A thrifty traveller has shared how she managed to bag £1 flights to “paradise” – though it left her with just five hours to pack and leave for the airport.
Hayley Rubery was browsing flights one evening when she spotted the incredible deal with British Airways – a flight costing just £1 to Athens, where she could travel to Agistri, a small island in Greece.
The 34-year-old decided to bite the bullet and book a seat, with the plane setting off the following morning – leaving her just five hours to get herself ready before leaving for the airport.
READ MORE: Brits in Benidorm enjoy Cheltenham races with pints for LESS than £2
As well as packing, she had the daunting task of finding accommodation and booking everything she would need for the last-minute holiday.
But content creator Hayley rose to the challenge, and says the spontaneous vacation ended up being well worth it.
“I booked the flight at 8pm the night before and woke up the next day at 2am for my flight,” Hayley, from Norfolk, told What’s The Jam.
“As I hadn’t planned for it and didn’t have holiday savings as such, it was super important for me to do the trip on a really tight budget.”
She was able to find such a bargain flight using British Airways Avios points, accumulated from other trips.
To continue keeping things as cheap as possible, Hayley booked a £5 bus to take her from the airport to the port, then caught a £13 boat from Athens to Agistri.
There, she had booked a B&B for the week-long solo trip, costing her £420, and found £300 was plenty of spending money for the small spot.
Hayley added: “The island being so undiscovered with tourists meant that it was still so cheap which was a bonus.
“I decided not to hire a car and just get the bus to the beaches which only cost €2-3, and the island was really small so I could walk most places too.
“It was super cheap there – takeaway coffees were €2 and dinner would cost €10.”
In total, Hayley spent around £800 for the entire week back in July 2024 – and says the location made it worth every penny.
She said: “It was magical.
“With a population of only 1,000 people – and approximately 4,000 people on the island during the busy summer months – it really felt like a slice of undiscovered paradise.
“I spent the most blissful week reading, swimming and relaxing.
“It was heaven.
“The best part for me was the spontaneity.
“Having not planned the trip, I realised I could get a flight for £1 and I was off the next day.”
Incredibly, the super saver has managed to find an equally cheap deal on flights for an upcoming girls trip to Palma, finding a £1 outward flight from Heathrow with British Airways, and is planning a return trip to Agistri this year.
READ MORE: ‘I visited an abandoned GHOST TOWN with hundreds of beautiful buildings but no residents’
