Am sure you'll be fine Sue - am looking forward to hearing what you thought of DIY

Hi lincoln sue. I booked my first diy this year. We travelled to lanzarote and stayed at lanzarote bay hotel. Everything went very smmothly, so don't worry. We booked our carparking at glasgow, then flight with thomsonfly, then accomodation with travel republic. The only one i had doubts about was travel republic ( as i had never done diy ) and everything was spot on. Got a taxi from airport and we were sitting on a sunbed at pool in under an hour. Don't worry about it, it will all be just dandy and i wouldn't hesitate to use travel republic again. Go and have a lovely time

Don't forget your holiday insurance -its easy to over look this when DIYing......... when you don't have a travel agent pushing it.

I booked our first DIY last year and it went so well that I have done it again this year.

Good luck - I am sure you will have a great time.

Thank you for replies. I'm pleased to hear of your success with DIY.
To "jdybnsn", yes I have got Insurance as we always have an Annual one.
I've just realised it isn't quite my first DIY as I have booked a short break for the end of this month which is hotel+flight on the Thomson website, but I felt it wasnt venturing into the unknown as we usually book packages with them. I have booked a transfer with Shuttle.
Regards
Sue

Hi Sue
I would like to say I booked my first diy last year and I was a nervous wreck at the time, hoping I'd done everything right, and hoped it would work out. It did. I had a lovey hotel with fantastic views. I saved around £300 not booking the usual package.
We have booked diy again this year. It does help if you send a friendly email.
I emailed the hotel a few days before to tell them how much I was looking forward to coming and mentioned that I would love to have a lovely view room, and I got a fantastic one.

Regards Dawnie-Rob

We've never done DIY, but I'm really tempted. The only thing that worries me which is probably ridiculous is the transfers from the airport. Are taxis generally easy to get hold of and do you negotiate a price in advance- I just worry that we'd get there and they would charge us a ridiculous price and we'd have no choice but to pay it.

Pam

Hi Pam we usually arrange transfers before we go. There's always someone on here who can recommend a reliable company. I've never had any problems what so ever with transfer pick ups.

Good Luck.

If you are worried about transfers at the airport to your hotel try a2btransfers website. You can pre-book in the UK and every time we have used them they have been waiting for us at the airport with a board with our name on. Very straight forward. Always do DIY hols, much easier as you make all your own arrangements, not relying on a company!

Thanks a lot I shall add that to my 'favourites'.

Pam

Hi all
When I was looking for airport transport, I found a lot of the book up front ones very expensive, some were ridiculous, about 3 times the normal fare. I decided to get a taxi from the airport and was quite reasonable, many taxis have a price list in the cab. Going back, I got the hotel to book my taxi and it worked out more or less the same price on the return.

Dawnie-Rob

Pam I would use the hotel for this, remember the driver will either be salaried by the hotel or will want repeat work so will not rip you off.

Well that's my view.

The other option is to ask the hotel what the cost of the taxi should be from the airport, then agree a price with the driver before you get in, if they do not agree walk away the drivers soon come down in price. The downside to this is you can get hassle from the touts on the way to the taxi rank

ps use the taxi ranks and don't book from the touts

Thanks everyone- I'm really going to look at DIY for our next holiday. I can't believe how cheap the hotels can be. The airfare seems the steep bit, but I don't mind internet research to find a good deal!!

Pam

Hi! Just booked my first DIY too to Tossa de Mar.

All I have to do now is arrange transfer from airport to hotel, so if anyone has any companies they can recommend from Girona Airport, I'd be very grateful! Slight nervous, but hopefully will all go according to plan. Any tips, please let me know!

Elaine

hi just back from first diy, and everything went great, i too was worried especially about transfers, but they were standing waiting with sign with name on it and it was a lot quicker than going by coach, def going to do it again as saved a lot of money, thanks for all help on this site

We are going to Cala Bona in Majorca in October.I have booked a 'Build your own Holiday' with Thomson for two at £936, which includes transfers and goes from Humberside our nearest airport. The same holiday booked as a package was £1158 and it used the same flights and hotel. Our local Thomson shop could not match it.
I did research other agencies but could not better this especially as it is a Thomson hotel. I did e mail the hotel but it would have been quite a lot more expensive to book direct.
Sue

i have found good flights to egypt on XL website.. travel company cannot match the price....so what happens if i book the flights??? travel company gave a good price for accom and transfers but bloody petrified to book things seperate... is it as easy as it looks and do you have a rep at your resort as we`ll have our 12 year old with us

sharon

Shazza, I do most of our holidays DIY and recently returned from Western Turkey.

I would not be afraid to DIY as you seem to have covered all the bases, but please remember to get adequate insurance for medical expenses (including repatriation), holiday cancellation and baggage problems. Egypt is not in the EC and so you would need to be careful to make sure you are covered by any exisiting policies you have. You may need to take out a specialist policy but it won't break the bank and will probably cost less than those sold by holiday companies!

As regards a rep, there are good and bad ....... and invisible ones so you can't guarantee that having a company rep theoretically on hand will be to your advantage. If anything goes wrong, the hotel will help, and if you really want to be covered, look at the foreign office website and find out about help from the British Consulate and take phone numbers with you.

Go for it! And have a great time.

If you book DIY you wont have a rep. However the one thing I would say is if you stay in a large hotel or self catering complex ( might not work in a B&B) often the staff who work on reception seem to have as much if not more local knowledge than a rep.

The one time we had a dire emergency and needed an ambulance and medical care for a child it was hotel reception who sorted it out. We just didn't have time to get the rep. Normally they are a phone call and a few miles away or on 'airport duty'.