Honeymoon in US - Travel agent or book ourselves.

[Josey Wales]

Hi,

We are planning a honeymoon in the US covering Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

I was wondering do you think it would be best to book it through a travel agent such as Trailfinders or to do it ourselves over the internet.

Any advice would be welcome.

 

[gar123]

hi there we were going very much the same but ended up booking egypt

found the advice of tour america on abbey street very useful and found a website called [broken link removed] as well

good luck!!

 

[LIVERLIPS]

I did That holiday years ago and we booked everything ourselves.

Aer Lingus flights to LAX connecting flight through gohop.ie with AA to San Fran (but i would try to book it with someone else as they did not tell you about a booking fee) stayed there for 4 days visited Alcatraz, Fishermans Wharf, Colt Tower and Tram ride etc. Then we went back to Lax for 3 days and stayed in The Holiday Inn in Hollywood would recommend it and lovely Italian nearby. We bused it with greyhound to Las Vegas but you could hire a car or fly there. We stayed in the centre of the strip near the Mirage, Bellagio or Cesars Palace or Venetian is ideal and i would recommend restaurants in the Venetian.

Hotels like New York New York and the Luxor are very far down the strip very quiet part.

Let me know if you want any more ideas

 

[redchariot]

A road trip is the way to go; I did it in 2005. Flew into LAX, stayed in LA in 3 days (don't stay any longer than this), spent 4 days travelling through Death Valley and Yosemite, then stayed in San Francisco for 3 days (another couple of days would have been great), then travelled down the Pacific Coast Highway for 2 days before Las Vegas for one night and then off to the Grand Canyon for a couple of days before flying out of LAX again.

The trouble with this was too much in too short of a time but I would certainly recommend all of above but take a minimum of 3 weeks if you do something similar. We spent a good percentage of our time driving which while is all part off the experience, driving miles and miles day after day is quite tiring. Best to travel in short spurts or spend some driving to a place and staying in that area 2/3 days before moving on.

Booked the whole trip ourselves; flights, car hire, some accommodation before we left but most of it was taken as we went. You can get good deals with travel agents but you lose that bit of flexibility you will have if you go your own way.

 

[oblib]

I agree with the rest of these poster in that you could it yourself just as easily without all the commission. I've never been to all three at once but you could likely fly to SF via Aer Lingus, short flight to LAX and Vegas is easy to get to from So. Cal (whatever you feel like bus, car or flight). If you stay in Vegas look at a map and pick one of the hotels in the middle of the strip. It doesnt look far but one walk down to New York New York and you'll be glad you didn't stay there.

 

[steelblue]

For internal flights , check Southwest's website. (original Ryanair)

 

[raindog]

did similar trip last year with better half booked all online definitely recommend it especially with travel agents cashing in on SSIA "windfall"
if i can be any help let me know

 

[HelloJed]

Last year my bf and I flew to Las Vegas and drove up the west coast to San Francisco over two weeks. I'd really recommend it, we had a fantastic time.

I went to Tour America and got a quote, but ended up booking everything ourselves. It ended up 2000 euros cheaper than Tour America's quote.

I found two single flights with different airlines were cheaper than a return, booked direct with the airlines. (Delta there and Continental back)

I looked at the list of car rental agencies in Las Vegas airport and got a quote from each car rental website because the 'one-stop' search sites didn't let me include CDW, relocation fee or any extra costs in my search. (In the end we used Alamo because they were the cheapest and they had no hidden costs)

I used Rough Guides and Frommers to find reasonable and good hotels on the way and pre-booked them. Their recommendations never disappointed!

If you want more information then don't hesitate to PM me.

 

[Keentoinvest]

I had an Irish taxi driver singing the praises of American holidays claiming her got hotels in florida for next to nothing, beating internet rates by a mile so Id drop them a line just to get figures

 

[miser]

We're doing a similar trip this year. Found Trailfinders to be very competitive for flights and *some* hotels but much more expensive than internet quotes for others. We didn't bother with their travel insurance either.

 

[soc]

My husband & I did the whole 'road-trip' thing for our honeymoon last June. It was the best trip ever.

We decided that we wanted to do Las Vegas & San Francisco (we were undecided about LA). So, we booked our flights and first few nights accom in Las Vegas... nothing else was booked or planned. Instead, when we go away, we always bring a laptop and book into hotels that offer internet connection - so we book our trip on the go.

In the end, we ended up driving from Las Vegas to LA... then drove up the Pacific Highway (Hwy 1) to San Francisco - this was a fantastic drive! Driving on some parts of the road was a little scary for me (hairpins and cliffs... )... I was more than happy to hand the driving back over to hubby!

Between Carpentaria & Santa Cruz, on the Highway, there is a fabulous restaurant called Nepenthe. Built into the Cliff Side with incredible views of the Pacific Coast, it was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. The food was good, and although it was expensive, it didn’t seem to matter. We’ve eaten in hundreds of restaurants, but there’s something about eating in a place like this that stays with you. You don’t forget it.

When we got to San Fran, we stayed there for a 2 days, before flying back to Vegas, homeward bound. In all we drove 1000 miles - at our own pace. We might have got a bit more in, had we planned every detail of the trip - but that's not what the two of us are about... or what we wanted for this trip.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip... planning it OURSELVES, made each stage of the trip more memorable - if we didn't feel like doing something on a particular day, we didn't. If, on the otherhand, you go through a travel agent, your compelled to do everything set out... to get your money's worth...which can be exhausting - and that's not what a honeymoon is about. I highly recommend you doing things yourselves.