2014 Holiday Plans

[Xela]

Following on from last years thread, what are our plans for this year?

 

I haven't made any yet, which is unusual for me. Got best part of 7 weeks annual leave plus bank holidays to take this year so might do something big and take 3-4 weeks off work. 

Edited December 29, 2013 by Xela

[tonyh29]

Kids have reached that age where spending summer in Hungary with mummy and the in laws is no longer appealing to them so my annual "escape" each summer has finally come to an end

Instead will be doing a few short trips Be it weekends with the boys or a week with my usual travel buddies

Plans are

A week in Iran - Tehran , Shiraz and Persepolis

Lads weekend in Kiev ( inc chernobyl )

Also hoping to go to Turkmenistan and see the gas crater for a 4-5 day trip

And then hopefully will do a few long weekend trips to Albania and Bosnia at some point

And hopefully get to Iceland with the family this year as well

[tonyh29]

Following on from last years thread, what are out plans for this year?

I haven't made any yet, which is unusual for me. Got best part of 7 weeks annual leave plus bank holidays to take this year so might do something big and take 3-4 weeks off work.

3-4 weeks then Oz and Tonga , Fiji etc would be a good lot to visit whilst you have the time

[villa4europe]

30th birthday at the end of july, hoping villa will do somewhere great for preseason, if not its looking like borneo

[Larscapaldi]

Kids have reached that age where spending summer in Hungary with mummy and the in laws is no longer appealing to them so my annual "escape" each summer has finally come to an end

Instead will be doing a few short trips Be it weekends with the boys or a week with my usual travel buddies

Plans are

A week in Iran - Tehran , Shiraz and Persepolis

Lads weekend in Kiev ( inc chernobyl )

Also hoping to go to Turkmenistan and see the gas crater for a 4-5 day trip

And then hopefully will do a few long weekend trips to Albania and Bosnia at some point

And hopefully get to Iceland with the family this year as well

Not coming to Belgium then?

[tonyh29]

I've been to Belgium a few times so I'm looking for new places to visit , my mate wants to visit Waterloo at some point so I might go with him when he gets around to it

Mrs H likes Brussels , she went there with her friends the other year ...keeps going on about some restaurant with hundreds of different beers and mussels to die for

[chrisp65]

yeah no specific plans this year, nothing booked

 

but Belgium and Netherlands looks possible for a long weekend

 

we'll get a cottage somewhere vaguely Northumbria / Cumbria at some point

 

I'm going to try and organise a trip to FC St Pauli in Hamburg for a little group of us, but knowing what its like organising this bunch it might turn into a 2015 idea

 

no big plans, but we've probs done London and Cornwall enough for a short while and need to think of somewhere different (different as in Edinburgh, not Turkmenistan or Burkino Faso). 

[Shillzz]

Been waiting for this thread to pop up.

 

8 Weeks and 4 days until I hit up Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia (Borneo & Peninsular), Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. 

 

12 week holiday - Cannot bloody wait!

[tonyh29]

Nice ... You'll have a blast I'm sure

[donnie]

Feb - Bratislava then Vienna for a couple of days

Mar - bilbao for a long weekend.

Prob will do another short break in either croatia or malta at the end of the year.

However in summer was looking to go asia for 2 weeks with my gf. Ive been hong kong, india and singapore. Any recommendations for places to go that is good for couples (non sleazy) and is suitabke for 2 weeks?! Dont know asia as well as n.america and europe.Considering going either to a few places in thailand like bangkok, a few places in china, or vietnam. Or if I could combine several countries that would be doable in 2 weeks with enough time to explore even better.any ideas??

Edited December 30, 2013 by donnie

[tonyh29]

Vietnam and then on into Cambodia is more than doable

Short visit to Hanoi then car to Halong bay , spend a few days sailing around the islands ( 1 or 2 nights will be enough )

Then short flight to Hue ... See some war stuff the old royal tombs and tunnel complex move on down to HCM and have a couple of days there ( war stuff etc )

From HCM get a car down to Chai doc and then you can get a boat into Phnom Phen ( they sort your visa out from the hotel before you leave and straight in )

From PP short flight to Siem Reap , see the Lara croft stuff and then silk air out to Singapore

Simples ...

[Adam_]

Going Brussels in Feb (4 days) & Venice end of March (4 days).

 

Not sure on the main hols yet, went Cuba this year and that was awesome!

 

Wouldn't mind going to Iceland as it looks pretty cool there, thinking about Costa Rica too.

[donnie]

Vietnam and then on into Cambodia is more than doable

Short visit to Hanoi then car to Halong bay , spend a few days sailing around the islands ( 1 or 2 nights will be enough )

Then short flight to Hue ... See some war stuff the old royal tombs and tunnel complex move on down to HCM and have a couple of days there ( war stuff etc )

From HCM get a car down to Chai doc and then you can get a boat into Phnom Phen ( they sort your visa out from the hotel before you leave and straight in )

From PP short flight to Siem Reap , see the Lara croft stuff and then silk air out to Singapore

Simples ...

Cheers for the reply tony. Ill look into that as really fancy vietnam. Never considered cambodia. Be nice to go more then one country to tick more off my list.

What did you think of thailand?? Some people I speak to say its awesome others say its become too westernised and places like pattaya are a dump.

