I found out about this web site from a BBC24 web programme.

The site takes your requirements for flights and then searches across a number of sites to give you the best options. The advantage is that you don't have to do all this yourself.

The advantage is that you can usually get a cheaper return flight by coming back through a different provider.

www.skyscanner.net web site 

This is probably not appropriate for all but it worked out great for me.

Basically I need to be in London for Monday morning but I was going to be near there anyway so I decided to stay overnight in a hotel to save an early train from Bournemouth.

As I was driving, having hotel I could easily get to, park there for the next day whilst I get a tube into London and then easy for driving out again, would be great. I did some searches and found that the Ramada Jarvis hotel in Ealing was ideal.

The Post Office has some deals on travel insurance and commission free currency exchange.

One strange thing that I found when I visited the Post Office to get some Euros was that I could only exchange physical cash. They would not let me use a debit card for payment. I then had to use the debit card to get some money out, from the same counter person, they handed it over to me, I then handed it back. Oh what fun, and delay to everybody else queuing up behind me. 

I generally get the Independent newspaper on a Saturday and in their holiday and travel reviews they usually have a oneliner about a carbon offset for the journey.

Thought I would dig a little bit further and understand it more. In a nutshell taking a flight has an environmental impact, on greenhouse gases and so on, so they are charties and organisations that you can donate to, in relation to the journey you have made. They then take the proceeds and fund environmental projects designed to tackle those issues.