Topic: Holiday 2017

[ShrewKop]

Just got Disney in Florida booked for September with my lovely wife and her parents for four days. Staying at a resort hotel and doing a park a day!  Went to Kauai, Hawaii for our honeymoon back in April as well, that was different class. The views at that place are incredible, an absolute treat to visit (although the most expensive place i've ever visited - a loaf of bread was $8 from Walmart so fuck actually having to live there  )

[rob1966]

Yep we came back from another Orlando holiday last week, get to the parks early is always the best advice.
We have an autistic child so planning is essential, but got on nearly everything we wanted at Universal and Disney, mostly by good planning and visiting at less busy times of the day.
That said there are no really quiet times anymore, just some periods of the year busier than others.

We went on Thomson Dreamliner, much better at Sanford than MCO - travelling was stressful, my son had an epilepsy seizure 5 hours into our flight into Orlando.
Thankfully he was okay and we went on to have a great time.

If you ever go back, tell them about the child, they'll give you free fast passes. Lad at work has a daughter who has autism, he got a letter from the doctor, they wouldn't even read it, he said it was like they thought it was an invasion of the daughters privacy, and just issued the fast passes.

[Frank Becton]

If you ever go back, tell them about the child, they'll give you free fast passes. Lad at work has a daughter who has autism, he got a letter from the doctor, they wouldn't even read it, he said it was like they thought it was an invasion of the daughters privacy, and just issued the fast passes.

okay mate will do.

[AndyMuller]

Fair enough, we just hate the double bag drop at MCO. With our lad being disabled we just found Sanford quieter and less stressful. Immigration was also quick.

I know people who have had to stay on the plane for over 2 hours recently after landing at MCO because the immigration queue and process was so bad.

I do hate the monorail at MCO and I did think the immigration queue was worse than at Sanford but that was still slow aswell.

I think they just like taking their time the yanks 

[Derzyjudek]

I am currently in Ravello on the Amalfi coast in Italy , it's hard to find words to describe how beautiful this place is.

[filopastry]

I am currently in Ravello on the Amalfi coast in Italy , it's hard to find words to describe how beautiful this place is.

It really is stunning isn't it, got married there, i never get bored of that view!

[Derzyjudek]

It really is stunning isn't it, got married there, i never get bored of that view!

We have rented a house on the hillside and spent hours just staring at the view, some lovely places to visit too like Amalfi, Positano and Capri.

[filopastry]

We have rented a house on the hillside and spent hours just staring at the view, some lovely places to visit too like Amalfi, Positano and Capri.

I'm very jealous!

[rob1966]

I do hate the monorail at MCO and I did think the immigration queue was worse than at Sanford but that was still slow aswell.

I think they just like taking their time the yanks 

The kids loved riding the monorail.

They are slow, except when bringing your food, then it's main straight after starter

[Derzyjudek]

I'm very jealous!

Don't be too much, we are coming home tomorrow .😭

Here is our view.

[TheKid.]

If you ever go back, tell them about the child, they'll give you free fast passes. Lad at work has a daughter who has autism, he got a letter from the doctor, they wouldn't even read it, he said it was like they thought it was an invasion of the daughters privacy, and just issued the fast passes.

Not quite how it works any more. Used to give you passes to go straight to the front of the line, but the last few years it works more like the normal fastpass system in that they give you a time (based on the length of the queue time) to come back and use the fastpass queue entrance

[gazzam1963]

Do any of you who go to orlando ever go down or consider splitting it with a week at the beach , around St petes beach / Clearwater is a great place to unwind after a week at the parks . You can walk to beach bars restaurants and drive to shopping malls and Tampa ( busch gardens ) the beaches are stunning too with White sands and warm water . Love the 2 centre holidays as your more relaxed coming home , possibly not for people visiting Orlando first time but once you've been a few times it's great holiday . Gone really pricey now in the old teletext ( 2001 )  days I got five flights in the premier gold section for £39 each for five of us return !

[Only Me]

Do any of you who go to orlando ever go down or consider splitting it with a week at the beach , around St petes beach / Clearwater is a great place to unwind after a week at the parks . You can walk to beach bars restaurants and drive to shopping malls and Tampa ( busch gardens ) the beaches are stunning too with White sands and warm water . Love the 2 centre holidays as your more relaxed coming home , possibly not for people visiting Orlando first time but once you've been a few times it's great holiday . Gone really pricey now in the old teletext ( 2001 )  days I got five flights in the premier gold section for £39 each for five of us return !

