Topic: Holidays 2022 - what are you doing this year?

[Son of Spion]

Has any of our folks on here been to Iceland (the country, not the shop!)

I'm looking to take myself off just after Chrimbo, probably the first week in January, just somewhere on my own to chill out.

I know it sounds anti-social, but don't want somewhere with families and screeching kids, just somewhere to sit off, have a drink, read a book or go for a little mooch and find a bar. They have just started flights from Liverpool to Reykjavik for a decent price, but the only thing putting me off is the lack of daylight over there.

We went to Iceland in early November. The amount of daylight can certainly put some people off. January 1st sees the sun rising at 11:19am and setting again at 15:43pm. If the weather isn't good it can feel bleak. Mind you, I'd love to be there in the snow. We hoped to see the Northern Lights but it was mostly overcast when we were there.

I remember our flights being cheap too, but that's the only thing cheap if you go to Iceland. It's hellishly expensive. A pint of lager routinely cost £10. Fish, chips and a pint of beer each in our hotel was £80.    I'd love to go back, but unless you take thousands of pounds it's hard to do the excursions you need to go on to really see the place. A fridge magnet for my mum was a tenner.

We did find a place that does the soup in a bread bowl. It's called Svarta Kaffid.  https://www.facebook.com/svartakaffid 
That was a nice little place where you can get basic stuff, but I wouldn't call that cheap either.

I agree with Rhi that's it's not the kind of place to go and just have drinks in bars. Well, not unless you are ok with the pricing. Apart from the cost and the lack of daylight at that time of year, Iceland is amazing though.

[.adam]

Awesome, sure you'll have a great time!

I just got back from there about 3 weeks ago.

We did Capetown, George, Kynsna, Johannesburg, Kruger.

What part of Kruger are you staying at?

Also while in Plett please be aware there have been some shark attacks and that about 12 great whites have been spotted circling the area.

Cheers, man. I'd read about that poor woman getting snatched in waist-high water. No way I'm going in the sea! Alll of our Airbnbs have pools so I'll get my time in the water there!

For Kruger we're largely staying in the southern half. Nights in Lower Sabie, Skukuza and Satara. We did similar last time and saw almost everything we wanted to see. Missed out on the African Wild Dogs so it'd be good to see a pack of them if possible! I love the self-drive element of the SanParks - the freedom to take a left or a right, visit a small watering hole, that sort of thing. It's great, isn't it!

[Ray K]

Just came back from 10 days in Tenerife. Stayed in a small development with a nice pool and our own sun patio for lounging, 26 degrees every day, short stroll to the restaurants and bars every night, just bliss.

[Nick110581]

Off to Bordeaux on Sunday for two nights.

Any tips welcome

[Ray K]

Off to Bordeaux on Sunday for two nights.

Any tips welcome

La Tupina restaurant on the banks of the Garonne. Beautiful and reasonably priced.

It's one of my favourite cities. Gorgeous from every angle.

[mc_red22]

Off to New York on 30th Nov, I can't wait!

[gazzam1963]

Off to New York on 30th Nov, I can't wait!

Mates just come back said it was ridiculously expensive , he went with his wife , young lad , mum and dad preloaded a card with £5000 and spent it all in the five days they were there . They had already pre paid for a lot off the attractions they went to

[rob1966]

Mates just come back said it was ridiculously expensive , he went with his wife , young lad , mum and dad preloaded a card with £5000 and spent it all in the five days they were there . They had already pre paid for a lot off the attractions they went to

Brother in law has just come back from California, said meals and drinks out were very expensive.

We've cancelled Florida for next Oct due to the cost

[.adam]

Brother in law has just come back from California, said meals and drinks out were very expensive.

We've cancelled Florida for next Oct due to the cost

Aye. We were looking at San Francisco and the west coast this year but decided against it due to how expensive everything is.

In-laws go regularly and say that things have doubled in price as of late. Wine tasting visits in Sonoma and Napa now coming in at over $30 a pop.

I'm off to South Africa later this week and the exchange rate is better now than when we last went in 2017. Looking forward to my £3-£4 wine tastings in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek

[Lee1-6Liv]

We are off to Disneyland Paris next Sunday for five days. We used go every year but have not been since before covid.

[Nobby Reserve]

We are off to Disneyland Paris next Sunday for five days. We used go every year but have not been since before covid.

We're going second weekend in December. Saturday/night in Paris (Tuileries Xmas Market on the night - really looking forward to this!) then the train to DLP first thing Sunday morning. Booked in for one night at the Sequoia Lodge and we've got the express check-in at the station so leave our bags there and head into the main park for the day/evening. Spend Monday at the Disney Studios before train to CDG for a late evening flight back.

