tonyh29 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Out of interest , Would any one on here be anxious to fly on a Dreamliner ? I flew one in dec 2012 ... Tbh I can't remember if all the issues had happened at that stage or if ignorance was bliss from my pov ... I've a feeling they grounded them a few weeks later ... The faults as I see it have only been minor and nothing that is going to bring one down ... But wondered if customer confidence in them is shattered to the point people wouldn't fly one ? Most airlines specify what plane they use on the route at the time of booking (I even took the 787 flight on purpose ) would people now make a point of picking one that didn't operate a 787 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Simon Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 So, this summer is nearly sorted. Ten days with the Bambino in Sharm El Sheikh. Hotel. Pool. A plethora of slides. All inclusive. All done. Then the real travelling begins... My friends and I are thinking of 12/13 days traveling through Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. Using Corfu as a base for flight home. Has anyone been to any of these place to shed any light on where to go / not to go? I love a bit of culture, a nice beach, warm weather, some history and, of course, cheap beer. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) So, this summer is nearly sorted. Ten days with the Bambino in Sharm El Sheikh. Hotel. Pool. A plethora of slides. All inclusive. All done. Then the real travelling begins... My friends and I are thinking of 12/13 days traveling through Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. Using Corfu as a base for flight home. Has anyone been to any of these place to shed any light on where to go / not to go? I love a bit of culture, a nice beach, warm weather, some history and, of course, cheap beer. Cheers! I'm in the process of working out a similar route (I'm starting in Bosnia though) best help i could suggest so far : to save doubling back start with Pristina if you want to go home via Corfu .. only problem being it's not easy to get to direct flight wise .. Jetflayair in Brussels fly direct there for around €100 so you could try and get in that way ..(German wings also fly it I think but check on sky scanner) Pristina sounds like a bit of a party town ... i think culture wise it's mainly churches and a lot of it is outside of Pristina (Pecs ? ) Pristina to Skopje is about 60 miles and buses run frequently or train (slower) ... the bus station is out of town so you have to get a cab there from town ( ditto the train station i think) Skopje is supposed to be a bit dull ....however Orhid in Macedonia seems a decent town for some R&R (it's on a lake rather than the sea but sounds promising (nightlife wise) from Orhid head to Sarande in Albania for a decent beach town and if you fancy a bit of culture visit Butrint National Park whilst you are there from Sarande you can get a ferry to Corfu (or hydrofoil i think) could also consider a £50 flight to Athens from Corfu and see the sights of Athens before getting an Easyjet flight home i'm looking at a one way car hire presently ..Sixt rental seem to allow it and also let you take the car into the various countries so check them out , but seek clarification on which counties you can take the car to ) my only concern with this is driving a car with foreign plates through the different countires , no idea if some local has a gripe with that country for example ( When We drove around Italy Avis gave us a car with French number plates and around Naples we kept getting carved up on the roads with local youths leaning out the windows giving us the rocket polisher sign etc ... I suspect it would have been worse if they knew we were English ) it is all doable by bus but sounds like a bit of a kerfuffle with having to change (Orhid bus will get you to a border town with Albania but you may then need a taxi to the border ..cross into Albania and then another taxi to a town to pickup another bus) Albania doesn't have any international trains .. but check out seat61.com to see what other options you have train wise best bet might be to see if you can contact local Travel agents and arrange car transfers ... they weren't cheap when I looked but if you are sharing the cost between 3 or 4 of you it may be feasible Edited January 23, 2014 by tonyh29 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetrees Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Out of interest , Would any one on here be anxious to fly on a Dreamliner ? I flew one in dec 2012 ... Tbh I can't remember if all the issues had happened at that stage or if ignorance was bliss from my pov ... I've a feeling they grounded them a few weeks later ... The faults as I see it have only been minor and nothing that is going to bring one down ... But wondered if customer confidence in them is shattered to the point people wouldn't fly one ? Most airlines specify what plane they use on the route at the time of booking (I even took the 787 flight on purpose ) would people now make a point of picking one that didn't operate a 787 ? No problem with flying on them, i think that it is the heavily invested airlines that are struggling with them. BA have one spare on permanent standby, because they expect operational ones to have technical problems. And you don't invest $170m for an aircraft to sit idle, just in case. As for flying on one, I haven't yet, but no doubt will when KL/AF get theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Simon Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Cheers for the heads up matey! Bosnia is a dream of a place, been two years on the bounce and loved every second of it. Transport around the Balkans is normally an absolute arse, but well worth it, one of my favourite parts of the world. Where else are you going? So, this summer is nearly sorted. Ten days with the Bambino in Sharm El Sheikh. Hotel. Pool. A plethora of slides. All inclusive. All done. Then the real travelling begins... My friends and I are thinking of 12/13 days traveling through Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. Using Corfu as a base for flight home. Has anyone been to any of these place to shed any light on where to go / not to go? I love a bit of culture, a nice beach, warm weather, some history and, of course, cheap beer. Cheers! I'm in the process of working out a similar route (I'm starting in Bosnia though) best help i could suggest so far : to save doubling back start with Pristina if you want to go home via Corfu .. only problem being it's not easy to get to direct flight wise .. Jetflayair in Brussels fly direct there for around €100 so you could try and get in that way ..