First trip planning question!
 

So I'm looking to book a trip to either an all inclusive mexican resort or go to hawaii for a week :haha:. I got a few questions hopefully more experienced ppl could answer.
Firstly, do travel agents tack a fee ontop of your trip or do they take a cut (you dont pay for their services)? wondering if there's pros/con to booking online.
Secondly, I'm thinking about food cost if I choose going to Hawaii, I'll have to pay for me and my gf X 7days, thats a few hundred on top =( Should I bring and/or buy instant noodles? lol

Lastly, I've been on a cruise to mexico, but never to an all inclusive resort, I'm looking to relax and have some fun in the sun, I don't really know much about hawaii, it would be honalulu, I'm just afraid it will just be another "city" or is there enough other fun stuff to do @ the beaches?

I know its ultimately my decision, I'de just like some peoples experiences thanks!

Don't cheap out and bring ur own food, your going on a vacation so money will be spent anyway. Might as well enjoy the local cuisine cuz u can eat noodles at home!
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lol yeah i didnt mean for every meal, i was thinking like instant noodle for breakfasts, (maybe lunch?), and normal dinners, just dinners thats still like 50-80$/day=350-450, buy lunches add another 140 for the week, there goes 6bills on food!
=( Im a cook so I could just buy local produce and cook meals but that doesnt sound very vacationy to me lol

You should just stay home.

and why the hell are you paying for your gf?

coz he probably cant get any if he stays in vancouver.........

When are you planning to take your trip? Summer months is monsoon/huricanne season for that area, and missed flights would suck royally.

I would suggest going to a nice all inclusive resort in Mexico. Sit on the beach and drink all you can drink. Go to the buffet dinners and eat all you can eat. Not much to worry about.

There is a thread on hawaii so read up on things to do on honolulu, its a gorgeous island. Buying groceries and cooking isnt a bad idea. Maybe get a hotel room with an ocean view and eat on the balcony or do a picnic on the beach.
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planning on going early next month. The resort choices I have right now are at puerto vallarta, manzanillo, and cancun, leaning towards cancun. However I was reading about Hawaii and inter-island hopping, anyone have experience with this? I've read you can either fly or ferry, just wondering on say like a 7-10day trip, would there be a point to visit another island for a day or two? pretty much scrapped trying to budget this, just wanna plan things out and aprils coming fast! =D

spend the money to eat at the hotel. it's free, it's included, it's cleaner than other places and it's so much easier to enjoy it and not worry and have to look for a place to eat. what's better, wake up, call for food and head out, or get up, run and bus and find a place to eat and then start ur day
i'm not saying u shoudl eat at the hotel every meal but sometimes it's just so much more easier.

If you take the All-Inclusive to Mexico then you don't have worry about any further potential spending. In Hawaii it could quickly rack up if you end up at places like Ala Moana mall and the nearby Outlet for some shopping (especially if the lady is well... a female haha), then there's all the restaurants around the city that you would want to try, most are not that cheap. There are some cheap eats like going behind this convenience store (called something Reef?) to grab some Hawaiian lunch boxes :D ...but then again you aren't really "experiencing" Hawaii anymore. Don't forget the attractions and excursions that all cost money as well. If you want to maximize your trip to Hawaii then you will even need to rent a car to drive up around the island to check out the various other beaches! There's a Hawaii thread in this forum, you should check that out. I got a lot of useful tips from it before I went on my Hawaii vacation last year! My opinion would be to save Hawaii for a future vacation when you have flexibility to spend more freely.

In Mexico you can drink yourself silly & eat 'til you explode, walk around the resort & enjoy some of the shows then relax on the beautiful sandy beaches to get a tan, rinse, repeat! If you hit up a nice resort then there's tons of places to eat, usually there's like 6-7 different restaurants on-site that could possibly be included in your trip package and then there's one main giant buffet and various 24 hour snack bars spread around the floor for hotdogs and pizza at 5am after some intense drinking haha. Of course there's the excursions and adventures that you can do outside as well but that will cost you money, but overall not as much as Hawaii. Not to mention the ONE time I did have dinner outside the resort (oddly enough, it was Rainforest Cafe, remember that from Metro? lol) I got intense food poisoning the next day lol ... yeah I'm laughing now ... wasn't so fun back then.. I still went to lay in the sun haha TROOPER! :p

THAT being said I think it's still better to go Hawaii with your date and Mexico is better if you plan to double-date or go with friends!... that's my 2 cents :)

FYI, The US has issued a travel warning to it's citizens heading into Mexico. Canada hasn't issued one yet, but do take precautions.

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pa....asp?id=184000

In case it isn't obvious, going to Hawaii will be much more expensive than Mexico.

I'm sorry but I kinda LOL'd at the instant noodles bit hahahaha

Have fun though!!!! I've never been to Mexico/Hawaii but it's best to go there around August here?

Yeah I figure since we'r going might aswell go all out, booked 10days in honolulu @ a reputable 3star. I found a fishing tour that allows you to keep up to 50LBs of your catch ($140 for a half day trip) :thumbsup:, that to me is experiencing real hawaiin food. Probably won't take ALL of that haha, but could help save on a few meals and its fresh!

Now it's all activity planning....go oahu cards look like a good deal, did you use one obsideon?