Travel Agents & Cruising details...

Took our itinerary to our Travel Agent today, and she was a little surprised I think as to how much planning we'd done, Thing is, it has to work, but there is plenty of leeway between the organised bits, to allow for any "glitches" like traffic holdups or bad weather, or things not running on time.

I had to fill out some details with the cruise company so they have all the information they need for our booking. I won't feel it's happening until we are safely on board and leaving Southampton. And that's right at the end of the rest of the holiday, where we will have been driving around for 10 weeks or so! The break from driving in the UK for that long will be most welcome.

Get a travel agent. Our travel agent is wonderful, and so friendly and helpful, and extremely efficient. I know a lot of people do their own thing, but I just feel safer knowing that particular things have been taken care of, and I know then what is left for me to do. The other thing is, she and her boss and everyone there were so helpful and kind, and caring when we had to postpone the trip to this year, after Samuel died. Having paid out a lot of money, we got it all back because we'd taken out the travel insurance. You're mad if you don't have it.

Bookings and deposits

Whilst we have always felt we wanted to leave some days free to do just whatever our fancy took us, there are always times you have to plan and book ahead. Having previously said we have never had problems with on-line bookings or payments, you may find that there are still some establishments who do not access internet banking, and ask you to send a cheque. 

However, they want that cheque in their currency, and to arrange a bank cheque from your own bank, will mean that you pay an extra fee for the service. So, if the place you've chosen is like that,  find another similar place that is more flexible. Things have changed so much, even in the 4 years since we were last in the UK, and many more business are much more accessible. It may also be beneficial in paying some things ahead, if the exchange rates are more favourable at the time you do it.

We were very lucky on our last trip, to have an old friend in Devon, who happily paid some deposits for us, from her own UK account, and we reimbursed her when we saw her.

Once you have paid your deposit on-line, you suddenly realise that you've already outlaid that money, and you will only have to pay the balance when you get there, or maybe just before you go. Either way, it is then out of the way. Of course there is usually an exchange fee for overseas transactions, but it is only a couple of dollars.

Keep a paper copy of you booking confirmation, and then just rock up and hand it over. If they then say they have no knowledge of your booking, (and that hasn't happened to us), you can prove the booking with your bit of paper.

Your need to book ahead might also be important if you realise that you will be at a certain point in your journey, which involves local school holidays, or bank and/or public holidays. We will be coming off a cruise around Mull, in Scotland, (which are not cheap, but most are already booked out right through 2011 and into 2012),  and then heading down to Edinburgh, all on Good Friday at Easter, and I have yet to confirm if, like in Australia, many things are closed on a public holiday! (Thankfully they aren't, and we should be able to pick up the car, and stock up for our stay down near Edinburgh).

Take note with any booking website you deal with, if they have any special cancellation conditions. Some are really good, and there are no penalties, and when we had to cancel the trip this year, I was able to get back all we had paid out, as most reputable companies and businesses have a clause regarding a death in the family. It also helped that we had taken out the travel insurance for the entire period of our proposed holiday, and some items were covered by that as well.

So, we have our arrival covered, along with some particular weeks within our holiday, and a few bits in between, and also the important bit of knowing your flight time to come home, and being able to get to Heathrow in plenty of time.

Next time, Time Share and self-catering...