Advice on family holiday to Australia. 1st travel agent let us down, 2nd agent trip was unsuitable.

FrankFalcon

Hi all

Pretty desperate for some help here to book a family holiday to Australia because the travel agent we have used for years has let us down.  We gave them 5 weeks to plan our holiday and they constantly made excuses...really not sure why, but we are left in a pickle now because 2 of our family are getting serious pressure from their employers to get their holiday dates in for Christmas.  So, now we dropped the first agent we rang trail finders to see if they could help.  To be fair to trailfinders we had an itinerary within a couple of hours.  I was so happy that I shown the itinerary to a few mates and a bloke at work who's son lives in Melbourne and I was ready to book.  However, all of them said the same thing..."Too much time in Melbourne, not enough elsewhere'.  So, I am in a situation where I've got to book something within the next few days.  If anybody can PM me I am happy to show you the trail finders itinerary and I am even happy to place my business with you, providing it can be done safely (financial wise).  Maybe there's somebody on here that plans holidays for a hobby that can assist us? Maybe there's somebody on here that has made multiple trips to Australia and knows a lot?  I know I could easily jump over to tripadvisor, but sometimes the answers can take days and we just don't have loads of time left before the kids holidays at work get denied.  Briefly...We want to fly from Manchester around 16th December and be away for around 16 days (can be flexible).  We deffo want sunshine.  Taking into account our 'kids' are all in their mid 20's we would love to take in some bars, discos, nightclubs, beach barbecues etc.  I am very computer literate so would have no problem booking it all myself online if anybody would be kind enough to assist us.
We are: 45 - 50 year old couple.  4 kids are all 23 - 28 years old.
We are all fit and active.  We are a family that prefer to be active and out and about and whilst we do want to see lots of beaches etc we are not the type of family to sit still around a pool all day.
We are sure we want to be around Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane etc.
We are not bothered about New Year Fire works in Sydney.
Here's hoping.  Thanks in advance.

silvercar

I’d look at flights and choose your travel dates, then use an agent to plan your itinerary within that. You’ve got no language barriers and no real issues in doing all this yourself. At least booking your flights means you get them now at a price you are prepared to pay and everyone can book their annual leave.

flaneurs_lobster

The itinerary from Trailfinders is a draft. If you want to change it you go back to them and discuss it. 

Is it just the Aus bit of the holiday you are trying to plan or are you still to book flights?

Just a thought, are you at the backpacker end of travelling or flying Business? Might make a difference to how much time an agent might want to spend "tuning" your holiday outside of flights'n'hotels.

My last trip via Trailfinders (a month in SE Asia) took 3 weeks to nail down and at least 4 iterations of itinerary.

I'm getting the idea that you want to go to Australia but are not really sure why?  Do you not have specific places or events that are already on your wish-list?

JGB1955

Personally, I would book return flights asap and then use the next few months to 'fill in the gaps'.  Get each of you to prepare a list of preferred activities/destinations and then work out an itinerary yourselves.

TELLIT01

Exactly as JGB1955 says.  Booking the return flights is the priority if you want to travel around Christmas / New Year.  Get the decision made on those and worry about accommodation over the next couple of weeks.  Don't hang around too long on that element either.

eskbanker

TELLIT01 said:

Exactly as JGB1955 says.  Booking the return flights is the priority if you want to travel around Christmas / New Year.  Get the decision made on those and worry about accommodation over the next couple of weeks.  Don't hang around too long on that element either.

Agreed - not sure what effect it has on availability and prices at a time that's traditionally busy anyway but the Ashes cricket is on too this winter, which will entail quite a few making the journey from the UK, many of whom will already have booked....

Voyager2002

FrankFalcon said:

Briefly...We want to fly from Manchester around 16th December and be away for around 16 days (can be flexible).  We deffo want sunshine.  Taking into account our 'kids' are all in their mid 20's we would love to take in some bars, discos, nightclubs, beach barbecues etc.  I am very computer literate so would have no problem booking it all myself online if anybody would be kind enough to assist us.
We are: 45 - 50 year old couple.  4 kids are all 23 - 28 years old.
We are all fit and active.  We are a family that prefer to be active and out and about and whilst we do want to see lots of beaches etc we are not the type of family to sit still around a pool all day.
We are sure we want to be around Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane etc.
We are not bothered about New Year Fire works in Sydney.
Here's hoping.  Thanks in advance.

You can find Christmas sunshine and all the activities that you mention in the Canary Islands. So why fly right to the opposite side of the world at vast expense? 

Getting to Australia would involve 24 hours stuck in a 'plane, and then you would need probably two days to recover: really not worth going through that for just a couple of weeks away. Whereas you could get to the Canaries in a few hours.

sheramber

You need to narrow down what you want to do on your holiday.

What is your reason for wanting to go to Australia rather than any where else? 

You say “We are sure we want to be around Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane etc”.

Why? What is it about that area that attracts you? 

The answer to that should help you define what you want to on these places and how many days  each will take up. 

If you have no particular reason  for going there how can you plan a holiday there?

So far, all you have said you want is  a Christmas time trip with sunshine, bars, clubs, pubs, and ‘seeing ‘ some beaches. 

Why travel thousands of mile to Australia for these? 

Hoenir

FrankFalcon said:

We are sure we want to be around Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane etc.

With only 16 days in Australia. Do you really want to spend your time endlessly in transit and flying?  It's like saying to your Travel Agent design me an itinary that includes John O'Groats , London and Land's End...........

eskbanker

FrankFalcon said:

We are sure we want to be around Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane etc.

How much heavy lifting is that 'etc' doing there?  If you want to spend 16 days across three locations in Australia then IMHO it's perfectly doable, especially when they're only about an hour apart from each other (if Sydney is the middle one), but if you'd be considering more places then it might be more challenging and less relaxing.

In terms of overall duration, obviously it's a long way to go and anyone with enough time and money to go for longer can get more out of a trip, but that doesn't invalidate your proposal!

twopenny

16 days for 3 cities when you've got a 24hr flight each end is going to be tiring.
Moving between them is going to take the best part of a day each time so take out 2 days so you're down to 14 less the day you travel back and possibly jetlag days.

Any reason for Melbourne? It's on the other side.
Sydney and Brisbane with day trips you can organise yourself would give you lots to do and explore. You just go to the nearest tourist information centre to find trips which they will book for you. Same as UK but better 😉
You can book online or pick up airport transfers. 

Accommodation, either hotel - or holiday apartment through real estate agents.

It's such an easy country to explore as it's set up for tourists, the weather is great and predictable and the people friendly.