Multi trip holiday

andrewj42

Hi, I hope this is the right place for this post.
We are hoping to have a once in a lifetime trip which will allow us to meet up with family around the world as well as see some sights, however our budget is very much that-budget. We reckon to have 5k for the trip.
We want to travel mid December this year returning sometime in January.
We are currently in Bulgaria but can get to the UK if needed as a start point.
We want to visit Singapore December 18th to 28th then fly to Kolkata, spend three days with family and then do the golden triangle, travel by a good standard train overnight between tours if cheaper as well as visit Kerala/Goa.
On completion we want to fly to Sydney (from Inidia if needed) and spend two weeks there then return to Singapore for two weeks and then back to Bulgaria via the UK if necessary.
Is it possible?
Are we being realistic, neither of us work so time is flexible but money is not.
Once again apologies if this infringes site rules in any way.

Caz3121

You may be better doing some of this on separate tickets as you have planned stops in places (all on one ticket comes out about £4k)
ticket 1 SOF-SIN return <£600 (via AMS)
ticket 2 SIN- CCU return around £230 direct flights
ticket 3 SIN-SYD return around £300

journey
SOF - SIN outbound ticket 1
SIN - CCU outbound ticket 2
CCU - SYD return ticket 2 plus outbound ticket 3
SYD - SIN return ticket 3
SIN - SOF return ticket 1
The part of concern would be when you were leaving India to go to Sydney with a change on separate tickets in SIN so you would be best having a long change or an overnight

Google Flights is easy to play about with
If you are tempted by any third party sites please read reviews before booking (either here or on the air travel forum on tripadvisor) best to book direct with airline(s)

Voyager2002

If you are really flexible on time, then avoid the Christmas period, when aeroplanes are full and so seats are expensive.

I would approach the hunt for air tickets as follows: look for an affordable return fare between Europe and Sidney that allows long stop-overs in Singapore. Then look for low-cost airlines that would take you between Singapore and India: travel within India is not expensive, but you would need to ask your friends there to help with train reservations (while it is possible to make these reservations on-line, the booking system is very far from being user-friendly and you would need to spend a lot of time discovering the various tricks that are needed to get it to work).

andrewj42

Caz3121 and Voyager 2002, thanks for the advice.
Although the length of trip is flexible the family reunions (Christmas Singapore and Kolkata New Year) mean that we have to travel then, but can stay as long as the money lasts in any of the stops. Australia is an added bonus as we are halfway there and my sister can look out for us then.
The one agent I have spoken with said there were no long stopovers and that separate tickets was the way to go: I will check further agents.
An overnight in Singapore is no problem, we can impose on our daughter:-)
£1130 for the flights is the target to best without being greedy or pedalling part way.
Thank you both
Andrew

Voyager2002

andrewj42 wrote: »

The one agent I have spoken with said there were no long stopovers and that separate tickets was the way to go: I will check further agents.

Within the UK I would ask Trailfinders, although departures from other European countries would probably cost a bit less. And it might be worth telephoning Emirates directly to see if they can help with this...

callum9999

andrewj42 wrote: »

Caz3121 and Voyager 2002, thanks for the advice.
Although the length of trip is flexible the family reunions (Christmas Singapore and Kolkata New Year) mean that we have to travel then, but can stay as long as the money lasts in any of the stops. Australia is an added bonus as we are halfway there and my sister can look out for us then.
The one agent I have spoken with said there were no long stopovers and that separate tickets was the way to go: I will check further agents.
An overnight in Singapore is no problem, we can impose on our daughter:-)
£1130 for the flights is the target to best without being greedy or pedalling part way.
Thank you both
Andrew

Then the agent you're speaking with is inept and shouldn't be used! While it is probably cheaper to get the flights separately, there are numerous fares between Europe and Australia allowing stopovers.

I'm not sure I'd bother using an agent for this. It's incredibly easy to do yourself - it will just take time if you're inexperienced. Caz3121 gave a good routing suggestion - if you just play around with the dates and airports then you'll probably find it for even less. It may take hours (I find it weirdly entertaining so it never bothers me!) but it's simple.

andrewj42

Callum 9999.
Thanks for putting me straight ref stopovers, I'll be looking in to them.
Regards
Andrew