If you hadn't travelled abroad for years where would you start?

[lipstickwoman]

For numerous reasons we have been unable to holiday abroad for about 15 years. Nothing sinister, just caring responsibilities, lack of funds, other priorities. Consequently we have no confidence to actually get through an airport, how to manage money (travellers cheques we're the norm back then) or even where to make a booking.

Destination choices are no problem.. we have a long list!

So do recommend a travel agent? Try and book things ourselves (flights and hotels etc)

And where can I find an idiots guide?

Any advice would be so helpful

Barcelona - architecture, culture, nice food, sea. Be streetwise though so uou don't get bags stolen.

Depends where you are but Eurostar is probably the easiest way to get to a city. Otherwise, I'd pick a European city with lots of flights from your nearest airport - usually Amsterdam or Spanish cities but maybe Rome or Milan if you want to go to Italy - and book one of those. Find a hotel on Booking dot com. So I'd start with refining where you want to go first and I'm sure people here will talk you through the next steps.

What about Iceland? Chance to see the Northern Lights, common destination from the UK.

Ooh good idea. Safe, lots of people speak English, hard to get all that lost!

Honestly for Europe and N America I wouldn’t worry about using a travel agent. Both continents are pretty easy to get around, generally safe, well connected etc. Just get a guide book/long online at blogs etc. And then use Skyscanner to search for flights and Booking.com for hotels. If you’re doing weekends away/single destinations that’s pretty much the main things you need to book, then research the things you want to do - day trips, where you want to visit and so on and book them in advance/when you get to the destination.

If you don’t already have Monzo or a similar account it might be worth setting up as you don’t get charged for foreign currency transactions and you also can withdraw a certain amount without penalty.

Thirded! Travelling to and around Iceland is a doddle and it's spectacular.

We book a lot of our travel separately as many PP have said above, it's so easy to do all this online these days.

But - if you need a travel agent who will really hold your hand and help you explore all options and personalise the trip to your requirements, keep track of flight changes, etc etc, try Travel Counsellors. I have used them many times* for more complicated travel plans e.g. multiple locations in several countries, with local transfers by various forms of transport, staying in various types of accommodation.

*I do not work for them, honest.

As someone who lives where you can see the Northern Lights regularly, definitely don't base your decision on where to go on that. All those photos people post with spectacular colours - that's what your camera is capable of recording. The human eye rarely sees anything but greens with occasionally faint hints of pink/purple. Nothing at all like the photos. It's not that photos are filtered or modified. It's this: https://www.space.com/23707-only-photos-reveal-aurora-true-color.html

However, there are plenty of other reasons why you should come to Canada. It's a truly spectacular country.

Try and book things ourselves (flights and hotels etc) Yes.

Use booking.com as a guide for hotels but double check prices at the hotel's own website as they may offer better rates than booking through a third party. I usually look for hotels rated 7.7 or higher, but that depends on the city and the reviews.

Expedia will do for booking flights, but some third party sites (Opodo, kiwi.com, and others) are dire. The dodgy ones pay Skyscanner (just a search engine) lots of dosh to be listed at the top of the results, but they're not worth the aggro to save a tenner.

You won't make a booking but a booking request - and that's often for a Basic Economy hand baggage only ticket - and when they can't find a ticket at the advertised price they'll come back and say give us another £200 or more. If you decide to go with easyJet or Ryanair there's no reason to book with a third party site.

Paper air tickets no longer exist, and you won't need anything except a passport at the airport. Take a picture of the confirmation code and the details of the booking, but you're not likely to be asked for more than just your name and destination.

Buying Sim cards at an airport isn't always the best choice; you'd pay £10 for a Sim at Heathrow which would cost £1 in town.

Try Eurostar to Paris or Amsterdam and see what you think. St Pancras to Paris takes under two and a half hours (about four and a half to Amsterdam) with reasonably comfortable seats in Standard, and lots of hotels from which to choose in both cities.

Ok so European city breaks are easy to start with.

you could look at expedia.com and they will list the best flight and hotel options and you can book it all there. Or look there to understand your options then book it with the airline and hotel separately- price could well be similar but I prefer to deal with airlines/hotels directly when stuff goes wrong.

