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The Impossible Question; holiday quotes


jackbauer24

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I recognise this is almost impossible to answer as there are so many variables, but can anyone give me even a ballpark figure of how much my holiday (well honeymoon actually) plan would cost? Normally I'd just search Expedia etc but this one is likely to be needed to be booked through a travel agents as it's multi-destination. I want to either set a budget or come up with a new plan if the travel agents come up with a quote that matches my salary and I have to retreat sheepishly! I just don't have a clue.

So in late, late July 2019 I need to be in New York. This is fixed as that's where we're getting married! But how long we're there is flexible as we'd then like to fly on to Hawaii and then on to the Seychelles. Total duration is hopefully around 4 weeks. The budget is only limited to affordability as this is our wedding/honeymoon and we want to spend what people would normally spend on a wedding on our honeymoon more, it's meant to be a truly once in a lifetime holiday. But, like with everyone, certain figures just won't be affordable. We're fairly flexible, we know New York very well but have never visited Hawaii or Seychelles. Hawaii we want to explore volcanoes and surf and all that. Seychelles we want luxury and an over the water villa thing.

So, it's an impossible question but am I looking at £5k £10k? £20k? £100k per person?! I have never flown from one country to another before and normally try and find bargains but this is all well out of my comfort zone; I just need to make sure the plan isn't delusional!

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I book all my trips myself and usually work to a budget set by my mates who I travel with and reverse engineer from there ... so it's easy to do 

 

July 2019 is too far away for airlines ( 12 months)  but Skyscanner will give you an indication of how much the flights will cost you ... however some airlines aren't on it , and you might get better luck with an alliance type around the world ticket  ... but roughly speaking Skyscanner is an easy place to start ... for End July 2018 (as a comparison)  then Hawaii to Seychelles is £991 .. I'm assuming you won't be going back to Hawaii but a return is around £1480

 

your plan isn't delusional , but that said I'm not sure why you'd want to go to the Seychelles from Hawaii  .. Tahiti or Fiji would give you everything the Seychelles would  , and be far easier to get to from Hawaii  .. 6 hour direct flight to French Polynesia from Honolulu v  39  to 42 hours and 2 plane changes Honolulu to Mahe   ... Air NZ fly you back home to the UK via LA  for around £1200 each - it will be cheaper if you can get an alliance deal coupled with your initial London to NY flight though

 

hotels you can use booking.com and get a guide on prices and feedback from guests   .. some reviews I'd take with a pinch of salt , but they are slightly less bonkers on bookings than trip advisor :)  ... once you find a hotel you like , it's worth checking directly with them as sometimes it is cheaper than the booking sites

 

other option to explore Volcanoes is Bali ,( google Kelimutu Volcano  ) they  might not be as good as the ones in Hawaii  but the added bonus is you can also see Komodo Dragons at the same time and then it will also be easier to move onto the Seychelles ...  I've been to see the dragons and can recommend it 

Qatar or Emirates can take you to all those places with a decent hub and reasonable flight connections  + multi pass options   .. as an example JFK to Bali with Qatar is £426 one way  ... play about on their web site and I'm sure you'd be able to link all the flights into a multipass

 

anyhow's , hope that helps and gives you some food for thought

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3 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

I book all my trips myself and usually work to a budget set by my mates who I travel with and reverse engineer from there ... so it's easy to do 

 

July 2019 is too far away for airlines ( 12 months)  but Skyscanner will give you an indication of how much the flights will cost you ... however some airlines aren't on it , and you might get better luck with an alliance type around the world ticket  ... but roughly speaking Skyscanner is an easy place to start ... for End July 2018 (as a comparison)  then Hawaii to Seychelles is £991 .. I'm assuming you won't be going back to Hawaii but a return is around £1480

 

your plan isn't delusional , but that said I'm not sure why you'd want to go to the Seychelles from Hawaii  .. Tahiti or Fiji would give you everything the Seychelles would  , and be far easier to get to from Hawaii  .. 6 hour direct flight to French Polynesia from Honolulu v  39  to 42 hours and 2 plane changes Honolulu to Mahe   ... Air NZ fly you back home to the UK via LA  for around £1200 each - it will be cheaper if you can get an alliance deal coupled with your initial London to NY flight though

 

hotels you can use booking.com and get a guide on prices and feedback from guests   .. some reviews I'd take with a pinch of salt , but they are slightly less bonkers on bookings than trip advisor :)  ... once you find a hotel you like , it's worth checking directly with them as sometimes it is cheaper than the booking sites

