OMG no!!!

Yep, very first holiday abroad. Went to the travel agent having read brochures on Yugoslavia only to the told what we wanted was fully booked (6 months ahead ). Came out having booked to go to Romania!

luci

helen,
best you start reading the complaints thread and get all the information you need in advance ie remind them to complain in resort and get forms signed, pay part of the booking with credit card to get section 75 protection etc etc

seriously, i'm sure they will be fine. i was always told that malta is a place you love or hate, and when we went a few years ago we fell into the hate category. one of my friends at work goes there 4 times a year and loves it, so we are all different.

Have never been to Malta , but have been to Tunisia the once and loved every minute of it . Do you know when your family intend travelling , did they want a beach holiday ? as i dont think Malta has beaches as such but i could be wrong . Would your family be so easily persuaded to go somewhere that they didn't really want to go ? Might not be the Travel agents fault

Not quite Helen, but some years ago when I discovered that at short notice I would be able to take a week's leave in the middle of a busy term, I went into my local independent TA, gave them the very specific dates I could go away for and asked them what was available in the form of a cheap late deal. What came up was a week's HB in a 4* in Tunisia at a very good price with no single supplements - so I said done and paid the money!

But I did do it thinking that it would have to be really awful not to be good value for money at the price I was paying and that if all I did was spend the week sitting around the hotel reading then at least it was warmer than at home, I wasn't doing the cooking and I certainly wasn't wearing myself to a frazzle at work. As it turned out, it was a great holiday - I booked a couple of trips, discovered that my schoolgirl French re-surfaced enough to be able to get around on my own, that the haggling in the souks was part of the fun and that Tunisia had an amazing history and Roman remains that I previously never knew existed. It was so good that I've re-visited a number of times since.

So I think that the trick to making a success of booking on the spur of the moment to go somewhere that you haven't researched in advance is to be clear about what your bottom line is re minimum and realistic expectations and regard everything else as a bonus, go with an open mind and treat it as an opportunity to experience somewhere new that you wouldn't have otherwise have thought about.

SM

Happened once; Last minute holiday -we wanted to go to Crete but it was looking too costly - we were persuaded to book Halkidiki by a girl in the TA- disastrous decision !!! -During the Greek heatwave of 1998, no air conditioning or fans,mosquitos in abundance,the room looked out on the next door building site about 15 feet away,very thin walls and a couple next door who were related to rabbits - as a result of all that we hardly slept for the first week - and then we had an attempted break in during the second week!!! We were glad to get home and back to work for a rest!

I remember going to the travel agents to book our honeymoon. I can't for the life of me remember where we wanted to go now, but I'd set my heart on it. Think it was somewhere like seychelles however it was monsoon season (it was before I joined here so hadn't done my research) I was so disappointed that I acted like a right child having a tantrum in the shop By the time we left though I was a very happy lady having booked 3 weeks in New Zealand and a week in Hawaii.

Approx 20 years ago before I started booking my holidays on the Internet I went to TA to book a trip to India, I was taking my 16year old neice with me who could only go over the Christmas holidays. Unfortunately all of the hotels/tours were booked up which if I had been travelling alone as I often do wouldn't have bothered me as I would have just booked a later or earlier date but my neice was so disappointed we decided to book a trip to Thailand, I remember we spent almost 5 hours in the TA's in all after trying numerous India itinerarys and then trying to put together a package of tours and hotels in Thailand. The holiday was lovely and in retrospect Thailand was a much better choice for a 16year old, I love India having travelled there quite a few times over the years but I think the culture shock would have been too intense for a young girl.
These days when I go away, especially long haul, I usually have months of research behind me before I get to the booking stage and can't believe that although I was somewhat familiar with Thailand having read a few travel books on the country I booked a holiday there without hours of research into the hotels etc.

Not quite. I love Malta though!!

