Help needed, never booked a holiday before

[Imperfect10]

I'm 50!!

Finally completed saving for a "proper" nice holiday as a land mark with my fast growing children (15,17,19, 20) Likely to be the only one we'll ever do together. Been saving for the last 6 years!

Please help me make the most of my savings.

We would like to go to Iceland (I know it's expensive)
Fly/drive and stay.
Is it cheapest to book each thing separately?
How would I do this?
Pitfalls and problem solving?

Thank you all I am both excited and terrified of doing it wrong.

PS budget for everything...needs to be contained within £10,000

Regarding driving- if summer you can definitely drive. If going in winter- I'd advice to go by touring bus rather than driving. Roads can be treacherous (depending where) if you're not use to snow driving. X

will be summer next year (hopefully...unless someone tells me it's not doable on my budget)

Does the budget include spending money?

Where are you? Check which nearby airports fly to Iceland. Price flights.

Hotel or self catering?

Google Iceland tours / trips for guided events.

Lots of googling and saving stuff you're interested in.

Evening gets to have a "day" where they pick what you all do.

Check out restaurants on trip advisor, go to their websites and check out menu prices to help you budget for food.

Passports.

Hi
Thanks for help.
All have passports.
Budget would need to be for flights, transport, accommodation, food.

I'm off to google................still trepidatious.
(always wanted to use that word!! :))

Don't mind Self catering.

UK East

I tend to start with sky scanner and fund the best value flights and work from there of dates are flexible

Book with a credit card. Even if you have the cash Available! Keeps you protected more in case anything goes wrong!

price it as a diy trip but also speak to a travel agent to see if they can compete with your price, it’s often surprising

How many are going? Just you and the kids or more? Is the 15yo still 15 then? Will it he in school holidays? Which is your local airport? Who is driving?

A travel agent may he best to pull it all together if you're a complete novice. It is imperative you buy travel insurance the minute you book anything non refundable. Try to get an ATOL protected package rather than buying random bits here and there.

Me 50
DC at time of hold will be 16,18,20, 21 (going to go and cry now ...that's so grown up!)
July after exams, I don't mind driving myself.
No other hangers on!

Noted re credit cards and insurance.

you are all great, thank you
I know it seems unbelievable but I really have never booked a holiday before except camping and air B&B in the UK

£10k?!!!! You could have two decent holidays for that!

£5k could do you a 4 day package to Iceland (go in late winter, better chance of seeing northern lights, but be aware of shorter days) which would be enough to see some phenomenal nature. Tui packages include two excursions, transfers etc.

Then spend the rest on a week in the sun next summer. Or another city break.

well you say that but we just have a week together in July. That's it then we are working. I know it's a lot of money...and it's peak holiday season.
we have 5 effective adults for 7 days with car, fuel, accommodation and food, plus flights. I'll be delighted if it costs less.

My google has provided an approximate budget: (thank you for the advice)
£nearly 6000 for rental car, basic hotel accommodation and breakfast
£1000 flights
£12-15 for basic meal out per person per meal 6 days £under 750
??fuel......
??supermarket

I'm going to look at air b and b etc and independent car rental and see what else is possible

thanks for the help...still anxious about spending this and getting it wrong.

Book flights as early as possible, prices only go up.

Tui will get you a week leaving mid July for £4k. That's flights, transfers, hotel with breakfast. Add 4 excursions at £100 each and your total is £6k. That leaves loads for food! Not sure you'd really need a hire car tbh.

The trip advisor forums are the place you need to go. There's a specific Iceland one. They'll be kind in the basic questions you want to ask, and have expert responses too from people who either live there or have travelled there many times.

Independent travel is so much cheaper than booking via a travel agent. It takes a bit more work, but you can save £1000s doing so.

Happy travels 😁

We’re usually big fans of booking everything independently but given the past few years we’re currently sticking to packages.

still book things like car hire, excursions etc separately tho

Take out an American Express gold rewards card as you can make £184.00 in cash back and you get a free priority pass which I've used loads at lounges at Airports

£10k should get to an awesome holiday - we've just booked for Thailand in January for 4 of us 18 Nights between Bangkok and Phuket for less than £6k - staying in a luxury hotel.

Personally, I use a mixture of Skyscanner and google flights - and for accommodation, I try and use local sites in the country same with car hire - for Canada, it was 1/4 of the UK price to book direct with a Canadian agent.

We are also fairly flexible with how and where we fly from - so for a recent trip to LA, it was £400 cheaper to fly from Dublin rather than the UK (and the added benefit of US pre-clearance in Dublin.

But I do like to plan and get good value for our holidays - don't do travel agents/tour operators or AI.

Well a quick Google brought up this website so it looks doable

iceland.nordicvisitor.com/travel-deals/self-drive-tours/south-iceland-at-leisure-winter/861/

I've always wanted to go to Iceland - good luck with booking and enjoy. I've done a mix of self booked and travel agent booked hols but always prefer an independent travel agent as they tend to be more available to chat through options and you will speak to the same person not a call centre. X

When we went in the summer a few years ago, we did this tour which was really amazing and, I believe, truly a one of a kind. We also did the golden circle and southern Iceland tours which were great. If you do hire a car, I’d advice that you book any tours that you want to do together and then hire the care for the remainder of time. I think the golden circle is probably more doable by yourselves in summer as is travel to the blue lagoon. Our south coast tour included for travel to and on a glacier and the optional extra for snowmobiles.

I love Iceland and I am sure you will have a wonderful time!

thank you so much

The volcano tour looks amazing

Food is much more than £12 per person. That would literally get you one bowl of soup and bread. A "normal" hearty meal is closer to the £25 mark.
If you can- pack some snacks in your suitcase for when you get peckish between main meals.
It is an amazing country though. Enjoy!! X

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