I thought I would do a round up of a few Travel Memberships that I’ve held during 2017 and if I thought they were worth the money I splashed out on them during the year. Travel isn’t cheap and is a luxury item for most of us; I think we all forget this at times; there are so many Travel Memberships that can help reduce travel costs but you need to work out what is best for you personally.
Travel Membership: Wizz Air Discount Club – is it worth it?
This Travel Membership costs yearly just £29.99 which doesn’t seem a lot of money but to make the joining fee worth it you really need to book at least two flights with Wizz Air with luggage. The Wizz Air Discount Club provides you with discounts of up to £7.50 per flight and they are always sending me an email about 20% offers ex London Luton which are only available if you’re a Wizz Air Club Member.
If you buy the pass just for yourself and are booking a flight for yourself and a plus one, you receive discount on both tickets.
Did I get my money’s worth out of the Wizz Air Discount Club?
So far in 2017, I’ve taken two return flights with Wizz Air plus G also travelled with me to Croatia on Wizz Air (think he now appreciates Business Class just a tad more…the shock of no champagne or tea was too much for him!)
London Luton to Poland Return – saved £15 on flights (you can read all my Poland travel posts here…new and old!)
London Luton to Croatia Return – saved £30 on flights (you can read all my Croatia travel posts here…new and old!)
I also booked these flights when they had a 20% off special just for the Wizz Air Club members so I think it’s safe to say that the £29.99 was truly well spent. I do fancy a trip to Gdansk and Riga…I’m just waiting for another discount email to pop up to book myself another flight…thankfully I didn’t join the Wizz Air Club till April this year so have a few months remaining!
Totally recommend joining the Wizz Air Club if you’re going to take one or more flights with the carrier; they offer some great destinations that you won’t find on other airlines.
You can read my review of Wizz Air here and also my tongue in cheek guide to Luton Airport.
Travel Membership: National Trust Pass – is it worth it?
I decided to renew my National Trust Pass again in 2017 even though I felt that I hadn’t really got the value out of the travel membership in previous years; all my own fault to be honest. I now have a car so getting around to visit properties is a lot easier than trying to reach properties via public transport. I purchased a National Trust Pass for 2 people and pay monthly via DD for £9 per month.
Did I get my money’s worth out of the National Trust Pass?
So here you go…I have visited the following properties in 2017 and have included the value of the entrance I would have paid if I didn’t have the NT membership.
Polesden Lacey in Surrey – Entrance Fee £15.00 pp
Lyme Park in Cheshire – Entrance Fee £12.10 pp
Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire – Entrance Fee £14.65 pp
Hill Top Farm in Cumbria – Entrance Fee £11.50 pp
Beatrix Potter Gallery and Hawkshead in Cumbria – Entrance Fee £7.00 pp
Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire – Entrance Fee £10.00 pp
Stowe in Buckinghamshire – Entrance Fee £12.40 pp
I think it’s fair to say that I’ve definitely got more than my money’s worth out of my National Trust pass in 2017 (£165 worth of entrance fees vs £108 Membership Fee!) and there are a few more properties that I would like to visit so I’ll definitely be renewing the travel membership going forward into 2018.
We also bought the National Trust Touring Pass for my folks which is a travel membership for foreign nationals visiting the UK and wanting to visit a number of National Trust Properties over a certain number of days and it was totally worth it…watch your pennies so you have more money for scones!
Travel Membership: Historical Houses Pass – is it worth it?
So I automatically renewed my Historical Houses Pass in 2017 as I’ve found it to be such great value in the past years that I’ve held the pass however due to ill health in 2017 I didn’t use this pass as much as I would have like unfortunately (a number of properties are only open during the summer months)…if only I had a crystal ball to tell me what was going to happen in the future. The travel membership price is £77 for a double if paying by DD.
Did I get my money’s worth out of the Historic Houses Pass?
Scone Palace – Entrance Fee £7.50 pp
No I didn’t however it was more of an issue with me than the pass itself…I’ll be castle hunting in 2018 like no ones business!
I will most likely let this travel membership automatically renew in 2018 as there are a number of properties that I would like to visit in Northumberland which I didn’t get a chance to visit this year so will make a bee line to see them next year when they all re-open.
Travel Membership: British Airways American Express Card – is it worth it?
The British Airways American Express Card is a pretty easy way of accumulating avios to use towards flights on British Airways or other One World Airlines. What I love the most about this card is the 2 for 1 Companion ticket which is great if you fancy flying Business or First Class without paying full price…you can see here how we flew to Hong Kong ex London for only £500 each in First Class on British Airways. The Annual Fee for the British Airway Premium Plus Credit Card is £195 per annum however we find we get exception value overall and will keep the card going forward or until something better comes along.
Did I get my money’s worth out of the British Airways Express Card?
I think it’s fair to say that we have; we didn’t get good value out of our companion vouchers this year due to illness (again!) however we did fly First Class with BA to Moscow for the huge price of £110 (yeap £55 each to fly First Class and only 68,000 avios…this is the current redemption cost however I think it cost us less from memory!) and G used one to fly to Salzburg before it expired with his mum in Business Class (terrible value but better to use it than lose it!). G and I still have another 3 companion vouchers to use so will try to go a bit further on them next year if we can; we still would like to visit China one day and I have a Mexico itinerary sitting in an excel spreadsheet…or maybe Iran.
Anyhow…instead of doing a huge round up of where I’ve traveled to in 2017, I wanted to see if the money I had spent on my travel memberships were actually worth it in 2017. Obviously you can’t help things like sickness but it does make you reflect on what works for you as an individual when travelling.
What are your favourite travel memberships?
xx
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