Poorly chicken

[Grandmashazzie]

It is a long time since I used travel agent. If you are you can always get details and price it yourself. If you have decided on destination,check all budget airlines that go there. Midweek to midweek may give you better prices. Then try trip advisor, last minute.com and hotels website for deals.

[Daphne]

Try sky scanner to check cheap flights, trivago and booking.com are other hotel booking sites.

[Cat tails]

Personally I think travel agents are something from the pre-internet age. Today you can just as easily do everything yourself. Although I use Trivago to find hotels, I find that booking directly at the hotel is often cheaper and safer option. (Booked a hotel at Booking.com and forgot that I already left my credit card details. At checking in the guy couldn't find my details very fast so turned out he just made a new booking and made me pay. AGAIN. Took several phone calls when we got home, to get the money returned. They claimed that we actually used two rooms and not one... )

[soapdragon]

We have looked at Expedia and I do worry about insurance - would we have to take out seperate insurance? Easter is a long time away and lots could happen between now and then! Also the range of hotels is mind boggling and tying in direct flights seems tricky as we have a choice of Easyjet from Gatwick or BA from Heathrow. Have been advised that Easyjet will charge lots of extras (but not WHAT extras - website doesn't specify!) so BA, though more expensive, may be a better deal....IOW here we come!

[Daphne]

We take out a multi-trip annual policy for travel insurance, but you can do a single one. Personally I would plug in a few dates in sky scanner and see what comes up for flights. The extras on easyjet for example are bags checked into the hold, oversize equipment for sports, do you want to book seats together etc. If you enter a dummy booking and go through the steps you will see exactly what they are and wHat they add up to. Its up to you to decide on which airport is most convenient, but I take into account how I will get to it, where I will park and how much it will cost, and most importantly the times of the flights. I won't get up before 5am no matter how cheap the flight as I want a decent nights sleep before I go, so think about any issues like that for you and your family. Once I have the flights sorted in my mind, if not in actuality, then I go onto trip advisor and rank the hotels by their score, so I get the best ones first. I decide on my budget and discount all those which are too expensive. Then I read all the reviews. I often discount American reviews as they often just don't understand our European standards and foibles, we don't expect aircon as standard and we are used to small rooms and can navigate small roads. I digress! Then I look on the hotels own site to see if there is a deal and I use trivago to do a price comparison as they use a range of slightly less well known consolidation sites, I have to say maybe I have been lucky but I have never had any booking issues with any booking site. I sometimes look at last minute.com if I can be bothered as although it's often no different from everyone else in terms of price, occasionally I have found a real bargain. I also have to say all this prep takes far more time than it should, but I feel we don't pay over the odds and 95% of the time I am very happy with the results.

[Lewis]

I always fly budget (Wizz Air) around Europe.

 

They only give a small hand luggage allowance so extras include large hand luggage, hold luggage, extra legroom/different choice of seats and priority boarding.

[soapdragon]

Now we are thinking Feb half term as it may be cheaper and quieter (hoping everyone is heading for the slopes ) so the jury is still out on where! Prague sounds lovely by BIL put us off with dire tales of stag and hen dos Rome also a strong contender....Venice out due to carnival.

 

The passports came back in record time; posted at 4.00pm on a Thursday and back the following Tuesday - all in seperate envelopes and the birth certificates followed 2 days later, again in 2 sep envelopes! Someone needs a lesson in economy!

[soapdragon]

Meltdown...too much choice and a nightmare tying in flights and hotels! I gave in going solo and contacted our local Travel Counsellor this morning and had a long chat, explained what we wanted and she has come up with three packages; Vienna, Prague and Budapest. We discounted Vienna (didn't appeal !) and Budapest (3 nights not 2 so more expensive but didn't arrive till 7.00pm 1st day!)

 

Prague for 2 nights is now top pick but I have asked her to look at Carcassone, Seville and Krakow........we will decide by the end of the week. The boys are very excited but I am in shock as to the costs but then I guess I am out of touch! Hopefully somewhere like Prague won't be expensive on the eats front

[Couperwife]

If Prague puts you off cos of Stag and Hen nights, have you considered Brno? their 2nd (3rd?) city?

 

We have been, its very good for historic stuff, with new shopping centres pretty close too. We travelled from Stansted to Brno, then got the bus from the airport to the hotel - took 20 minutes!

 

It was cheap too. All the bars are underground, but in the summer they all have tables and chairs outside

 

We loved it.

 

Cathy

x

[soapdragon]

Yes, we had worried about stags and hens but the Travel Counsellor said that she had been to Prague and it wasn't likely to be a prob mid week. Apparently they are all based around Wensceslas Square - where the bars and clubs are - anyway and we are a way away from there in the old town!

 

So its now booked 14th to 16th Feb leaving early on 14th and getting back very late on 16th so maximising our time there. Small, 9 room hotel with the narrowest frontage in Prague which has good reviews! ES now has a project to look up places to visit to which he is applying himself with gusto!

 

I have to say I am extremely impressed with our Travel Counsellor; she talked us through everything and has even booked specific seats for us so that the boys have a great view on their first flight (cost extra as it was Easyjet bit not something I'd have known about!)

 

So now the Asperger's kicks in and I am in a panic about all the things that could go wrong before and during