The holiday thread

[Sards]

When is your birthday? Swimming in the Breeriver in winter isn't for sissies.

Mid October.
It's 25km from the river mouth. Doubt the Tiger Sharks will be that high up. Up till 28km there is fishing. So just before that point. It's " the Spanish house". Located on a bend in the river, so a sandbank has built up just before the shore which shelters swimmers from the deep river. It will be nice and warm then and the kob season will just be under way

The largest bull shark known to science was caught in a river in South Africa. The shark, measuring over 3.5 meters long and weighing between 550 and 600 kilograms, was caught in the Breede River by a team of scientists

5km from the river mouth. If I recall correctly

[assfly]

Sounds amazing...will look into it. Fishing

We're going to do it next time we go down. Apparently you don't have to travel off-shore to get some good sized fish.

[ASMO]

Off to the Czech Republic on Saturday for 2 weeks to drink my weight in Pilsner

[Brazil]

Went to Rimini at the start of June. It's obviously stupidly touristy, and by the seafront had very much UK Seaside Town Vibes (right down to the arcade), but the Centro Storico is your archetypical Italian town. Really good trip though as it allowed us to combine a beach holiday and pool time with trips to Ravenna and Bologna to soak up the culcha, and the food was absolutely incredible everywhere you went. Would definitely recommend it.

[C69]

Off to Barcelona tomorrow to take in the Catalan architecture and Culture.
And hopefully not get mugged like my next door neighbour was a few weeks ago.

[Yr Alban]

Just got back from a fantastic trip to the US. Three days in NYC, then flew to Seattle and drove down to San Fran, visiting four national parks along the way.

The only issue is that Aer Lingus have lost one of our suitcases in Dublin. Fortunately it mostly has dirty laundry in it, but they haven’t located it as yet and it’s bloody annoying.

[Sandstorm]

Just got back from a fantastic trip to the US. Three days in NYC, then flew to Seattle and drove down to San Fran, visiting four national parks along the way.

The only issue is that Aer Lingus have lost one of our suitcases in Dublin. Fortunately it mostly has dirty laundry in it, but they haven’t located it as yet and it’s bloody annoying.

How long did the Seattle to San Francisco / 4 parks part take? I’ve got my eye on the same route.

[Yr Alban]

Just got back from a fantastic trip to the US. Three days in NYC, then flew to Seattle and drove down to San Fran, visiting four national parks along the way.

The only issue is that Aer Lingus have lost one of our suitcases in Dublin. Fortunately it mostly has dirty laundry in it, but they haven’t located it as yet and it’s bloody annoying.

How long did the Seattle to San Francisco / 4 parks part take? I’ve got my eye on the same route.

We did this:
Drove to Packwood, WA (about 1 hr from Mt Rainier) - about 2-3 hours. Stayed 2 nights, 1 day in NP
Drove to Chiloquin, OR (45 min from Crater Lake) - about 7 hours. Stayed 2 nights, 1 day in NP
Drove to Crescent City, CA - about 4 hours. Afternoon trip into Redwood NP, stayed overnight
Drove to Stockton, CA - about 7-8 hours. Visited a bit more of Redwood on the way (you drive through it). Stayed overnight
Drove to Yosemite - about 2-3 hours. Spent afternoon in northern part of NP. Drove out to Mariposa, CA (about an hour from the park entrance). Stayed overnight. Next day visited Yosemite Valley and the southern bit of the park and stayed a second night
Drove to SFO airport and dropped off the car.

So 8 nights total, and about 25 hours of driving, though only 2 days we spent mostly in the car. You could spend a lot longer in the NPs, and do some hiking or whatever, but the visits we did were enough to get a flavour of the places.

It is a lot of travelling, and our kids are older teenagers so deal with it fine. We spent 3 nights in NYC and 2 in SF to bookend the trip.

[Sandstorm]

Just got back from a fantastic trip to the US. Three days in NYC, then flew to Seattle and drove down to San Fran, visiting four national parks along the way.

The only issue is that Aer Lingus have lost one of our suitcases in Dublin. Fortunately it mostly has dirty laundry in it, but they haven’t located it as yet and it’s bloody annoying.

