Planning 40th birthday trip in 2014 - help me!

[Honeymoonmummy]

Hi all,

I turn 40 next yr and want to have a memorable holiday to celebrate. The current favorites are Italy or USA (prob California). We don't go abroad often, this is first time in 5 yrs and first with kids (will be 3 and 5).

My birthday is the first week of July, so flights don't seem to be available yet. We are considering whether to go away in July (after schools break up) or Easter 2014 (can see flight prices). We would go to us for 3 weeks so if Easter may need to take dd out of school for a week (no idea if this is possible yet, she starts sept but I plan to contact school)

How do I find out what flight prices will be in July 14, are they likely to be same price now for July 13 or higher for 13 as more "last minute"?

How do I work out how much cheaper Easter would be than July for both flights and hotels?

And finally does anyone have inspiration re where to go??? Can't be too expensive, am currently thinking c£5-6k max

TIA

*us for 3 weeks should read US for 3 weeks

I think flights are released 9 months in advance?

I'm 40 next year - August - and I'm taking the tribe to florida for three weeks. I plan to spend most of my 40th birthday being upside down on rollercoasters! July flights will be available to book in August so you can embrace the horror . Enjoy whatever you decide to do!

Scheduled flights can be released 10 months or so before, we booked for the first 2 weeks in September this year for California at the beginning of November last year. Flights are expensive, we booked through Trailfinders mainly because we could just pay a deposit on the holiday rather than having to pay the cost of all flights upfront although I know lots of people organise accommodation themselves to.

For us it is a holiday of a lifetime to and to give you an idea of what we are doing and what it cost, this is for me, DH and 2 DS who are 11 and 5, we are flying with United from Glasgow. Total cost was £6000. I think, although I cant remember the flights were about £700 each for me and DH and £600 ish for the boys each. New York hotel was more expensive then the rest and added about £500 on to the total cost....but it is right beside Central Park and has a pool on the roof so its worth it!

2 nights New York (plane changes here anyway and DH fancied seeing more of NY than just the airport!)

4 nights San Francisco, including a city pass for public transport and Alcatraz visit, plus 1 day car hire (this was because DH wants to drive up to Bodega Bay where The Birds was filmed, should be a nice drive over the Golden Gate Bridge)

After SF we pick up the main hire car for our road trip.

1 night Monterey
1 night Santa Barbara
4 nights LA
4 nights Laguna Beach, then we fly back from LAX.

DH and DS whos 11 are HUGE film fans so a lot is planned around this e.g. the usual touristy stuff like Hollywood but also plans to visit sites where some of their favourite films were filmed e.g we are going to look at all the houses from Back to the Future

I wanted a bit of relaxation at the end so our hotel is right on the beach

If you fancy California there is so much to choose from!

Sounds amazing! Would it be much more expensive for flights in July, do you know? Comparing July 13 with apr 14, there does seem to be a fair difference

July is going to be a lot more than April. a lot of the private schools, those in Scotland and Ireland break up at the beginning of July so it is school hols prices. you can vary the airport you fly into and shop around this way. Tampa is always cheaper. do take into account the temp in July. Florida will be scorchio - check out accuweather website for good data on what it will be.

I agree with mummymeister, July will be more expensive, one of the reasons we chose September!

The 'shoulder' season for summer flights changes circa June 26 perfectly in line with what mummymeister says.

I have been tracking US flight buying for the last three years and purchased family flights to California twice. For summer the best time to purchase in my opinion is in October/ November of the year before. There is another window again in early January of the year you are travelling. Virgin and BA have 'sales' so maybe sign up for those alerts. If you have an iPad or iPhone there are brilliant apps from both Kayak and Skyscanner which let you find the cheapest flights from say Heathrow to LAX. These sites can send you price alerts.

If you can cope with the lower temperatures in April then it would really be much cheaper maybe saving you as much as £100-£150 on the flight price per person and maybe £50 a night on hotel rooms. Consider renting holiday villas as well. In the US you don't always have to take a villa for seven days.

When you buy your flights you need to pay them in full almost immediately. Hotel rooms aren't charged until you arrive mostly.

You will easily be able to do it all for £5-6k as your kids won't have discovered shopping and you'll be able to get all their breakfasts for free and cheaper children's meals.

I think a family holiday is the best way to celebrate a big birthday!