Am excellent point Diamond Olly and something a lot of DIY holiday makers forget until they have problems.

Holiday insurance can cover a lot though. However, I deliberately chose to go package to Bali as I felt that if the worst came to worst when we were over there someone else would be doing the running around for flights back etc. ( Well in theory that is what should happen!)

well - after doing package deals forever and thoroughly enjoying all the haggling for the best price Im trying the DIY thing for the 1st time for 10 days in Sharm next easter and im really scared . Being an impatient person and liking our holidays booked at least a year in advance I have booked flights with XL for the thurs 29th March for £1240 (4 adults and 1 child) and have been given my first price of £1780 for the accomodation at hilton sharks bay - portlands price for 10 days on that date was £3600. so i have already saved £600 at the worst if i cant come up with a better hotel deal .

im getting really scared already about trying to get a taxi at sharm airport

now being a right ditherer i have now seen better flights on XL for the sat for 10 days meaning i wont have to take the kids out of school for 2 days - it will cost me an extra £200 + £20 to change. i think im gonna do it . its all getting too much already. the only experience iv ever had of DIY was when we went to prague in feb - i was very pleased with myself - booked easyjetflights and booked the hotel through octopus travel and it all went very smoothly

lyn

It tends to be diy for us nowadays although if we decide to go back to Greece it will probably be a package as there are no 'cheap' flights to the Greek Islands.

We like to holiday in the off season months - May, October and Jan/Feb so we can always get good deals on flights (you must book early on the no frills) and great value deals on hotel/apartments. We always pick a car up at the airport which is so much better than waiting around for the transfer coach. Even if we do a package we tend not to go to the welcome meetings which nowadays tend to be a case of how many over priced excursions can we sell.

You may say what happens if something goes wrong? Well it did in Madeira in 2004 - I had an accident and had to return home early in plaster!! I appreciate that if we had been on a package our rep might have sorted everything out with the insurance company but on the other had they might not - who knows. We managed to sort out everything ourselves with the help of the hotel staff although I admit it was sometimes very frustrating dealing with the insurance company! It did not put us off although since then we have been holiday in Majorca which is a little easier to get home from!!

Whilst we prefer and tend to find diy cheaper I do agree that for some people it may not be - it does depend on where you want to go and when. Certainly though it might be better if you have children - and book an apartment/villa - no under occupancy supplements!

Pippa

Hi Pippa -

-just wondered if you'd tried XL.com - they do cheap flights to some of the greek islands.
Lyn- have you tried these people for Sharks Bay ;

http://www.findmeaccom.com/scripts/TDBkgEngine.dll/Startup?utm_id=

their sister company Medhotels does it (but these people are cheaper).

Sorry Lyn - just checked - seems like they don't any more - sorry !

thanks Jdybnsm - I have checked with a few people and most have said to ring back after end May which is when Hilton bring out their prices. hilton have asked me to do the same as well. the only place i have managed to get a price for accomodation only from is http://www.theholidayplace.co.uk. does anybody know anything about them????

lyn

For us as a family of 5 it just aint feasible even looking at package deals as they are WAY OVER our budget! Going DIY saves us approx £2000-£3000 to what it would cost with the likes of Thomson, Airtours etc so there's no quibble from us that DIY is better.

This is our 2nd year DIY-ing and personally don't think we would EVER go back to package holidays.

The beauty about doing your own DIY holiday against anything else is the actual feel good factor it gives you after you have done it.

From the start when you sit at your computer with a nice cup of tea ( or bottle of wine ) and begin the long process of looking at what appears like a minefield in front of you, to actually returning from the holiday in one piece ( ) gives you an enormous amount of satisfaction. It also gives you incredible believe in yourself, even if things go wrong as they do. This is the point when you have to stand up and be counted and it tests you to see what sort of person you actually are!!! You will be suprised at how strong from within you become.

I never dismiss package holidays against DIY as they both have pros and cons. But the only reason I would take a package holiday is if it was a last minute holiday at a ridiculous low price.

Since our family started doing DIY holidays, not only have we saved in most areas, but we have become incredibly closer as a family as each family member has their imput into the holiday and so everyone feels like they have contributed.

Insurance covers most things these days and so fear not, be bold and discover a part of you that you never thought existed!!!!!