Planned holidays for 2009?

[sue78]

I'm depressed coz babies don't want to come out so decided to plan our holiday for this yr to cheer myself up. Hubby thinks I'm nuts lol. Took about 3 hrs of net surfing.

There are some really good deals atm.

We are thinking of California in Sept school holidays with a budget of $5k.

Flights direct Bris to La (2 adults, 1 child, 2 infants) Virgin
10 days
Including:
3 days tour to Las Vegas 3 (inc GC West Rim but will probably give that a miss)
3 days tour to San Fran and Yosemite
5 nights at various hotels
LA hop on hop off
airport transfers
LV night tour
SF night tour
2 day hopper pass to Disneyland

all up $4439 which is pretty good value.

My mil might tag along but we will ask her to pay for herself this time. About $1.5k all inc and we will pay for all food and any extra tours etc.

Have you planned a holiday this year? ppl with kids tend to have to plan much earlier to coz of school holidays. Looked into a cruise but better to wait to all the kids are 3+ for kids club and it's a lot more expensive.

 

[steveadl]

We're going to Hawaii in November for our honeymoon. Booked the flights ($600 all up ), but haven't booked accomodation yet. We're probably going to get that done by a travel agent so they can recommend some good places and we don't make the wrong choice ourselves online.

Getting a little nervous that we should be booking it soon, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. It's the off season so hopefully we'll be alright.

 

[Rixter]

We've booked a 2 week holiday for our 2 adult + 2 kid family this May.

Flying to Singapore ex Perth for 2 nights.

Then a 6 day cruise on the Star ship Virgo ex Singapore to Lan Kawi (spelling?) KL, Penang, Phuket, then back to Singapore.

Fly to Hong Kong for 6 days, plus take the kids to Disneyland.

 

[sue78]

can u include prices as well?

steve - $600 each or for both? jetstar?

rixter - how much all up? I try to inc as much as I can for budgeting. It's Langkawi...close! sounds awesome and the kids club will give you guys a nice break.

Disneyland LA is really exxy. Will cost us about $600 for a 2 day pass!! So annoying when it's only $99 for annual pass to Dreamworld. But I need 2 days so we can do 2 half days each. I can't handle a full day at disneyland. Maybe I'll have to.

But Disneyland in HK is cheap.

 

[steveadl]

steve - $600 each or for both? jetstar?

Qantas business class.

Oops, forgot to mention we're using some of my frequent flyer points - so all up $300 each in taxes.

As far as accomodation goes - from a brief look at websites, hotels look to be around US$200-300 per night. So will see what the agents come up with, plus I want them to book us on a tour or two to see the place.

 

[sue78]

Nice!!

get some brochures so u can see the pics of the hotels.

 

[Rixter]

rixter - how much all up? I try to inc as much as I can for budgeting. It's Langkawi...close! sounds awesome and the kids club will give you guys a nice break.

$12k equity...so in cash flow terms $624 or just $12 p/w rent increase across our portfolio - gotta luv LOE!

Includes all meals, soft drinks & entertainment on Cruise, airline tickets, taxes, transfers, 4 star hotels in Singapore & Hong Kong with breakfasts.

 

[wylie]

Having had annual passes to Dreamworld a couple of years running, Disneyland in LA was rather ho-hum for us. We got three day passes and only stayed half a day the last day. Two of us were getting bad head colds and the others had had enough anyway.

We had three nights in San Fran and if I had my time again, we would have had more time there and less in LA (except Santa Monica, which was cool).

The thought of pushing a twin pram and a toddler around Disneyland is just exhausting . If you have done Dreamworld, I would just do one day so you can experience it, but we are all different of course.

 

[Rob Williams]

I've got about 150,000 Velocity points so I'm seriously thinking of going to New York later in the year. Looking forward to seeing the Chrysler Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State building etc etc.
I went looking for my passort the other day and found US$1,500 tucked away in it. I must have not spent much last time I went away and forgot to exchange the greenbacks. I took that as a sign that I should actually do this rather than just think about it.
But what if I miss out on a good deal while I'm away?

 

[steveadl]

I've got about 150,000 Velocity points so I'm seriously thinking of going to New York later in the year. Looking forward to seeing the Chrysler Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State building etc etc.

Right there with ya Rob, New York is a place I've always wanted to see. One day...

 

[JamesGG]

I'm heading to NZ soon, will drive around the south island. Probably sometime in May for about a week or so.

No real plans at this stage other than to jump off a bridge (rope attached!) and raft down a river somewhere. No idea what either of those things cost but will worry about it when I get to it. Also have enough flyer points to get there and back for free, so that's easy. Will get around to booking it all soon.

Rob - New York is awesome. Had a great time there a couple of years back.

