The Benefits of Self Catering French Cottages
Posted by admin | Destinations | Posted on July 20th, 2011
Travel is an expensive exercise. It involves an enormous and seemingly endless cash outlay. Regardless of whether you’re going overseas on a romantic break in which you tour historic Provencal ‘chalets’ or French cottages and sample gorgeous French cuisine, or you’re simply flying out to meet business associates, by now you will be familiar with the myriad, unavoidable organisational and administrative costs that leaving the country involves.
Before you begin daydreaming about Corsica holidays, for example, you will have to sort out visas and possibly passports – and this requires cash. In addition, you will need to make sure your bags are in good, working order, and again, you will be obligated to shell out if they aren’t. There are hundreds of small, finicky things that demand attention before you can head out, and invariably, each of these will require you to deplete your bank balance just a little more.
Indeed, it is because these nitty-gritty costs amount to a hefty cash outlay that you will doubtless be keen to find the most affordable flights and accommodation that you possibly can. While sourcing cheap air tickets is relatively easy as long as you have a little common sense, some foresight and a good internet connection, finding an inexpensive place to stay is a little more difficult. Especially if you are looking at important, destination vacations with your loved ones – Corsica holidays, for example, romantic Parisian getaways or family tours around Provence – you will want to make sure that you are comfortably accommodated: there is little use planning a big, once-in-a-lifetime trip and then staying in a seedy, two star hotel with bad food and lumpy mattresses because that’s all you can afford.
Instead of ruining your exciting holiday with a terribly average hotel, you might consider looking at self catering accommodation instead. While in the past, this kind of establishment conjured up images of lino flooring, nylon sheets and saucepans warped after years of use by traveller’s too short of cash to book a room at the Ritz, today, vacation flats and villas (or French cottages) are, by and large, smart, clean, well-maintained and, most importantly, affordable.
There are myriad benefits of this kind of accommodation as well. While hotel living can be a little restrictive, self catering holiday flats allow you a lot of freedom to experience your destination in a more authentic way. Instead of ordering French cuisine in the hotel’s restaurant, for example, you can make your own over the hob in your villa’s kitchen. In a vacation cottage of flat you are obligated to feed yourself at least some of the time and this gives you an opportunity to wander through market places and visit boutique shops – in short, to live as the locals in the area do.
Because you want the most out of your overseas journey, and also because any kind of travel comes with a fairly hefty price tag, you should absolutely consider booking yourself a villa, flat or cottage instead of an hotel room the next time that you’re planning a vacation or business trip. Not only will you find that you get a lot more for your money, but you will be delighted with the kind of authentic cultural experience this kind of lodging affords you.