How to DIY overseas trip?
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GuzHo:
If you are traveling as an adults only group then DIY trips would be fine. But if you are traveling with small children, elderly persons or people with health conditions then it would be better to travel with a pre-planned/pre-confirmed travel arrangement. This would help you to save time, money & efforts.
I actually disagree on this. Pretty much sworn off package tours since I took my first one many moons ago.
But then, I'm just a sucker for planning DIY holidays, its a plenty enjoyable activity in its own right. -
Jennifer:
Not sure about Wotif, but booking.com has been great. No prepayment, generous cancellation windows, useful user reviews and lotsa pics. Its my preferred hotel booking portal right now, especially for the B&Bs and smaller properties that you may find in European locales. If you are looking for largish rooms for 4+ folk with kitchenette etc., for me this does much better than expedia or hotels.comPen88n:
Another item you might want to look at is which website to use for hotel booking. ..Other possibilities is booking directly thru' the hotel's own website - can be cheaper too.
Hubby told me to use wotif.com and not direct hotel booking, says it is cheaper at Wotif. I dun understand how it can be cheaper. Any catch?
We need 2 rooms. If via Wotif, can specify need interconnecting rooms? Many thanks in advance.
My advice, don't get hung up on the large chains, these days when I travel for leisure with family, I almost never use Hilton/Hyatt/Intercontinental type hotels anymore, even though I've run up lotsa points on those programs. The boutique hotel/B&B experience is far superior, in my view, and often better value as you can more easily get a large room for family. -
3Boys:
Once you have done DIY holiday, you would really rethink about group tour, or even if you go on group tour, you would want to add a few more days for DIY too. At least this is the case for me.GuzHo:
If you are traveling as an adults only group then DIY trips would be fine. But if you are traveling with small children, elderly persons or people with health conditions then it would be better to travel with a pre-planned/pre-confirmed travel arrangement. This would help you to save time, money & efforts.
I actually disagree on this. Pretty much sworn off package tours since I took my first one many moons ago.
But then, I'm just a sucker for planning DIY holidays, its a plenty enjoyable activity in its own right.
DIY allows for much more flexibility in time, places to visit, activities and how you plan itinerary. Group tour is \"rushing' from one place to the next, and bulk of time spent on travelling.
Usually, for DIY, you tend to spend more time in one location and allow you to explore more of the location. Even with my young kids, we took bus, subway, cabs, train, ferry, cable cars, etc. to visit places and they enjoyed it much more. We visited places where group tours will not cover, and places we chanced upon on the way. We eat whatever popular food we can find or sometimes had to make do with simple meals when the place does not offer good food.
If you are the sort who wants to see \"everything\" in \"as many locations as possible\" within a \"fixed\" period, maybe DIY with young kids is not suitable for you. For us, holiday must be relaxing and more \"follow the heart\" on that day, so DIY suits us. -
I hardly travel in a package or guided tour. I strongly prefer DIY my tour.
2 things confirmed for DIY tour:
(1) You will have to spend a lot of time & effort reading up places you want to visit and map out all the bits and pieces ie hotel accommodation, transport etc.
(2) It is YOUR tour and not a one size fits all tour. It caters your needs and preferences. It is all YOURs.
:lol: -
verykiasu2010:
Booking.com is excellent. You don't need to make payment upfront. Best of all you can make cancellation up to the last week without peanlty if you change mind.can also try booking.com
just made some booking there a while ago .... -
Jennifer:
Another awesome website is wego.com. It will compare a few travel sites and pull out the best rates for you.
Hubby told me to use wotif.com and not direct hotel booking, says it is cheaper at Wotif. I dun understand how it can be cheaper. Any catch?
We need 2 rooms. If via Wotif, can specify need interconnecting rooms? Many thanks in advance. -
for those hotel chains that provide lowest internet fare guarantee, I book direct on the hotel’s website.
whether is airline or hotel, direct booking gives you more control and direct dealing with the hotel for changes if needed, less hassles -
Secure the air tickets first.
Then have an idea where to go in that country and start sourcing for the hotels nearest to the train station.
I will go for hotels w/o accepting my cc details or come with penalty for changing or cancelling my booking.