DIY flights and Hotels from UK

Hi

has anyone from UK done the DIY option, or multi Centre Trip.

We have been to vegas before,after a trip to San Francisco and used United Vacations which we found really good.

This time we are looking at doing maybe 5 nights San Francisco, 3 Nights Vegas and 5 nights Boston on the way back to Uk.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

DIY flights and Hotels from UK

Hi Jock,

When going to the USA from Scotland I always plan it myself and have never booked flights and hotel as a package. It%26#39;s way cheaper to, as you say, do it yourself. How cheap will depend on how much leg work i.e. time and effort one is prepared to put in.

Just to mix things up a little, I would suggest - because of the time zones and jet lag - that you reverse your trip (Boston, Vegas, SF). Having said this, the difference between Vegas and Boston won%26#39;t hit nearly as hard as it will on your return to Scotland.

Have you been to Bosotn before? I was there in April this year and would suggest that 5 nights is perhaps too long a stay unless you%26#39;re planning on travelling outwith the centre of Boston (trip to NY or similar).

Any more question?...get in touch!!

Tiny.

DIY flights and Hotels from UK

I am doing the DIY option from the UK in October travelling all around Cali and Las Vegas. We have booked our flights through Virgin Atlantic will be hiring our car at LAX through dollar and then by using this website and general internet searching, will be booking all our hotels individually. It%26#39;s a lot more work than going through a travel agent but I think it%26#39;s more fun and a lot more rewarding. As you are only going to 3 cities that could only be three hotels to book which won%26#39;t be hard. We are staying in about 9 diff hotels! Flights are also cheap and easy inside the US but I am sure a US person will be able to inform you of that better.

Have fun!

As regards Vegas

We have been a couple of times and looking to go back in May booking flights with Virgin direct and hotels seperately.

looking at deals for May you can save a little bit over seperately booking flights and hotels but we are expecting room prices to be reduced before we go and as lots of posters will say you can reserve now and if the prices go down phone up and get those better prices.

I always do DIY holidays I much prefer it as I get the flight that I want the car that I want and the hotel that I want. Plus I actually enjoy doing the research.

It is really easy to do this for the US. Normally I will start with a website like Expedia which give you a good range of flights/cars/hotels etc and then once I have an idea of what the going rate it I will start to shop around a bit to see if I can get it cheaper.

Also for the US I would recommend not booking all your accomodation. I normally just book the nights in the big cities but apart from that will just stop off at motels on the way. This allows much more flexibility.

We did our honeymoon this way to years ago. Book your flights and maybe first couple and last couple of night hotel book a car and see what takes you fancy along the way!! We ended up at disney and leguna beach!! On our road trip. We never had trouble finding a hotel with room and got some great rate by just showing up!! Good luck!! x

DIY is the only way to go !

We have done Vegas/San Fran, Vegas/Hawaii, LA/Reno but never done a 3 centre stay yet.

Vegas/LA would be another easy one.

Jan 2009 its Vegas/New York and I cannot wait.

I usually book flights as stated before with Expedia travelsupermarket and kelkoo and use the multiflight options afor flights and then be cheeky with some playing one off against the other. I also if booking a car always use Carhire 3000 who seem very good again using supermarket and kelkoo. I then use all different sites for accomadation US ones such as Sidestep and also at the moment Travelzoo I also enroll for e mails from the USA site as they send weekly bargains. Most hotels will let you book and cancel if a better deal comes up. Brother in law lives in Reno so we use this as a base and then explore somewhere different every year and never any problems. Hope this helps

thanks to all you guys who responded. I think that it may be easier if we choose,Manchester-Vegas, Vegas - San Fran,San Fran-New York, New York Glasgow.

That we we get to break our journey, and start and finish with a bang.

Any thoughts on best airlines, and whether JUne or September would be tyhe best time to organise this trip.

Thanks

if you are going to new york have a look at chelsea lodge about 130 dollars a night and all good reviews.

We are doing the United Vacations multi centre trip this year, 4 nights in Vegas (Excalibur - booked direct with hotel on their website), 9 nights in L.A. (private apartment booked on www.VRBO.com) and 4 nights in Chcago (Essex Inn - booked direct with hotel on their website). You can%26#39;t beat United Vacations for me.

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