Hi, I think you have worked it out for yourself!!! you save ££££'s!!

pros- no more sitting on coaches for ages waiting for your hotel then being jealous of everybody elses!!

Not feeling guilty about missing welcome meeting and having to avoid the rep for the rest of the holiday!!

Not being herded around like cattle.

Alot more spending money on holiday!!!

By going by car/taxi from airport you get there before the coach and loads of people trying to check in at the same time, and if you are fussy, you can pick your room!!!

Cons??? what cons!!!

Go for it, why pay a middle man!!!

Deb while I agree with your pros to suggest there are no cons isnt quite right.

May not have so much consumer protection depending on how you book.

If an airline goes bust still committted to accommodation or vice versa.

If the place you book turns out to be a dump who do you complain to ?

DIY is fine do plenty of research into where you are going, remember if a long way from the airport your taxi tarnsfers are going to cost.

Kind Regards
Stewart

when we go on holiday I do alot of research and when we arrive check out the area, so next time we know where we want to stay. so then its just a cast of shopping around for the best price!!

Also we do make sure we have a good insurance company!!

The Taxi costs or car hire you can usually get an idea from these sort of websites. I prefer to pay 26 euros and spend 25 mins in a taxi and go direct to where i am staying rather than the coach and the hour trip!!!

Once I land I just want to be on holiday. But saying that, I hate getting on the plane until the last minute, I prefer to get on and go, so no point in getting to the front of the queue!!!

Thanks very much for your replys! This is the way i am thinking of going about it! Firstly look in a brochure for a selection of Resorts/Hotels that we like. Then go to one of the unbiased Holiday reveiw sites and see if the chosen Hotel/Resort gets the thumbs up of at least 85% of Familys that are simular to ourselves! Then i will obviously check to see a flight is availiable at the chosen time. If i am successfull with all this i will then get insurance and book it up. And hopefully save a few Quid!
If you feel i have left something out or if you can recommend a better way of doing it,please do let me know!

Has anyone used Open Holidys? Or if you have a simular Acomadation Site you can Recommend please do!!

Also a lot of hotels/apartments will be able to arrange your transport to and from the airport for you. its worth phoning/emailing your accommodation to ask!

C xxx

You could try http://www.alpha-beds.com/

I found if your going long haul to Orlando and you need tickets, car hotel etc then the 'selfbuild' option saves bundles.

For the short haul like Europe when your only trying to match a package deal then the savings are limited. If its Menorca, Majorca Lanzarote etc then for the first visit go package. When your there look for places / resorts you may like to visit again.

My holidays are too valuable to take chances. I done Lanza last Oct on a package and will return again in a few weeks on a 'selfbuild', same resort (Playa Blanca) and in a villa a few doors up from where I was last Oct.

Have saved a couple on hundred which gives me a bit of a buzz. Well, not saved really, just a extra bit for the wife to spend

We used alpha beds last july with first choice flights and didnt book until 2 weeks before!!!

I wouldnt recemmend this though with flights, i would prefer to book early.

Hi There,

Last year when we returned back to Menorca we decided not to take the arranged coach with everyone else, so we pre booked a minibus. (There was 10 of us and all our luggage), but i would assume they do cars as well. Here is their email address, email them and tell them what you are looking for, and they'll give you a quote.
info@menorca-airport-transfers.com

It was lovely to arrive in Mahon, collect our luggage, tell the Rep thanks but no thanks and then we were on our way. We stayed at Cala n Bosch Hotel Princes Playa, and the journey was about 50 minutes. We arrived to total calmness, got our rooms and were were lying by the pool within half hour. We then heard everyone else arriving 2 hours later, and was glad it was not me !!!!

We tried to book our hotel room direct with this hotel, but they are very loyal to Cosmos, so that was the only reason we did'nt. I am all for self build holidays.

Good Luck with your search

you cna get good flights into menorca with monarch scheduled, prices are usually good if you book in advance, and the garden chain of hotels is good too. you can book them online direct (the hotels are throughout spain including menorca, and majorca depending on where you decide to go)

http://www.gardenhotels.net

I have done both types of holiday, through operators and independently and find that if youre a confident person you will be fine with either.

£2000 should get you a long way, we went package to menorca in the summer hols a while ago and was less that 800 for 4 of us package, it just pays to look around and compare.

Have fun, menorca is a lovely place!

Caroline & Kirsten