A savvy traveller enjoyed a five-hour trip to Italy, where she tucked into pizza and did a bit of sightseeing, and managed to save herself more than £150 in the process.
Katie Nolan, 29, was on her way home to Ireland after visiting her long-distance boyfriend in Malta, when she was shocked to discover just how much a direct flight home to Dublin would set her back.
After checking out flights online, Katie found it would cost a whopping £214 for a direct flight home to Ireland - so instead she opted for a flight to Pisa, where she would spend five hours, before hopping on another flight to Dublin.
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Katie, from Kildare, spent just £52 all-in on travel, food, drink and fridge magnets during her stop-off, where she was able to enjoy a freshly baked pizza by the iconic leaning tower of Pisa. Not bad, eh?
Katie, who owns a hairstyling products business, was able to turn what could have been an inconvenient part of her return journey into a fun day out - and says the whole thing cost less than your average night out in Dublin.
Katie said: "I was visiting my long-distance boyfriend in Malta. A flight from Malta to Dublin cost over €250 (£214), but flying from Malta to Pisa and staying for five hours to see the leaning tower, eat pizza and then fly Pisa to Dublin was cheaper.
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"It was cheaper to fly indirect to get to Ireland, as I’ve done this a few times via the UK from Spain to Ireland.
"It was cheaper than going to Dublin for the day, as in the last few weeks, Dublin is in the top ten most expensive cities in Europe."
Making use of low-cost Ryanair flights, Katie was able to bag herself flights from Malta to Pisa for £12.87 and £17.18 from Pisa to Dublin.
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While in Italy she spent £10.74 on wine and pizza, £1.72 on two fridge magnets and £1.29 on water - she also got a return train ticket from Pisa airport to the city centre for £17.18, bringing her spend for the day to £52.39. Martin Lewis would be proud.
Katie isn’t the first thrifty traveller we’ve seen recently - earlier this year, a couple of mums treated themselves to a day out in Lanzarote for just £23 each.
In a video uploaded to TikTok, they could be seen enjoying brunch, drinking cocktails on the beach and doing some shopping in Zara.
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Right, I’m off to dig out my passport.
Claire Reid