A few years ago, we were all set to go to The Maldives for 2 weeks of serious scuba diving...and luxurious living in one of them bungalows on stilts in the water...( we only saved for almost a year for it ) when with 11 days to go, the holiday company cancelled on us with some lame excuse about reef conservation ( I am a diver, I know what it is ) and offered us Fuerteventura as an alternative .. I cant tell you what I said to her....

We ended up going to Thailand instead. I just walked into Thomas Cook the following day, told them what had happened..told them I had these days and this much cash and to sort me summats good...which they duly did. It was an amazing holiday...but even then I had previously researched and it was on my hit list.

I dont think I would ever go in with one intention and then book summats else...although it might be quite fun...

Nope cant say I've ever done that and a couple of years ago I would of said No way would I do that but agree Val it would be fun to do something a little more spontaneous now . Im growing bored of too much research on a destination .. spend so long researching Im often finding myself bored by the time I get there and forget to enjoy myself. I dont bother so much now although I still have a short list that I've built up over the years . would never take a chance on a hotel though .. No way would I contemplate not checking reviews first .

Yes, we have done it twice. First time hubby asked me to call in the TA and price up a week at either Centre Parks or Butlins,I ended up booking a week in Bulgaria. Second time we went in to book a holiday in Gran Canaria,we had chosen the hotel and flights, somehow we came out having booked for Florida

lynwestie wrote:

would never take a chance on a hotel though .. No way would I contemplate not checking reviews first .

Problem was years ago pre.internet ( yes, I know you were only a baby then Lyn ) you didn't have many ways other than word of mouth or looking at guide books containing only a few reviews to check out accomodation so you really had to rely on the person working in the travel agency to give you advice.

Bit scary really.

Nope never done that; however we did once stop at a shop to buy some chicken wire and ended up buying a brand new car - but that's a different story

Yes! We were all set on Fuerteventura, had chosen the hotel and everything. The woman in Going Places said that they werent sending their clients as there was a lot of building work happening and convinced us to go to Gran Canaria to a hotel with the same name as the one in Fuerteventura. It was before I discovered HT. We agreed - reluctantly - and went. It was the worst holiday we have ever had. Its the only time I have ever complained, either in resort or when we got back home. We did get compensation which paid for our Egypt trip the following year, but we never went back to Going Places. Still havent been to Fuerteventura either.
I wouldnt let it happen again. If I couldnt get what I wanted, I would have to step back and do more research or go armed with plenty of alternatives in the first place .

After spending many years going to Devon or Cornwall my husband said I could book a holiday anywhere i wanted.
I think he meant in the UK and he got a great big shock when I booked 2 weeks in Singapore!
This was our very first holiday abroad and turned out to be amazing.

I've never actually been to a travel agent, does that make me strange? I use forums and the fantastic internet for my research xx

does that make me strange?

No, just younger than those of us who started our travelling long before the Internet and forums like this were around and, therefore, had no option but to go to travel agents to book flights, pick up brochures to research information on hotels and resorts, collect our currency if we hadn't ordered it from our bank etc. When I was a student I even used to buy my train tickets to visit home from a travel agent because they sold cheap ticket deals that could only be bought from an agent! Ah, remember the days when the world, and we, were young?

We haven't used a TA since 2000 and when we did it was a local company we used and we always made sure we got the same member of staff because she never tried to sell us anything we didn't want. We generally went in either with a destination in mind and came out having booked it or without a destination in mind and she would come up with some suggestions for our dates.

I remember my mum and her friends got talking to their rep in a hotel in Austria many years ago and he said he had been in Turkey previously. At one of the welcome meetings he noticed a woman in the front row wearing an Athens t-shirt so after the meeting he spoke to her and suggested it wasn't a very good thing to wear in Turkey. "Turkey?" she said. "Am I in Turkey? I thought I was in Spain. We always go to Spain. I did think though that it took a long time to fly here."

You are right, I am younger than some on here I have another 4/5 years until I hit 30.