<p>Does anyone have recommendations for a great travel planner or organization?</p>
<p>I’ve tried 3 travel agents referred by friends, and each time, was very disappointed at their lack of flexibility. Each agent had their “preferred” itineraries, which tended to include expensive hotels, special dinners, etc. One even told us we wouldn’t be happy with anything less than their highly rated…highly expensive list of hotels. That’s not us. We prefer (and need) to travel on a student budget, staying at various types of inexpensive (but clean) accommodations, combining meals, eating where the locals eat, LOTS of walking, and trying to see cities and countryside as if we lived there. Sprinkle in a few of the “tourist” attractions, and we’re happy. </p>
<p>This has worked well for us for travel throughout the U.S., but it is a lot more complicated for travel abroad. As a result, we’ve only been to Europe once. For that trip, after EXTENSIVE planning, we were able to take a family of 3 on a 10 day trip for approx. $4500 inclusive (all airfare, meals, tours, all transportation, etc. – when the exchange rate was almost 1.5: 1 against us ). </p>
<p>There’s got to be a better way. The problem is the extreme amount of time necessary to research and plan. Some like the planning part. I’m growing weary of it. I’m more than willing to pay a little extra for a plan designed by a group or agency – provided they are sensitive to the budget traveler. I don’t mind an organized group (the smaller the better), provided there is also flexibility to strike out on our own. </p>
<p>A very timely thread as we just planned a trip and ran into some of the same issues that you did. Two travel agencies, no solutions. When I told one of them that we wanted to go somewhere on school vacation week (my only option), she rolled her eyes at me and then disparaged all of the places I suggested. You would think that the travel agencies would be glad that they have a warm body in the chair considering that most of us use the internet to book hotels and flights. This one didn’t seem too motivated to help me come up with a trip.<br>
So… we went to AAA. They had great prices, lots of flexibility, different star ratings with the prices reflecting the rating. Because we are AAA members we got discounted rates that include breakfast. We went to the AAA website first to see what they had for options and then my H went to the local AAA office and spoke to a person there who helped him book everything.</p>
<p>Most of the trips (ours included) come in packages that include flight and hotel but they will arrange a car for you if you want. Many years ago, we used AAA to plan a trip to England and it went perfectly. I don’t know why it took us this long to go back to them but, if this upcoming trip goes as well as our trip to England, we will use them every time. Good luck!</p>
<p>I plan our trips, but while I do get tired of it, I have learned that if I want my family to have a good experience I need to put in the time.
I never use anything but direct sources IE, we call the hotel or their own website, we call the restaurants, the car rentals. We have been unhappy in the past using the fabulous sites such as travelociy or expedia because if something irregular happens there is no one there.
So a little lower tech but not so dissapointing.</p>
<p>Have you looked at the Rick Steves site [Rick</a> Steves Europe](<a href=“http://www.ricksteves.com/]Rick”>http://www.ricksteves.com/) ? He has a lot of good advice about how you can save money and have a more in-depth trip.</p>
<p>When I plan a trip to anywhere, I do it in stages. I buy airfare first, then look for options in the one or two cities I’m going to. I find that going to more than two places in a trip makes me grouchy. YMMV. I choose hotels/hostels/etc. entirely by location–in a European city, for example, I want to be centrally located and near public transportation. </p>
<p>I try to avoid driving in foreign countries (although I don’t mind driving in northern Italy, as long as I have a navigator). I take the train as much as possible. And taxis. Still much cheaper than renting a car.</p>
<p>As for restaurants, I never make advance reservations: I prefer to read menus and look at the food through the window ;-)</p>
<p>I’m like dmd–have used and am very happy with Rick Steves suggestions. We used them extensively for all our hotels when we went to Europe in 1995, had a great time and spent far less than we feared we would have to and felt we were living like visitors rather than tourists. We weren’t into going to hostels but were happy with the B&B suggestions. TripAdvisor also has reviews we have found accurate for US hotels and I suspect they would also be accurate for Europe.</p>
<p>There are times when package tours CAN be cheaper than booking everything individually, but generally I like the flexibility I get when I book it all myself. It is a big time commitment to make it all work, especially if you’re going to several different locations.</p>
<p>I enjoy the planning process and like dmd, do it in steps so it’s manageable. I use tripadvisor heavily and always look at the alternate housing. I planned a two week trip to China that included planes and trains and stays at hostels and small hotels. I had gone to AAA, but they didn’t have any knowledge of some of the places I wanted to go and wanted us to stay on the beaten path and stay at brand name hotels.</p>
<p>Another self-planner here. I find travel agencies to be inflexible. It takes a lot of time to plan a customized trip and they aren’t going to make much money if they do that, so they tend to key in on certain itineraries and hotels and that is basically what they are selling. The few times I’ve used a travel agency, I was very disappointed. Often you can’t make changes to your itinerary after the fact without monetary penalties and as I go through the process of planning a trip, I’m constantly readjusting our schedule, where we stay, etc. Because of this, I usually book directly with hotels (although in some countries this is hard to do). I also try very hard to book with hotels that will allow changes and cancellations without penalty.</p>
