Money blog: 'The more ridiculous the better' - inside the world of extreme day-tripping (2025)

ByMegan Harwood-Baynes, cost of living specialist

The first rule of extreme day-tripping is the shorter, the better.

An overnight stay is tolerated, two nights barely, but the real winner is managing to cram a visit to a European destination into the space of a single day.

The real test of an extreme day trip is if "you tell someone 'I'm doing this' and their response is 'that's ridiculous'," says Michael Cracknell, founder of the EDT Facebook group.

He first took an extreme day trip in 2002, travelling to Switzerland for the day with his dad. But in 2019, it ramped up a gear. After a break during COVID, the delivery driver now takes around ten a year, with destinations including Germany, Switzerland, Northern Ireland and Spain.

He has also started to run group trips, uniting strangers with their love of far-flung day visits.

Michael set up an online group in 2022, with the community now home to more than 300,000 members who trade tips and itineraries and flag cheap flights.

So what's the best way to start extreme day-tripping?

"Check the Extreme Day Trips Facebook page," he says, laughing. "There are so many itineraries, so much detail on there."

Making sure you research your airport transport is crucial, he says, as you usually don't have long in the country to be worrying about getting delayed.

"Switzerland is the only country in the world where I trust the trains to run on time. You can go three hours away from the airport and you can trust you will get back in time."

Travelling on a Saturday to give yourself a buffer in case things do go wrong is also a wise move, he says.

"If something happens, it happens, but at least then you aren't worrying about work the next day."

Most people only travel with a backpack, so a power pack is important - especially if you don't have time to be messing about with a power adaptor for a different country.

The sweet spot for a day trip is if you have around seven hours in a country.

"You can get 11 hours in Venice, though," he adds.

As for cost, a decent return flight from Gatwick is anything less than £60, he says, but you often can find deals around the £30 mark if you're willing to plan ahead and be flexible.

So where else have people visited?

I took my dad, Frank, to Belfast for his 80th in October. The whole day out, including flights, food, travel to and from airports, Titanic and hop-on-hop-off bus all came in less than I was going to pay for two return tickets to London from where we live. Dad had a great day and we made memories. He's already asking where we're going next.

Joanne

We did Helsinki for our first one back in December, absolutely loved it, and done ten more since then.

Gary

London Stansted to Pisa last October. Think it cost £56 return on flights. Train from the airport into Pisa costs about €10 return and takes about ten minutes. Headed straight for the tower taking in the sights as I went. Had pepperoni pizza in one of the cafes, cherry and mascarpone gelato and coffee. Fantastic day out - would recommend it.

Andy

My favourite (and furthest) this year was a trip to Corfu. Amazing lunch in the town followed by an afternoon on the beach. A few years ago, me and some friend did The Three Ds - Dublin, Dubai and Delhi - a full day in each on consecutive days.

Mark

Seville - fantastic food scene, absolutely beautiful architecture with the Alcazar and Place de Espana. Porto - super vibe, loads to do or can just wander the streets, fantastic both sides of the river.

Jennie

We are wild water swimmers from Doncaster - did an Extreme Day Trip to Lake Como to swim at the famous waterfall in Nesso. This was October, the water was chilly.

Donna

The environmental impact

Michael says he pays into a scheme to plant trees for every visit he takes - and encourages others to do the same.

"I really try and do my part, I recycle everything, but I know it's not perfect," he says. "But I've had people messaging me before telling me I am a murderer for doing this.

"But I'm hardly a celebrity taking my private jet ten miles down the road.

"There are thousands of planes taking off every day across the world and they don't get cancelled because I am not on them."

My extreme spa day

I wanted to test Michael's theory that often it works out cheaper to go abroad than for a day trip in the UK. My husband and I wanted a spa trip, but even with discounts (and this was before Black Friday deals kicked in), we were looking at about £150-£200 each for a night away in a decent hotel spa.

So would it be cheaper to go abroad?

We flew to Budapest, Hungary, spending 29 hours trying to cram in as much culture and relaxation as we feasibly could. (I wasn't quite ready to commit to fitting it all into a single day - we added in an overnight, which is still within the rules of extreme day-tripping).

We managed to visit two thermal baths (though a lack of organisation on our part did mean they had fully booked all massage slots before we arrived), did more than 20,000 steps marching around the city and had a couple of decent meals (not including a Burger King at the airport).

Our final total worked out at...

Would we do it again?

Dashing from the UK to another country was fun, though we did seem to spend a lot of time in airport queues. Both times our flight took off late, but Wizz Air managed to make up some time in the air and we only landed around 20 minutes behind schedule.

It did make me think how precarious it would be if you only had a few hours - one major flight delay and it suddenly becomes not worth going at all.

It also only really gives you a short flavour of the place you are visiting - which is great if you don't want to commit to a longer stay but doesn't give you quite enough time to get the vibe of a city. I would definitely go back to Budapest, as there were plenty of landmarks we had to miss because we didn't have time.

