Booking flights and hotel seprately

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Please forgive my ignorance.

We have rarely been abroad and when we have have always booked a package

This year we're going to be brave and book an activity holiday which is the holiday only. We will need to book our own flights and want to spend a few days in the airport city too.

So, how do I go about it? I have visions of booking the holiday and the hotel but not being able to get flights, or the price of the flights increasing markedly after I've booked the holiday, or booking the flights and then not being able to get a hotel or the activity being being fully booked.

What order am I supposed to do it in?

depends where you want to go and which is easiest. also depends on how fussy you are about accommodation. i would investigate both before booking anything - there's little point booking a flight and then finding the accommodation is too expensive or all starts on a different day to the flight.

accommodation owners will often hold it for 24 hours whilst you book the flight. I book them all over a day or so though, never longer

Agree with dreaming - check that both are available then I'd generally book flight before accommodation as flight prices can sometimes go up randomly.

If you have a specific hotel in mind then I'd book that as soon after the flights as you could. If you book directly through the hotel's website you'll often find they have a more generous cancellation policy than through an agent or third party website, and often you won't have to pay until you get there.