I reach 40 years old next year and I've never had a proper family holiday.
I live with my daughter who's just started secondary school, I've recently started a job which leaves me with a little spare cash after all the bills are paid and I'd like to treat her to a week away somewhere hot and sunny next summer.
My dad's due to reach retirement age early next year. Twenty years ago my aunt and uncle took my grandmother with them for a week in Corfu a few years running, and taking my inspiration from that idea I'd like to bring dad along with us for a week in the sun.
We live in Leicestershire, an unusual county in that its school summer holidays start and end a week earlier than the bulk of the UK. I'm absolutely not prepared to go away on holiday in term time. In 2012 the final day of the summer term will be (ominously) Friday 13th July, so hopefully that should be just before the highest "peak" rates are charged? Dad lives in Herts, so the London airports are feasible.
With all that in mind, I'm looking for ideas for a holiday for three of us, spanning three generations, somewhere that provides sunbathing, swimming and activities for daughter, relaxation and a bit of scenery for me, some culture and heritage for dad, and decent food for us all. Budget is around £1000 per person to include all food, drinks, travel to airport etc etc.
What's better, self-catering or all-inclusive? I've heard both good and bad stories about the latter but it sounds easier to me to have everything laid on. Can anybody steer us towards/away from any resorts or travel operators from personal experience? I don't want Benidorm-style English bars and tattooed yobs everywhere, but I appreciate that our budget won't allow us to hire a personal butler for the week either.
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Have a look at a cruise - no need to be mind-blowingly expensive and you get to see several places in a holiday, along with the services and entertainment on board.
A grand/skull should be sufficient for a great week.
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For your budget is that two rooms (you and daughter and another for dad?).
Personally we like self-catering. Sort your own food out - but not cook! We normally eat out. Sort breakfast in apartment, mostly take sandwiches out with you etc. And then eat at a local restaurant at night. Being tied to a half-board basis means you have to be back for meals. Full board means you've paid for lunch too.
From your requirements many Greek islands would tick the boxes. As would Croatia. Depends if the location where you are staying needs to provide everything. For example, Rhodes Island if you stayed away from the notorious Faliraki (theres a Morrisons there!) is wonderful. We stayed at Pefkos this year and ticked most of your requirements. And it was an hour on the bus to Rhodes Town (look it up) which we loved too. And Lindos was very near by. Just an example mind.
Although we went in June but only paid about £350 for the two of us for a week self catering. (that's £350 total and flew from Manchester and was cheaper from Gatwick)
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 20 Nov 11 at 22:31
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And Croatia (we went to Istria) had wonderful Italian (inspired) food including some of the best pizzas.
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Another vote for Croatia.
I had 2 weeks sailing along the coast recently and was very impressed.Much nicer than Largs!
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>> For your budget is that two rooms (you and daughter and another for dad?)
I really don't know - I'm a complete beginner at this and so is dad!
Would a bedroom each be a realistic expectation? Or two apartments - a one-bed and a two-bed?
I'm planning to go into a travel agent's in town tomorrow just to ask and have a chat about the concept - hopefully I can find one who will help without being mercenary about it.
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You can get rooms to accommodate a family and often that's three singles - but you'd want to be certain. But you and your dad might want separate space. Apartments are available. Where we stayed in Croatia in Sept/Oct had apartments with multiple rooms. But not cheap in July. Still that sort of place likely to be in your budget.
You are likely to find a holiday online cheaper. Even using the main holiday company websites.
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You would probably be best with a two bedroomed self catering aprtment.
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Italy...we're looking for a family holiday late May/early June as daughter starts school in September so we will be locked into school holidays thereafter.
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We also went to Tuscany in May this year and stayed very close to San Gimignano. You could see the town and towers from the accommodation. The apartment had three bedrooms (we needed one) and swimming pool (shared). Again it would be more in July but we got the apartment for two for about £800 with a hire car and flights (for two).
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My personal choice would be Greece or Turkey. Stoupa in the Pelopponese fits the bill. Nice beaches, good restaurants and lot to see if you hire a car.
For Turkey I would choose Dalayan. A small town situated on a river a mile or so inland you take the river taxi down to one of the most stunning beaches in Europe. The beach is totally unspoilt as it is the home of marine turtles The river trip itself is amazing as you glide though the papyrus reeds. Town is full of great restaurants. Turkish food is generally better than Greek in my opinion. There is a Roman ruined city just a row boat trip across the river As a non euro country probably better value than Greece. Another bonus is that the airport (Dalaman) is only 30 minutes away.
For Turkey I would book a hotel. Greek hotels can be a bit hit or miss so I would book a villa or apartment. If you do go the hotel route book bed/breakfast. Eating out is what a mediterranean holiday is all about.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sun 20 Nov 11 at 23:20
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Make sure about heat toleration - it can get really, really hot in Greece/Turkey !
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That's true but it applies to the entire Med.
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>> Make sure about heat toleration - it can get really, really hot in Greece/Turkey !
>>
Don't go to India between mid-April and June then. You'll toast yer tootsies.