The spas themselves were excellent value - at around £20 each for a day ticket, even though they were pretty busy, for that price you just can't compare them to anything back in the UK. In hindsight we should have planned ahead a bit better - a massage costs around £37, significantly cheaper than what you might pay over here.

When stacked up next to a spa day in the UK, the price came in about the same as if we had opted for a pretty posh hotel and spa. However, we could definitely have saved money in a few places: booking the flights earlier would have meant they were around £90 in total, and taking public transport instead of using Bolt would have also kept those costs down.

I definitely wouldn't rule out doing it again, and like Michael, I did enjoy people's faces when we told them what we were doing.

"That's ridiculous" - maybe it is, and maybe that is the point.

Have you joined the extreme day-tripping craze? Tell us all about it in the box at the top of the page

ByJess Sharp, Money live reporter

Households were at the forefront this week as news broke that energy bills were set to rise.

Regulator Ofgem announced a third consecutive increase to the price cap, hiking it by 6.4% from April.

The increase will raise the average bill for households in England, Scotland and Wales on a standard variable tariff from £1,738 a year to £1,849.

The rise will equate to £111 for an average household a year, or around £9.25 a month, over the three-month period of the price cap.

It's important to remember that the price cap just limits the amount suppliers can charge per unit of energy, so it doesn't represent a maximum total bill.

Many of our readers got in touch expressing their concerns about being able to afford the higher price, while consumer expert Martin Lewis urged energy users to ditch the "pants cap" and opt for a fixed deal.

The increase has also proved difficult for the government, with ourbusiness and economics correspondent Gurpreet Narwanpointing out that it's failing to deliver on its promise to bring bills down...

One of the reasons for the hikes in prices we've seen in recent years is Russia's war in Ukraine.

Oureconomics and data editor Ed Conwayexamined Europe's continued reliance on Russian gas, and other products, at the Sky News screen this week...

Trump leaves financial markets shaky

Away from energy prices and towards the US, where comments by Donald Trump left financial markets across Europe a little shaky.

The US president said he would impose 25% tariffs on all US imports from the European Union "very soon".

Our business and economics reporter James Sillars explored the issue in more depth here...

In cryptoland, we saw Bitcoin plunge in value, falling more than a quarter from recent record highs.

It fell below $80,000 (£63,000) as most of the gains since Trump won the US election in November were wiped out.

It peaked at about $109,000 (£86,000) per Bitcoin when Trump was sworn in as president in January as traders anticipated his policies would boost its value even further.

Hope of more mortgage rate cuts rises

We saw some positive signs in the mortgage market as swap rates continued to fall, potentially signalling that cheaper rates could be coming.

Swap rates, which determine how much banks and building societies have to pay to borrow money to lend, dictate the pricing of fixed-rate mortgages.

Off the back of the falls, Nationwide became the latest lender to launch a sub-4% deal, offering borrowers a 3.99% rate on a five-year fixed rate at 60% LTV with a £999 fee.

Brokers were very happy to see the decrease, with many suggesting that this could be the start of further cuts.

"Competition is clearly ramping up, and borrowers could be in for even better deals in the weeks ahead. This isn't just a one-off adjustment, it's a sign that rates may have further to fall," Jamie Elvin, director at Strive Mortgages, said.

We took a broader look at what's going on in the market in this week's Mortgage Guide...

But it wasn't any of those stories that sparked the most conversation among our readers - it was a study by HSBC that revealed Britons believe they need to earn £213,000 to be considered wealthy.

Lots of you were shocked to hear that people earn that much, while others were disgusted by the difference compared to pensions.

You can read more of their comments here...

We also had the surprise news that Microsoft would be axing Skype.

The once dominant video call service said it will shut down after 21 years in May.

And if you're looking to book a spring holiday this weekend, we heard from travel company Expedia about the best days to fly.

They told us the cheapest dates to book, and the trending places in the UK if you are looking for a staycation...

We're signing off for the week now - but don't forget to check out our long read from 8am tomorrow morning.

This week, ourcost of living specialist Megan Harwood-Baynesexplores the world of extreme day-tripping - cramming a visit to a European destination into the space of a single day.

She headed on a 29-hour holiday to Budapest - and spoke to others who had done some even more intense day-trips.

EDF Energy is reviving its "Sunday Saver" challenges, which could provide thousands of customers with free electricity.

The scheme rewards you if you use energy in off-peak hours - so charging your car overnight or using the dishwasher in the morning could save you some money.

The more energy you shift away from peak periods during the week, the more free electricity you'll earn.

You'll then be gifted free electricity (in hours) by the company to use on the Sunday.

To take part, customers need a smart meter set to provide half-hourly readings - which you can do in your EDF online account.

Any free electricity credits earned will be automatically added to your account.