 

[wylie]

Just a thought on New York. I looked into this a few months ago and we decided not to go ahead right now due to accommodation costs for five adults. However, it seemed to be cheaper to fly into LA and then get an internal flight from LA to NY. I didn't go any further than just a few calls to a travel agent, and checking things on the net, but that seemed strange to me. I suppose flying direct to NY saves travel time, but I would have been happy to spend more time flying and changing planes to save money (depending on the saving, of course).

 

[BayView]

No hols for us planned this year.

A few little long-weekend type breaks, but otherwise bum up head down and consolidate until 2010.

Too much on - the new business, getting the PPoR ready for sale in Nov and getting ready to build early in 2010.

 

[Bloss]

Hi
We have 6 weeks in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Phuket in May June.

Total cost of tickets through Air Asia was around $550 each which is all flights from Gold Coast-KL , KL-Phuket return and KL-Penang return then back to the Gold Coast. Bargain

Very much looking forward to it.

 

[Rob Williams]

Thanks for that Wylie. I'll look into that for sure. Might work really well given that my points will get me to LA & back, I think. I agree with you re: LA vs SFO.
Thanks to Steve & James, for the best wishes.

 

[Minxdamanx]

I'm off to Singapore in August for a extra long weekend (Thurs-Tues). $864 each including flights, hotel, brekky (with our daughter).

That's it for the year - it's going to cost me a fortune to go back to uni and Mr Minx is off to NZ in February '10.

 

[Pushka]

Nice find in the passport Rob! We were thinking of Dubai and Egypt but rather expensive in lieu of current climate so it will have to wait. Can't complain though; 2008 we went to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore (twice) India and the Maldives. And I do want to have afternoon tea at the Burj and not feel guilty about the ridiculous expense!

Hong Kong Disneyland is cute. Loved LA Disneyland and Orlando Disney World; could never quite go back to the QLD theme parks after that!

 

[travelbug]

I'm off to Italy in 17 days. 3 weeks around Italy then Paris for 4 days then Spain for a week. We are away for 5 weeks altogether. I can't wait. Still organising museums etc.

Paid for all the flights last week. Now I just have to pay the VISA before we go.

Wylie- There are some amazingly cheap flights to LA at the moment. Internal flights in America are cheap, hence the price difference.

Rixter- have you been on Superstar Virgo before? I've been on Superstar Leo. It's my favourite ship. Make sure you/kids go in the fun activities. You can win Gold medals.

I have to live up to my name.

 

[chrispy]

Off to the UK next Friday (27th March). I managed to talk a friend into going again to see her daughter, so we were able to get the 2 for 1 deal from Qantas. Cost us $1500 each return for the airfares.

While I am there I am flying down to Cornwall from Stansted Airport with my sister. The train from London was 126 pound each and 6 and a half hours, whereas the flight from Stansted is an hour and 60 pound return for the 2 of us. I have hired a car from Newquay Airport and intend doing a quick trip around Mousehole - to see Lands End, Penzance, The Minark Theatre, Falmouth, St Austell, to see the Eden Project, and back to Newquay.

The next week we are off with a group of friends to Cromer, where we have the free use of my sister's Timeshare apartment. By booking ahead we were able to get train fares for 9 pound each way. There will be plenty of time to see the Theatre on the Pier, lots of cliff walks and plenty of time for Cromer crab yum yum.

In September, my son and I are off to China to do the River Cruise and associated inland bus tours to the terra cotta warriors, the 3 Gorges, and of course the Great Wall. The total trip is just over $5k each.

Chris

 

[sue78]

Wylie - not a big fan of LA either. I've done it b4 but hubby hasn't been to US so it will be fun. I've been to Disneyworld, paris, japan. ds is so spoilt, it will be his 2nd time to disneyland and he's only 3. It's ok but a very long day coz the electrical parade doesn't start till dark and then the fireworks and I think that's the best part. It's just crazy. josh doesn't need pram, it will just be for the babies...or we can just put them in the ergo on our backs. (Btw ergo babycarrier is brilliant!) i will book a hotel close by so we can go back for an arvo nap. i won't go with twins when they can crawl or walk...they would have to be at least 3+ when you can reason with them.

Dreamworld is brilliant. always go on weekdays when it's empty, no queues and express entry for annual pass holders. We go in the morn with a packed lunch for a couple of hrs and get home in time for arvo nap. It's great for very young kids.

have u seen the new $49 deal?

nyc accommodation is exxy but if you stay in new jersey or the boroughs and just commute in, it's fine. it's not far and the metro is brilliant.

Rob - lucky find, it's def a sign! i love NY but it's best to go with no kids tagging along.

travelbug- you must have accumulated a lot of holidays! trip sounds great.