Katy Holland: How to have a holiday without going hungry
Are we there yet? To lose weight: simply book a holiday in the eurozone
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Your support makes all the difference.Here's a tip for any parent trying to lose weight: simply book a holiday in the eurozone. You won't be able to afford to eat anything, so you'll come back a whole stone lighter.
It worked for me. I was mad enough to go to the Med for half-term, where the eye-watering exchange rate left me high and dry. It was a struggle just to feed the kids; every time they "needed" another ice cream (€4.50 a go!) or a drink from the hotel bar (€3.50!) I started coming over all faint.
So how can a family survive in these hostile conditions? It's time to talk emergency cost-cutting tactics. And I don't mean booking self-catering and living on pasta and tomato sauce for a fortnight.
Instead, the canny parent is going on all-inclusive package deals, the likes of which are apparently becoming increasingly popular. (Thomas Cook alone reports an increase of nearly 50 per cent in its all-inclusive bookings this year).
And there are some very nice establishments which are very happy to throw everything in for you. Take the five-star Knossos Royal Village (00 3 2106236150; aldermarhotels. com), on the east coast of Crete, which has just been completely refurbished and offers lots of children's facilities, from gigantic waterslides to Cretan art workshops and tennis academies. A seven-night all-inclusive stay for two adults and two children in a family room costs £1,319 per adult and £375 per child in July with Olympic Holidays (0800 0933322; olympic holidays.co.uk).
The Coral Beach Hotel in Cyprus, offered by Prestige Holidays (01425 480400; prestige holidays.co.uk) is also worth checking out; it has just introduced all-inclusive packages for the first time, and prices for two adults and two children sharing for a week start at £1,421 per adult and £738 for children. Supervised mini clubs and entertainment are all laid on.
Of course, with all that food and drink on tap, the drawback is that you may well come back heavier rather than lighter, but I've got a solution for that, too. Why not opt for an all-inclusive family activity holiday where you can eat as much as you like and then burn it all off again? Acorn Family Holidays (0800 0749791; acornfamily holidays.co.uk) offers some exciting camping trips in spectacular surroundings in France and Italy, where days are packed with energy-burning activities ranging from kayaking to abseiling. Take their Ardeche adventure and you get to spend two days descending the river in a canoe, sleeping in a bivouac under the stars. All-inclusive prices for the summer holidays start at £1,596 for a family of four.
For a holiday in the dreaded eurozone, you won't beat that for family fun with food for all.
k.holland@independent.co.uk
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