I will never forget my first time landing in Dubai on the way to India in July, 38C at midnight getting off an aircon'd plane onto a toastie airbridge, then frying on the transfer bus at 3:45am for the flight to India.
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We were in Rhodes at the end of June this year (not long after RP). It was hot but nice. But we had to retreat from the sun early afternoon. At the hottest part of the day it was too much for us outside (so drinks in the shade). But some stayed on the beach without parasols!
Also been in Tuscany in August when it was very hot.
So yes temperatures are a consideration for Dave for sure.
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He does say he's looking for somewhere hot and sunny.
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There's places in July that might be hot and sunny in the UK. Some of Turkey and Greece can be very hot. Rhodes in June this year was high thirties deg C.
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Just before i toddle off to bed, could i suggest not doing the July trip seeing as it's so nice in good old Blightly around that time.
Would it be feasable to save till after the following Christmas and go somewhere warm for the first week or fortnight in January, Sharm (Egypt) might be quite reasonably priced around that time and the snorkelling straight off the resort hotels private beaches is superb.
I bet the others here have much better suggestions for winter sun.
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>> Just before i toddle off to bed, could i suggest not doing the July trip
>> seeing as it's so nice in good old Blightly around that time.
What July was that then?
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Don't rule out Benidorm.
Pal of mine stays in the Old Town regularly and says it's not at all 18-30.
www.benidorm-spotlight.com/benidorm/old_town_centre.htm
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>> Don't rule out Benidorm.
I would, you cant avoid bumping into the horrible bits of you want the beach.
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A quick root around that site suggests flights from East Midlands airport for next July at about £800, and three rooms in a hotel for £1,000, leaving Dave with more than a grand spending money.
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>> A quick root around that site suggests flights from East Midlands airport for next July
>> at about £800,
£414 quid Easyjet Luton to Alicante return for all three pax, depart Sat 14th july.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 21 Nov 11 at 09:11
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...£414 quid Easyjet Luton to Alicante return for all three pax, depart Sat 14th july...
Even better - more in the budget for accommodation, where careful selection of location would be needed.
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Just don't Thomas Cook it!!!
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>> Just don't Thomas Cook it!!!
>>
You beat me to it!
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>> Just don't Thomas Cook it!!!
And if everyone who might normally have booked with Thomas Cook does not... it will possibly go under and take many many jobs. Not just the shops and back office, but flight staff, aircraft maintenance, tour reps in resort... and then there's the hotels, restaurants, etc. etc. And some flights are chartered so that has a knock on effect for the likes of Monarch.
Holiday would be ABTA protected anyway. And take out insurance regardless of their financial position.
So if you wanted to go for a sailing holiday between Greek islands then the suggestion is to avoid Neilson Sailing?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 22 Nov 11 at 19:22
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I understand your point but I wouldn't book with them if I was going away soon. I'd much sooner get a holiday than an insurance claim. Each to his own though :-)
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Thomas cook is not going bust, its just about to announce a profit for the last qtr. However if the panic numpties bring it down you can kiss goodbye to a large proportion of the available holiday slots, cheap flights and other benefits - reap as you sow.
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Probably a good time to buy their shares then. Would you?
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As they have just dropped heavily, then yes its worth a punt.
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Several profits warning this year, one deal already done with the banks and another one needed just 32 days later, a worsening cash position since 30th September, an expected default around xmas.........
I think the industry has changed so much that they have been left behind. They have hundreds of shops to pay for and I just dont know how you make that business model work against the on line boys.
And yes, they are likely to make a profit of some description (when they finally tell us their results) but is it enough to service a near billion pound debt ???
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The days of the travel agent shop is certainly going or gone. The days of the tour operator have not. They will dump the shops.
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The co-op were astute enough to do so !
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I book every holiday on-line now, but in the pre internet days i always used to book though the Coop travel agents and they were brilliant, nothing was too much trouble and they went to great lengths to find the best car hire deals etc. Just another example of ever changing times i suppose !
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OK, maybe not quite the Med, but you could think about a Gite in France. It can get pretty hot anywhere south of central France in July.
You could rent a Gite (house) with at least a couple of bedrooms and your own exclusive pool for maybe less than £1000 a week. Travel will be another £450 for ferry, fuel and tolls.
You and Dad will like it but I'm not too sure about a teenage daughter.
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If a gîte were close enough to the coast, then it would certainly be a possibility. I think daughter would be the last one to complain about the long drive actually, as dad wouldn't be too keen on the trek and of course it would be something of a busman's holiday for me!
I visited a couple of travel agents yesterday and spent over an hour in each place. I've never been in one of them before and couldn't get the image of Carol from Little Britain out of my head the whole time... A few good suggestions were bandied back and forth though, Greek islands seem to meet most of my requirements as long as the financial situation over there doesn't create problems. Cyprus and Croatia also looked promising.
I was slightly surprised to find that one travel agent, when she turned her screen around to face me, was simply using their public website to search for holidays for me. She wasn't even doing it very well, entering very specific search terms and wondering why she wasn't getting any results.