We split a 3 week stay about 10 years ago. 2weeks in Animal Kingdom Lodge then a week in a villa down in Naples. Bliss it was.

Last visit was last year. To make the most of Universal, we stayed 1 night room only in the Hard Rock Hotel (2double beds so 4 of us in the one room). Cost about £300, but with the room we all got 2 full days worth of unlimited Universal residents fast passes.

 You check in at 7am leave all your gear in the car, get your passes for the day and walk into the parks an hour early, at 8am.

So, an hour where it's very quiet, so you can do one of the Potter parks with no wait, then spend the rest of the day just jumping straight to the front of all the queues on the other rides.

Back to the hotel, watch a movie in the pool and generally enjoy the place, then bed early.

Up at 7.30 on day 2, get your passes again, check out but leave the car in the hotel car park. Do the other Potter park early, then jump the queues all day again.

It's dear for one night, but the Universal passes are well better than Disney- we reckon we did well over 40 rides in the two days, and never waited more than about 15 mins at any one of them.

Exhausting, but absolutely boss 2 days.

[Frank Becton]

Do any of you who go to orlando ever go down or consider splitting it with a week at the beach , around St petes beach / Clearwater is a great place to unwind after a week at the parks . You can walk to beach bars restaurants and drive to shopping malls and Tampa ( busch gardens ) the beaches are stunning too with White sands and warm water . Love the 2 centre holidays as your more relaxed coming home , possibly not for people visiting Orlando first time but once you've been a few times it's great holiday . Gone really pricey now in the old teletext ( 2001 )  days I got five flights in the premier gold section for £39 each for five of us return !

We did that several times many years ago, doing 2 centre with Orlando, coupled with Naples/Miami/Sarasota/Ft Laduderdale and The Keys on different holidays.
I agree it's great.

[Frank Becton]

Not quite how it works any more. Used to give you passes to go straight to the front of the line, but the last few years it works more like the normal fastpass system in that they give you a time (based on the length of the queue time) to come back and use the fastpass queue entrance

They used to have a system called the GAC, guest assistance card, which Disney replaced with the the DAS, disability access service.
Universal followed along the same lines , their AAP - attraction assistance pass.

It works similar to what you described but they do also offer a disability express pass which you can hand in and pretty much get straight on the rides with little wait time.

[Lone Star Red]

Was in Cabo San Lucas for a guys trip last weekend with some of my best friends and my wife and I are belatedly celebrating our one year anniversary in Sonoma next week.

Shouts to having a wife who's a teacher so all we do is travel during the summer when she's off. 

[TheTeflonJohn]

I`m going to Crete in July and wondered what`s the best way to take money abroad, cash, bank card, pre-paid card, travellers cheques ?

[Wigwamdelbert]

I`m going to Crete in July and wondered what`s the best way to take money abroad, cash, bank card, pre-paid card, travellers cheques ?

I personally like the Halifax Clarity credit card, no transaction or exchange fees, and simply transfer money via online banking as I spend

[Jake]

Anyone got thoughts on Tenerife in March? Found a great hotel https://www.onthebeach.co.uk/hotels/spain/tenerife/puerto-de-la-cruz/la-quinta-park-suites but apparently that area of the island is dead, and we need to be at playa de la americas

[TheTeflonJohn]

I personally like the Halifax Clarity credit card, no transaction or exchange fees, and simply transfer money via online banking as I spend

Cheers mate, will look into it

[redk84]

Me and the wife hoping for quick weekend getaway on relatively cheap budget (few hundred). Somewhere easyjet can fly, just to get away really!

Something out the ordinary would be good.....(we're trying to avoid Spain, Germany, France as we been a few places between us to those countries)
Anybody been to Estonia? Tallinn.....
Or Copenhagen maybe? Any good?

Any suggestions welcome 

[rob1966]

Anyone got thoughts on Tenerife in March? Found a great hotel https://www.onthebeach.co.uk/hotels/spain/tenerife/puerto-de-la-cruz/la-quinta-park-suites but apparently that area of the island is dead, and we need to be at playa de la americas

Depends what you want from the holiday - we got to Callao Salvaje every January which is further up the Adeje coast from Americas, more towards Los Gigantes, its very quiet but its a break from the miserable UK and the shitty weather so it does us, we just laze about and unwind. You have got Loro Parque up there and the weather in March should be good, although the Adeje coast seems to be the best for weather during the winter/spring. We still get temps in the low 70's and most days are dry when we go.

