Popped into STA Travel Queen St last Saturday as my sister and I are planning a trip to Europe next…read moreyear. We were lucky enough to get a quick appointment - they got really hectic after we left! We sat down with Mandy, who was friendly and efficient. She gave us an example itinerary for our return flights, so we could think about it over the next couple of days. The price was great, so we went back yesterday to purchase them! Mandy also gave us a list about the different accommodation choices we should consider in the cities we are visiting, plus an insurance travel quote and general information. We felt a bit stressed about the accommodation, as we didn't know where to start, but Mandy was more than happy to share her knowledge! Highly recommend making an appointment and planning your next trip here!

The invaluable assistance of the staff at STA Travel on Queen St is essential in a good holiday…read more They cater to both people traveling abroad and visitors to New Zealand. They are a chipper crew with comfy seats (a must while planning your O.E.) and a great range of travel magazines to peruse. They seem genuinely helpful and accommodating, building a personal friendship with clients, even being of service to me while I was overseas and wanted to extend my stay. Don't forget they do a great under 25's deal and price can price beat other stores. This is the most welcoming travel store in Auckland's CBD and are very transparent in their dealings. No one likes a pushy salesman. STA Travel will have you geared up for your trip, where ever it is, with you having to sweat.

When I had a few troubles with my first travel agent last year when I was arranging a trip to…read moreEurope, namely organising a flight that went through Tahiti and LA and basically took two days to get there, I decided that I would organise the rest of my travels with someone else. And, well, I'm glad I did - Michele at Bon Voyage organised my travels for 6 weeks in Europe before my international exchange started in the Netherlands, and I felt very well organised with all of my itinerary. It was very clearly printed and told me all of the things I would need to be aware of, such as whether food was provided on the flight and also the time I needed to get there before hand. I also contacted her when I was overseas to book a trip to Krakow and Hamburg - she got back to me really quickly with the cheapest options available and told me it was actually better for me to book them myself instead of through her, as they had additional fees through a travel agent. It's nice to know that when you are strapped for cash when you are travelling that your travel agent has your best interests in mind, and not just trying to make money out of you.

My father always used to rave about the wonderful service he got every time he wanted to enquire a…read morebouts flights and holidays with Sky Train. I just used to roll my eyes thinking its probably because he is too lazy to actually book his own flights, but you know what he was right. The service at sky train is out of this world especially from Laura Yap, she helped me and my mother when we faced some difficulty. My uncle (mother's brother) passed away in Zimbabwe and mum and I decided we needed to go home to be with our family. All it took was one phone call, one appointment and less than an hour and our flights where booked and visa information was provided. This not only saved us money but it saved us a great deal of time.

What an amazing time! Learn about the Arataki Pathway to learning, take a Bush walk to a…read morewaterfalls, go to Piha beach, and go on the large Kuri walk. What an adventure. Be prepared for all kinds of weather. Stop in at the Piha Store and get a fresh cup of coffee and a pastry treat before adventuring around. It's absolutely beautiful here. The sand is magnetic on Piha so bring a magnet for the kids to experiment. Highly recommend visiting. Our guide was fantastic for bush and beach she was so informative and fun!

Here's what we do with any international visitors who we collect from the airport, an obligatory…read moretrip to Arataki Visitors Centre before we explore the city any further. This is one of Auckland's most scenic visitor centres, perched atop the Waitakere Ranges on Scenic Drive it offers superb views of our twin harbours, the Waitemata and Manukau, from outside decks. Ideal photo opportunity. From here you can see our stunning native bush because you are literally on the treetops. You get a perspective of the city centre with Rangitoto and Skytower your landmarks, and on the other side is the Nihotipu Dam. The visitor centre has great displays of the area, some gorgeous artwork and great Maori carvings. This is also a hub to get information about trekking in the Waitakere Ranges and there is always a ranger or two to discuss your options. Don't head out into the bush unless you are armed with the correct information and are equipped with the correct gear. Speaking of bush walks, there is an easy 40 minute round trip bush walk across the road from the visitor centre which gives you and your visitors a little taste of the areas bush tracks.

This company is a scam. I had a tour booked with them and had to cancel and they refused to process…read moremy refund unless I gave them all of my banking information including account numbers which would have allowed them complete access to my account. No customer service whatsoever. They are fraudsters. Avoid at all costs.

