How to Cheer Yourself up for Winter (book a cheap flight to the sun!)

I would say, there is nothing better to raise your mood in this dark and wet (at least in Northern Europe) Winter, than to book a bunch of cheap flights!

There seems to be a raft of cheap flights right now  - Canadian Budget airline airtransat is doing Glasgow-Toronto for £159 upwards one way, with £90 to upgrade, albeit that just means free booze and marginally better seats (i'm guessing like Economy Plus) It also flies to London and various other British and Canadian cities.

If you're in US - check out spirit , another El Cheapo carrier - they charge you extra for luggage but you can get to Costa Rica or Nicaragua or any of the Latin American places for well under $100 (i just booked to Nicaragua, to cheer me up, but more on that later...)

Of course you have the perennial Easyjet, and Ryanair if you feel you need to be humiliated somehow....

Packng for cheap and hot countries

There is almost no need to pack at all for cheap and hot countries. I've decided to do 'hand luggage only' for a month in Malaysia/Sumatra and see how that goes. Maybe i'll smell a bit but well so do the locals so at least im 'going ethnic'. All you need (apart from love and maybe wine) are 1. Speedos and swimming shorts (in case the speedos offend the locals) 2. Toilet bag with toothbrush soap and thats about it. 3. flip flops 4. Wind up lamp (in case of the inevitable powercuts/tsunamis/earthquakes etc) 5. diary and laptop (you dont need these i was just showing off) 6. stripey long trousers-either in case you meet hippies and want to fit in, or in my case, in case i get suburnt/mosquitoed and need something to cover my legs. 7. one long top (for same reasons) 8. 2 'pairs' of socks (just for show really, they dont need to match) 9. 1 pair of boxers/underpants (optional, remember smelling is part of the experience) 10. Goggles for swimming or if your famous, disguise. 11. 3 t-shirts 12. 3 books - 1 of each non fiction, fiction, and totally bizzare fiction. 13. I-pod And Bingo! you can now even fly Ryanair without having to unpack and repack 30 times at check-in for being over weight.