(German wings also fly it I think but check on sky scanner) Pristina sounds like a bit of a party town ... i think culture wise it's mainly churches and a lot of it is outside of Pristina (Pecs ? ) Pristina to Skopje is about 60 miles and buses run frequently or train (slower) ... the bus station is out of town so you have to get a cab there from town ( ditto the train station i think) Skopje is supposed to be a bit dull ....however Orhid in Macedonia seems a decent town for some R&R (it's on a lake rather than the sea but sounds promising (nightlife wise) from Orhid head to Sarande in Albania for a decent beach town and if you fancy a bit of culture visit Butrint National Park whilst you are there from Sarande you can get a ferry to Corfu (or hydrofoil i think) could also consider a £50 flight to Athens from Corfu and see the sights of Athens before getting an Easyjet flight home i'm looking at a one way car hire presently ..Sixt rental seem to allow it and also let you take the car into the various countries so check them out , but seek clarification on which counties you can take the car to ) my only concern with this is driving a car with foreign plates through the different countires , no idea if some local has a gripe with that country for example ( When We drove around Italy Avis gave us a car with French number plates and around Naples we kept getting carved up on the roads with local youths leaning out the windows giving us the rocket polisher sign etc ... I suspect it would have been worse if they knew we were English ) it is all doable by bus but sounds like a bit of a kerfuffle with having to change (Orhid bus will get you to a border town with Albania but you may then need a taxi to the border ..cross into Albania and then another taxi to a town to pickup another bus) Albania doesn't have any international trains .. but check out seat61.com to see what other options you have train wise best bet might be to see if you can contact local Travel agents and arrange car transfers ... they weren't cheap when I looked but if you are sharing the cost between 3 or 4 of you it may be feasible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hoping to do Belgrade - Sarjevo - Podgorica - Pristina - Skopje -Orhid- Butrint (Albania) - Corfu - Athens - Home but the corfu / Athens bit is dependant on time ... and i may do it in reverse and start in Athens and go home from Belgrade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Wow my trip to Orlando seems extremely dull compared to you lot now Just purchased our Disney World and Universal tickets, just under £800 for two of us, best be bloody good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hoping to do Belgrade - Sarjevo - Podgorica - Pristina - Skopje -Orhid- Butrint (Albania) - Corfu - Athens - Home but the corfu / Athens bit is dependant on time ... and i may do it in reverse and start in Athens and go home from Belgrade How long have you got to do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) Hoping to do Belgrade - Sarjevo - Podgorica - Pristina - Skopje -Orhid- Butrint (Albania) - Corfu - Athens - Home but the corfu / Athens bit is dependant on time ... and i may do it in reverse and start in Athens and go home from Belgrade How long have you got to do that? about 9 days Most of it is reasonable drive times ... 2 hrs max but Orhid and Butrint are at about 6 hrs drive time ... Might by pass Orhid if it comes to it Corfu is literally just a route home though might have a night there and sink some beer .. Athens could end up being a different trip with Mrs h for a weekend Edited January 23, 2014 by tonyh29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Simon Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Hoping to do Belgrade - Sarjevo - Podgorica - Pristina - Skopje -Orhid- Butrint (Albania) - Corfu - Athens - Home but the corfu / Athens bit is dependant on time ... and i may do it in reverse and start in Athens and go home from Belgrade How long have you got to do that? about 9 days Most of it is reasonable drive times ... 2 hrs max but Orhid and Butrint are at about 6 hrs drive time ... Might by pass Orhid if it comes to it Corfu is literally just a route home though might have a night there and sink some beer .. Athens could end up being a different trip with Mrs h for a weekend Jaysus! Nine days for all that? That's less than a day in each place. I would seriously cut down on the amount of places you're visiting and spend 2/3 days in a few places. Belgrade and Sarajevo are each worth two days minimum. Sarajevo is absolutely wonderful. I think we've discussed before about the contentious topic of "quality v quantity" in terms of places you visit and the amount of time spent in them. Im finding more and more that instead of whizzing around a plethora of places, I prefer to get to grips with 3/4 places per trip rather than 7/8. Also, any more than bare minimum time spent on a Balkan bus will do all kinds of damage to your body! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Simon Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Hoping to do Belgrade - Sarjevo - Podgorica - Pristina - Skopje -Orhid- Butrint (Albania) - Corfu - Athens - Home but the corfu / Athens bit is dependant on time ... and i may do it in reverse and start in Athens and go home from Belgrade How long have you got to do that? about 9 days Most of it is reasonable drive times ... 2 hrs max but Orhid and Butrint are at about 6 hrs drive time ... Might by pass Orhid if it comes to it Corfu is literally just a route home though might have a night there and sink some beer .. Athens could end up being a different trip with Mrs h for a weekend Jaysus! Nine days for all that? That's less than a day in each place. I would seriously cut down on the amount of places you're visiting and spend 2/3 days in a few places. Belgrade and Sarajevo are each worth two days minimum. Sarajevo is absolutely wonderful. I think we've discussed before about the contentious topic of "quality v quantity" in terms of places you visit and the amount of time spent in them. Im finding more and more that instead of whizzing around a plethora of places, I prefer to get to grips with 3/4 places per trip rather than 7/8. Also, any more than bare minimum time spent on a Balkan bus will do all kinds of damage to your body! However, each to their own of course. And I fully intend on quizzing you on the merits of Albania and Macedonia as soon as possible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Hoping to do Belgrade - Sarjevo - Podgorica - Pristina - Skopje -Orhid- Butrint (Albania) - Corfu - Athens - Home but the corfu / Athens bit is dependant on time ... and i may do it in reverse and start in Athens and go home from Belgrade How long have you got to do that? about 9 days Most of it is reasonable drive times ... 2 hrs max but Orhid and Butrint are at about 6 hrs drive time ... Might by pass Orhid if it comes to it Corfu is literally just a route home though might have a night there and sink some beer .. Athens could end up being a different trip with Mrs h for a weekend Jaysus! Nine days for all that? That's less than a day in each place. I would seriously cut down on the amount of places you're visiting and spend 2/3 days in a few places. Belgrade and Sarajevo are each worth two days minimum. Sarajevo is absolutely wonderful. I think we've discussed before about the contentious topic of "quality v quantity" in terms of places you visit and the amount of time spent in them. Im finding more and more that instead of whizzing around a plethora of places, I prefer to get to grips with 3/4 places per trip rather than 7/8. Also, any more than bare minimum time spent on a Balkan bus will do all kinds of damage to your body! However, each to their own of course. And I fully intend on quizzing you on the merits of Albania and Macedonia as soon as possible! I'd be flying and driving rather than relying on buses and public transport so that will afford me a bit more time .... I know where you are coming from though ... I'm no philistine but I just kinda see the bits I want to see and move on ..so typically it will be a early start a long day sight seeing , a bit of a party at night time and then an early start to move on to the next country .. short power nap on the plane , when my mate drives the car etc I did a weekend in Bucharest last year for example and spent a long day walking around looking at buildings ,museums , did the Parliament palace tour ( very interesting ) , walked along the river , did the parks , did some people watching , even went to some small Bucharest motor show that i happened to stumble across ... a very long but very rewarding day , Bucharest is actually a beautiful place to visit thing is the following day I'd sort of run out of things to see and ended up spending part of the day in a shopping mall and going back to places I've already visited ... true with a longer stay I could have gone up to Transylvania and met Dracula , but that would be another time and another trip (with the family ) You probably get the gist of where I'm coming from ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Sarajevo is absolutely wonderful. Could you elaborate a little? I've heard nothing but great things about this place which has inspired me to visit this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 Hoping to do Belgrade - Sarjevo - Podgorica - Pristina - Skopje -Orhid- Butrint (Albania) - Corfu - Athens - Home but the corfu / Athens bit is dependant on time ... and i may do it in reverse and start in Athens and go home from Belgrade Sounds fantastic. I take it Tirana is too big a divert or it just doesn't appeal? Haven't done a decent Euro trip in ages (Finland-Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania, being the last multi centred one) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Hoping to do Belgrade - Sarjevo - Podgorica - Pristina - Skopje -Orhid- Butrint (Albania) - Corfu - Athens - Home but the corfu / Athens bit is dependant on time ... and i may do it in reverse and start in Athens and go home from Belgrade Sounds fantastic. I take it Tirana is too big a divert or it just doesn't appeal? Haven't done a decent Euro trip in ages (Finland-Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania, being the last multi centred one) I'd imagine we'd go through Tirana what with the new EU funded super highway but not established if we will spend a night there or keep going ... Depends on the late night situation in Tirana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolteEndRob Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I'm currently over half way towards fulfilling something that I have wanted to do since I was a kid and that is to visit every US State. I've done 31 so far. New Orleans (Louisiana) is happening for early April and Atlanta (Georgia) is