips per year.

• HomeForExchange.com is a marketplace for non-commercial exchanging of houses, camper vans or even yachts. You offer your home for exchange and you can save thousands on accommodation costs, a great alternative to renting a holiday property!

• There is also an Irish website called Homelink which offers a members only directory of home to swapping homes. They strongly recommend home swaps for a holiday...
  

So what are the downsides to house swapping? None that I can actually think of. Otherwise I wouldn't continue to do it. You pay for your flights, you pick up their car at the airport, you go to their home, you go native, you eat native, you play native and you really have a holiday.

• Don't want to swap your home? How about renting directly from the owner? Vacation Home Rentals is a leading website in the exploding online holiday rental industry. It provides a meeting ground for a broad spectrum of holiday rental property owners and an active stream of travellers interested in renting those properties. 

And don't forget to wear sunscreen :)