I do like the planning and booking phase.

[lovestotravel]

I am old fashioned in that I print out all the confirmations and everything in case Wifi/Data decides to be an issue at the airport/hotel

Having paper printed tickets has saved me when checking in for an SQ flight in Paris before as the agent couldn't find the booking................. and demanded the ticket numbers.....

30 pages so far printed for this trip with hotels, car hire, transfers, trains, planes, tickets for everything printed.

I then staple/clip them in order and once the flight/ticket/event has taken place the pages go in the bin

 

[JohnK]

Too Late! was in Thailand late Oct/Early November and the place was heaving with tourists. (admittedly we were in the south, not up north (Chang Mai etc)

I was in Pattaya early November too. Not that many people around if you think about it.

Thailand has been targeting Indian tourists this year in the hope of getting hotel occupancy up.

Russians have only just started to return but still low numbers.

Chinese still in lockdown.

I've now been back in May/June, August/September and October/November. The first 2 trips were the quietest Ive seen Thailand even during coup and protests. Take note I've been going to Thailand regularly since 2003 and every year the low season has been quieter than the year before.

First trip back no tourist buses, 2nd trip back 1-2 scattered tourist buses, last trip a few more tourists buses. I play golf, I love walking round drinking, I love going down to the beach at night with wife/daughter, I love avoiding those that arrive on tourist buses. They are awful. Arrogant. They really should stay home.

 

[AIRwin]

I then staple/clip them in order and once the flight/ticket/event has taken place the pages go in the bin

Consider more secure means of disposal given the personal info...

 

[justinbrett]

All airlines and major booking sites track your searches and when they know you definitely interested, inflate the prices offered when you go back second or third time.

Some, not all. I would say the minority actually.

 

[bPeteb]

Love the planning, love the chase to find the best deal for a hotel room (with free cancellation!), the cheapest flight, the cheapest/best value cruise, car rental etc etc.

ps. I/we print nothing. I keep soft copies of everything on phone and iPad. One day it might bite us but so far so good

 

[Bindibuys]

As both my off-spring are getting married next year, I have 2 overseas honeymoons to arrange, along with 2 overseas trips for us, and AFF gathering at LST in October.
Happy camper...

 

[wombatpatties]

I am old fashioned in that I print out all the confirmations and everything in case Wifi/Data decides to be an issue at the airport/hotel

Having paper printed tickets has saved me when checking in for an SQ flight in Paris before as the agent couldn't find the booking................. and demanded the ticket numbers.....

30 pages so far printed for this trip with hotels, car hire, transfers, trains, planes, tickets for everything printed.

I then staple/clip them in order and once the flight/ticket/event has taken place the pages go in the bin

SO AM I!!! I have around 20 pages for my upcoming UK trip. Majority of hotels paid for, ALL taxis booked and paid, all I have to do is get there Covid free and stay free until I arrive back.
Glad I'm not the only paper chaser in this IT world of no proof whatsoever.

 

[Bindibuys]

Think I must be OCD, have folder with sleeves with print out of all confirmations in date order., along with any "suggestions" of things we might do. Just bunch them at the back when competed and throw away when I get home.
Airlines on Check my trip.
entire itinerary on Kayak.

 

[luxury-lizard]

One of the many pre-trip / planning things I do is keep a detailed spreadsheet of everything booked including:

• Date booked
• Date-in/out (for hotels)
• booking method (ie hotel/airline's own website, third party website, via e-mail or phone, etc)
• For airline bookings - comments on award flights and/or booking conditions
• For hotels - cancellation conditions
• Pre-paid or partial payment made or payment date due - balance owing
• Breakfast included or not
• Credit Card used
• Comments (other inclusions, room type, ....)

All very useful as often booking confirmation e-mails do not include some of the above detail. Also helps when your booking activity is spread out over many weeks and sometimes months and I often have more than one trip in the pipeline.

 

[Hvr]

On one trip to the UK I was pulled aside and the Immigration woman asked me questions about my trip. She basically wanted to harass someone and try to trip me up to give me a hard time.

I pulled out my folder with a covering spreadsheet and supporting paperwork for every hotel, train trip, planned sight seeing and return flight. Every booking reference, seat number etc, how to get between attractions, London Tube map and so on.

I gave it to her with the spreadsheet open, she looked very disappointed, gave it back to me and motioned to me to move on without another word.

 

[OZDUCK]

On one trip to the UK I was pulled aside and the Immigration woman asked me questions about my trip. She basically wanted to harass someone and try to trip me up to give me a hard time.

I pulled out my folder with a covering spreadsheet and supporting paperwork for every hotel, train trip, planned sight seeing and return flight. Every booking reference, seat number etc, how to get between attractions, London Tube map and so on.

I gave it to her with the spreadsheet open, she looked very disappointed, gave it back to me and motioned to me to move on without another word.

