I am looking into going to Aruba in October. How far in advance should you purchase your vacation. Should you purchase a vacation package or purchase hotel and airfare separate?

Thanks
sherry

We booked our vacation as a package and we usually book at least 3 months in advance. We found the nearer you get to the date, they tend to put the prices up a bit. We have never booked hotel and airfare separately so someone else will have to answer that question. But we have round booking a few months in advance and shopping around you can get a pretty good deal. You'll need to spend some time surfing the net because between sites it can be anything from $50 to $300 difference in prices (each). Good luck and enjoy the vacation.

Good question, and not an easy one to answer; or maybe too easy -- depending on perspective.

For starters, do you have a budget for your vacation? If money's no object, then you can grab what you want when you like what you see. That could be either a total package or air fare from one place and a land package from another.

More likely, you have financial limitations. You need a *baseline* cost from which to compare special sales, deals, offers, etc. Start by looking at and listing individual air fares and individual land packages for the specific hotel(s) at which you might want to stay. Compare these to total air/land packages. Unless you have a LOT of time on your hands to research and shop around like a pro, you'll do better with a total package than piecing it together yourself.

Register (FREE) at travel sites like expedia, travelocity, and orbitz, signing up for their **email alerts** which will notify you when your *chosen destination/route* prices change. You MUST check your email often, and I dont mean daily ... I mean severl times a day! I sometimes get several emails in ONE day that a specific route I'm tracking has gone up, down, and up again. You need to respond immediately when you get notification of a (downed) price you want to lock in! Sometimes that offer only lasts a few hours or is limited to a few seats on a given plane on a given day.

Meanwhile, compare your data with some local travel agents, AAA, etc.

AND ... if you are going to book way in advance, seriously consider the optional TRIP INSURANCE. One to two hundred more dollars now could save you thousands later! You never know what could happen with health, home, family, weather, or even your trip to the airport that day! Carefully check the details of the insurance. Yes, some will cover you the day OF the trip if you miss the plane!

-HMP-

After alot of time searching the net I was suprised to find out that our travel agent could beat the prices I had found. Apparently the hotels and airlines both give them concessions for booking them both together. Although we never go AI we have found that our travel agent had included free breakfast at our hotel. This was not available on the internet although our package had everything the internet offered.

we always book early. we went to aruba last novemebr, we booked in the early part of the year and when it was time to leave for our trip it was already 1.000.00 more for the same accomodations. so i think it is better to book early.