We are planning a trip to NZ and are wondering if anyone has experience with Luxury Vacations New Zealand or Luxury Adventures for putting together custom self drive/fly tours on line?

I don't have experience with either company, but it's pretty easy to put together your own travel arrangements for New Zealand, and there are many posters here who will be happy to help you.

Lee Ann

It does take a lot of work, but you can put it together yourself. If you don't have the time and inclination, and are not compulsive with minute details, go with an agent.

I do all my planning to the South Pacific with Swain Tours (http://www.swaintours.com). They specialize in Australia and New Zealand, and Grant at Swains gets the top agent award every year from Conde Nast Traveler. They have often found me activities and experiences that I had no idea existed and their follow through is excellent.

I highly recommend using Donna at New Zealand Travel, Inc. (www.newzealandtravel.org).

While you certainly can book a trip on your own, Donna made this booking a breeze. And from a cost perspective...there was little difference versus booking on our own. The lodging costs through her matched exactly what the hotels/lodges/B&B's cited as the cost (either on internet or through email exhanges I had). There was NO service charge for booking anything except the airfare - and that was a nominal charge.

What we got? A great itinenary, great suggestions. Comprehensive travel documents, atlas, directions to everywhere we were going, etc.

When we used her, I had an idea of where we wanted to go and a few places I HAD to stay at - she accomodated beautifully.

I rarely use travel agents, but in this case, I really saw no downside.