Well Done!!

We like to hear of a bargain in this forum.

It just shows if you shop around a bit and are prepared to do everything yourself you can save a fortune.

Going DIY to Mallorca in June and its worked out £650 cheaper than booking with a travel agent.

Hope everyone else gets a bargain.

Carmel

Absolutely fantastic!
We are a family of 4 who normally get package deals during schooltime, but due to the clampdown, have to book during summer holidays at massive cost.
By booking in September 05 for August 06, could only find self catering packages with free child at £2000 or more, so we tried DIY.
Jet2 flights booked to Majorca £324
Aug 17-31 Apartment & taxi transfer £510
£1200 minimum saving.............sending money without even saving!!

Providing it dont go horrendously wrong, we will now be DIYers for life!
Heres to everybody saving small fortunes from the rip-off Holiday Co's.

Mark

Markas
Very well said I couldnt agree more

Hi all
Thought I would tell you I've saved over £250 booking direct with solmelia and booking my flights with easyjet. If I'd gone with Thomson it would have cost around £650, and that is with only me travelling by myself. Those single supplements with Thomsons put on at the end are a complete rip off. I am getting a double room to myself. Half board. Same hotel too

Dawn

Dawn,
You don't mention transfers from the airport to your accommodation in your post. Just thought I'd mention it in case it had slipped your mind.

Donr forget your travel insurance too!!!

We usually use 'go' who are cheap and seem to cover everthing we need, but saying that, we havent had to make a claim.

Hi there
I have bought the insurance with my flight. I have yet to sort out my transfer to my hotel in Magaluf. I am still working out that one but if anyone can recommend any good reliable firms. I have looked at one or two, varied between 28 - 45 euros, the latter ridiculous. The airport based one in Palma is a bit pricey. Its not so bad if you are travelling with a number of people you can split the cost. I've heard the Hoppa one is a bit hit and miss regarding reliability.
Even with the transfer costs its still saved quite a bit.
Dawn

Hi all
I would like to bring you up to date to say that I have been on my DIY holiday and it was a complete success.
The hotel was great, food good, the room was fantastic with a lovely sea view. The staff were friendly too. I didn't have to pay till the end of my stay.
The flight was ok, delayed by half hour each way, but that wasn't too bad.
Taxi transfer, I got one at the airport, didn't book in advance. Hotel booked my return one, no charge for doing that, I know some do. Just paid the driver.
I know it was a worry at the start, but I will do this again.
I spoke to one or two people in the hotel who had paid a lot more than me as a package, so I was very pleased with my holiday.

Dawn

hi

ive booked the mare nostrum tenerife,staying in either julio caesar or marco antonio with wintersunshineholidays and flights with british airways from manchester on 17th may for one week cost with a taxi from airport £435 each,with one of the top tour operators £780 each now thats what I call a good deal!

jeanie

Booked from 19th Sept. to 18th October (yes, a whole 4 weeks....yipee!) for our holiday in Limassol, Cyprus

Flights from Glasgow: £345.20 plus 2 bedroom apartment: £420.00. Total cost for two of us for 4 weeks: £765.00 !!!

Is that a fantastic price, or is that a fantastic price ??

Cheers,
Janet

I think I did some checking up last year and on Thomson's prices we were saving over £2000 by going DIY (family of 5)!

Now that's a heck of a lot of spendies - in fact that's our spendies and accomodation for the fortnight.

Guess who won't be returning to package holidays!

hi anyone give me tips on how to look at diy holidays from edinburgh or glasgow for next october? i'm fed up paying through the nose to travel agents ,ending up forking out over the thousand and more for a family of four, 2 adults and 2 kids, 13 and 8. been to majorca 4 or 5 times and salou 4 times, so looking to book somewhere different. has to have a beach,though.anyone with any ideas, thanks in advance

beermat,
Are you talking about Oct '06 or '07 ? If '07, you're not likely to find "budget" flights published yet.
Second question - what sort of holiday are you looking for- sun, sights, city? or do you have an open mind regarding destination?

hi looking for 07 and after being in salou and done all the portaventura theme park and waterparks etc would like something like a beach resort with shops, sights and quite a bit to do and see.

How about the Portuguese Algarve? A lot of "no-frills" airlines fly to Faro and it's quite easy to d.i.y. to the Algarve - we do it two or three times a year.
Step 1 Make your mind up about your destination.
Step 2 Log on to skyscanner.net ( or similar)This site will tell you which airlines service your chosen destination.
Step 3 Register with all those airlines for e-mail updates so you'll be among the first to know when their fares are released.
Once you've done this, research your chosen destination and get quotes for accomodation from sites such as Alpharooms, Travelrepublic etc.
Although in most cases you've little other option, it's as well to pay with your credit card as this will offer some protection should things go belly-up(but there's no more chance of this happening with a d.i.y. holiday than with any other)
It's a bit daunting to begin with, but provided you put your research in well in advance and are ready to act as soon as the airlines release their fares, you'll find it all falls into place and there's always plenty of help on good old H.T.
One last thing - don't forget that you will be responsible for fixing up your own Travel Insurance and transfers to and from the foreign airport.
Just shout out if I can be of any more help.

cheers for that a great help

You're welcome.If you do decide on the Algarve and need specific help with regard to resorts, transfers etc., don't hesitate to shout.

hi all

Its nice to see so many more people doing it diy now, makes me not so scared about our choice to only give half our rooms to cosmos and the other half keep for us to do diy next year.

sarah

i was shocked when i went on to wintersunhineholidays website and seen how cheap hotels were after what i paid in june to go to a hotel along the road from ours(£1500) so i am really tempted to diy in the future.