Do you independently book your holiday?? Please show me how (-:

[mosschops30]

We have always done packages with Thomson or similar.
Loads of people we met on hols this year had booked everything separately and got a better deal, with often a better package (one family had paid the same AI as we had SC).

Can you please tell me who you use, who is reliable, what sort of risk am I taking, and is it better to book sooner or later, or bk flights now and hotels later?

Any advice or recommendations would be great thanks

(we are looking to go to Majorca probably Puerto Pollensa or Cala Dor)

I used to hate sitting for ages in a travel agent and end up paying a lot of money for what usually turned out to be a very average hotel.

A few years ago we were brave and booked our own trip to Lake Garda and it all turned out so well that we've carried on booking it ourselves ever since.

We've found hotels on Expedia, Travelocity. Booked flights with Easyjet, Ryanair and Delta Airlines. Booked cars through Europa.

We might just have been lucky but haven't had any disasters yet. One drawback is that in the event of another ash cloud you would have to pay upfront and then try to reclaim the costs. Apparently Thomson were v good during the ash cloud according to some friends of mine. So it really depends on how brave you are!!

Oh and a good tip is always book the flights first, you will always end up with some accomodation if you look hard enough. But if you book the apartment/hotel first and then find that the flights are fully booked then you are snookered! Good Luck x

I think bargains in the school holidays are very, very rare. Maybe booking really early and getting the free kids etc on a package would be cheaper than doing it independently... I just find we tend to get what we are after if I research it properly and book direct.
Haven't had any disasters yet - we did get caught in the ash cloud at Easter - stuck in Kuala Lumpur with the 2 children, but Air Asia were great and we were back 48 hours later than planned. I had friends stuck much closer to home who were delayed far longer. A lot of it comes down to luck I think!

We sometimes go independently and sometimes use a tour operator. I have a friend in the travel industry and she has always booked the tour operator holidays at much cheaper prices than in the brochures.

I have to book flights for OH when he travels for business (he is self employed) and sometimes find it a right old hassle so I don't mind paying a little over the odds for a travel agent to book my holiday for me.

Booking with Travel Counsellors gets you covered for the majority of stuff. They aren't ABTA but they do their own bond. The TC's can book everything you can, and then cover you.
I used to work for 'em! :)