Hey everyone, I posted this in a separate thread than the one for my 3 weeks in Italy, Austria, France and England thread, but is it easier to go through a travel agent, or can it be done without a lot of hassle on your own? I'm looking at one round trip plane ticket, 2 one way tickets, 1 train ticket, 5 hotel visits, and attractions as well... Not sure if I should be overwhelmed or not

Millions of people have done it on their own. There is a wealth of information on line, not the least of it on this board. Start your planning and come back here to check for mid-course corrections.

i planned a trip last sept-oct in germany and initially tried a few travel agents. i was amazed at how lazy people doing they're job could be. it's much more fun to do on your own and i swear...the great people on this site will get you through most of your questions. i would first of all pick up a michelin green book (great inside info on anywhere) and also an Eyewitness Travel Guide. they sell em' country to country. great info on each town and you also will know what your looking at. also i only used the train while in the city ..Munich, zurich. to avoid alot of confusion (and cheaper) i rented a car. lot's of fun too. good luck

I have done both:

1. 3 week trip to Greece in 2004 - booked all hotels, ferries, 2 inter-island flights and a couple of rental cars through a travel agent before leaving & this also included transfers to and from all hotels/ferries/airports

2. 3 week trip to Italy in 2006 - booked the whole thing prior to leaving by myself using the internet (mostly this site, the Trip Advisor site, Expedia, and a few guidebooks (but not many)).

What I liked about our Greece trip was that it was what I called "the lazy man's holiday" - we never had to think about how to get anywhere, just waited for our transfer who took us to the door of where we were going and then we pulled out the next voucher. We never wasted any time and always arrived at where we were going expediently and then ready to begin touring/relaxing immediately. This may not appeal to some folks who like the adventure of finding their own way around and the fun of seeing new things when you get lost etc. I did choose all of our destination cities and then the agent gave me a list of the hotels that they supplied in that area and then I picked one based on price/location etc.

I did enjoy the complete choice of the Italy trip of booking everything on my own so that I had complete control of where we stayed at all the locations. We again chose all of the destination cities in advance and then I went to work on the internet. This took A LOT more time - but trip planning is a passion/obsession of mine and I enjoy it so it was not a hardship. But it did take a LOT of time. I was a bit nervous having done everything over the internet but 8 out of 8 destinations had our reservation and were ready for us when we arrived. We drove a car for the entire 3 weeks and did have the flexibility and "fun" of trying to figure out how to get where we were going and seeing what there was to see in between. This too, can suck up time - but depending on your personality - you may enjoy this or not.

I would say that booking it all myself cost about $1000 to $2000 CAN dollars less but again for some people all of the planning time would not be enjoyable.

One thing that is appealing about booking via an agent is the emergency assistance that is available - if anything goes wrong there is someone that you can contact to help you. With the travel agency that we used, a different agent at each location was "assigned" to us so that when we arrived at each hotel there was often a welcome letter, coupons, guide information waiting for us as well as the business card of the local person in case we had other questions or needs. Booking it yourself, obviously, does not have those types of guarantees.

I found both methods of trip planning to work well for me and have different pros & cons. I'd be happy to give more details about either experience if you'd like.

Two prime considerations: (1) how much time can you put into your travel planning and (2) can you find a truly knowledgeable travel agent for where you will be going. You could always use a travel agent for some of the work and do the rest, such as deciding what you want to see where, yourselv.

Hey, I think we've decided to go for a half and half approach. As for flights and trains, those are easy so we'll do that. As for attractions and what to do, we will also do that as its the fun part to plan. We're going to use a travel agent for the hotels though, because I think thats where it could get tricky. We don't speak the language of any city we're going to except London, and if they take care of it we don't need to worry. We'll be able to find the right hotel for what we want, in the location we want.

That's funny because I think hotels are the easiest and most fun part to do on your own. You certainly don't need to speak the language to make a hotel reservation (what with the internet, email, and fax)! And can read on Trip Advisor and see many people's opinions of hotels in any city.

Do be SURE your travel agent understands about the locations you desire (in the historic heart of the city not out in the suburbs, for example).

We've been planning and arranging our own travel for a number of years now with great success. After several disappointing experiences with TAs we decided to go it alone.

As far as hotels are concerned, using a TA won't necessarily get you the ones you want--at least that has been my experience. We like to be in the thick of things, not out in the boonies, and a little research can ensure the right location for us. Using maps and city guides we've been able to book hotels near places we wish to visit/tour without much trouble, which cuts down time spent traveling from a hotel that is not well located.

Since you are visiting several countries, I would suggest you plan open jaw airline tickets so you won't have to backtrack. Use the discount and consolidator websites to seach for fares and then go to the airlines. We have sometimes found better fares direct from the airline.

I'm not sure I'd want to do four countries in three weeks, but that, of course, is a matter of choice. We love Italy and would want to spend a good amount of time there. London is a favorite city of ours and there is so much to see and do, a week has left us wanting more time. Likewise one of our trips to France, with time in Paris and then driving to Provence for about 10 days didn't allow us to visit a couple of cities we were interested in. We would prefer a more in-depth visit to fewer countries, rather than just touching the surface of many.

Understand that travel agents will recommend hotels where they have a financial gain potential. That is why hotels, in particular, would be the last place I'd trust a travel agent.

hmm, those are all fair points, and maybe I'll rethink it a bit. We'll see I suppose

I read the above posts and they seem to cover the travel agent versus self-plan, self-book discussion pretty well.

I was talking to a co-worker at the end of summer. He was debating whether he and his wife could afford a return trip to Italy. He uses a travel agent and does not cut corners much. A two week trip that way, costs him $10,000 to $12,000. Our two week trips cost roughly half of that amount (and that includes a 3rd person, our son traveling with us.)

On the travel agent and hotel issue, my expectation is that most travel agents will guide you towards facilities where they hope that you will not have much to complain aboout. These would be hotels with elevators, in-suite bathrooms, 24 hour reception, swimming pools, a restaurant, and possibly car parking spaces. These are the top cost hotels and may or may not be centrally located. However, there may be travel agents that would approach this differnetly.

We have done both - booked our first two trips to Europe ever through a travel agent but have not done so ever since. We much prefer the freedom to do our own thing and find airfare, B&B, transportation, attractions, theatre, etc. I believe that researching a trip is at least half the fun of the trip itself. I normally spend about 300-500 hours doing trip research because it is just so darned much fun!