 

other option to explore Volcanoes is Bali ,( google Kelimutu Volcano  ) they  might not be as good as the ones in Hawaii  but the added bonus is you can also see Komodo Dragons at the same time and then it will also be easier to move onto the Seychelles ...  I've been to see the dragons and can recommend it 

Qatar or Emirates can take you to all those places with a decent hub and reasonable flight connections  + multi pass options   .. as an example JFK to Bali with Qatar is £426 one way  ... play about on their web site and I'm sure you'd be able to link all the flights into a multipass

 

anyhow's , hope that helps and gives you some food for thought

If I could give more than a little 'trophy like' I would - wow, thank you for such an in depth response! Although you are know as VTs very own Travel Man I suppose...!

Those destinations were chosen because we always wanted to get married in New York, we've always wanted to visit Hawaii (but it's very expensive normally) and finally Seychelles purely because it ticked the 'luxury' box and because we like the idea of getting engaged in Europe (Rome), married in North America and honeymooning in Asia! But yeah, Seychelles is up for debate I suppose.

Definitely food for thought there as you say. So forgetting the tweaking stuff, just for that ballpark figure, are you saying flights from London-NY-Hawaii-Seychelles-London is about £3000pp? Silly money obviously, I recognise that but I want this honeymoon to stand head and shoulders above all other holidays we have - that's in a the point of a honeymoon in my eyes, they were taken when a holiday was a once in a lifetime thing!

Cheers mate.

Edit; just checked out Fiji..very interesting! Now I just have to check they do over water bungalows! Good weather though, I'd assumed it was rainy season for some reason. Ah well, more good research to be done!

Edit 2; just checked Skyscanner, I was really out on my understanding of your post! It quotes £6k for that route. But swapping in Fiji (and LA for a few days to break up the journey) is £2.5k pp and that's without tinkering with dates for best value. Thanks for your post - Fiji is looking a very good call.

Edited by jackbauer24
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On ‎05‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 21:28, jackbauer24 said:

If I could give more than a little 'trophy like' I would - wow, thank you for such an in depth response! Although you are know as VTs very own Travel Man I suppose...!

Those destinations were chosen because we always wanted to get married in New York, we've always wanted to visit Hawaii (but it's very expensive normally) and finally Seychelles purely because it ticked the 'luxury' box and because we like the idea of getting engaged in Europe (Rome), married in North America and honeymooning in Asia! But yeah, Seychelles is up for debate I suppose.

Definitely food for thought there as you say. So forgetting the tweaking stuff, just for that ballpark figure, are you saying flights from London-NY-Hawaii-Seychelles-London is about £3000pp? Silly money obviously, I recognise that but I want this honeymoon to stand head and shoulders above all other holidays we have - that's in a the point of a honeymoon in my eyes, they were taken when a holiday was a once in a lifetime thing!

Cheers mate.

Edit; just checked out Fiji..very interesting! Now I just have to check they do over water bungalows! Good weather though, I'd assumed it was rainy season for some reason. Ah well, more good research to be done!

Edit 2; just checked Skyscanner, I was really out on my understanding of your post! It quotes £6k for that route. But swapping in Fiji (and LA for a few days to break up the journey) is £2.5k pp and that's without tinkering with dates for best value. Thanks for your post - Fiji is looking a very good call.

Fiji  we stayed in a town called Pacific Harbour - clicky  ..wasn't idyllic  golden sand like you get in the Seychelles etc tbf , it's more of an activity area , so lot depends on what you want to do ...  I went scuba diving with sharks (around 30 of them ,inc a tiger shark)  , zip lining through the rain forest and some other island activity , great fun place ... about an hour from Suva the capital though    ... our hotel wasn't alas over the water , but it was on the beach so you could open the doors , and walk a few feet and be in the water  ... there are some more secluded islands from memory though 

think Nadi is where the better beaches are ?

one caveat on the above the water thing is I'm a light sleeper and when I stayed in Malaysia (place called Pangkor Laut - clicky) which was on stilts over the water  , the noise of the tide lapping up against the pillars kept me awake most of the time and I was ready to kill someone after a few days :)  .. so just take that into account if you are a light sleeper  :) 

 

check out Air NZ or Qantas as you might be able to get an Air Pass for LA to Fiji to NZ to LHR that will be cheaper ?