[Rhi]

Me and the wife hoping for quick weekend getaway on relatively cheap budget (few hundred). Somewhere easyjet can fly, just to get away really!

Something out the ordinary would be good.....(we're trying to avoid Spain, Germany, France as we been a few places between us to those countries)
Anybody been to Estonia? Tallinn.....
Or Copenhagen maybe? Any good?

Any suggestions welcome 

I took my other half to Tallinn for her birthday a couple of weeks ago and we had a lovely time. It's a small city, but really beautiful. There are also opportunities to get out the city if you fancy it. We went to an old soviet town which was a nice change, and you stop off at an old Russian cargo plane on the way back (I love planes so this was the main reason I went). We did the free tour of the old town and that was very good, and we then explored by ourselves afterwards. Apparently the trips out to the national park are good, as are day trips to Tartu. The beer / food isn't cheap, but I liked the relaxed atmosphere and the lovely old cobbled streets etc.

The food can be hit and miss but a mate made some good recommendations on places to go. FRANK, Must Puudel and Hell Hunt were where we ate and we were quite happy with what we had there. The restaurants right in the Old Town Square are a nice setting but very expensive. The local beers and ciders were all very good everywhere we went.

Copenhagen is also lovely but extortionate.

Prague is excellent and well worth a long weekend. Wroclaw in Poland is both cheap and lovely with a few cool things to see and do. It was capital of culture last year. Krakow is the other obvious Polish city which is a really brilliant place for a weekend away IMO.

If it's your first time in any of those places, I'd suggest you won't go wrong with Krakow, Prague or Tallinn. Probably in that order. Though if you don't want to "follow the crowd" in terms of weekend away destinations, then Tallinn is the one.

Though if you want something really a bit different, I saw easyJet now fly to Tivat, Montenegro. I'm planning to visit this year sometime.

[Jake]

Depends what you want from the holiday - we got to Callao Salvaje every January which is further up the Adeje coast from Americas, more towards Los Gigantes, its very quiet but its a break from the miserable UK and the shitty weather so it does us, we just laze about and unwind. You have got Loro Parque up there and the weather in March should be good, although the Adeje coast seems to be the best for weather during the winter/spring. We still get temps in the low 70's and most days are dry when we go.

Me and 1 or 2 male friends are going. I'm looking for best weather, a decent trip out of the hotel to bars and restaurants, and maybe a waterpark

[rob1966]

Me and 1 or 2 male friends are going. I'm looking for best weather, a decent trip out of the hotel to bars and restaurants, and maybe a waterpark

You need Adeje then coast, either Christianos/Americas, Fanabe or Adeje - the Aqua Park is just off the motorway in that area.

There's a new Hard Rock hotel in Playa Paraiso, it was expensive when we looked in January, but didn't seem busy, you might get a daft deal in there - its only 20 mins on the bus/10 in a taxi into Fanabe/Americas etc. There are loads of decent places in the Adeje area you should be able to get into. You can do powered paragliding with an instructor off the big hills too if you are into that.

[Jake]

You need Adeje then coast, either Christianos/Americas, Fanabe or Adeje - the Aqua Park is just off the motorway in that area.

There's a new Hard Rock hotel in Playa Paraiso, it was expensive when we looked in January, but didn't seem busy, you might get a daft deal in there - its only 20 mins on the bus/10 in a taxi into Fanabe/Americas etc. There are loads of decent places in the Adeje area you should be able to get into. You can do powered paragliding with an instructor off the big hills too if you are into that.

Last consideration is budget the hotel I linked above looks nice for 300 for the week (including flights)

[redk84]

I took my other half to Tallinn for her birthday a couple of weeks ago and we had a lovely time. It's a small city, but really beautiful. There are also opportunities to get out the city if you fancy it. We went to an old soviet town which was a nice change, and you stop off at an old Russian cargo plane on the way back (I love planes so this was the main reason I went). We did the free tour of the old town and that was very good, and we then explored by ourselves afterwards. Apparently the trips out to the national park are good, as are day trips to Tartu. The beer / food isn't cheap, but I liked the relaxed atmosphere and the lovely old cobbled streets etc.

The food can be hit and miss but a mate made some good recommendations on places to go. FRANK, Must Puudel and Hell Hunt were where we ate and we were quite happy with what we had there. The restaurants right in the Old Town Square are a nice setting but very expensive. The local beers and ciders were all very good everywhere we went.

Copenhagen is also lovely but extortionate.

