He'd call it capitalism, obviously.

Mrs Musket gets almost as much fun planning and booking hols. Right now we are in Tignes /Val D'Isere on our annual ski with friends. We booked separately; the taxi, train to London, Eurostar to Paris, STV to Bourg St Mauris, coach to Le Lac, chalet. One of the first jobs when we get back is booking early for cheaper prices for our Canada jolly in April. (OK, some skiing involved too.)

The first time we came here a few years ago, we were finding we were leaving our friends in the pub in order to make the last sittings at the hotel restaurant (inclusive deal) and walking past some good restaurants to get there.. Since then, we book a chalet. Similarly in Cyprus last September, the hotel was mainly "inclusive" and we booked B&B. We went out to some wonderful restaurants that holiday and couldn't help noticing the cringeworthy "theme" nights in the restaurant people had to put up with. How many ways of serving Thomas Cooke price school dinners?

Curiously, the difference in our costs aren't totally different, I reckon.

What I will say is there is a rumour, put out by some travel agents that only full packages are refundable if for any reason you invoke any cancellation insurance. Not true.