Australia - Use an agent or book independently?

Mardrew

Thanks SM

I know it's a long journey but we decided we wanted to use the full three weeks for Aus. Adding Ayers Rock into the trip has bumped up the cost significantly but it is something DH has always wanted to see.

spottydog

If you are looking for car hire in Sydney check out https://www.nobirds.com.au as they are significantly cheaper than the big companies and used by all the locals

Mardrew

Thanks. We are not going to hire a car in Sydney but we are for the Cairns/Port Douglas part of the trip and also, possibly, Ayers Rock.

HXDave

doshwaster:

On a long trip it's nice to have some flexibility in the schedule so that you can stay an extra night one one place or change hotels. That is very difficult if you have everything pre-booked as a package deal.
On a long trip it's nice to have some flexibility in the schedule so that you can stay an extra night one one place or change hotels. That is very difficult if you have everything pre-booked as a package deal.

what exactly makes you think that booking a trip independantly will allow you to change your travel itinarary at the drop of a hat. Chances are that the ticket will be a fixed ticket, and you will not be able to change your itinarary what soever. Also, who wants to faff around on holidays contacting airlines & hotels, re-jigging holiday arrangements. Also look at the current situation in Aus. If you had booked to fly into Brisbane right now, your hotel might be flooded / evacuated and you have nowhere to accommodate you, however your flight connection is still booked to Brisbane, and it's non changeable. At least with our packages they have people in the companies to sort this out for us / you.

you also state:

As long as you book with major airlines and hotels then it's much more likely that your high street travel agent back home will go bust.

thanks for the vote of confidence there towards the people that are trained to do this sort of thing.

Guess you've never heard of major airlines like Laker, Alitalia, Swissair, Sabena etc etc, all who have, effectively in one way or another, gone bust!

loobs40

we recently had a 6 week holiday which included Australia and New Zealand. I booked flights throughTrailfinders.

For the trip to Australia I booked accommodation online a few weeks beforehand, after doing lots of online research.

For the three weeks in New Zealand, I booked the first night at a B&B and then booked B&B, motels and apartments as we went along, usually a couple of day before. This worked really well for us and there was never a problem finding somewhere decent to stay. We took a laptop and had no problem getting wifi access throughout NZ.

I don't know if it was any cheaper than going thru a travel agent, but I enjoyed doing the planning and the flexibility was a huge bonus.

Jock221

Be careful when hiring a car at Alice springs we booked a jeep for the week didn't read the small print which stated any km over the allowance was charged at x amount know to get anywhere in Alice you are going to clock
Up the miles we basically followed the map up one side taking in simpsons gap, kings cAnynon, ayers rock and back to Alice down the other side took a week we had £200 extra to pay for mileage. A word of advice the tourist map makes a big issue about the ancient town of hermsberg don't be fooled we drove for 5 hours to find a museum if you could call it that and a load of shanties inhabited by the aborginals and one shop couldn't wait to get out of it nothing in it and you could loose your car very easily

Jock221

Mardrew wrote: »

Thanks SM

I know it's a long journey but we decided we wanted to use the full three weeks for Aus. Adding Ayers Rock into the trip has bumped up the cost significantly but it is something DH has always wanted to see.

Your doing the right thing going to ALuce Springs is the real Australia and it is worth seeing it's totally awesome try the auora hotel in main street and grab a bite at bogangles saloon

Jock221

shockingmoment wrote: »

Hope you have a great time - I'm sure you will.

The only thing I would have done differently.... would be to add a couple of days in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.
It breaks the journey up and these are both great cities!
Bit too late I suppose?

Do a little bit of research on the Uluru trip - can be extremely expensive.....

I fully agree on the stop over it gives you time to re charge and also when your going so Far it's nice to add in anothet country. I've done Singapore, kuala lumper and hong kong en route to Oz, Singapore everytime I have to say so clean.

Doshwaster

HXDave wrote: »

At least with our packages they have people in the companies to sort this out for us / you.

So are you going to be available in the UK at 3am when I have a problem on the other side of the world in Australia? I'd rather deal with the hotels and airlines myself. Granted some people may prefer a "hands off" approach to their holiday so for them a TA is probably a good idea.

thanks for the vote of confidence there towards the people that are trained to do this sort of thing.

I have the greatest of admiration for anyone making a living as a travel agent these days. I genuinely find it a fascinating subject - which is why I find planning my own trips so interesting. I would love the opportunity to plan a multi-centre trip to Oz.

It cannot be easy being a TA in the current economic climate and when so many people have access to the internet to arrange things themselves.

pjcox2005

I'd personally book myself as the savings are big and if you have insurance & use credit cards you'll get a fair amount of protection.

Forums on trip advisor are a great source of info.

Suggest you use cash back websites such as a quidco to get a further 10% saving on hotels.

And if in Alice Springs then check out Annies Place. It's a backpacking place, but realistically like a b&b. We got a double bedroom with private bathroom, next to the pool for hardly anything (although realize not perfect for all)