The other agent seemed to be more adept, but also less pleasant to deal with. She assumed that I'd book a break during school term time (taking daughter out of school) and she kept trying to steer me towards that idea even after I made it clear that it's simply not an option.
It's quite tricky finding separate sleeping areas for two adults and a child using the search engines. They keep trying to put me in a room with either my dad or my daughter, when we'd all like a room each. The best solution I've seen so far is a 2-double-bedroom apartment with a sofabed in the lounge area, although in order for that to come up in a search result I have to specify 5 or 6 adults and then change the criteria afterwards.
Not entirely put off the idea yet, but I don't know how you lot do this every bloomin' year.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Tue 22 Nov 11 at 21:53
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>
>> Not entirely put off the idea yet, but I don't know how you lot do
>> this every bloomin' year.
Easy peasy - decide on Place, Decide on transport - book it, search trip advisor for accommodation at place - book it.
Jobs a gudjun.
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>> decide on Place, Decide on transport - book it, search trip advisor for accommodation at place - book it
So for example, I like the look of Tsilivi on Zante. Fly from East Midlands/Birmingham/Luton/Stansted/Gatwick, not fussed which one. Accommodation requirements as detailed above. Now what do I do?
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Your requirement for three rooms will increase costs and limit choices/options if you want an apartment. For a hotel then it will just increase cost. You could put in on the website you want three rooms with one person per room.
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next step decide on transport - Clearly a destination like that is fly, so you now search for flights, start with easyjet or ryanair.
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It seems that there aren't many (budget-ish) three-bedroom apartments. Most of them are studios, or 1 or 2 bedrooms with from 3 up to 6 sleeping spaces, but generally the spaces aren't laid out as we'd like. I also think daughter isn't old enough yet for the responsibility of her own room with its own key, bathroom etc, so I'd like her in the same unit as us although not in the same room.
Thanks rtj, Z and everyone else for the input so far. Early start in the morning so I'll try the flight searches tomorrow.
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Just had a thought - my kids (older) have found some cracking deals through www.sunshine.co.uk
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>> It seems that there aren't many (budget-ish) three-bedroom apartments. Most of them are studios, or
>> 1 or 2 bedrooms
Its unrealistic to think about a three bedromm apartment, thats for sleeping 6 persons. You need a two bedroom, one of the rooms will have twin beds. You are going to have to sleep with the old man.
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Z is probably right on sleeping arrangements for most accommodation.
A long time ago (10 years or so) we ended up travelling with our youngest's friends (and the mother!) on holiday. Only way we could get away to be honest.... the point I was going to make is the daughter left the taps on the bath running and flooded the bathroom. No damage done. But luckily she was sharing with her mum.
I feel guilty now for having a three bed apartment in Tuscany in May. We only needed/used one bedroom. Dave you have the details of that but it's likely to be (a) pricey and (b) unavailable. We got it for about £750 total including flights and car hire. And for those that know Tuscany it was a few miles from San Gimignano.
Best of holiday hunting Dave! I leave it to my wife usually. I just pay.
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>> >> Just don't Thomas Cook it!!!
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>> And if everyone who might normally have booked with Thomas Cook does not... it will
>> possibly go under and take many many jobs.
I take your point, but the reality is it appears to have management issues, and they already approached their bankers just 32 days ago for help. To be going back again already shows very poor planning and an obviously worsening situation.
Yes, there is ABTA and travel insurance so you will likely end up financially no worse off, however you wont get compensated for the emotional distress of having your holiday wrecked, and the loss of your annual leave (for those that are employed)
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I don't think they will go bust (again - although it was the parent company with problems last time... Arcandor) - but I too think the travel agents are a thing of the past for most. We almost always buy online.
Just booked for Greece next May. And it's Thomas Cook - Thomson/First Choice don't go to where we want to go any longer. But paid a little extra to use up Air Miles (Avios) that I've been accumulating.
Edit: So yes I am risking going to risk going to Greece with Thomas Cook :-)
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 22 Nov 11 at 21:24
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Greece and Thomas Cook.....someone likes a gamble :-)
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I used to get cheap tickets to Africa with e.g. Egypt Air, Air Mozambique and Nigeria Airlines, and various East European outfits, but also Air France and its offshoot UTA, from an Indian bloke in a ratty first-floor office in Oxford Street... nip down to some shoe shop for a pair of white moccasins, Bob's yer uncle.
Long time ago though. Sigh.
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>> Greece and Thomas Cook.....someone likes a gamble :-)
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Not quite. But we want to go back to Lesbos next May. Limited options. Flights are Monarch but still a TC package.
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Once you decide to where to go you may get a good deal through Travel Councellors
www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/Offers
Earlier this year I organised a holiday for 2 ( Flights Gtwk to Madeira, transfers and 7 nights B&B in a central hotel for £550 against Thompson's £810) I contacted Travel Councillors and they turned it into a package for me, ATOL bonding, ABTA etc for a new total of £600.
I appreciate that you don't want Madeira but if you come up with an itinerary I am sure they will do you a good price. Been in business 10 years, financially secure and Travel Agent of the year 2010. NO connection - just a customer as described above.
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First time Med holiday recommendations? - Zero
