This guide gives you 10 things for you and your family to help beat the stress!

1. Take out travel insurance before you fly. Many insurance plans cover you in the case of cancelled flights, but always read the small print and know your rights before you take it out.
2. Check your flight status BEFORE you leave for the airport. If it’s cancelled, you have already saved yourself the stress! There are plenty of online flight monitors that work in real time and teletext still works!
3. Check your flight status when you arrive and crucially, BEFORE you go through security. If it is cancelled before you go through, go and check with the airline desk when you are likely to be able to board the next flight.
4. Leave plenty of time to check in and get through security. Most airports are now suggesting a 3 hour advanced arrival for flights.
5. Use your hand luggage to pack things that will keep you busy – Bring a charged iPod or iPhone, handheld computer console. Bring a paperback book you’ve been meaning to read and ensure you have a colouring book and small pencils for the little children.
6. Make sure you have added several websites to your phone bookmarks before you set off. For example, if you are flying out of Gatwick, make sure you have a local taxi firm on your bookmarks and a list of Gatwick hotels, just in case you have to wait for an extended time. You can also add the BBC news site, your airlines contact details and their homepage to ensure you have all of the information should a problem arise.
7. Drink plenty of liquids. Don’t take any through the security with you, but ensure you have enough coins to buy water and fruit juice drinks when you are waiting. Avoid coffee and tea, it will heighten your stress levels and dehydrate you.
8. Don’t forget the internet. Most airports have wireless internet available, sometimes free, especially if you already have a mobile phone contract. Check out what you can get from your phone provider before setting off and make sure you have a credit card handy to get online at the airport lounges. This expense can sometimes be refunded if you are facing a cancellation and you can prove you needed the internet to contact loved ones, research hotels or find alternative flight.
9. Play the airport game with your children. Give them a piece of paper and a pen to write down all of the different airlines they can see through the airport lounges and award a small prize for whoever finds the most. Play Airport Snooker with them, can they find a plane with red on it and then a plane with yellow and then green and so on. It’ll keep them amused for hours.
10. Get back to the main terminal for shops and restaurants. Don’t forget this one; it is easily overlooked when you are cooped up in a lounge waiting for a flight. You do have the right to go back in to the terminal, just check with the security people the way you came in, there is usually a way to get back out. Be warned however, you will need to come back through security again so make sure you leave enough time once your flight is announced again.

Essential Travel has been acquired by Thomas Cook

The move to acquire Essential Travel is in line with Thomas Cook’s strategy to become a leading travel-related services provider by expanding their online presence in this sector.

The purchase price was not revealed, but Essential Travel is one of the leading suppliers of travel-related products in the UK, with gross assets of £2.5 million reported for the financial year that ended 31 March 2009.

Manny Fontenla-Novoa said, “We continue to believe a strong position in the direct travel insurance market is strategically important.  Furthermore, we expect that together with the experienced directors of Essential Travel, we can build upon our respective strengths to enhance Thomas Cook’s position in both travel insurance and other travel services such as airport parking and airport hotels.”

The acquisition is subject to FSA approval, which is expected to complete shortly.

At a time of the year when most of us are a little cash-strapped, the opportunity to save a little money is a welcome one. Which is, of course, where we come in. You may’ve found cheap flights and a great little budget hotel, but what about your airport parking? Or holiday insurance for that matter?

As with most things in life – the earlier, the better. During peak seasons many of the more popular official car pars at major airports get booked up early by those wanting to capitalise on cheap prices. Working in much the same way as flight pricing – the nearer your departure date, the higher the price is likely to be.

Whilst we here at gosimply will always go that little bit further by comparing the top car park providers and highlighting hidden costs to find you, the lovely customer, the best possible deal – it’s worth remembering that we can only search on available space and prices at any given time.

Oh, and don’t forget – gosimply offer some of the most flexible, value-for-money travel insurance available online. Just promise us you won’t need to use it!

Let’s look at the facts:  you could hear all about how Cheryl Cole wants to “Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight For This Love” for the millionth time OR you could be one of the first to know about gosimply’s latest FREE lucky draws, superb discounts on everything from car hire to travel insurance, plus travel advice and money-saving tips.

For those that aren’t off to foreign lands, here’s a selection of the latest home-grown offers:-

gosimply and twitter - best of friends

• Argos Vouchers – FREE £5 or £10 voucher when spending £50 or £100. That’s a 10% novelty!
• Tesco Introductory Offer – Ever shopped for food online? Slap in the code “XXPD96″ at the checkout and you’ll receive £10 off your first order of £50 or more!
• Debenhams discounts – Grab 15% off Fashion and Homeware with voucher code “PDXP”.

We might not be “The Nation’s Sweetheart”, but when’s the last time Mrs. Cole gave you something for nothing?

The increasingly ubiquitous “gosimply face” now seems to have been picked up by alien visitors in their attempts to communicate with Earthlings through designs created in unsuspecting farmers’ fields.  While some people are quick to dismiss these giant works of art as nothing more than man-made hoaxes, many believe that UFOs and their otherworldly crews are behind the phenomena.

gosimply.com customer discovers crop circle whilst walking

At present, none of these ET’s have phoned authorities (at home or otherwise) to explain the reasons behind this sudden outbreak of gosimply crop circles.  The Travel Product Authorities here at gosimply HQ, however, have every reason to believe that even life forms from other galaxies have discovered the benefits of using gosimply.com – whether parking their spaceship at the airport, snoozing in an airport hotel, or trying to blend in with us human folk by hiring a car.

In an amazing instance of coincidence, Google is spelling out their logo using the phenomenon of crop circles on the same day that gosimply crop circles have been spotted throughout the UK.We’ve always said that smart people gosimply, and now it appears that even beings of extraterrestrial intelligence do the same.

James Caan with gosimply.com's, James Burrows and Tim Hagger

Now that the contest has closed, we are pleased to announce the hidden face belongs to James Caan of the popular BBC2 programme Dragon’s Den!

Just as Mr. Caan invests in people who demonstrate the potential for success, we at gosimply.com take pride in offering our customers the simplest means of  booking their travel extras to ensure their holiday’s success.

Company directors James Burrows and Tim Hagger, had the pleasure of meeting with James Caan recently – although according to some  gosimply.com  customers,  they could have equally been face to face with Alan Sugar, Duncan Bannatyne or even Simon Cowell! Perhaps they were more crouching tiger, than hidden dragon…

Congratulations to all of our winners, commiserations to the unsuccessful participants, and a big thank you to “Dragon” James Caan for the use of his picture.

Keep your eyes open for bigger and better competitions from us here at gosimply in the future, and have fun being one of the smart people who gosimply.

In the recently-aired segment, presenter Ben Shore says that if you’re looking to save money (and let’s face it, who isn’t?) then your best bet is to pre-book your airport parking on gosimply.com.

Hey, we know there are other so-called “comparison sites” out there (and believe us, we’ve tried them all), but we’re confident there are none easier to use, with more useful information, than gosimply.

So next time you need airport parking, an airport hotel or lounge, worldwide car hire or even a great price on travel insurance, you’ll find no better place online to sort all your travel extras than right here, where you can join the thousands of other smart people who gosimply.

As of the 19th of December, Single Trip policies will cover travellers up to 99 years of age.  (Annual Multi-Trip policies will continue to cover travellers up to 74 years of age.)

In addition, “Standard” and “Super” insurance policies will be available to everyone, whether they’re 19 or 99.  These policies include up to £10 million for Emergency Medical, up to £5,000 for Cancellation and up to £2,500 for Baggage cover.

If you didn’t already know, gosimply customers get a further 10% off any travel insurance policy.