Cast the net to catch a European holiday

BRENDA POOR recommends booking by the internet for an overseas trip.

This year I relented in my resolve never to travel further than Australia with the children. My husband and I knew that with an 11-year-old and a 12-year-old in tow, a holiday in France and Spain wouldn't be cheap. We needed cheap, self-catering accommodation.

The travel agents we visited appeared to struggle to give us the information we wanted. So we turned to the internet and found a range of properties, from beachside apartments, townhouses and countryside villas to renovated farmhouses, mills and houses.

Most properties had a minimum stay of one week, some two weeks, usually from Saturday to Saturday.

Prices varied according to season and location but generally, properties in the countryside were cheaper than those by the sea. The country houses we rented were $250 and $400 a week, whereas the coastal apartments were $690 and $1340 a week.

The latter was absolute beachfront in the Seville/Cadiz area where there are few resorts. The Costa del Sol also offered good value.

We sent e-mails to places that appealed, asking for further information. Some didn't reply.

Having found places to stay through the internet, and having our reservations confirmed, we had to part with our money. None of the owners asked for payment by credit card. In two cases we paid by direct deposit into their bank accounts.

In another case we sent a bank draft in British pounds through the mail to the owner in England and received a key back by post. The fourth place was booked by our friends who live in France.

The properties' owners were happy to answer any of our e-mailed questions.

Taking a mobile phone is essential. We asked Vodafone to give use GlobalRoaming so we could use our New Zealand phone in Europe.

When we arrived in France we had about three-quarters of our accommodation booked and paid for, and we picked up our pre-paid car at St Exupery airport in Lyons. It cost about $45 a day and we spent about $24 a day for petrol.

All four properties we booked over the internet (one in France and three in Spain) were comfortable and well-equipped. All were homely and they didn't have any of the sterile sameness of hotels.

I recommend finding and booking your accommodation over the internet. It is safe, friendly and interesting. We discovered rural corners of Europe that are no less interesting for being off the main tourist routes. It is easy and, most of all, it is good value for money.

* According to research company AC Nielsen, the number of New Zealanders using the internet to plan or book holidays has almost doubled in two years.

The firm says 23 per cent used the internet to make foreign holiday arrangements in 1999. This year the figure is 44 per cent.

Links

Rent a Holiday

Abrital

Sol Holidays

Tips for booking holiday accommodation on the internet

* Decide where you want to go. It is easy to drown in a flood of printouts of wonderful places that are nowhere near where you want to go.

* Choose properties that are no more than an hour's drive from the sights you want to see.

* When you have found a property you like ask for more information. If you don't get an appropriate reply then look elsewhere.

* Cheap, self-catering accommodation is not often available in big cities.

* Try to deal with owners who speak the same language(s) as you. You have to communicate long distance.

* Take a mobile phone and a phone car charging unit. You may have to call someone on arrival and departure to pick up and return keys.

* Get in early. Book at least four months in advance.