Travel with Katie Butler: Booking your holiday early can help you budget

Katie Butler, Total Travel, writes: I always look with envy and admiration at those customers who are ‘that’ organised and able to plan ahead and book so far in advance, although if you know exactly what you want and are specific to requirements it can be the best way to get exactly what you are looking for.

This being the case particularly for seasoned cruisers, many of whom like to have a specific cabin on a specific deck.

This week we saw P&O Cruises launch its Winter 2025/2026 programme which went on sale on October 18 with some exciting new ports of call including Los Angeles, Melbourne, Boda in Norway and Dunedin in New Zealand.

Highlights of the new programme include a Canary Island fly-cruise calling at Tangier in Morocco for the first time and a 75 night Grand Tour around South America.

In addition, last week Jet2holidays also announced the launch of the Summer 2025 programme with thousands of free child places, with rival Tui due to launch Summer 2025 this coming week.

If you are able to plan ahead – then booking early can really help you budget for your holiday, as you can of course pay for your holiday monthly. We have many customers who find it easier this way and it certainly takes the strain out of having a large balance to pay ten weeks before you travel.

I mentioned last week that passport renewals were back on track, I also promised to update you on my own passport renewal which was submitted on September 29.

I can happily say that I have received my new passport and all in all from start to finish it has taken a total of 13 days.

I processed my application via the online facility and sent on my supporting documents the same day.

It actually took a week for me to be updated via email stating my documents were received and then just two days later I was notified that my application had been processed and subsequently my passport was being printed.

I also had to send my marriage certificate as I needed to change from my maiden to married name, so overall I was delighted with the turnaround.

My passport expiry is exactly ten years from the date it was issued, even though I renewed early. Prior to Brexit those extra months were added to your passport but this is no longer the case and avoids the confusion we have seen over the last couple of years with the ten year passport rule for travelling to the EU.

Could there be light at the end of the tunnel for Doncaster Sheffield airport? Talks remain ongoing over the future of the regional airport and there could possibly be a deal on the table between the airport owners Peel Group and Doncaster Council. Watch this space!

October remained the top-selling month to depart last week with a 14 per cent share of our new bookings, November departures were a close second at ten per cent. Those late deals just keep coming and coming!

T​​​​​​​urkey and Tenerife were top-selling destinations for the last of this summer season and Majorca and Turkey for summer 2024.