How do I plan a holiday abroad?

dandy-candy

I've only ever travelled abroad on package holidays where you book the flight and hotel together (and sometimes car hire). I really want to travel around to different places but I'm not sure how to do plan it. Is it difficult to travel this way? And do I book a flight first and then the hotel?

cubegame

We do loads of touring style holidays. We're off to Romania and Bulgaria in a couple of weeks.

Planning consists of booking a flight, a car and a hotel for the first night. We then generally read guide books and online resources to pick out the must see sights. Once we stick them all on a Google My Maps maps we loosely plan a route and then book hotels on the day as we need them.

andrewf75

No its not difficult at all. There are no rules on which way round to book. Just check availability and prices first. i.e don't book a great deal on accommodation somewhere and then find out that flights are really expensive. Its just common sense and with the internet there is all the information at your fingertips.

Voyager2002

dandy-candy wrote: »

I've only ever travelled abroad on package holidays where you book the flight and hotel together (and sometimes car hire). I really want to travel around to different places but I'm not sure how to do plan it. Is it difficult to travel this way? And do I book a flight first and then the hotel?

Get a one-way flight and a rail pass; carry a tent and/or a list of hostel. If you are nervous, bring a smart-phone and book in advance when you are still on the train to a particular destination, otherwise just turn up when you arrive: they almost never turn away a paying customer.

onomatopoeia99

My next holiday is in northern Italy in two separate places. The internet makes it so much easier. My approach is this:

Decide where and when.
Find airport(s), check that travel to / from airport is feasible
Find suitable accomodation and check availability.
Check flight availability / cost
Book both, accomodation first, then flights. I figure that the worst that can happen doing it that order is I have to take a slightly less convenient or more expensive flight if the one I wanted fills up.

... and that's it, holiday booked.

It took me a few lunch hours of research to arrange a fortnight in August / September. The train between the two locations I'll buy at the station on the day.

ianh1956

I find booking.com for the hotels to be the best, and kayak is good for flights, or the usual budget airline sites

Alisha2008

I use skyscanner to check flight prices, but always buy directly with the company. When buying a flight it's important to check the location of the airport (some are miles away from the city centres) and the public transport if you are using it (you might arrive very late and there's no public transport).


I use Booking.com to check what's available accomodation-wise, but then I try to book directly and ALWAYS a place with good reviews. There's been a recent scam with an apartment in NY that was offered in Booking, lots of people booked (and paid) and the apartment didn't even exist... some lost their money and they had to find other accomodation at much higher prices. So do not trust Booking just because it's a well known website.. do your own research.


I also love airbnb because of the personal contact with the owners, but again I would only book places with good reviews.


I would never consider buying a package holiday, planning yourself is fun and easy!

PompeyPete

Am in Romania now.

Decided how long we wanted to visit for, then booked return flights from LHR to Bucharest with Tarom Air.

Then bought a copy of Rough Guide to Romania from Wordery, and worked out a doable itinerary into Transylvania by rail.

Booked all accommodation on Booking.com.

Having a great time, beautiful clean country, friendly people, excellent vfm.

Wish we'd come here years ago.

Toni'sfriend

Seat 61 is a great website for advice on various ways to travel from place to place. We've been travelling around Europe for holidays for the past few years and I've found the best way is to work out where you want to go, work out your own itinerary and check the website for the best way to get there. (European trains are great and very cheap if you book them at the right time). Book hotels in advance (I use booking,com) but book the deal that you can pay at the hotel and cancel up until a couple of days before. That way, if you change your plans or something better appears, you don't lose any money. Check Trip Adviser and get independent reviews of hotels.
It's really not difficult at all. Just takes a bit of research but that's half the fun,

stormbreaker

If unsure, book a week or long weekend to one place. Then you only need to look at return flights, airport transfers and accommodation in one place.

As said check skyscanner for flight prices, always consider baggage allowance, if big bags are needed often cheapest to purchase at time of flight. If taking on hand luggage, check dimensions. Make sure you check in online if need be and print boarding passes.

Booking.com or Airbnb for accommodation. If going to a hotel, check their website as well as the third parties, booking direct can often be cheaper.

Remember travel insurance.

Once you've done it once your confidence will grow. Good luck.

Doshwaster

If booking flights and hotel separately I would always concentrate on locking down the flight first as there is usually a much bigger choice of places to stay than flight options. There's not much point in booking a hotel if you can't find a flight to get there.

Doing a couple of European city breaks is a good way of getting used to the DIY way of travelling but soon you will be arranging multi-stop trips around SE Asia. You will then realise that doing the research and planning is great fun and much better than getting a travel agent or tour operator to do it all for you.