happening in September. I don't just randomly go to these states without nothing special planned beforehand though. For example, I'm a big WWE wrestling fan and I'm taking my little brother to Wrestlemania in New Orleans. The Atlanta trip is for my American girlfriend. She's a big NASCAR fan but she has never been to an event before so I'm taking her to the Atlanta race weekend. Those trips kill two birds with one stone. My only regret about my New Orleans trip is that I won't really get to sample the famous Bourban Street because my little brother is under age. I'm still considering what to do in the summer. I haven't had a proper beach holiday for a few years. It will probably be Hawaii because my girlfriend's friend moved from California to Hawaii with her husband and they have a second place where they let their friends stay which means another cheap-ish Hawaii holiday may happen. I've fancied Cancun for a while though. Has anyone been? Would you recommend it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnie Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I settled on thailand in the end. The flights to vietnam were just too much. Considering im only there 2 weeks what does people think of my itenary. Ive booked flights to bangkok. 2 nights there. Then sleeper train to chain mai. 3 nights there. Flight back to bangkok. Then flight to siem riep (I know its probably not a good idea to go here with my short time, but really want to see angkor watt). 2 nights here. Fly back then go islands like koi samoi fir rest of holiday. Any nice islands anyone recommends that will be quieter and still beautiful?? Any changes to my itinerary? P.S im with tony about spending a short time in a place. Seriously I seen everything that needed to be seen in rome, barcelona, munich, berlin, zurich, etc in 1 day. Used the 2nd day to chill then onto a new place before it gets boring. The only place I truly needed more them one day to see the main attractions was paris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I'm currently over half way towards fulfilling something that I have wanted to do since I was a kid and that is to visit every US State. I've done 31 so far. New Orleans (Louisiana) is happening for early April and Atlanta (Georgia) is happening in September. I don't just randomly go to these states without nothing special planned beforehand though. For example, I'm a big WWE wrestling fan and I'm taking my little brother to Wrestlemania in New Orleans. The Atlanta trip is for my American girlfriend. She's a big NASCAR fan but she has never been to an event before so I'm taking her to the Atlanta race weekend. Those trips kill two birds with one stone. My only regret about my New Orleans trip is that I won't really get to sample the famous Bourban Street because my little brother is under age. I'm still considering what to do in the summer. I haven't had a proper beach holiday for a few years. It will probably be Hawaii because my girlfriend's friend moved from California to Hawaii with her husband and they have a second place where they let their friends stay which means another cheap-ish Hawaii holiday may happen. I've fancied Cancun for a while though. Has anyone been? Would you recommend it? I've been to New Orleans and Atalanta Tbh I never saw any ID checks in bourbon street so depending on how young he is you might be ok Atlanta we saw the braves play and was the only reason we went ( my mate is a big fan and wanted to go to turner field) There is a civil war velodrome thing though that is worth seeing and a decent zoo and coca cola factory ( I boycotted that on account of who my major client is ) My friend and I tried to get a Burger King from the drive through at 3am without a car , we tried the play school fake car noises approach etc They called the police New Orleans is a great place ... Saw the saints play ( well worth going even if you aren't a footie fan) and we stayed in the French quarter so everything is accessible by foot .. Or tram thingy Casino in town had the largest queue I've ever seen in the world for its buffet but it was Prime Rib night so that probably explained it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 One thing I am pissed about is I'm going to the States when all of the sporting seasons are over. Can't see Orlando Magic getting into the playoffs any time soon either, bummed Also the period where WWE comes to Europe so yeah, pissed about that. Wrestlemania is a dream of mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I settled on thailand in the end. The flights to vietnam were just too much. Considering im only there 2 weeks what does people think of my itenary. Ive booked flights to bangkok. 2 nights there. Then sleeper train to chain mai. 3 nights there. Flight back to bangkok. Then flight to siem riep (I know its probably not a good idea to go here with my short time, but really want to see angkor watt). 2 nights here. Fly back then go islands like koi samoi fir rest of holiday. Any nice islands anyone recommends that will be quieter and still beautiful?? Any changes to my itinerary? I would recommend taking one day out of Chiang Mai to have a look at Pai (four hours on a bus, nice scenic journey; or you can fly). I preferred it to Chiang Mai anyway. If you're looking to stay in a hostel rather than a hotel then Julie's in Chiang Mai is really cool and cheap too. Just a heads up on your trip to Siem Reap if you didn;t know, the visa will cost $20 cash on arrival at Siem Reap airport. Angkor Wat is so worth it; get up early and find a tuk tuk driver to hire for the day, think we paid $17 to our bloke for the day and he will drive you to the temples and then around when you get there and they tend to know decent routes around the temples too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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