Holidays abroad

In Lonesome Dove

I only ever holidayed abroad once so I don't know much about holidays and travelling and things.

I have family abroad in Australia who emigrated. One of my siblings is due a baby and is going to make me an Aunty and baby is due very soon.

Family here in Ireland have been invited to Australia for meeting the new baby and christening for after xmas.

There is a lot to plan and to consider for a trip to Australia and with money being tight here that will be an issue. I'm just beginning saving but that is just me. There's a few of us hoping to travel.

How would I go about doing things? I wonder would a travel agent give a discount or something if there was a few of us travelling?

MadYaker

No, travel agents are out dated really. Look at flight prices online to get a better idea. Generally the earlier you book the cheaper it is.

Also you're probably better off posting in the travel forum instead of here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=37

In Lonesome Dove

Thanks for that. Will have a read of that forum and may post.

Went playing around on the aer lingus site just there with some estimate dates for late spring 2015 and holy shìt the prices are steep.

Ruu

Hiya, have moved your thread to the Travel forum.

Atlantic Dawn

Try the likes of www.skyscanner.ie to give you a ballpark idea on prices, normally this is the best starting place to get ideas of the best route for your journey and cheapest time/days to travel.

Look on Ebookers for flights and accommodation packages.

ger664

Travel Agents in my view are not outdated. Some have evolved their business in the last 10 years and will put together flights and accommodation from the same sources for a nominal fee. Skyscanner is grand for direct flights but tends to leave fairly long transfer times between flights which you will have. By all means have a quick look at theses sights to get a cost figure, then pop into a travel agent and see what they have to offer as well.

wow sierra

I travel a lot and do my own booking online but if I were the OP I would definitely use a Travel Agent. Australia is a complicated trip involving transfers etc and its a good idea to have someone to talk you through it.

It would be nice to have a friendly face to chat about the details with and talk to them about the whole Airport experience, transit issues, security etc. A lot is automated and its a bit daunting even if you are used to it. The last time I flew we even had to Tag our own cases and put them up on the conveyor belt without assistance.
And as someone said Travel Agents often get good deals for you anyway. The main thing is if you are definite about your dates book the flights soon as the cost will go up. The problem is if you book it yourself online you will have to pay for the flights straight away. and maybe you cant afford to do that, - I am not sure if its the same with Travel Agents.

munchkin_utd

also another positive for travel agents.
They can manipulate the flights far better than any online search engine.
i.e. if you want a stopover they can build in a day somewhere on the way for little or no cost, or maybe even saving you cash.
Or on price, they know what deals are available so using a little cunning and extra features on their system they can keep you on a specific price class meaning you might access or trigger a deal that otherwise wouldnt appear on a plain online search engine.
And another thing is that for longer distance connections they can reserve it for number of days before you have to pay, to allow you time to see if that connection actually suits you.

I have to agree that for booking a 20 minute flight to england or the likes a travel agent has no advantages, but for a long distance multi stop flight they can do a job for you.