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On 08/01/2018 at 16:29, tonyh29 said:

one caveat on the above the water thing is I'm a light sleeper and when I stayed in Malaysia (place called Pangkor Laut - clicky) which was on stilts over the water  , the noise of the tide lapping up against the pillars kept me awake most of the time and I was ready to kill someone after a few days :)  .. so just take that into account if you are a light sleeper  :) 

 

 

100% this, I am a fairly light sleeper too. Whilst stilts over water sounds amazing it's probably the worst few days sleep I have ever had in my life. It drove me insane!

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On 1/5/2018 at 12:29, jackbauer24 said:

I recognise this is almost impossible to answer as there are so many variables, but can anyone give me even a ballpark figure of how much my holiday (well honeymoon actually) plan would cost? Normally I'd just search Expedia etc but this one is likely to be needed to be booked through a travel agents as it's multi-destination. I want to either set a budget or come up with a new plan if the travel agents come up with a quote that matches my salary and I have to retreat sheepishly! I just don't have a clue.

So in late, late July 2019 I need to be in New York. This is fixed as that's where we're getting married! But how long we're there is flexible as we'd then like to fly on to Hawaii and then on to the Seychelles. Total duration is hopefully around 4 weeks. The budget is only limited to affordability as this is our wedding/honeymoon and we want to spend what people would normally spend on a wedding on our honeymoon more, it's meant to be a truly once in a lifetime holiday. But, like with everyone, certain figures just won't be affordable. We're fairly flexible, we know New York very well but have never visited Hawaii or Seychelles. Hawaii we want to explore volcanoes and surf and all that. Seychelles we want luxury and an over the water villa thing.

So, it's an impossible question but am I looking at £5k £10k? £20k? £100k per person?! I have never flown from one country to another before and normally try and find bargains but this is all well out of my comfort zone; I just need to make sure the plan isn't delusional!

My 2 cents - flying direct from NYC to Hawaii is a long flight. Might I suggest making a stop for a few days in either San Francisco or LA?

San Fran is a great town, Golden Gate Bridge, incredible restaurants and just north of the city is wine country aka Sonoma County and Napa Valley. You could even rent a car and drive down Pacific Coast Highway to LA to Hawaii from there. That would be an unforgettable drive.

LA is LA. Hollywood home tours, great beaches, complete wackos - just depends what you're into! 

Edit - to add prices:

A quick search revealed you can fly from NYC to SFO for $115 or about 80 quid each in economy. You'd probably pay about $25 per checked bag on top and a bit more to choose your seat etc. Or you can go in Business class for about $700 each (prices are one way)

It's about $150 to LA - approx. 115 pounds. Business class starts around $500 each.

I think those are really good prices for a 5/6 hour coast to coast flight. You'd get to see another part of the US for not much extra money. You can always stay at other peoples apartments through AirBnB. This can cut down on hotel costs.

I agree with @tonyh29 that a Polynesian island would give you all the same sort of luxury you'd get in the Seychelles. If you have any questions about traveling in the US or any questions about NYC feel free to tag me in a post :)

Edited by TheAuthority
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  • 1 year later...

Might as well refer to my original post...

So I get married in 12 days... But the really interesting point is the honeymoon! For logistical and financial reasons, the route is now;

London to NYC (8 nights) - getting married towards end

NYC to Hawaii (10 nights)

Hawaii to San Fran (3 nights)

San Fran to LA (5 nights)

LA to Cancun (10 nights)

Cancun home...

So we've booked Kualoa Ranch (Hawaii), Alcatraz (San Fran) Universal and Warner Bros (LA) so far. NYC we've done a lot at Xmas but never in the heat of summer so that'll be interesting! Going to Yankees game night before wedding. Cancun we visited once before but just did luxury beach, probably should do Chitchen Itza or something and the cenotes look pretty cool too.

Any last minute tips or advice about any of these destinations? Musts? Avoids?

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On 19/07/2019 at 23:01, jackbauer24 said:

Might as well refer to my original post...

So I get married in 12 days... But the really interesting point is the honeymoon! For logistical and financial reasons, the route is now;

London to NYC (8 nights) - getting married towards end

NYC to Hawaii (10 nights)

Hawaii to San Fran (3 nights)

San Fran to LA (5 nights)

LA to Cancun (10 nights)

Cancun home...

So we've booked Kualoa Ranch (Hawaii), Alcatraz (San Fran) Universal and Warner Bros (LA) so far. NYC we've done a lot at Xmas but never in the heat of summer so that'll be interesting! Going to Yankees game night before wedding. Cancun we visited once before but just did luxury beach, probably should do Chitchen Itza or something and the cenotes look pretty cool too.

Any last minute tips or advice about any of these destinations? Musts? Avoids?

