way back on our first holiday abroad (in Turkey) we were as green to the whole holiday thing as possible....

We went to the "come to Jesus" meeting as they have been christened by some of our friends and booked the trips... soon after we were heading for the beach to discover maybe we've paid more than we needed to... one of the boat trips was being sold on the beach at nearly half of what we had just paid... the fella was telling us the price and we said we had booked etc and was it the same trip? "yes is our boat your trip will be on !".... the moral of this story is we lived and learned (and cancelled half of the trips)

The flip side is if you have any problems with a trip booked through your tour operator then your tour operator is in a much better position to talk/arrange/change things where you can only speak to the boat owner (or whatever it may be)... so piece of mind pay more and let someone else deal with it all... pieces of eight book them directly yourself...

With that in mind we have just been into a shop selling trips in Pernera, Platons, they guy in there was very open and honest, they also work on commission but much less than the Tour Company, he has 'guaranteed' we will have a good time!!! lol We have re booked all our trips with him and have saved a small fortune!!!

Happy Hunting.......

As a matter of interest which trips were you planning? We are going to Protaras on Sunday and any recommendations would be welcome.

You will find that First Choice & Tui merged, they now have to use the same local agent Aeolos. Aeolos is a Cypriot business and mainly use excursions that are owned by people they are connected with. Thats the general, not the rule. Therefore if you travel with either company you are not given the choice or the price as they are attempting to monopolise the market.
Do not feel pushed into buying trips or commiting to anything at welcome meetings, the reps are commissioned and will tell you anything to get you to buy there and then. Listen to what they have to say, and then shop around. You can always see them during the week to book, and if the rep isnt coming back, then they wont get their commission will they! If you are in a group, you can often negotiate a better price in the local tour offices! A child for free or even an adult, give it a go and see what you get!