Travelling Agencies?

[hurricane_bomb]

I was wondering what other people's thoughts on this were and if anyone's used a travel agency to go to Fanime. . . Or if I would be better off arranging things like the hotel, flight and rental car by myself. I wasn't entirely sure where to ask this. . So .Uh. Hope it's alright to ask here.

. . Kentucky is a little far away, after all. xD

[Kertus]

I've never used a travel agency so I wouldn't know how to go about using one or what they offer that's above and beyond what one can do on one's own.
Depending on how long you're out here for don't bother with rental car, I'm sure someone would be willing to get you from San Jose airport or another one to the hotel.
First I'd determine which airport you plan on flying out of in Kentucky and then plan which airport you're gonna land at here.
I'll help if you want :P

I'd need to know more about where you plan on flying from and budget and such though.

[hurricane_bomb]

Well, I've got a friend out there that might be in need of a ride. . .and I was also hoping to visit my sister while I was there. . . (And Long Beach is just a tid bit of a drive from San Jose or so I remember) So I'd probably want to get one.

I normally fly Southwest, however, I'm not sure Southwest goes out there. . .Though maybe it makes connections to there? 4 in the morning is entirely too early to attempt thinking, really. xD

I'd probably be using hte Louisville International Airport to leave, as it's the closest and arrive at the San Jose airport. . .

[codex biblio]

I'm not exactly sure about your itinerary from the post, but have you considered JetBlue? They have Long Beach-->San Jose flight. http://www.jetblue.com/

I don't know if Southwest flies into San Jose, it's not listed on their site. I've only done the Burbank-->Oakland route on them. http://southwest.com/

A travel agency is there to take the hassle out of travelling. If you're not comfortable researching/booking things on your own and don't mind a few extra fees, then a travel agent can be helpful.

But if you're comfortable booking travel and researching deals, then the sources our definitely out there. There's a lot of discount places now too. Just be aware of the restrictions. It's really a personal choice depending on your time, comfort level, and budget.

[Kertus]

Yeah Southwest goes to San Jose from Louisville.  Yeah a word of warning though if you're not 23 or 25+ years of age, renting is usually very expensive.
I'd say if you plan on visit your sister before or after the con and when you plan on going home would change where you get your rental car or if you just took the train from San Jose to Long Beach.  Actually for that matter flying between San Jose and LA area is cheaper than rental car if you're not that old.
But yeah if you still wanna rent I think best would be to only get the car before or after the con and do your visiting then so you don't have a rental car you're paying for each day along with parking for it during the con.

[BrightHeart76]

Long Beach is just a tid bit of a drive from San Jose or so I remember

Um...Long Beach is over 300 miles away from San Jose.  Just saying, in my book that's a long drive.  (I helped family move from San Jose to Long Beach a few years ago.)

[Charis]

Um...Long Beach is over 300 miles away from San Jose.  Just saying, in my book that's a long drive.  (I helped family move from San Jose to Long Beach a few years ago.)

This.

I drive up from the south coast, and it takes me four hours to San Jose and around two to head south from here to Long Beach.  More than a 'tid bit' for most people.

[PyronIkari]

I was wondering what other people's thoughts on this were and if anyone's used a travel agency to go to Fanime. . . Or if I would be better off arranging things like the hotel, flight and rental car by myself. I wasn't entirely sure where to ask this. . So .Uh. Hope it's alright to ask here.

. . Kentucky is a little far away, after all. xD

It's preference. Travel agencies allow you to do everything in the same place, hotel, flight, car, etc. etc. etc. But they also charge more unless you're getting a special deal that they have for a package, which won't be the case for fanime.

Renting a car is expensive, and driving to long beach is really expensive. Round trip of about 800 miles. You're much better just flying from SJ to Long beach via jetblue for about 63$ each way, 126ish round trip. I never use agencies unless it's for a specific package deal, like my flight to Japan was cheaper through an agency for said reason. Seeing that I can make my arrangements more specific if I do them myself, and it'll be cheaper that way, I prefer to do everything myself.

[G.I.R]

Long Beach is just a tid bit of a drive from San Jose or so I remember

Um...Long Beach is over 300 miles away from San Jose.  Just saying, in my book that's a long drive.  (I helped family move from San Jose to Long Beach a few years ago.)

Closer to 350 miles.  If you fly into SJ, your only about a mile or two from the airport.  And there is a lot of public transportation in San Jose.  (someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there light rail service from the airport to down town?)