Do travel agencies still exist?

[Anonymous]

DH and I were just invited to a wedding in Tahiti next year. We really, really want to go, as these are our good friends and we haven't been on a proper vacation in years. Problem is, we can't afford to pay for flight tickets and accomodations up front. Back in the day, I could work with a travel agency to "break up" the cost of of a trip in manageable chunks. Is this even a "thing" nowadays?

Any ideas for how to make this trip happen without using credit on going in to debt (besides the obvious of setting money aside)?

[Anonymous]

Most people on this site will tell you that you cannot afford to go period. If you don't have enough savings to cover a trip, you don't have enough to cover basic emergencies, like I don't know..rent? food? medical bills?

[Anonymous]

I think there are companies that do layaway plans. Sears vacations is one, but I'm sure there are others. I ran across that tidbit when I was planning a trip a couple years ago. I think they charge more overall, so it might be better to either do the set aside money plan or open a credit card with zero interest for the first year or something like that. Also, Google travel agencies and your zip code. There are still some of there and I emailed a couple when I was doing my afore mentioned trip planning but they weren't any cheaper than doing it myself and charged a fee on top of it.

[Anonymous]

I doubt that any such arrangement would charge you less interest than a credit card. It sounds like you just can't afford to go.

[Anonymous]

16:58 here. Can you book the flight and hotel separately? Do one now and the other in 3 or 6 months or whatever? Also, are you willing to stay at a different, cheaper accommodation than the rest of the wedding group?

[Anonymous]

I tend to agree with the others, but if it is just an issue of paying so much at once and since it is next year you could break it up yourself as in the following:

1. Pay for plane tickets well in advance this year. Put them on credit card and then pay off quickly over a couple of months at most (if you can't do this, you can't afford it).

2. Reserve your hotel but don't pay in advance. That puts the payments for the two major pieces (air and hotel) months apart.

3. Save up for the trip between now and time to go and cut other things to build up that fund. Make it your xmas gifts to each other, etc.

[Anonymous]

That's what a credit card is for. If you can't afford it, you pay for it over several months.