Chris... Posted August 28, 2019 Share #1 Posted August 28, 2019 Does anyone use them? I’m trying to plan a trip to England for next year. Train to Chicago, plane to London, house rental when we get there. It’s a big headache. I’m about ready to go to a travel agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted August 28, 2019 Share #2 Posted August 28, 2019 10 minutes ago, Chris... said: Does anyone use them? I’m trying to plan a trip to England for next year. Train to Chicago, plane to London, house rental when we get there. It’s a big headache. I’m about ready to go to a travel agency. We have used Triple A to book a trip once. We used them more for the discounts but they did make it really easy. This was about 15 years ago so within the Internet age but I think there are more travel options available now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Far ★ Posted August 28, 2019 Share #3 Posted August 28, 2019 We don't go anywhere that a TA would be an advantage. We may be going to Cali this year, Delta/Hilton/Avis, easy peasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted August 28, 2019 Share #4 Posted August 28, 2019 15 minutes ago, 2Far said: We may be going to Cali this year, Delta/Hilton/Avis, easy peasy. Just a tip, locals don’t say Cali... Your going to SoCal, if you go to San Fran then you are going to NorCal. But your lack of a tan and wearing shorts & a T in 60 degree weather while we’re wearing heavy coats will give you away as a foreigner anyway so go ahead and keep saying Cali! ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted August 28, 2019 Share #5 Posted August 28, 2019 AirinPie is a travel agent now I think. We use one here in Dallas, the boss calls them almost everytime he needs to fly. Annette at International Business Travel. I will get her number from him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tizeye Posted August 28, 2019 Share #6 Posted August 28, 2019 At work when traveled giving seminars their (in house) travel agent took care of everything. Occasionally had to 'educated them' on what a bad itinerary it was. Personally, I used a travel agent once and wasn't really satisfied. Have always done myself. I will do Travelocity/expedia to begin flight search for itinerary, but always purchase the ticket through the airline site as there is no difference in cost and if there is a problem, the airline takes care of it rather than - you have to go through...excuse shuffling you around. . Sign up for their frequent flier/credit card membership and typically will get some extra bennies. Love Virgin Atlantic to London from Orlando, so check Chicago and if still flying the 747's. On international flights, I always upgrade my seat irrespective of which airline I take (except Jet Blue) - so check the rate for the sardine section and upgrade cost, and also check direct booking of the "Premium Economy." One time I really lucked out and it was with Virgin Atlantic. Their sardine section cheap seats had sold out and fare was $1400 + $75??? to upgrade which was competitive with all other airlines. Checked direct booking Premium Economy and they apparently still had some discounted seats and the ticket was $950. Snatched those up in a heartbeat. Don't know anything about the train service to Chicago...and presume it goes to a station in the airport. You, of course know the area. London...staying in London proper or elsewhere? Tube vs car rental? I have used Booking.com to identify hotels, B&B, apartments in Kings Lynn as well as Venice, Barcelona, Madrid, Venice, Zurich and other Swiss locations. Car rental - hope you can drive a stick as much cheaper, although I had he steal of a lifetime in Gatwick. I reserved a Ford Escort with Hertz and was planning on using my phone for NAV (not a good idea due to dead areas.) Turns out, all rentals were consolidated at the South Terminal and Virgin cam in to the North terminal and was processed through customs there. Followed the signs for rental cars and all desks were empty. There was a sign on the Hertz desk instructing to go across the street, through a parking lot, and across that street was the new Hertz office. Turns out that was a hotel with a Hertz office and limited supply of cars. Rather than directing me back to the airport and tram to the South Terminal where my reservation was, he adjusted the reservation and for the addon price of GPS which came standard on the car, he put me in a Mercedes E Class. Which I promptly drove to Kings Lynn. You may be aware of this, but the motorway that crosses the Thames on the east side of London is an unmanned photo tag toll system. You need to log on when at your destination, find your toll and pay it...after a couple weeks it is a huge late penalty in the hundreds. Hope that helps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickinMD ★ Posted August 28, 2019 Share #7 Posted August 28, 2019 I've done it both ways. It pays to look at the Internet first - Budget Travel Online, etc. and get an idea of what a good price is. When I went to China for two weeks in 2001, it cost me $2150 (from Baltimore: all fees included and all flights, meals, side-trips, Shanghai, Wuhan, 5-day "Three Gorges" Yangtze River Cruise, Chongqing, Xian (Terra Cotta Warriors, etc,), 3-days in Beijing (Forbidden City, Great Wall, etc.) and I didn't use a travel agent - I researched online a lot and dealt directly with a tour company (Pacific Delight Tours in New York) online that had super prices. Most others in my 27 person tour group used a travel agent and paid the same $2150, but people in other groups doing the same tour paid $3700. So that's why it's worth checking prices first. By the way, the approximately same trip is $3299 now, not including flights between North America and China. I don't know if that has anything to do with new tariffs, but it was $2900+ a few years ago for everything (https://www.pacificdelighttours.com/stw/STWProduct.aspx?Theme=PACDELIGHT&ProductCode=T9YS12VU) My cousin in Virginia married a woman who is a travel agent and she's gotten great prices for us and lets us know to do things like book side trips by Mar. 31 to get 25% off on an August Caribbean Cruise, so she saves a lot of preparation time. I still check the prices first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tizeye Posted August 28, 2019 Share #8 Posted August 28, 2019 As an addition to above, Decades ago when I was stationed in England, during US holidays that were at times other than Banker Holidays, I would purchase the catalog/magazine at the newsagent for English Country Cottages. These were houses for rent that would use as a base to spoke out and tour that section of England. The good news is...they are now online. https://www.english-country-cottages.co.uk/ Still fondly remember a farmhouse on the farmer's property in the Cotswold's that kids learned where eggs come from and daughter (probably 4y/o at time) rode on a pig, and then one Thanksgiving weekend has a full thatched cottage just outside of Plymouth. While wanted to, it wasn't available, but never got to stay in a converted oast (a silo type building where they dry the hops) on the outskirts of Canterbury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prophet Zacharia Posted August 28, 2019 Share #9 Posted August 28, 2019 I do it myself. It takes time but it means it’s as close to what I want as possible. Since few flights from here are direct, it’s fun to cobble together an itinerary, including connecting flights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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