Prague is excellent and well worth a long weekend. Wroclaw in Poland is both cheap and lovely with a few cool things to see and do. It was capital of culture last year. Krakow is the other obvious Polish city which is a really brilliant place for a weekend away IMO.

If it's your first time in any of those places, I'd suggest you won't go wrong with Krakow, Prague or Tallinn. Probably in that order. Though if you don't want to "follow the crowd" in terms of weekend away destinations, then Tallinn is the one.

Though if you want something really a bit different, I saw easyJet now fly to Tivat, Montenegro. I'm planning to visit this year sometime.

Excellent stuff! Cheers mate will confer with the boss

Appreciated.

[jason67]

I`m going to Crete in July and wondered what`s the best way to take money abroad, cash, bank card, pre-paid card, travellers cheques ?

Fuckin hell John, you stuck in the 80's? 

[rob1966]

Last consideration is budget the hotel I linked above looks nice for 300 for the week (including flights)

Fucking hell thats cheap

[TheTeflonJohn]

Fuckin hell John, you stuck in the 80's? 

haha yes bit of a fuck up there mate 

[Jake]

Fucking hell thats cheap

Yep extra for transfers and hold luggage like.

But at that cheap a price, makes me think there must be a catch.

[rob1966]

Yep extra for transfers and hold luggage like.

But at that cheap a price, makes me think there must be a catch.

I'd think its like you say, its an out of the way place and its quiet at that time of the year, also it sounds like alpharooms have bagged cheap flights. We got 4 flights to Tenerife for next January, including 2 cases going as hold luggage for £390 with EasyJet, was £70 each without hold luggage, usually we pay £600-800 for those flights.

Had a look at the Tripadvisor reviews and it does seem its in the middle of nowhere.

[Buck Pete]

Traders is very well located. You can walk around the main tourist sites.

I've stayed in the hotel before. A suggestion if time permits would be to skip the rooftop bar as your room view is as good if not better (or just go up when you check infor a quick peek) and take a wander over to Jalan Alor instead which has more than enough street food and bars to keep you entertained.

KL is a decent 24 hour stop over. Enjoy.

So glad I did the 24hr Kuala Lumpar visit.

Traders Hotel was indeed very well located and an absolute fucking amazing room view of the Towers.  They really are sight to behold, especially at night

The Petronas Towers blew away anything I've ever seen in the flesh in regards to man-made building structures, and that includes both the the Burj Kalifa and Burj Al Arab in Dubai.

We did indeed take a trip down to Jalan Alor and had some cracking street food and noodle dishes. Cheers for the tip.

Ended up in the Traders Hotel SkyBar on the 36th floor at the end of the night anyway.  Absolutely brilliant and ultra cool bar with a swimming pool in the middle and comfy seating all around the edge.  Once again overlooking the whole city and Petronas Towers.  Lively and fun but also chilled along with great music and reasonably priced tasty cocktails delivered to your table with a smile.

Knocked it on the head about 12:30am as we had to catch an early flight to Koh Samui but we could have sat drinking cocktails there all night.

[Rhi]

Nice one Pete. Bet you were gutted you didn't go to Singapore, eh?

Enjoy the rest of your holiday!

[Buck Pete]

Nice one Pete. Bet you were gutted you didn't go to Singapore, eh?

Enjoy the rest of your holiday!

Hell Rhi. Holiday been..gone and I'm back at work

Do fancy Singers one day though I must admit.

[Rhi]

Ah, didn't realise. Oh well! Hope you HAD a nice holiday then

Likewise on Singapore, to be honest.

Though this year getting filled up pretty quickly for me now. I'm going on a "working holiday" and leading a tour group around the Balkans later this year.

[kavah]

Aarhus sorted for August, I've never been to Denmark so I'm excited. And it's the European Capital of Culture this year
Did a search to see what the Rawkites think of this neck of the woods

Forgot to mention Aarhus. Full of neo nazi scum looking to pick up a fight.

Yikes

In the middle of Aarstreet?

 

[Crosby Nick]

Haha, one of my better ones!

Off to Tenerife in a couple of weeks, quite out in the stocks near Los Gigantes but looking forward to as much of a switch off as I can get away with without being mothered to go on the pool every five minutes. Holiday Bloody Holiday!

[LallanaInPyjamas]

Anyone been to the Marbella area? If so, hows the nightlife for five or six guys in their mid-20's?

[gazzam1963]

Just booked a 14 night cruise for two weeks time , great deal with cunard just over £1000 starting at Venice , around Greek isles and Athens , Dubrovnik ...should put about a stone on .