Family Holiday Tips for UK Travelers

How are UK family holiday-makers at a Caribbean resort different from North American travelers? Well, in addition to flying further and staying longer, they've often paid a whole lot more for the land portion of their family holiday.

Is there any way to avoid this dubious distinction?

Can UK Visitors Save Money on Resort Family Holidays...

...by booking through a North American vacation packager?

I posed this question to Sally Black, of VacationKids.com. Here's what you need to know.

The best strategy is to to add on to your family holiday a mini-stay in a US city that has lots of charters to the Caribbean or Mexico: New York City, for example. You'll easily be able to find vacation packages to any resort you wish.

Actually purchasing the ticket, however, presents a couple of obstacles.

First: If customers go, for example, to popular online vacation packager Apple Vacations to book directly, "they MUST select a random travel agent which is sorted by US zip code. If UK families don't know a US zip code then they won't be able to book." Other popular packagers probably work the same way. Why? Sally Black explains: "Wholesalers want travel agents in the loop to help with customer service issues. Many will not allow overseas addresses/postal codes in their credit card forms."

Trouble is, however, that "Many agents are reluctant to work with European clients... For example, they don't want to be responsible for shipping documents overseas."

Fortunately, most charter flights can be bought with etickets, "so if there is ever an issue or problems, you can always print tickets for pick up at the airport ticket counter... this is a much better safety net for overseas passengers." (Regular air tickets, however, will probably needed to be printed out and shipped.)

Sally's company, VacationKids.com,  specializes in all-inclusive resort holidays for families, and sells popular vacation packagers: Apple Vacations, Funjet, etc. "We deal with all the big wholesalers and are well versed in dealing with neighbors across the pond."

For example: "Say a family requests to depart on July 10, for 14 nights...I'll look and perhaps there is a non stop charter from Gatwick that leaves on July 9th... I build my quote around that departure to make it easy for my families. I'll check the flight itinerary and prices and then add a link where they can book the flights themselves....then I price out the land portion of their trip. I make it very easy for them."

So: it can be done. And if you don't fancy visiting New York as your intermediary connecting city, there are other options. Have a look at a big vacation package site, like Apple Vacations, and check departure cities. Northern US cities are your best bets.

Don't forget that you'll probably need to overnight again in your connection city on your way back. And never schedule tight connection times. Your transatlantic tickets will be completely separate from your resort-vacation package: if you miss a flight, you're on your own.

How much time do you need to factor in, to make connecting flights?
Sally Black advises: "For international connections, families should allow a 4 hour minimum for lay overs. You have to clear customs, collect baggage, usually find transport to another terminal (always at the complete other side of the airport) check in, clear security...plus time to get food and have bathroom breaks for the kids."

All of which makes travel insurance even more important than usual. Sally's final tip: "It is VERY important that if any family -.US, UK or otherwise-- books their vacation ala carte like this, they MUST obtain their own travel protection insurance. We usually recommend www.travelguard.com. This will cover them for airline issues, hotel issues, medical, etc. They can always call/work with their airlines if there is a problem as well as the company they use to arrange their land travels. The travel insurance companies also provide 24/7 emergency numbers."