2010 was the year UK travellers become bargain conscious, according to search engine Google.

In its annual Zeitgeist report, Google’s in depth look at search trends throughout the year, cheap travel searches dominated the bargain hunting category for online searches.

The top ten searches in Google’s online bargain hunting category from UK residents in 2010 were led by 1- cheap flights, 2- cheap holidays and 3- cheap train tickets.

Cheap hotels, cheap holiday deals and cheap travel insurance also featured in Google’s top ten searches in the bargain hunting category, which is seen as a state of the nation report for UK online search trends.

All but two of the 2010 top ten UK ‘bargain hunting’ searches, led by ‘cheap’ searches, were travel related.

The other two leading money saving searches were for perfume and laptops.

Google’s report also coincides with the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) travel trends report which reveals similar insights into UK travellers abroad bargain conscious activities in 2010.

Comparing the three months to October 2010, with the previous three months, spending by UK residents overseas decreased one per cent to £7.8 billion.

Similarly year on year visits abroad by UK residents decreased by one per cent to 14 million in the same period.

Holiday visits abroad fell by 3 per cent, although the rate of decline was much slower than in recent months. However the latest ONS figures reveal that between July and October, business visits abroad by UK residents were six per cent higher than a year earlier.

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London Underground workers have launched a 24 hour strike.

The industrial action began Sunday evening, 6.30pm, as part of a long-running dispute over changes to ticket office staff across the capital.

The strike by RMT and TSSA union members affects underground services all day Monday November 29.

Transport for London (TfL) who run the underground network have promised to run as many tube services as possible Monday but passengers can expect some lines to have a restricted service and some stations to be closed.

It is expected London Heathrow Terminal 4 will be among stations closed all day Monday.

All lines will operate a partial service except the circle line which will be closed.

Travellers relying on the tube for transport to London Heathrow and other major transport hubs should contact TfL for live updates and consider using an alternative route or different method of transport if possible.

Docklands Light Railway, London overground trains and other rail services will be operating as normal. Bus and river bus services will also be available.

TfL have condemned the strike over 800 ticket office job cuts, saying that half of the cuts have already been achieved and that union members have walked out intent on disrupting travellers, despite an offer of a six week safety review to assess the situation.

“We want an end to this dispute and believe that a resolution will be only achieved through talks, not by further threats to disrupt London,” said Howard Collins, Chief Operating Officer of London Underground.

The RMT claims there are serious safety concerns over the staff reductions.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“This strike is about safety and we will be taking that message to passengers as we build the campaign against the tube cuts.”

Services are expected to return to normal on Tuesday November 30.

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Students have been rioting in London this afternoon about forthcoming increases in student fees announced last month by the government. Mobs attacked a police van as thousands of students gathered for a second mass protest.

Video of Student Protest

The riots were further aggravated by news that the UK’s favourite student website Netfreestuff is likely to be down for a couple of hours at the weekend whilst it undergoes routine maintenance.

Netfreestuff is the UK’s best freebie website and its 200,000 subscribers rely on the site to save tons of money with the help of thousands of offers, vouchers and other freebies.

With fees set to rise, students will be reliant on websites such as netfreestuff to survive the academic year.

So if you’re a student and you need some supplies (including spray cans, window repair equipment and fire extinguishers) and want to save loads of money, check out netfreestuff.co.uk and you might save a huge fortune.

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