HOLIDAYS are meant to be relaxing, right? Well as we build up to the holiday season, you’d better prepare yourself for a shock.

Not only will it cost you more to get to your holiday resort this year – all those extra charges and taxes that airlines have found to add on – but prices in our favourite holiday destinations have soared.

Well, it’s not that the prices have gone up, but the value of the pound has gone down. So we don’t get as much foreign currency for our money.

I bet when you hear the words “exchange rates” at the end of the news or “The pound has fallen against the dollar”, you have little interest or idea of what it means.

What it means is your holiday hotel will probably cost you more.

And your drinks. And your meals.

And the coffees. And the car hire.

And the sun tan oil, ice cream, souvenirs… Money experts moneysupermarket.com estimated this week that every $1,500 spent in the US this summer will cost you an extra £300.

Which is a lot.

It’s as bad in Europe. True, the pound has rallied a bit against the euro, but a thousand euros will still cost you £85 more than they did this time last year.

No wonder hundreds of Brits, who went to live in Spain for all that sunshine and cheap living, are heading home to grey Great Britain. Spain is not quite the cheap option it was.

As an estimate of how much more it will cost you, here are some typical, prices this year – with last year’s prices in brackets.

Coffee in Spain £1.12 (91p last year); in Greece £3.26 (£2.65); Portugal 56p (45p) Bottled lager in Spain £2.30 (£1.88); France £3.72 (£3.03); Italy £3.26 (£2.65) Can of Coke in Spain £1.86 (£1.51); Greece £2.79 (£2.27); Cyprus £1.86 (£1.51) Three-course meal with wine in Spain £37 (£30); Greece £39 (£34); Italy £46 ( £37) Those extra pennies very soon mount up – especially if you have hungry and thirsty children and teenagers with you.

If you have happily taken the same amount of spending money with you for the last few years, you’ll almost certainly need more this year. An easy way to save money is to shop at the local supermarket for soft drinks, bread, meat and cheese etc, and make your own picnic lunch instead of buying at expensive cafes. That leaves you more money for the wine at night.

Also, a warning to anyone organising a stag night. Flights to Dublin, for instance, might be cheap – but the drink isn’t. The current price of a pint in central Dublin is anything from 4.50 to six or even more euros, which works out at anything from £4 to £5.50 a pint. Fine for the occasional drinker, but at those prices it might make your stag do a fairly sober affair, which is probably not quite what you planned.

It’s easy enough to check local prices before you set off on holiday and also easy to check the exchange rate.

It might not be good news, but at least you will be prepared.

Have a good holiday!