Can it be done for under £2K?

laurawaite

Hi everyone I am hoping to book to go to Florida next year, we can go at any time during the year, there are 2 adults and 1 child (who will be 3 next July), we are hoping to be able to get flights, accomodation, car hire and attraction tickets for under £2K (ideally nearer £1.5K but this might be pushing it) - can this be done??
I think booking everything separately is going to work out a lot cheaper than booking as a package but don't really know where to start - any advice/tips appreciated!
We don't really mind where we stay, basic 2* accommodation is fine, for flights would prefer direct as my other half doesn't like flying so for him to have to do it twice may be traumatic!! For car hire he will be 27 and I will be 25 next July, although I will try and persuade him to do all the driving to keep insurance costs down as I am a young driver (or if anyone has been without car hire and has got the shuttle buses everywhere how did you find this? We would consider this to save money) I'm a bit confused about all the car insurances so any advice on this would be good. As for attraction tickets we would like Disney and the flex ticket for seaworld etc.
Also, any ideas on what sort of spending money we should budget for?
Lots of questions and all a bit vague I know, but any help appreciated!Many Thanks

Nordictat2

Hiya...

You don't say WHERE you are from ..(which airport) is there more than 1 airport you can leave from ?
I find that booking things 1 by 1 sometimes saves you money than a whole package but it depends on a few things...If you can leave from another airport,what time of year,how long you stay etc.

As far as booking car hires I tend to use 3rd party places (travelsupermarket, carjet etc.) because they usually incluce ALL the car insurance you need as with booking with say AVIS or Hertz websites..the inc. bit can be confusing with all the add on's!

Some more info and maybe we can help you a bit more.

laurawaite

sorry i forgot to say we are looking at going for 2 weeks and would prefer to go from london but birmingham/manchester would be possible if it made a big difference to price. we can go at any time of year, preferably out of school holidays to make it cheaper and less busy, i thought maybe sept/oct but then that is hurricance season so maybe may/june would be better?

lucylouwoo

I went to Florida in April with OH and paid for our daughter (who is 1) to have a seat on the flight, car hire and accomedation for just over £1600 with Travel city direct.
Take a look at their website, I found they were the cheapest about

https://www.travelcitydirect.com

Nordictat2

Ok...have you tried these places?

http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/info/about/destinations/Florida/
http://www.thomascook.com/content/deals/homepage/deals-homepage.asp

You would know when exactly you would want to go so tinker around a bit with the dates and Jan.,Feb is better to go IF you want the cost to be anywhere near your budget

laurawaite

thanks, i have had a look at travel city and they do seem good value, although they are advertising some deals from £319/349 etc but it doesn't say what date they are based on, when i tried searching for next year it wasn't coming up at that price so i assume they are for this year. i am wondering if it might be better to save up all the money we can in a savings account and then book last minute?

on another note, how did your 1 year old get on flying? i am a bit worried my little un will be running round like a mad woman terrorising all the other passengers, either that or will hate it and spend the whole 8 hours screaming!! (ps i am trying to press the thanks buttom for the above replies but my stupid computer doesn't like it, it also doesn't like putting paragraphs in posts, but i will keep trying!!)

laurawaite

i have just looked on the thomas cook website and they are quoting £1354 for may 2008, accommodation at the Imperial Swann on IDrive, flights from LGW and compact car, this seems pretty good? It doesn't seem to say anything about car insurance though so there may be extra charges on top, this is all v confusing!!

gardner1

wait a few years till little one is 7-8 go to paris first

Nordictat2

laurawaite wrote: »

i have just looked on the thomas cook website and they are quoting £1354 for may 2008, accommodation at the Imperial Swann on IDrive, flights from LGW and compact car, this seems pretty good? It doesn't seem to say anything about car insurance though so there may be extra charges on top, this is all v confusing!!

call Thomas cook 0870 513 3102 . Surely they know

laurawaite

ok i have found the car hire details on thomas cook from what i can make out it is £22 per day for the extra insurances? so may be better to book the car hire separately. thomas cook have some good deals on though, it was still only working out around £1400 to go 29th august which i thought was good. so thanks for the tip, i have checked airtours and first choice and they are working out quite a bit more so thomas cook seems to be winning on the package holiday prices!!
we went to disneyland paris this year and that cost us about £700 for 4 nights so i think it is well worth paying the extra to go to florida for 2 weeks, plus florida is not just about disney, there's all the other parks, shopping, food, sunshine....

lucylouwoo

My little one really surprised me with flying, she was good as gold!!!!
The people 2 rows in front couldn't believe there was a baby with us!! But in all fairness she wasn't walking at the time so that made it easier.
We're going back in 2009 when she will be 3 1/2 and i bet she won't be as easy then, lol!!!!!