P1Fanatic

Loads of you rich boffs must go on hols once a month so where do you get your flight from?

Flying end of April, dont mind indirect as long as its not something stupid like 4 stops. Last time I went we got them for £265 return with Air Canada via Toronto but even after all the Sept 11th I cant find much to match that.

Opps forgot to say = preferably to Orlando or somewhere close to Kissimee.

P.S. No comments about leaving it late as Ive only just decided to go as a friend at work is renting a house out cheap.

[Edited by P1Fanatic - 2/18/2002 4:42:31 PM]

matrix

BBC Teletext or ITV Ceefax has been my saviour in the past.

Matrix

father_jack

I use travelocity.co.uk - Got London to Miami for 250 plus tax and London to San Fran was 300. Why do you want to go to Orlando ?

P1Fanatic

Well cos we are staying in Kissimee and from the last 2 times Ive been I recall its less than an hours drive from Orlando Intl Airport. By all means if you know of a better/cheaper one then speak up. Also good access to car hire - we need big like a Chevy Astro as there is 5 of us with suitcases.

matrix

As far as Car hire is concerned book it when you get there Level 3 I think. 20 or 30 at least to choose from .

P1Fanatic

Hmm I dont like that idea at all - much prefer to have turn up and pick up a car. Last time we went with Alamo and they were pretty good although it meant getting the bus out to their huge car pool.

Kevin Greeley

I think all the car hire at Orlando International is a bus-ride from the airport so just hop on one of the free buses. Value car rental used to be quite good for us, don't know if they're still there.

Better still would be to fly to Sanford - car hire at the airport: drive away! Maybe an hour to Kissimee.

father_jack

You should drive north to Pensicola(sp?) for a night, about 4/5 hours drive maybe, superb beaches and the Navy military museum is feckin amazing - its got a pretend aircraft carrier with planes on, plus you get an old veteran to show you round.. these old geezers have some top stories.

Matt Churchill

As far as flights are concerned, try ebookers - http://www.ebookers.com/ or maybe expedia - http://www.expedia.co.uk/daily/home/Default.asp another one we have used is Virgin travelstore, they can sometimes come up with cheap flights - http://www.virgintravelstore.com/home.asp BTW they don't just do Virgin flghts.

We always use Dollar for car hire http://www.dollar.co.uk/ (you can book it all online, if you do watch your pick up and drop off times don't run to an extra day) - they are on site along with National, Hertz and Avis. Dollar use the nicest cars IMHO! They are one level down from the second baggage claim.

If they are a number of you going, but only one driver, it would probably be quicker over all for the driver to go and get the car whilst the others wait for the bags to come through - especially when you have just got off of a flight with 300 others - you should find yourself at the front of the queue at the car desk.

As you can probably tell we've been a lot, so if you've any questions, e-mail me.

Matt

ptholt

When we went last time we flew into orlando international and they sent a little bus to pick up our party of five from a car hire firm that deals with nothing but vans/people carriers etc.


They were pretty cheap and very helpful.

am struggling to remember there name though........

will point this post out to my missus and see if she can remember as she booked it.

scoobylover

we used a company off the airport called speciality vans, we got a mpv type vehicle, which was very reasonably priced and the staff were very helpful. It was a short courtesy bus ride from the airport, but the driver was very helpful with suitcases etc and the wait for the bus was no longer than 10 mins. #When u book u will be given a telephone number to ring when u have gone thro customs etc at the airport, u ring them and then they send the bus to pick u up.

we had a problem with the mpv we rented where the window kept sticking down, all we done was take it back and they replaced it instantly with another vehicle, no hassle at all.

we were staying in kissimee and it was only about 30 mins drive from the hire place to kissimee.

we found this company was also a lot cheaper than some of the worldwide companies such as hertz etc.......

the url for it is http://www.bnm.com/specialo.htm, where u can view all the vehicles they do and the prices and book.

i would recommend that u book before u go, just to make sure your not stuck at the airport with no vehicle to go any further.

good luck and have a gret hol.........


well ptholt darling hubby i'm glad somebody remembered what they were called.


[Edited by scoobylover - 2/19/2002 8:39:47 AM]

boxst

Hello

You should try opodo www.opodo.co.uk really cheap at the moment.

Steve.

P1Fanatic

Well we are going to fly out a day early and crash at the Hyatt within Orlando Airport as my old man can get rooms at a discounted govt workers price. Saves pissing around with cars etc after a long flight - besides our house aint ready until the next day. So going to one of the offsite rentals aint a problem as we will be fully revitalised after a nice Hyatt breakfast. We will either get one big van size people carrier or 2 largish cars as the prices seem similar. I will check all the links provided - ta very much peeps.

ptholt

bwahhhh wanna go to florida now........

P1Fanatic

Hehe, I wasnt gonna go on holiday this year due to getting a new car but when the offer came up I couldnt resist. Been twice in the last 3 years and its a great place.

Matt Churchill

P1F, couldn't agree more, we're off later in the year for 3 weeks, which will be our third trip in about 18months, not quite sure how we managed that - it just seemed to happen

I think this will be something like our sixth time in all

I'll check with my wife, she is the real expert, tonight as she may have some www sites for off airport hire which might be cheap. If your staying at the Hyatt, might I recommend McCoys bar as a nice place for a few beers and the first burger/steak of the hols! We always go in there on the way back, as it fas nicer environment for a drick than the bars "in" the airport.

Matt

matrix

Agree with Matt Churchill we always use dollar, and they are on site at Orlando take the Platinum cover with CDW etc best value, otherwise they charge you $30 odd dollars for a tank full of fuel (depends on car size).

Been twice in 20 months no problems each time

matrix

P1Fanatic

Hmm that ebookers.com is looking excellent at the moment - £230 return to orlando with one stop extra

Matt Churchill

Sounds like quite a good price to me, which carrier and where have you got to stop off?

P1Fanatic

Grr prices listed are before taxes etc so it works out nearer £290 per person total and with one stop at either Miami or Charlotte or Boston depending upon airline. Only £30 more for a direct flight with BA.

Matt Churchill

Direct has got to be looking good then I would say!

My wife was looking in the brochures this morning and the prices do seem to drop around the time you go, so you would think that there must be some cheap ones out there somewhere - just finding them though I guess

Might be worth looking at doing a package fly drive through someone like Virgin Travelstore, as in the past they have been able to do us fly drives cheaper than we could get flight and car separately - don't think that you can get a quote on line though.

Happy hunting!

Matt

Matt Churchill

My wife's come up with a few more names for you if you haven't got enough already! Not promising how good if at all they'll be though

Flight net 0870 2410074
Flight bookers 0207 77572500
USAirtours 0208 559 7815
Trailfinders 0121 236 1234.

And for cars...
http://www.carhire4less.co.uk/
http://www.priceline.co.uk/
http://www.sunchase.co.uk/
http://www.orlandorentalcar.com/
http://www.floridacarhire.com/
http://www.autosabroad.co.uk/
http://www.choiceair.co.uk/

Matt



[Edited by Matt Churchill - 2/20/2002 1:59:53 PM]

carpet

as obvious as it sounds www.cheapflights.com

never had a prob with em !