Planning a June 2005 England trip for
my family of 3. How early should I begin planning? How quickly to hotel rooms fill up - both in London and futher into the countyside ?? What about airfare? When will I see the best prices ??
Thanks for your help. I'm attempting this trip without the aid of a travel agent. Kind
of scary!

You don't need a travel agent if you've got Fodors It's too early to book flights or hotels now. I'd say 6 months out is about the time to get on those details. In the meantime, you can use this site to gather detailed information about your itinerary, restaurants, sights, etc.
For June flights, I usually start looking around the end of January, beginning of February. But it pays to keep watch on the websites of both the airlines and the sites like Orbitz, Expedia, etc., every few days beginning at that time.

We've found the first week of November is a good time to take a look at airfares. Don't know why, but fares seem to be a little less for the high season fares.

I'm starting now for next May, but we're using FF miles and an II timeshare for one week, so it's a bit more difficult. (Besides, I LOVE planning).

Highly recommend you sign up for BA's website...they e-mail their specials to you if you're on it...believe it's britishairways.com.

Most major airlines can accept reservations 330 days from the date of the actual flight.

Most hotels I have ever booked will accept reservations a full year ahead...e-mailing them and asking them when they will accept a reservation is sometimes helpful.

Why wait until 6 months out? You can do this and if, in the instance of air reservations, you do book a full 330 days out there will almost inevitably be a couple of schedule changes, or even cancellations, prior to the actual flight date.

I recommend signing up for e-mails from several airlines. For example British Airlines came out with a sale for $99 one way from any airport that BA flew out of to any airport that BA flew to. From Houston to London was $198 RT + taxes, etc. I think it was sometime in Nov. or Dec. There were restrictions but it was definitely doable. I know BA has had specials every year at about the same time.

Advise your budget, and what you want - then other people here as well as myself can let the suggestions flow.

As for flights - use expedia.com or ba.com.

<i>&quot;For example British Airlines came out with a sale for $99 one way from any airport that BA flew out of to any airport that BA flew to. From Houston to London was $198 RT + taxes, etc.&quot;</i>

We took advantage of that sale to take a long weekend in December in London. We'd never been there at Christmas time and it was nice seeing the stores all deck out for the season. We got a great deal on a 4* hotel on Priceline - what a deal!

Start looking at airfares now to educate yourself so you will know a good deal when you see it. It is unlikely that you will happen into a $98 fare or something.

Early last summer I started checking fares for our March trip to Paris. They were in the $900 range and I wanted to see something more in the $750 range. They kept being way more than I wanted to pay. Then one day in July I saw $570 (plus 25% less for the kids) and I jumped on it (9 months before the trip). I periodically checked fares after I bought the tickets and they were never that low again. I don't call that luck...I had just educated myself to know what a &quot;good&quot; fare was.

Hi Jenn,

I've just started planning for a Sept 2005 trip.

The earlier you start, the more you learn.

For air fares and hotels, I start looking about 9 mos out.

With regard to airline fares, start looking for current fares right now to give you an idea of the seasonal variations. i.e., get, today, fare ideas for June, July, and August, 2004. There's no guarantee next years fares will be the same, but at least you will have some ballpark figures. My observation over the last couple of years is that fares are not at all discounted (absent the occasional great sale) until about two months before the date of the flight; after that, and particularly within one month of the flight, the bargains will be gone and the fares increase sharply. By constantly monitoring the fares (Travelocity has a useful feature to do this), you will know what a good fare is, and when it is offered, jump on it, as many other people will be doing the same, and many posters express regrets that they hesitated even a day or so and missed a good deal. There are many airlines servicing London, which helps hold the fares down, and there are also frequent sales, so while June is the high season where one would anticipate the highest fares, I am sure some airline will run a special sale, and that it will be sold out quickly.