Mainland Europe by train. So many interesting countries. I hate flying / going to airports now plus C02 !

I also only book direct with airlines when booking things separately to avoid problems. Though cheap airlines like Ryanair there is no leeway and they are rigid and will not help if you have a problem but its very cheap. BA we found much more flexible if an issue - when we had a car accident on way to Maldives they let us on with 30 mins to go and got suitcase on to. Though best to be cautious with arrival times at airport. Best to get travel insurance and check t&cs carefully and declare all medical conditions.

We also look on Booking.com or similar but then check hotels own website to see if a better deal though be careful of cancellation terms. This can result in better treatment when there. In last holiday first hotel upgraded us to a room with a pool and gave us free champagne. Next hotel gave us free champagne and free cake. Booking.com I think takes about 30%. Another B&B approached directly the price was 30% less though think they aren't supposed to do that.

For a package somewhere like Sorrento might work well for historical sights and food with trips out to Pompeii, Vesuvius, Capri etc. On a package there will be organised trips you can add on. Booking direct some hotels will also offer trips if approached.

@lipstickwoman
One issue you really must keep in mind is your rights under holiday protection for package holidays. ABTA snd Atol protected. The holidays booked entirely separately as components do not have this. So if you lose one section of the holiday (flight) you are still paying for everything else. That’s why on long haul we use a travel company. We’ve used Audley quite a lot. It’s better financial protection. Discover the World are good too. We have also mixed our choices a bit too. Occasional hotel bookings in South America for example but we do enough of a package to get the protection. We don’t book long haul on line. We speak to someone knowledgable.

For European city holidays we book through BA. Then add a hotel option from their list. I research them fully (I’m fussy!) but this is often cheaper than booking each element separately. We always find out the best way to get to the hotel from the airport but usually public transport.

Have a lot of fun looking!

This is all so helpful, thank you. It's making me a bit more confident too.

I think starting with a city break is a good plan.. and we both love train journeys so maybe that's a starting point.

Eurostar to Paris? DD has been to Amsterdam on the train. That’s easy too. Eurostar have hotels you can book with your train tickets.

I obviously haven’t been everywhere but getting into central Berlin, Milan and Nice was quick and easy from the airports we used. Venice is by water taxi.

What about a European River Cruise?

I've not been on one but my colleague has been on loads. She has seen lots of places and you are guided.

What a helpful thread OP.
We are in a similar position and it feels a bit daunting.
Thank you everyone for your helpful comments.

Italy is very doable by train once you feel confident - we flew into Rome then saw Rome then train to Florence and another one to Pisa to go up Leaning Tower. You can also add in Venice and say fly into Venice (Marco Polo you can get waterbus from, the Ryanair Venice airport is further out and is a coach in so take care when booking which airport it is) and fly back from Rome going by train inbetween and visiting Florence and Pisa enroute. Use the faster trains rather than the regional ones. Things like Leaning Tower of Pisa book in advance online. Though atm lots of places are on strike so its worth considering protected package deals like Eurostar you can book package including hotel to whatever city you fancy, my favourite is Bruges out of the main ones. I would say a Eurostar trip would be an easy first trip if close to London. You can book train tickets online for trains here and abroad. There are also train holidays if you really love trains.

I would fly to Rome. Better to just jump in and go through an airport as once you have done it once there will be no stopping you. Take 4 days in Rome. Book a central hotel on Booking.com. They all say how near the centre they are. We picked one pretty near the railway station as we took train in from the airport. Book your flights. Buy travel insurance. Take euros out as soon as you arrive in the airport in Rome. Not many as will mostly use your card to pay. Lovely time to visit before weather gets too warm. First day take a hop on hop off bus trip around so you can get the feel of the place. I did this on my own and believe me it was very easy. Fabulous city.

One thing I sometimes do if not certain about a place is there are travel videos of everywhere online now and they can give a good insight especially for longhaul / ones where time is limited and you have to choose between things.

I would suggest a first trip with a company like Titan Travel who although expensive really do arrange everything. They will pick you up and take you to the airport. You are escorted throughout but obviously if you want to do your own thing you can.