Travel with Katie Butler: Traveling off-season has advantages

Katie Butler, Total Travel, writes: So far, the weather for the time of year has been amazing.

We flew out last Sunday from Manchester Airport and whilst booking late can have its advantages, it did mean we were unable to book our usual car park.

We also hoped to book an airport lounge (after all – I am celebrating a ‘special’ birthday’) and again the lounges were sadly all fully booked.

Considering we are off-season the airport was really quite busy.

And of course, at Manchester, you are still required to put your liquids into a clear plastic bag and so security still takes that little bit longer.

The whole process of check-in and going through security took around 40 minutes and left little time for a drink or a look around duty free.

In fact, we didn’t get chance to have a drink in the airport as the bar wait was so long!

I would definitely recommend getting to the airport around three hours prior to departure as two hours doesn’t give you time to do anything other than get to your gate in time for boarding.

Our flight was on time and took three and a half hours to Dalaman, which was an hour less than expected, and so we arrived at our hotel just before midnight.

On arrival we were offered a drink and a snack but decided to go straight to our room.

I have only been to Turkey on work trips before and not an actual holiday, and so I was keen to get unpacked, allowing for an early start the next day.

Travelling out of season definitely has its advantages and as long as you get the good weather it is a no-brainer.

The prices of course are so much more favourable and also there was no need to be up at the crack of dawn to get a sunbed.

As I write this, we have strolled down just after 10am and managed to grab a coffee and a sunbed, with shade for me to write this week’s column. So far, we are just settling into the hotel.

However, I have arranged a couple of hotel visits and we plan to visit the Blue Lagoon at Olu Deniz and the town of Fetiyhe.

I am excited, especially to visit the Blue Lagoon.

I see it every day in brochures and it is always the most pictured beach.

It will be amazing to visit in real-life. Late deals remain a strong priority for many of our customers and last week November was the top selling month accounting for 12 per cent of our new bookings.

Late bookings total share was an amazing 31 per cent and like me – our customers are still looking for some last minute sunshine.

Cruise was also really popular last week and accounted for 17 per cent of new booking, proving that cruise holidays continue to be a huge favourite for many. Our top selling destinations based on passenger numbers last week were Tenerife and Lanzarote, which is no surprise, as the Canary Islands are most popular in the winter months.