I mentioned this several years ago but ----

On our trip to Ireland in 2016 we flew via Helsinki with a 2 day stopover. My wife went forward by herself and got asked a few questions by the immigration officer so I was called up with my folder very similar to what you carry and we both then got through very quickly.

When we got to Dublin my wife was again first up by herself. We had disagreed which line looked faster - she was right. Once again I was called up to settle the matter. The officer was absolutely delighted with the folder and looked through the spreadsheet of our itinerary with a colleague discussing our planned route and offering comments about where we intended to go. We ended up having a nice chat.

 

[kookaburra75]

One of the many pre-trip / planning things I do is keep a detailed spreadsheet of everything booked including:

• Date booked
• Date-in/out (for hotels)
• booking method (ie hotel/airline's own website, third party website, via e-mail or phone, etc)
• For airline bookings - comments on award flights and/or booking conditions
• For hotels - cancellation conditions
• Pre-paid or partial payment made or payment date due - balance owing
• Breakfast included or not
• Credit Card used
• Comments (other inclusions, room type, ....)

All very useful as often booking confirmation e-mails do not include some of the above detail. Also helps when your booking activity is spread out over many weeks and sometimes months and I often have more than one trip in the pipeline.

Same here - much to MrsK's amusement.

But it came in handy when we had to cancel a big trip on day out from departure. Our travel insurance covered everything, and commented that I had made it so easy by having all of the details of what we'd booked, paid for, and where we had managed to get refunds.

 

[John in Melbourne]

Before covid, I loved planning and organising trips, especially the longhaul ones. The thrill of snagging QF J bargains (yes, Dorothy it did happen then) by booking well in advance. However, early this year I thought #%$@ it all it's getting too stressful, and used a good travel agent. A very good decision as it turned out: 2 J returns MEL-SYD-LHR for $9,000 each, leaving MEL mid-July. Now, will my points upgrade to F bear fruit?

 

[FishFood]

Yes, I do enjoy planning and booking trips*

*When they don't involve an OWA booking

 

[mahooligan]

And the spreadsheets

 

[drron]

I am not as organised as most on here. Everything is written on pieces of paper and then I often can’t find the paper I want to check. I try and put it all in the one place which works for a while before the senior moments take over again.

Fortunately once booked I can put all the emails in the travel folder.

 

[serfty]

Planning March-April 2023 trip to Thailand and its stressful for the first time in a long long time.

Airfares are now $2000+ per person. Forget awards. I managed to find one using Scoot for 2 legs of 4 legs and it was $3900 for the 3 of us but when I went to pay no Afterpay as total was >$3000.

Booked wife and daughter for $2500 using Afterpay then went to book mine and all of sudden Webjet is charging +$55 for booking and holding fee and airfare for me was just over $1500 and couldn't use Afterpay as it just went over the $3000 credit. For crying out loud in bucket.

Too late now, but return fares to BKK can be had currently for ~$740 on MH.

404

Find deals and book great value fares to 60+ destinations worldwide. Malaysia Airlines is the national carrier of Malaysia, offering the best way to fly to, from and around Malaysia.

www.malaysiaairlines.com

 

[JohnK]

When you searching flights always clear your cookies. All airlines and major booking sites track your searches and when they know you definitely interested, inflate the prices offered when you go back second or third time.

Thanks. I don't clear cookies but aware of this trick.

Webjet appears to absorb the booking holding fee and service fee when booking for 3 people but when booking for 1 person only adds on $55 which in my case was way over the top.

Booked same itinerary on Expedia today for $1360 today where as Webjet wanted $1500+.

Pays to search around especially for itineraries that are not on SQ or other major online travel agencies. SQ charging $2000+ for similar itineraries and Skyscanner has some nice airfares but booked through online travel agencies you cannot contact and find flights cancelled without warning.

 

[serfty]

It's a game sort of.

Today I booked on Qantas for $1135 all up an economy trip to the USA for early, replacing an $83k + $350 award booking (cancelled at no cost). The new trip will earn me another 19k points.

So a net cost of $785 for a gain of 102k points.

Win!

PS, also no ancillary cost of a Saturday overnight near SYD and I realised an additional QBR earn of approx 5k QFF points. So -$650 + 108k

 

[rodm]

I must be very old fashioned!! I certainly enjoy find the perfect holiday. I then pass the whole thing over to the world's most competent travel agent for booking all flights, hotels, transfers etc. Then it is sitting back relaxing and watching the whole thing come together. The travel agent uploads the entire itinerary on their app. Wonderful, wonderful. The app can even tell me the weather at each location on my specific date. So far this year have travelled Switzerland - Epic trains for 2 weeks; cruised the Greek Isles for 2 weeks, returned home via the Atlantis Palms, Dubai for 4 days. Not a covid germ in sight!! Not one glitch in a very perfect holiday, perfect weather for the entire 35 days. All this with Emirates business class. Cruising for Christmas 2022, then we are off to Europe in August 2023 - all booked. Got to love the security a good travel agent brings to the table!!