Drive The Extra Mile To Off-Site Airport Parking
Booking a holiday is an expensive affair, forking out for flights, accommodation, car hire, airport transfers, insurance and spending money. Sure, you have your transfers planned at the other end, but have you considered the details of your journey from home to the airport on the day of departure? If you are lucky enough to have a friend willing to get up at three o’clock in the morning and take you to Heathrow, then airport parking won’t be a concern for you. However, if, like most of us you will need to make the journey in your own car, you will need to consider where to leave you car once you are twenty thousand feet in the air.
Like travel insurance, airport parking does seem to be one of those finer details that we tend to leave until the last minute. The day before we fly over to warmer shores, we realise we have nothing organised and face having our wheels clamped unless we book a car parking slot quick sharp, for the following fortnight.
In this last minute panic, it’s not uncommon for holiday makers to simply drive directly to the airport and pay through the roof for the convenience of parking at the on-site car park (within the airport grounds). However if you have ten minutes spare prior to leaving home, go online and find yourself a much more cost effective option, at an off-site car park (located off the airport grounds) . Surely you would prefer to spend less on your motor and more on sangria and souvenirs?
One of the biggest misconceptions about off-site airport parking is that the journey will take too long to get to the airport, adding extra hassle to the start of your holiday. Personally I have used both on and off-site airport parking and can honestly say the extra couple of miles spent travelling to and from the airport is barely noticeable and well worth the saving.
Off-site airport parking tends to be situated a couple of miles away from the airports and at a competitive prices to those on-site. Upon arrival at your off-site depot, you simply dispose of your keys at the office and jump on the shuttle bus which takes you directly to departures. You don’t even have to worry about parking your car in your allocated parking slot, the office will arrange all this for you. Upon return, you simply pick your keys up from the office and drive away. The airport shuttles tend to run every ten minutes or so and the ease of the whole process is well worth the financial saving.
Don’t throw un-necessary spending money away on your airport parking. Shop around and find the best deal for you. It is as quick and easy as any purchase on-line and once you have confirmed your booking, correspondence on the day is kept to a minimum, with paperwork already organised, leaving you plenty of time to get to your check in desk before gates close.
Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the travel industry.
Find out more about Airport Parking and why it pays to park your car off-site the airport grounds.