As for lodging, look starting now to find a place you will like, then see if they have their rates for next year yet. Popular places do fill up far in advance, but never rely on an on-line rejection if you try to make an advance reservation. In many instances, the on-line system will advise you that they have no availability for the dates you have requested, when a more accurate response would be that they haven't updated their reservation system to include those dates yet; an email will usually get you a more accurate answer. We missed an opportunity to stay at a place we really wanted because I went in nine months early, and believed them when the system said they had no available rooms for our dates. I stopped looking at that hotel, only to discover later that I could have gotten a room by circumventing the misleading on-line booking program.

It is never too early to plan but it is too early to book flights etc. We were there in June also and I think we started booking things in March/April.

Missypie, not to be contrary(especially after the fact!) but where are you flying from? $570 to Paris in March seems high to me; I went in March for $320, from PIT on Continental.

On the other hand, I am looking at a fare from PIT to GVA for next March that's higher than that. Who knows; it's a gamble.

Just remember that if anyone is using miles to purchase one or all tickets you need to be talking to the airlines very soon. In May, I happened to call American Airlines about a flight to London in December and found that the small number of seats available for those using FF miles, in Dec. and January were already taken. Just FYI...

Hello. My husband and I are planning a trip that will take us to Ireland, Scotland, London, Paris and the Loire Valley in April/May next year. We are thinking about travelling for around three weeks, more if we can get the time off we need and if our finances will allow it.

About five months ago we visited our travel agent, picked up some brochures and got some horrifying news about air fare prices (less said about that the better). We were also told not to think about trying to make arrangements for flights until at least 10 months before we wanted to leave. Got some encouragement here with the possibility of specials.

Next I contacted the Irish travel service people in Johannesburg, same with France and Visit Britain on its South African web site. I got loads of information, but the Irish were the best, sending a huge package including a couple of bed and breakfast guides, which will be invaluable. The prices won't be current, but will give us a really good idea.

I've also found the various tourist information web sites very valuable, but for accommodation you really want to hear people's comments.

So I've been reading, and posting some messages, on websites like this one and, of course, using tripadvisor.

I've already got an idea for a Paris hotel (the Bonaparte, thanks Ira) which I'll contact to make a booking once I have our flight information and we can start planning our itinerary.

At the moment I am concentrating on the massive number of London hotel options. Wish me luck here. One pound is about 12 rands so we really don't want to pay more than 100 pounds (R1000), but less would be better. Clean rooms, good location and safety are of paramount concern.

Research is lots of fun though so it's all good.

Thanks to everyone who helps on this forum.
Lisa

It is hard to say, just keep on checking for airfares on : www.qixo.com,
for the price that works for you. As far as hotel is concerned, book as far in advance as you can. Most of hotels have a 48 or 72 hour cancellation policy.

We take one Euro-trip per year. Our first unofficial planning session is usually on the plane ride home from the previous trip. So no, I don't think planning year in advance is too far ahead.

But don't book anything till you've done your research. That may take weeks or months. We're here to help, if we can.

Hi!
Half the fun of the trip is in the planning and getting people around you as excited and involved as possible. My husband and I recently adopted 2 small boys (6 and 8)who have some special needs. We are planning already a trip back to Britian with in the next 2-4 years. I've already started &quot;sowing the seads&quot; for the boys and they are at the ideal age for castles and so forth. As the kiddos have no physical handicaps, only some behavioral issues, we are starting to work on museum/sight seeing skills and travel skills. In planning for our trip this summer I also noticed that air fares in November appeared lower and I ended up paying about 200 more a ticket by waiting too long. I guess it is never too early to start planning, never to early to start getting excited and never to early to make the whole experience an integrated family time! As MKingdom stated, figure out a budget, read read read and Have fun!

Julie

I also agree about 6 months in advance is good timing. However, I would check airfares every so often even a few months before that. Last fall several airlines had great sales. I think it was sep/oct that I started pricing a few different itineraries. I found a great airfare and booked it (for an April trip). About a week after booking the price quadrupled (this was a 3 leg journey) and never came down again. If you see a really good airfare, grab it. You can always book the hotels later. In fact, hotels, you can book (make sure you can cancel), then if something better comes along, cancel and book again.

You don't need a travel agent. So much great info is available right here and on the internet in general. Unless the travel agent has done a similar trip to the one you want to do, I find that they aren't of much help.