[Shillzz]

 

Vietnam and then on into Cambodia is more than doable

Short visit to Hanoi then car to Halong bay , spend a few days sailing around the islands ( 1 or 2 nights will be enough )

Then short flight to Hue ... See some war stuff the old royal tombs and tunnel complex move on down to HCM and have a couple of days there ( war stuff etc )

From HCM get a car down to Chai doc and then you can get a boat into Phnom Phen ( they sort your visa out from the hotel before you leave and straight in )

From PP short flight to Siem Reap , see the Lara croft stuff and then silk air out to Singapore

Simples ...

Cheers for the reply tony. Ill look into that as really fancy vietnam. Never considered cambodia. Be nice to go more then one country to tick more off my list.

What did you think of thailand?? Some people I speak to say its awesome others say its become too westernised and places like pattaya are a dump.

 

 

I'm only going on what i've read, but I think there are enough places & islands for you to find your own taste of Thailand. There's a fair few islands in the Trang region and further south that are probably worth looking into, Turutao for example is a huge island, largely uninhabited. And then there's the likes of Ko Ngai, Ko Mook and Ko Kradan that are probably worth looking into (all Islands on the Andaman coast), if you're looking for a slightly less touristy experience.

 

Ko Phi Phi & Phuket would be the ones to avoid specifically on the West coast.

 

No idea on the east coast, because i'm not going there.

[tonyh29]

I've not spent long in Thailand so hard to say I went to Hua Hin as my mate lives there , it's not that westernised there so not full of sex tourists ( the royal palace is there so they try to discourage it , but fail )... I went to some cave complex thing but I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to visit the place ... Koh Samui was ok but I mainly drunk myself to death there as the world cup was on when I went ... Nice beaches if that is your thing Bangkok I've only really passed through , not sure i trust myself to spend anytime there :winkold: Also been to Udan Thani but flew there to take a car over the friendship bridge into Laos ( another one for your trip possibly , Vientiane has a few decent attractions )

Edited December 31, 2013 by tonyh29

[chappy]

 

Vietnam and then on into Cambodia is more than doable

Short visit to Hanoi then car to Halong bay , spend a few days sailing around the islands ( 1 or 2 nights will be enough )

Then short flight to Hue ... See some war stuff the old royal tombs and tunnel complex move on down to HCM and have a couple of days there ( war stuff etc )

From HCM get a car down to Chai doc and then you can get a boat into Phnom Phen ( they sort your visa out from the hotel before you leave and straight in )

From PP short flight to Siem Reap , see the Lara croft stuff and then silk air out to Singapore

Simples ...

Cheers for the reply tony. Ill look into that as really fancy vietnam. Never considered cambodia. Be nice to go more then one country to tick more off my list.

What did you think of thailand?? Some people I speak to say its awesome others say its become too westernised and places like pattaya are a dump.

 

 

Would be a decent two week itinerary, would suggest skipping Hue though and going to Hoi An instead.

[tonyh29]

We mainly did Hue for the DMZ stuff( my mate is a war buff) you get to see a fairly small but decent museum with all the US hardware left behind and see the North South bridge but they also had some great tunnels from the war with the French ( huge complex miles bigger than the stuff you see in HCM ..bit of a tight squeeze at times not for the faint hearted !!) and not many tourists go see them ... Plus the old royal complex was quite good for something a bit different

But probably not a place to take the wife / girlfriend if they are not into war

Haven't really herd of Hoi An .. Is that a beach type place or a historical type one ?

[Xela]

 

Vietnam and then on into Cambodia is more than doable

Short visit to Hanoi then car to Halong bay , spend a few days sailing around the islands ( 1 or 2 nights will be enough )

Then short flight to Hue ... See some war stuff the old royal tombs and tunnel complex move on down to HCM and have a couple of days there ( war stuff etc )

From HCM get a car down to Chai doc and then you can get a boat into Phnom Phen ( they sort your visa out from the hotel before you leave and straight in )

From PP short flight to Siem Reap , see the Lara croft stuff and then silk air out to Singapore

Simples ...

Cheers for the reply tony. Ill look into that as really fancy vietnam. Never considered cambodia. Be nice to go more then one country to tick more off my list.

What did you think of thailand?? Some people I speak to say its awesome others say its become too westernised and places like pattaya are a dump.

 

 

Cambodia is lovely... I loved my time there, albeit was only there a week. Phnom Penh is worth going to for the killing fields and Tuol Sleng although it is harrowing to say the least. Obviously you have Siem Reap for the Angkor temples. Highly recommended.

 

Thailand can be as sleazy or idyllic as you want it to be. Just depends on where you go. I wouldn't recommend Pattaya, its a hole! Thailand has become a victim of its popularity and you won't find your own 'The Beach' type hideaway, but you can find relatively quiet areas to relax. I've nothing but good things to say about Thailand, had some great times there. 

[BOF]

...keeps going on about some restaurant with hundreds of different beers and muscles to die for

[Xela]

Think me and mate have settled on a couple of weeks in Asia in March, as usual. I say settled as it was decided over far too many pints in the Old Joint Stock on Monday! Probably take in the usual haunts... Bangkok, Hong Kong but will probably try to do a new country or two somewhere, be it Laos or Burma (or both). Need to work on the finer details in the next month or so.

 

We've also agreed to do a lads weekend in Istanbul this year.