Rafael was a wonderful driver! We rode with him on the way to the Waitomo Caves from Auckland and…read morehe told us a bunch of New Zealand history on our drive over. The drive to the Waitomo caves was longer than the glow worm tour there itself but I would still highly suggest it. We booked our tour online on the Intercity Bus website under the Day Tours. If you do not have a car, this seems to be the best way to check out the glow worms from Auckland. The bus left promptly at 730am from the Intercity Bus station at 102 Hobson Street and we arrived back in Auckland at around 215pm. The day tour from Auckland and back to Auckland did not include lunch. We packed our own lunch and were able to eat it on the bus ride back (the other people who booked a different tour were able to eat their included lunch on the bus as well). The Waitomo Caves were beautiful. Our tour guide Maria was so funny and personable and she even sang to our group in the cave (because there are some good acoustics in there!!)! She had such a pretty voice too. The caves were such a sight to see and there were tons of glow worms! I kept hoping that one would fall on me but no such luck. You do have to be VERRRRRRY quiet once you are in the boat to see the glow worms so if you have very young children or babies, this wouldn't be the time to take them. You also are not allowed to take pictures in the caves AT ALL which was a little bit of a bummer but you just have to remember to live in the moment and take a picture with your mind ;) It was very easy to book this day trip on the Intercity website and the tour was just what we were looking for. Def recommend going this route if you don't want to drive and just want to enjoy the scenery!

These guys know their travel business. I popped in because we won a Flight Centre $1000 travel…read morevoucher last year and it expires soon so wanted to know some options. While I didn't have too much time, I got a quick overview of some of our options in Australia and the Islands, we might need to top that up a bit but at Flight Centre that amount can get you a long way. They have the best prices on flights and their package deals to exotic destinations are so incredibly priced. Apparently if you find a cheaper flight elsewhere they will beat it, so I'm keeping that in mind. Stefan is the team leader of the Blockhouse Bay branch of Flight Centre and you should see where he's been. It's good to know he is giving advice from his own experience. So we didn't pin down a destination or a date but I'm armed with some great information to put our trip together.

In the age of the internet, I really don't see the point in Flight Centre. We wanted to go to…read moreMelbourne last year and went in to enquire about Flights - they quoted us around $700 for two return flights. We checked the internet and got a better deal - $600 flying with Virgin Australia. Granted we got no food on the flight but otherwise it was fine. This year we want to fly back to Dublin for my 40th birthday. We enquired in Flight Centre and they quoted us nearly $5000 flying via the Middle East with Ethiad airlines. We saw the same flights on Expedia for almost $200 cheaper - so why pay more? I guess the staff in Flight Centre are quite knowledgeable and if you were going to somewhere unknown, they would probably be quite helpful. If you are returning home and know your itinery you don't really need them to hold your hand.

I normally take care of my travel needs personally. This time I decided to support a local agency…read more Never again! I made an appointment with the agency and the meeting was lovely. She gave me a "deal." I of course compared to what I could book on my own and her special deal price was actually more but I still wanted to support a local business so I didn't mind. My not good rating comes from all of the hidden costs and the lack of support to resolve the issues. 1. Credit card fee of 3%. Had I booked online myself there would have been no fee. That was not as big of a deal to me because I still had a desire to support a local business but because of the other issues it is now part of my low rating frustrations. 2. I had to go online and choose seats myself (why have an agent if every detail isn't included?)! That cost was another $100. 3. Because it was a third party booking I wasn't able to book my seats online even though the agent told me I could. I ended up having to call the airline and even they had a difficult time booking my seats because it was third party. The whole seat booking process took over two hours of my time which was frustrating because I paid for an agency to handle all of the details. 4. In addition, the trip is non refundable after it is booked. I was okay with that because the trip is only a couple of weeks away. All of the problems came after the trip was booked. I would have cancelled my trip with the agency on principle but at this point I was stuck. 5. When sharing with the agency that I felt "dooped" because of the above mentioned issues, the response was "I am sorry you feel that way." 6. It is a big lesson and reminder as to why I choose to be my own travel agent. It is truly bothersome because I really do want to support local businesses but not again. We have other big trips coming up but because of this experience I will not be giving my business to this agency nor will I go to other agencies.

Orewa Campground is a good option if you have little kids. Firstly you don't have to spend 17 hours…read morebattling traffic in a hot stuffy car; you can take the Northern Motorway for less than 30min pretty much to the front gate. The campground itself is very family friendly and has a playgroud, basketball hoop and great games room. Of course the biggest draw card it that its right next to Orewa Beach. I'm not the hugest fan of Orewa Beach, it's shallow and flat; but this I guess is what makes it popular with young families. Orewa is a nice place to holiday, they've recently renovated the boulevard and it's open and paved. There are good food options along the front stretch if you get sick of baked beans on the camp cooker. And there's a perfectly positioned ice cream shop across the road from the campground.