Dealing with the Credit Crunch

From the minute I first heard the term "credit crunch" I was concerned that it would come to irritate more than depress me. Because there is nothing that anyone of us mere mortals can do about it other than carrying on as we did before. We must not lose faith in the markets and we must not scrimp and save. If this is a recession that we are facing then we need to spend our way out of it. And if we are unable to have confidence in the money men and MPs that govern our economy then we must at least have confidence in ourselves and our collective ability to survive what a credit crunch may throw at us.

So it all comes down to confidence and spending for the ordinary British and global citizen. We need to keep up both and we shall be alright in time. But what about during the interim, in the meantime? Should we need to cut down on the odd luxury what is it likely to be? After all the great British public have a penchant for luxury goods. We like to spoil and pamper ourselves and, when recently asked, a fair percentage of the population responded that the last luxury that they would be prepared to sacrifice during hard times would be holidaying and travel abroad.

And looking at the economics of it all, I can see no reason why this should not continue to be the case. Finally, after months of increases in fuel prices (that has ensured the fate of XL and Eos) it looks like the balance is being redressed. Fuel prices are beginning to drop again, meaning that airlines are able to operate at an affordable rate again. And I'm not just talking about the likes of Easy Jet and Ryan Air, I'm also referring to airlines such as British Airways. I recently booked a return flight to Istanbul with BA and it cost me no more than £200. I happen to think that this is exceptional value. Now couple that with 4 nights in a decent hotel in the centre of the Historic Quarter and I was required to pay a measly £286 in total.

With dropping fuel prices, an innate desire to holiday and a government keen for us to spend it would appear that the city break lives on. Certainly it is a quick and easy way to escape all the hype and negative publicity at home and, as long as the likes of Lastminte can afford to give away extended weekends to exotic European outposts such as Istanbul for under £300, we should all be looking to take advantage of the current situation. I can't help but feel that my early concerns were ill founded; that this credit crunch needn't be such a bad thing.

It is only when you get to your destination that you may have to slightly alter your holiday spending habits, and this is where StrollOn will be soon be able to help in more ways than you may think...

...in the meantime, StrollOn.