It's only natural to worry on your first DIY holiday.

If leaving copies of documentation gives you peace of mind, then do it, it's not a major thing to do.

I personally just go with the flow now, but I did have a BIG problem with Alparooms in February this year. I arrived at my hotel in Barcelona, to find the hotel fully booked and no room allocated to me, despite booking and paying for the room over six months in advance.

I have done four DIY in the last seven months, and only had problems with the one mentioned, but I put that down to the room booking agency, and definately won't be using them again.

Best of luck, hope all goes to plan,

Robby

We also used to only go on package holidays, and at one time would probably be horrified at not having the services of a rep in case of any problems. However, in recent years we have been much more adventurous, probably partly due to the use of the Internet, making it much easier, and extending the choices you have. We have found that most people in the holiday/travel industry will go out of their way to help you wherever you are, you don't really need your own 'rep'.
Regarding whether to leave copies of documentation with someone at home, that is always a good idea wherever you are going.
Now we have our own apartment in Turkey, we still find some of our friends would be nervous about using our apartment, as they are worried they would be 'on their own' in a country which to some people is not one of the familiar destinations. I would say to anyone who wanted to DIY in Turkey, you will have nothing to worry about, the people are so gregarious and helpful and in the tourist areas they all speak English, so take the plunge and you won't regret it!

I do DIY now and wouldn't go back to a package holiday if I can help it. The saving you make soon convince its a better way to do a holiday. In some cases the package is cheaper and I wouldn't do DIY far away, just can't match the tour ops prices. I have looked at hotel prices to caribbean and they were more expensive than the whole package with a tour op. Doing majorca this year and saving 50% compared to thomson for the same holiday, last year went to tenerife and saved £800 on the tour ops price.

Do what ever makes you feel comfotable, leave copies of documents with a family member. It can't be a bad idea if a document is lost, you can get the important number to sort out any problem.

Mike

I think leaving copies of documents is an excellent idea, particularly passports - and that's not just for DIYers. I used to be travel co-ordinator at my firm and I had a copy of every traveller's passport. One of our ladies got mugged in Hong Kong whilst away on business once, and her passport went with the mugger..... the fact that I was able to fax over her passport details saved huge amounts of time and made her's and the embassy's life much easier.

I think it's a good tip.

We're going DIY this year again. I'm a fairly seasoned traveller, but still get nervous even now that something will go wrong!

Well I rang our apartment owner yesterday and he quoted me €45 per night in March - I wanted to confirm price so we could have right money for him when we got there and he claims he said €65 per night.

Okay it's still cheap (£650 for the 2 weeks for 5 of us s/c) BUT it's just walloped £200 on the holiday and as I booked over the phone I have no comeback!

First lesson learnt! Get confirmation in writing! I would have done elsewhere but this is the chap a friend ha been using for years so I trusted him!

Tisonlymoi

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, but, I guess you've learnt a lesson the hard way there. Still you wouldn't have expected some one so recommended to do that.

Having said last week I was convinced something would go wrong our end, it has - although nothing to do with the travel company!! My son broke his arm on Friday evening and we've been at the hospital with him all weekend, just got back. He had to have it re-set under anesthetic. Now we have to wait a week to see if the bone is fusing, if not, we'll have to cancel our holiday and he'll need another operation AGHHHHHH!!!

Please cross all fingures for us!

Sob Sob - hope your son's arm is on the mend and that you get away okay.

We have just returned and have had a FANTASTIC time!

Apartment was great and well worth the €65 per night - 2 HUGE fans and a safety deposit box and 2 weeks accomodation in height of summer for £650 ain't bad at all at the end of the day and we were able to stay in apartment until 6pm on our last day without charge.

We've booked with him again for next year and he allowed us to leave stuff behind (boxed) which he'll bring out for us when we arrive (he does this for all repeat guests).

So alls well that ends well.

Everything went okay - booked transport from airport to resort with Autocares Levante via MCA Travel and they arrived on time both outward and return journey and flights were great with JET2

Would recommend going DIY to anyone!