<p>I also book all our flights directly with the airlines. I’ve had bad experiences using the travel booking websites like travelocity and expedia. It’s fine if you don’t run into problems but if you are stuck in an airport having to change flights, it can get very complicated and expensive.</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of tripadvisor dot com. I planned a last-minute trip to Japan using tripadvisor last year with great results. I’ve used suggestions from the forums to plan a number of domestic and international trips. We travel internationally nearly every summer. The nice thing about those forums is you have travelers with all types of budgets and you get good suggestions for saving money and time.</p>
<p>There is a trade-off when you use an agency - you have a lot less choice about hotels and itineraries but you don’t have to do the work yourself either. I’m willing to put in the time to get exactly what I want.</p>
<p>Self-planner here, but boy do I agree with you about the time involved! A nice package tour with no planning for me at all would be soooo relaxing!</p>
<p>When we went to Australia, I met with a specialist travel agent who sent me a full suggested itinerary - hotels, tours, air connections etc. Then, I used her suggestions to construct an independent travel plan that worked better for us. The $100 I paid her as an “advance ticketing fee” was worth every cent for the advice she gave me during the process.</p>
<p>I do this all the time…many online travel agencies put their itineraries out there, even hotel names. It’s helpful to see how they group together tourist attractions and how much can be done in one day.</p>
<p>The OP mentioned organized tours: The problem with organized group travel is they typically cram a lot into each day and there is little opportunity to spend extra time at tourist attractions that really interest you personally. They tend to take you to restaurants and hotels that cater to large groups and are definitely not where the locals hang out. We’ve had much better luck doing day or 1/2 day tours here and there once we get to our destination.</p>
<p>One of the best features about the tripadvisor fourms is you get locals or expaats who hang out on the forum and give great advice if you are looking for a more ‘local’ experience.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions so far. It appears most of you prefer to plan the trips yourself, and agree it is very time consuming. I’ve looked into the Rick Steves tours, but they are actually quite pricey (compared to what we do on our own). Each trip is not outrageous until you multiply it by 3 or 4 for a family, and add airfare, at which time it becomes cost prohibitive. Our 10 day $4500 trip, for example would have been about $4500 for (3) just for their 5-7 day “package”, to which I would need to add airfare, several meals, and additional things we would have done on our own on the off times. </p>
<p>My children were both able to take a trip during their HS years, that was planned by a group, but that were very reasonable – and allowed some time on their own. If I wanted to visit the same places, I could simply copy the full itinerary and adjust. I have not found similar outlines for adults except for occasional alumni “packages” – but I have found those to be very pricey as well when multiplied by 3 or 4.</p>
<p>I love TripAdvisor (and have also given advice based on our own experiences). I guess what I really want is someone who has been there (wherever there is), who can suggest an entire plan that is reasonable, that we can tweak. That would make a good subcategory for TripAdvisor… basically different “packages” that people have already planned on their own. They could outline their itineraries, including the places they stayed, ate, visited, and include their budget (as a range). You would need to adjust according to starting location, exchange rates, and inflation… but it would be a fantastic starting point – instead of having to filter through numerous posts and pulling it together from scratch.</p>
<p>Post your destination and I’m sure you’d get a lot of suggested itineraries from CC travelers. </p>
<p>I love planning my trips myself. I love educating myself about a place before I go: history, geography, art, food, everything. I have definite ideas about what I want to see before I even start actual trip planning. I’ve never found a packaged tour that included everything I wanted to see. And you’ll never get to the out of the way places on a tour, by definition.</p>
<p>I use Rick Steves books, but not only Rick Steves books. Rick highlights what Rick likes. I am familiar with his book on Germany for example, which leaves out most of the northern part of the country. </p>
<p>I also use tripadvisor. Nothing beats the actual photos of a hotel, like those taken by other travelers.</p>
<p>Another great way to get travel help is to go to Fodors.com and join their forums. The people there are very well traveled and generous about sharing their experiences. If you state the # of days, the kinds of things you like, your budget, the major places/things you want to see/do, you will likely get amazing and wonderful suggestions. If you’re too vague, you won’t get much help but the more specific you can be about your likes/dislikes, timing, etc., the better.</p>
<p>A self planner, too, but I absolutely love my Triple A office. They have given me guide books as good as the ones I’ve paid 15 bucks for, plus maps. Best thing they did for me, though, once I knew my hotels and where I wanted to go, was make TripTiks for me. They bind them with combs, with step by step directions, including street maps for each step of the way. On my recent Washington trip, if we had a certain thing to do that day, I just grabbed those TripTiks, stuck them in my purse or backpack, and didn’t have to carry around all my guidebooks. I also use Triple A rates on all my hotel stays. Has saved me tons of money. </p>
<p>If I’m concerned about a hotel or an area, I google TripAdvisor and read the reviews. Great tips from people who have been there.</p>
<p>And my very best travel tips have come from the Parents Forum on CC. With people from all over, you’re bound to get the attention of either a local or someone who’s been there.</p>
<p>Also, once you’re there, at your first attraction, or even hotel or airport, look for their free brochures. While in Washington state, I found large travel guides at the Boeing factory, for free, which included wonderful tips for scenic drives. I used it on the tail end of our journey on the way down to the airport. That was such a find. I would have never found the hidden gems in Washington State had I not happened upon that free travel guide.</p>