When the clocks go back in the UK it is, a defining moment in the calendar whereby you will now travel to work and come home in the dark. All in all, it is a pretty gloomy time when we all miss seeing the sun and the general wellbeing and lift to the spirits it can give.
Week end breaks are OK but still very dependent upon the weather, and if you are looking for a bit of sun November and early December is a still a great time to go and substantially cheaper than going during the festive period or in the Summer months when prices are nearly double.
So for those looking for guaranteed sun, all is not lost although you will have to look beyond the shores of the Mediterranean to such places as Dubai, the Canaries, Red Sea resorts of Egypt , the Cape Verde Islands, Gambia and the West Indies.
The Brits have being visiting the Canaries for years and the average mean day temperature in November is around 23 °C which is still warm enough to sit on a beach at midday but more than comfortable to walk around these beautiful islands.
The great thing about travelling abroad during November and early December is not only the prices but it gives you something to look forward to and takes you through to Christmas and the New Year and most importantly past the 21st December after which the days start to get longer again.
Returning to prices, everything is so much cheaper from accommodation, flights and parking at the airport because at this time of the year suppliers are looking to keep things ticking over and will dramatically drop their prices.
Talking parking, if you were travelling in August 2012, the cost for Heathrow airport parking if you booked today for a two week stay would be £115 and this price will rise as the departure date approaches against a price for next week of £82 or 40% cheaper.
This is quite a staggering saving and can be achieved across the board, so not only are you going to get away from the doom and gloom of a British winter you are going to save a packet. If you take this one stage further, if more people travelled outside the summer season and bank holidays it would reduce prices at these times.
The benefit to airlines, hoteliers and airport car park operators would be enormous because they can spread the work load and maximise their unit far better. An airport car park, plane or hotel is far better to be 80% full for 365 days rather than 100% full for 5 months. Training and employment of staff would be far simpler with less reliance on part time staff to only cover busy times.
Savings to the public would be across the board and with less people travelling at any one time the journey through the airport should be less hectic and intimidating. If you have travelled through Gatwick airport during the school holidays you need to be wearing body armour and be on your toes to minimise being hit by luggage and trolleys coming at you from all angles.
The trick to all this is to get the travelling public to alter their habits and this can only be done by cutting prices even more during off peak times until more people see the light or is this all just pie in the sky.
Any way I am off to pack my bags and have a quiet week by the Red Sea