Xcaret near Cancun was a great day out. Quality show at the end as well. Probably one of the best things we did in Cancun.  Chichen-Itza was also very cool and definitely worth seeing if you are interested in a little culture.  We took a catamaran to Isla Mujeres - would definitely recommend. Beautiful beach over there, hire a golf cart to drive around the entire island. 

LA and San Fran are both great. Glad that you have booked Alcatraz as that was such an eye opening experience - really surreal. Loved it. Make sure you check out Chinatown as well. 

Never been to NYC or Hawaii so can’t help you there. 

Enjoy. Sounds like an epic trip. 

Edited by Tayls
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I've only been to LA once, but staying in Santa Monica seemed to be a good call by us. Very close to Venice beach. If you already have a place to stay then I'd suggest visiting both areas (you can do them together). Spend a day around that area and you'll be fine.

Visiting the Griffith Observatory and hiking up the hills around there was one of the best things I did on the trip so I'd recommend that too.

But as V4E says, LA is huge and takes ages to get anywhere. It's not like you can hop to the other side of the city. It'll take you about 3 hours!

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2 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

I've only been to LA once, but staying in Santa Monica seemed to be a good call by us. Very close to Venice beach. If you already have a place to stay then I'd suggest visiting both areas (you can do them together). Spend a day around that area and you'll be fine.

Visiting the Griffith Observatory and hiking up the hills around there was one of the best things I did on the trip so I'd recommend that too.

But as V4E says, LA is huge and takes ages to get anywhere. It's not like you can hop to the other side of the city. It'll take you about 3 hours!

id definitely recommend santa monica pier and walking down to venice beach, got a slightly different vibe about the place, I think it was about 45 mins on the metro - there is a metro in LA its just not very expansive, I found myself using the bus a lot, get their equivalent of an oyster card and you can use it on both - and my experience was you can forget taxis, you need an app based one such as uber or lyft 

I think if I had lots of time there then I would really like the place but I was there for 3 days and trying to cram as much in as possible which meant that the distances pissed me off, Hollywood and rodeo drive were so busy it was mad, sunset boulevard wasn't though but again that's a long walk

saw 3 TV shows being filmed though! the rookie (if anyone watches it, from the pilot the scene where the guy smashes the car windscreen with a baseball bat) lucifer and one I cant remember

would say theres a lot of really hyped up restaurants that I went out of my way to find and all of them had queues out the door, pancake restaurant the griddle was around a 2 hour wait and people were doing it too

I stayed in downtown which was ok, not a great deal to see and you'll do it in an afternoon, tons of homeless people who look off their tits but my air bnb was stunning, probably the best ive ever had 

https://www.airbnb.de/rooms/19809182?_set_bev_on_new_domain=1563966647_nhZu%2BvvfuxX%2FfnTh&source_impression_id=p3_1563966649_aEIw4WB05ywPQRd%2B

that's where I stayed, about 10 mins from the metro, 15 mins from the lakers (which I went to)

Edited by villa4europe
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Dunno if they had them when you were there, but they now have these electric scooter things around Santa Monica and Venice beach and they are brilliant for tootling around on. Dead cheap too. I think if you used one for a full hour it would cost you something like 8 bucks.

We walked down to Santa Monica pier and then hopped on scooters and rode them down the bike path on the beach to Venice beach and spent the day there.

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Yeah they had them but I walked dipping in and out of the beach front and the shops behind, can remember some really cool shoe shops thay my missus bought some stuff from, they've just introduced them here and they're ridiculously popular 

Need a phone app for it and you scan the qr code

As with pretty much everywhere I go - get the maps me app and download the city map, it's like Google maps but doesn't require an internet connection 

Also remembered that I went to little Tokyo and hit the Japanese bakeries, you can't beat a Japanese tonkatsu sandwich and a curry donut 

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You can download maps on google maps by the way so you don't need the internet :)

 

And yeah you needed an app for the scooters. I used Uber because I already had it but I think there were 4 different companies. They were great for getting round. But you're right in that walking is probably better to take everything in.

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San Fran plenty to see, but be careful going on a wander if you don't have a target in mind. The hills are no joke, you'll suddenly be at the bottom of some unpleasant climbs.

Alcatraz obviously a must. Tour is really well done. Book your tickets online and just download them to your phone. Head for clam chowder bowl when you arrive back on the boat. Loads of eating options round the piers in that part of town.

Don't hesitate hopping on the cable cars, some are at busy intersections and they want you on asap. Careful getting off them, big leap down.

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