A British holidaymaker has revealed he managed to find cheap flights to the Maldives for fares that cost less than a train between London and Manchester.
Rob Adcock has worked out how to get to the Maldives for the astonishingly low price of £133.
The dad-of-one will be jetting off from London Gatwick, staying overnight in Naples, heading via Wizz Air to Abu Dhabi and then on to the Indian Ocean island paradise.
Direct journeys would take around 11 hours, and require holidaymakers to travel more than 5,500 miles from the UK to the southern tip of India.
For the same price Rob could have bought himself a peak return train ticket from London to Manchester, which is roughly 14 times shorter in terms of distance.
He could also have bought four nights in a Travelodge family room.
Rob hopes to be heading off on a holiday to the Maldives around Easter time with some friends who often join him on his cheap flight adventures, but his second child is due around then.
New arrival allowing, the content creator hopes to get from his home in Leek, Staffordshire to the Maldives and back for under £300 return, all flying with Wizz Air.
He told the Mirror that the airline have "got these new routes that get you to the Middle East for really cheap". He added: "We got from London to Abu Dhabi before for £69 and it's even cheaper now. It's a big hub. This time it's £21 quid from Gatwick to Naples, then £34 on, and then straight on to the Maldives.
"It is all ridiculously cheap around this time. We will be landing in Naples at around 10pm, staying in a cheap Airbnb, then next morning the flights at 10am."
Football fan Rob has a track record when it comes to bagging mega cheap flights, having previously travelled to three matches in two continents for just £69.
His trick is relatively simple.
All Rob does is head to Skyscanner and look for the cheapest flights possible to Italy, as the country is very well connected via air and has lots of onwards routes.
Then he looks for budget flights on from there, with Wizz Air currently running a lot of very cheap flights to the Middle East from the boot shaped country.
"I've got a group of mates who like adventuring, so I ping a message (when I find a cheap flight) saying 'who fancies it?'" he continued
"There are six or seven of us going. I'm self employed so can come and go as I please.
"It's as expensive or as fancy as you make it. I've heard you can get a place for £35 a night in the Maldives."
When asked whether he was concerned about the environmental impact of taking lots of highly polluting flights, he said: "We are aware of the climate impact. It is at the forefront of my mind. I take fewer flights than a few years ago. I just love a holiday."
