They pass their days drinking tea from thermal flasks, shooting the breeze with passers-by and dreaming of hot, sunny weather and white sandy beaches.

And why do they forgo their post Christmas parties, their warm homes and their New Year celebrations? Because they want the holiday of a lifetime and what's more, they want it for free.

Tour operator Budget Travel has been offering free holidays to the first people into their main Dublin branch for the last 15 years. "When we first started giving away holidays it was on a much smaller scale, " says Niamh Hayes , a company representative. "Over the years, the offer has grown. Now we give away more holidays and more people turn up to queue each year. It's become a tradition and in a way it's taken on a life of its own because a culture of queuing has grown up around it."

In the beginning, a few people would wait an average of three days for the shop to open . . . even then the public were surprised that they would go to such lengths. Now it's not uncommon for customers to queue for two weeks in advance. The company's shops in Cork and Limerick have also witnessed the phenomenon, although to a lesser extent. And some other travel agents have even imitated the initiative.

Last year, Budget Travel gave away up to 65, 000 worth of free holidays. "We're very generous, " says Hayes. "And we try our best to facilitate customers but we can't guarantee a particular holiday because we're launching a sale and we don't know exactly what will come into the system until the day the shop opens."

She says that queuing for so many days is not for the fainthearted. "Although it gives us publicity we don't necessarily encourage it. It's not easy getting out in the cold weather and braving the elements. The type of people that queue are usually ones who enjoy the publicity and the fun to be had, but they do have their highs and lows. Believe me, for those who do queue the holidays are very well-deserved."

Philip McNiff

Philip Mc Niff was the first person in the Budget Travel holiday queue in 2004. A fork truck operator from Shankill, he was out of a job at the time and the free holiday meant everything to him. "Originally, I planned to start queuing on St Stephen's Day, " he says. "But my father-in-law said that if I wanted to be first I'd better start on the night of Christmas Day, so I did. I'd finished my dinner with the family and I'd seen my fouryear-old daughter open her presents. Those are the only things that matter to me at Christmas so I didn't mind starting to queue."

Niff brought a tent which he pitched outside the shop. He armed himself with plenty of warm clothes, a flask of tea, sandwiches and of course some alcohol to warm himself up. It wasn't long until the queue began to grow and he had plenty of people to keep him company. "I was there for two weeks and I have to say it was a holiday in itself, " he smiles. "Everyone I encountered was so friendly. People would stop and enquire as they passed by. Two American tourists who we shared some Baileys with one night, even came back the next with more!"

His reward was a two-week holiday for three adults and one child to Florida. He took his girlfriend Suzanne, his mother Aileen and his daughter Jessica with him the following August.

"It was a fabulous trip, " he says. "I brought my little girl to Disneyland and you should've seen her face when she met Mickey Mouse. It was all worth it just for that look."

The trip would have cost 4,500 in total and McNiff says there's no way he would have been able to afford it had he not stood in line. "We enjoyed it all the more because it was free, " he says. So much so that this Christmas, he queued again.

"I was fourth in line this time and arrived at 7pm on Christmas night. Three different people had got there at 6pm." So did he get the holiday he wanted? "I was hoping for Florida again but the company are not flying there at the moment so I opted for Bulgaria instead. It's a holiday for three adults and one child as before. Hopefully it will be just as good."

Catherine Farrell

This time last year, 35-year-old Catherine Farrell from Drimnagh was planning her wedding to her fiance Marius Howa.

The couple were finding it hard to meet the costs of the event and knew that they would only be able to afford a cheap honeymoon in Ireland. That is until she came up with the idea of queuing for a free holiday from Budget Travel.

"I'd never done it before but I'd read about people in the newspapers who had, so I thought 'why not give it a go?'. The first day was the coldest, after that the weather picked up a little but it wasn't warm, " she laughs. "Mind you I had all my winter woollies on so I didn't feel it too much."

Farrell and her partner slept in their car near the travel agents and took it in turns to mind their place in the queue when getting food or using the bathroom in the local pub. "Budget Travel were great, " she says. "They even brought us sandwiches and pizza on a number of occasions. And everyone I queued with was in good form. There was an unwritten rule that your place in the queue was kept."

But were there any downsides to the whole experience? "Well we did get a bit of slagging from the odd person on the street.

A few people called us 'scabs', " she says. "But all in all, the atmosphere was great and most passers-by were very supportive."

The couple were lucky enough to land a cruise around the Greek islands and a week in Corfu. Needless to say they enjoyed every minute of it. "It was amazing, " smiles Farrell, a barber by trade. "It was so romantic. It was really hot and sunny and the Greek islands were stunning. Every day, we stopped at a different port so we got to see a lot more than we would have on an ordinary holiday. The week in Corfu was an added bonus and all in all, we were delighted with the trip. It really helped to keep the cost of the wedding down too."

This Christmas she planned to queue but was unable to do so due to a bad chest infection. Her husband Marius waited in line instead. He began queuing on the night of St Stephen's Day and waited 11 days to receive a two-week holiday for two in Puerto Rico. "We were delighted to get the holiday, " says Farrell. "We were in Puerto Rico two years ago and we loved it so it will be great to go back. We plan to wait until the summer and it's nice to have it to look forward to." She plans to queue next time as well. "I'll keep doing it for as long as I'm able to, " she laughs. "I'd recommend it to anyone."

Michelle Stanley

Michelle Stanley from Pimlico, Dublin, is a veteran holiday queuer. Christmas 2004 was her fourth year waiting for the Budget Travel Shop to open. "The longest I've ever waited is 12 days, " says the 33-year-old single mother of four. "It's been worth it every time. I've been to Salou, Benidorm and Lanzarote twice and each time I've brought my four children . . . three of whom are teenagers and classed as adults by the travel companies."

Stanley says there's no way she would be able to go on holiday otherwise. "Because I have four kids it's just too expensive. I'm on a CE scheme and I don't have a large income. This way, all we have to take with us is our spending money."

But after four years in a row, is she getting tired of queuing?

"When I first started, I loved it. It was such good craic and I'd always do it with a friend or two so we'd help each other out.

But the novelty wears off and it can get very cold in the middle of winter."

The other problem, she says, is the boredom. "Although it's good craic in the evening when everyone has a drink, it can be very boring during the day. There's rarely any trouble, thank God. Even the homeless people often come and talk to us. I remember one year they even offered us some of their food.

They didn't understand why we wouldn't take it."

So would she recommend it? "It depends on the type of holiday you want and how many people are going, " she says. "I know one woman who waited two weeks last year. She only had one child and her holiday was worth about 1, 100. Now I don't think that's worth waiting for. In my case, it would cost in the region of 3,000 to take the four children away so it's definitely worth it."

This time round, however, she decided against queuing. "I just didn't feel like facing the cold, " she says. "Although it's great to get a free holiday, the queues are starting earlier every year and it really does spoil Christmas. I thought about it this time but decided against it and I'm glad. It meant for the first time in years I could relax and enjoy the Christmas season and I think that's almost as important as a holiday." So will she do it again next time? "I may or may not, probably not."