Road Trip Savings: 5 Top Tips for Economical Car Hire Deals

No one can deny that cars are among the technological advances that have made everyday life much easier. An additional and extremely important benefit is that travelling has become much less tiring and much more fun. Brits know how great road trips are, as they’re their favourite getaway holiday plan. In doing so, they not only experience something out of the ordinary but also get to know their own country better. However, not all of them know how to save money when looking for a car. You can avoid pitfalls by following our top tips for economical car hire deals in the UK.

Liverpool’s Concealed Delights: A Day to Discover the City’s Hidden Charms

London is the top destination in the South of England, but in the North, the elegant Liverpool is a city that takes everyone’s breath away. Its musical legacy, its maritime heritage, and the urban beauty make it stand out. You may have read articles about the special character of this English city before. However, this one can be the first to reveal Liverpool’s concealed delights. Spend one day of your holidays going to the underrated attractions mentioned below, and you’ll get to know Liverpool in more depth.

Exploring the Unforgettable Journey of Kevin and Ruth: A Tale of Wanderlust and Adventure

So I was wasting time on the internet, and playing with the free ChatGTP Artificial Intelligence program.

Just for fun, I asked it to come up with a blog post about the history of Kevin and Ruth from Travel with Kevin and Ruth. And literally less than two seconds later, it came up with the text. It's quite amazing... and almost a little spooky! Here it is...

More photo matching coming up!

Saturday afternoon, we walked down to the beach. 

Even though the property where we are staying is billed as being a beach stay, it's still a 2 km (1.3 mile) walk to actually get to the beach. There is a big open "forest" area between us and the beach with a lot of walking tracks, but none of them appear to actually lead to the beach. So we had to go along the road.

Moving day

We chose our new place east of the city of Antalya at Lara Beach. Somehow we had to go almost 16 kms (10 miles) with all of our worldly belongings.

I checked the price of a taxi, but that was going to cost over 400 lira ($12.30 USD, $16.80 CAD). Not really that expensive, but we had lots of time so I checked into taking the bus. The problem of course was carrying all of our "stuff".

This is our third time in Antalya

The first time we were here was back in December of 2020, during Covid. At the time, we had an inexpensive rental car, and that convenience enabled us to get an inexpensive apartment on the outskirts of the city so that we could do a lot of day trips.

The second time we were here was in late February of 2022 when we were here with our motorhome Max. 

Lots to look forward to, and it's coming up quickly!

We've proven to ourselves again that two weeks in one spot is enough for us. 

Even when we like where we are, we get itchy feet after a maximum of two weeks and it's time for a change of scenery. And sometimes that's all it takes, is a change of scenery... and some different areas where we can go walking and explore.

Fun to watch the Turkish Stars aerobatic team

We didn't leave the apartment until 3:00pm Tuesday afternoon! Not sure exactly where the day went, but the time does seem to pass quickly, even when we are doing nothing. Neither one of us seem to have any problem wasting away a few hours on the internet. Wasting is perhaps the wrong word, as I am generally researching either future travel or something to do with our investments in the gold market, and Ruth spends a lot of time labeling and organizing our photos.

And speaking of photos, I sure took a lot yesterday!

Booked another flight!

2024 is turning into the year of flying! We've already been on 10 different airplanes so far this year.

Still, it's a long way off from the 21 different airplanes we were on in 2019. We keep track of all of our flights since 2012 at this website... https://my.flightradar24.com/karead7/. You can use the drop down box in the bottom right corner to see the flights by year.

We heard the very loud noise of low flying jet engines overhead!

I've started doing our tax returns. We always have to pay each year, so I never file until the last minute. The Canadian filing date is April 30th, so I've got a few days yet. I find it easier to do a little bit each day.

But because our income isn't very high by Canadian standards (in fact, we are considered poor!) we really don't pay very much in taxes. Most of what we end up paying is the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions because our income is considered self employed, so we have to pay both employer and employee portions. 

Windy day in Antalya

For several days they had been forecasting deteriorating weather conditions here in Antalya that were supposed to culminate in a big storm on Saturday. They said there would be 100% chance of heavy rain on Saturday morning.

Well... Friday had that odd fog that sort of hung around all day. And when we woke up Saturday morning, it had been spitting with rain and the roads were wet. 

Exciting plan during the month of June!

Back in October of 2022, we were in the small city of Peja, Kosovo. 

Peja is located on the north eastern edge of the Accursed Mountains, also known as the Albanian Alps. It's an absolutely gorgeous area, and is still virtually unknown to the masses. While we were there, we did some day hikes in the area, specifically on part of what is called the Peaks of the Balkans trail.

We went for a long urban hike here in Antalya

We headed out at 10:30am to walk down to the Duden Waterfall. It's a long 9 km (5.6 mile) one way walk through the city of Antalya. But from the central area most of it follows the coastline, so it's really quite scenic.

Temperature was a pleasant 23C (73F), but it was a bit muggy with an odd fog in the air.

Keeping expenses down

Our original plan was to come to Antalya to get the doctor stuff looked after, and then head north outside the city to some of the smaller towns and explore some of the countryside. However, current car rental prices here are not what they were during Covid! 

One of the reasons we love the motorhome form of travel... we can go where we want and when we want and it's easy to stay in the countryside where we can enjoy the fresh air and get out hiking.

Finished at the eye doctor, and a little walking tour of old town

Yesterday was our 10:00am appointment with our ophthalmologist. We had intraocular lens replacement surgery in December of 2020, and we totally trust the doctor who did it and so we like to return to him every now and then to get our eyes tested. Plus, coming back to Antalya is really not a hardship!

Ruth had been diagnosed with a minor tear in one retina, and she needs to have it checked regularly. My eyes are fine, but I've got a few floaters in one eye. Doesn't really bother me though.