[markedasred]

I'm not long back from Prague with my older brother. I absolutely loved it, beautiful to see, great prices and beer, with the one proviso that he is quite unadventurous, so once we found a local restaurant that was great, he wanted to go there most nights. I had a list of 11 places I wanted to try. About the same for breakfast cafes. I would go with a love interest next time, but also want to visit more of Eastern Europe. I've seen almost all of Western Europe and Scandinavia, but there's lots of the east still to see for the first time.

[rob1966]

I'm not long back from Prague with my older brother. I absolutely loved it, beautiful to see, great prices and beer, with the one proviso that he is quite unadventurous, so once we found a local restaurant that was great, he wanted to go there most nights. I had a list of 11 places I wanted to try. About the same for breakfast cafes. I would go with a love interest next time, but also want to visit more of Eastern Europe. I've seen almost all of Western Europe and Scandinavia, but there's lots of the east still to see for the first time.

Missus took me there for my 50th, December 2016 - loved it and the Christmas markets and the atmosphere made it special. The weather was mad, 8c, I was walking around in a t-shirt (no shorts). Did the ice pub, found a cracking little bar down an alley. Deffo want to go back.

[.adam]

Back from a couple of weeks in South Africa.

Really enjoyed it, even if it was very action-packed. Our route was Cape Town -> Stellenbosch -> Franschhoek -> Wilderness -> Plettenberg Bay -> Port Elizabeth -> Kruger.

Spent no more than a 2/3 of days in each place before moving on. We ate like kings/queens as I'd researched and booked some excellent restaurants in each place.

Of the wine regions, having now visited both, I prefer Franschhoek. It's got that small, cute, wine town atmosphere and everything is pretty close. We hired bikes one day and cycled vineyard to vineyard. It's a great way of doing it. Did the wine tram one day which was a bit more regimented in terms of time you can spend in each vineyard before having to move on.

Love Wilderness as a place to relax - we spent two days taking it easy. Outside of the town is a place called Oysters R Us which was just superb. A crisp bottle of Sauvignon and as many oysters a you fancy with six different toppings. Wonderful.

Kruger was great but perhaps would visit a different game reserve next time. It's a massive hike to get there and on the day we left it was about 10-11 hours of driving all in before we were at Joburg airport to fly home.

If anyone is thinking of going in the future, give me a shout and I'll be happy to share thoughts, tips, places to eat etc.

[Lfc19ynwa]

Missus took me there for my 50th, December 2016 - loved it and the Christmas markets and the atmosphere made it special. The weather was mad, 8c, I was walking around in a t-shirt (no shorts). Did the ice pub, found a cracking little bar down an alley. Deffo want to go back.

Surprised you didn’t get arrested walking round in just a t-shirt

[Snail]

Little photo I took on our last evening in HCMC, which sadly was also our last night in Vietnam.



From start to finish, we had the best time imaginable. The cities, the countryside, the food and most importantly the people were just… I can’t even describe it. We loved every single second and we can’t fucking wait to go back.

Couple of points. As we’d never holidayed outside of Europe before, and because it was our honeymoon, we did it through a travel agent. Two and a half weeks for a little over £3,000, including flights and a few days in an all inclusive posh hotel in Phu Quoc. If - and hopefully when - we go back, we’ll do it ourselves. There were just some small annoyances, like them booking us on the last flight out of Phu Quoc to Ho Chi Minh which basically lost us a day in the city, the flight was a little delayed so we didn’t even check into the hotel until past midnight. We also looked up the prices for some stuff they’d included in the package and… yeah, we could have done it cheaper.

Second point. Christ, it’s cheap there. We took £1,500 to spend between the two of us and we were having to go out of our way to spend money, to the point where we rapidly started feeling a bit bad about it. If you go - and you should! - tip well, don’t be a mingebag. Rules for life in general, but especially there.

Siri, how do I move to Vietnam?

Edit: And please, please, please go the War Remnants Museum.

[rob1966]

Glad to hear you had a brilliant time.

Neighbour of ours wife died a few years ago, after a year or so he went on holiday to Vietnam, met a woman, set up a garage business, sold his house and car here and never came back.

[kavah]

Little photo I took on our last evening in HCMC, which sadly was also our last night in Vietnam. …

Nice one. It’s an amazing place. Like you say wonderful people.

Made me look up the old thread. A couple of rawkites lived there. And Some poor sod moved there for Tet 2020. Bad timing !

[Snail]

Glad to hear you had a brilliant time.

Neighbour of ours wife died a few years ago, after a year or so he went on holiday to Vietnam, met a woman, set up a garage business, sold his house and car here and never came back.

Nice one to him. Hanoi, as much as we loved it, was a bit too hectic and polluted. Ho Chi Minh on the other hand… a disturbing number of Australians though. Always unsettling when they turn up.

[Snail]

Just found another belter I took. Already saving up to go back.