Sadiq Khan's plans topedestrianise the busiest street in Britain are now under consultation.

The mayor is asking for Londoners' views on his proposals to ban traffic along Oxford Street - which is estimated to have contributed £25bn to the capital's economy in 2022.

He's long promised the idea, but support from Westminster City Council was withdrawn in 2018 due to a lack of public interest.

Here's what Khan said about the consultation - which lasts until the start of May...

Ageing technology could be one of the reasons behind today's online banking problems, according to the senior editor of Business Insider.

Speaking to presenter Darren McCaffrey on Business Live, Chris Johnston says "millions of customers" have been affected by problems with apps and online banking for the second month in a row around payday.

"There's not a lot that people can do, it seems," he adds.

The banks are all working to resolve issues, but Johnston said that wouldn't be much comfort to people to trying to go about their business.

"It's very hard to speculate on the causes... [but] it's unusual that it's affecting to many institutions," he adds.

As many as six banks were having issues early this morning.

"The wider issue for banks is ageing IT systems... the attempts to upgrade in the past have also led to problems," he says, noting the 2018 separation of TSB which led to customers being locked out of their accounts for days on end," he adds.

"They ended up being fined nearly £50m for those failures."

The bigger problem, he explains, is that a lot of older banks are scrambling to replace legacy systems with new tech to compete with newcomers like Revolut and Monzo, which entered the market on entirely new platforms.

"A lot of the old banks have legacy systems that are stitched together and sometimes creaking at the seams - which could possibly be the reason for some of these problems."

Watch his full interview on Business Live right here:

An update on the banking chaos we've reported on today.

Nationwide has confirmed all issues have been resolved.

"We apologise for the delays that customers have experienced today in sending and receiving faster payments," a spokesperson told Money.

"This issue has now been resolved and all payments that had been queued have now been processed.

"All new outbound and inbound payments are also being processed as normal."

As we're reporting, Skype is shutting down.

Skype won attention in the 2000s for giving people a way to talk without paying the phone company, but more recently struggled to adapt to the mobile era - and was one of few digital tools not to see a major resurgence during the pandemic.

Some people have forgotten that it's still available, given the many other options for chatting and calling.

It's owned by Microsoft, and Skype users can still move their accounts over to the more prominent Teams service.

"We've learned a lot from Skype over the years that we've put into Teams as we've evolved over the last seven to eight years," Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms, said in an interview with CNBC.

"But we felt like now is the time because we can be simpler for the market, for our customer base, and we can deliver more innovation faster just by being focused on Teams."

"This is obviously a big, big moment for us, and we're certainly very grateful in many ways," Teper said.

"Skype pioneered audio and video calling on the web for many, many people."

Were you still using Skype? Let us know in the box at the top of the page

Skype - once the dominant video call service - has announced it will shut down after 21 years.

The service boasted more than 300 million users at its peak, but the most recent numbers that Microsoft had shared were in 2023, when it said it had more than 36 million users.

From May this year, Skype will shut down completely.

Microsoft said: "In order to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs, we will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams (free), our modern communications and collaboration hub. 

"We look forward to continuing to support people’s everyday connections, starting by making it easy to log into Teams with their Skype account."

A record number of people have applied for pension credit since the government confirmed the winter fuel payment will be means tested.

Around 235,000 pension credit claims have been made since the announcement in July - compared with 129,900 in the same period in 2023-24, figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show.

However, there was a 133% increase in the number of claims being denied - equating to around 114,500.

Pension credit has historically been chronically under claimed, with more than a third of those eligible failing to fill out the relevant forms each year.

Surge may leave 'bad taste'

"The DWP today is celebrating a surge in the number of pension credit claims, and with good reason given uptake has been poor in the past," said Rachel Vahey, head of public policy at investment firm AJ Bell says.

"But the fact it comes off the back of Rachel Reeves's decision to means-test the winter fuel payment may leave a bad taste with some."

Pension credit requirements

In order to successfully getpensioncreditin the UK, you need to meet the following criteria:

• You must have reached state pensionage, which is currently 66 or older;
• You must live in the UK;
• Your weekly income should be below £218.15 if you're single, or £332.95 if you're in a couple. If you have a disability or caring responsibilities, you might still qualify with a slightly higher income;
• If you have savings and investments over £10,000, each £500 above this amount counts as £1 in additional income per week when calculating eligibility. For example, if you have £11,000 in savings, this counts as £2 income a week.

Expensive parking is helping kill the high street, two studies suggest.

Three in five drivers have been deterred from visiting their local high street due to the high cost of parking, Direct Line business insurance has found, while the AA found two-thirds of 11,333 members would be turned off parking near the high street if it cost more than £10 for four to five hours.

Mark Summerville, SME product manager at Direct Line Business insurance, said: "Keeping charges down, or lowering them, could help revive high streets, encourage local businesses to stay open and create additional employment - all of which may also boost council revenues."