Three women planning a London/Paris trip. We would fly to London first because they have a morning flight from Newark. Are packages cheaper and when would they come out for Feb. travel? Good suggestions for hotel for triple (enough room) at reasonable rates. Eurostar trip to Paris. Should we try for an open-jaw ticket returning from Paris. Is it cheaper to plan separate flights and perhaps rooms on Priceline. Thank you for your responses. Denise

Hi denise,

>Are packages cheaper and when would they come out for Feb. travel?

I have yet to have a package come out less than I could do it myself.

Lowest airfares should be out in Oct/Nov.

>Eurostar trip to Paris. <

Lowest fares are one-day RT purchased in advance. Go to www.eurostar.com and choose the UK sites.

>Should we try for an open-jaw ticket returning from Paris. <

Yes. No need to waste a day returning to London. The prices will be very close.

>Is it cheaper to plan separate flights and perhaps rooms on Priceline.<

Do you mean book your airfare separately from your hotel room? That's how I do it.

For Paris, you might want to consider the Hotel Bonaparte in the 6th. They have triples. Get the ones on the upstairs floors.

Tel 33 1 43 26 97 37
FAX 33 1 46 33 57 67

Thanks Ira for your info. I am considering booking flgihts with my travel agent and using a priceline or equal to book hotels. I have never used priceline any suggestions. Denise

Denise - I would advise against priceline for Paris. There are many wonderful, small hotels in Paris that can be had at budget prices, and the priceline zones are generally just too big - you risk being stuck way away from everything.

For London, however, I very happily used priceline last year.

Go to www.biddingfortravel.com and www.betterbidding.com to do research about how to bid. If you do decide to try Paris you can at least be well educated on the zones and bidding strategies. Do your reading at both - there is a lot of info. Once you've read and followed the rules, you can get good help there if you need it.

As for airfare - you could check with a travel agent, but start watching the web sites now. You can watch individual airlines, or check with sites like travelocity. You may find you can do much better than what your travel agent can get you, or maybe not.

Have fun planning!

(Oh - when we traveled last year, an open jaw into London and out of Paris was cheaper than into and out of either city.)

I would only consider Priceline for Paris if bidding for a 4* hotel in the St. Germain - Latin Quarter - Montparnasse zone (even at that, you risk getting a slightly remote hotel) or the Opera Quarter East zone. The 2* and 3* hotels definitely aren't worth it for what you get. For the other zones, you may end up with a very remote hotel, even if bidding for a 4*. Keep in mind I have no objection to budget accommodation generally, but I wanted to make sure I was getting a good value. I did win a bid for the Le Meridien Montparnasse and this was a very nice, convenient hotel.