How long did the Seattle to San Francisco / 4 parks part take? I’ve got my eye on the same route.

We did this:
Drove to Packwood, WA (about 1 hr from Mt Rainier) - about 2-3 hours. Stayed 2 nights, 1 day in NP
Drove to Chiloquin, OR (45 min from Crater Lake) - about 7 hours. Stayed 2 nights, 1 day in NP
Drove to Crescent City, CA - about 4 hours. Afternoon trip into Redwood NP, stayed overnight
Drove to Stockton, CA - about 7-8 hours. Visited a bit more of Redwood on the way (you drive through it). Stayed overnight
Drove to Yosemite - about 2-3 hours. Spent afternoon in northern part of NP. Drove out to Mariposa, CA (about an hour from the park entrance). Stayed overnight. Next day visited Yosemite Valley and the southern bit of the park and stayed a second night
Drove to SFO airport and dropped off the car.

So 8 nights total, and about 25 hours of driving, though only 2 days we spent mostly in the car. You could spend a lot longer in the NPs, and do some hiking or whatever, but the visits we did were enough to get a flavour of the places.

It is a lot of travelling, and our kids are older teenagers so deal with it fine. We spent 3 nights in NYC and 2 in SF to bookend the trip.

Thanks, sounds like a really fun trip.

[Sards]

My birthday weekend is turning into a bit of a nightmare....we just received the terms and conditions.
Absolutely no loud music.....wtaf..........
Place thorns in a container before entering the house......word....the luscious lawns we saw are littered with thorns......wtf must the kids do now.
There is more but those 2 are basically game breakers

[Dinsdale Piranha]

My birthday weekend is turning into a bit of a nightmare....we just received the terms and conditions.
Absolutely no loud music.....wtaf..........
Place thorns in a container before entering the house......word....the luscious lawns we saw are littered with thorns......wtf must the kids do now.
There is more but those 2 are basically game breakers

Some owners of rental properties don't really like the idea of other people actually staying in them.

I was in a B&B in Italy 4 years ago. It was immaculately clean but the owners were picky to the point of winding everybody up. Don't lean your bike against the wall, don't use the coffee machine - ask us for a coffee. Don't help yourself to bread/butter/jam at breakfast. Take your shoes off before entering your room etc. etc.

[Sards]

My birthday weekend is turning into a bit of a nightmare....we just received the terms and conditions.
Absolutely no loud music.....wtaf..........
Place thorns in a container before entering the house......word....the luscious lawns we saw are littered with thorns......wtf must the kids do now.
There is more but those 2 are basically game breakers

Some owners of rental properties don't really like the idea of other people actually staying in them.

I was in a B&B in Italy 4 years ago. It was immaculately clean but the owners were picky to the point of winding everybody up. Don't lean your bike against the wall, don't use the coffee machine - ask us for a coffee. Don't help yourself to bread/butter/jam at breakfast. Take your shoes off before entering your room etc. etc.

I am still puzzling the no loud music. At 60 I am not going to be head banging or into doof doof till the early hours....but it's a celebration. And we will be drinking.

[mat the expat]

^ Stupid

3 more sleeps and then we're off to Europe!

[C69]

Quite enjoying Barcelona atm
Going to the Beach later and then chilling for the next few days

[handyman]

My birthday weekend is turning into a bit of a nightmare....we just received the terms and conditions.
Absolutely no loud music.....wtaf..........
Place thorns in a container before entering the house......word....the luscious lawns we saw are littered with thorns......wtf must the kids do now.
There is more but those 2 are basically game breakers

Some owners of rental properties don't really like the idea of other people actually staying in them.

I was in a B&B in Italy 4 years ago. It was immaculately clean but the owners were picky to the point of winding everybody up. Don't lean your bike against the wall, don't use the coffee machine - ask us for a coffee. Don't help yourself to bread/butter/jam at breakfast. Take your shoes off before entering your room etc. etc.

I am still puzzling the no loud music. At 60 I am not going to be head banging or into doof doof till the early hours....but it's a celebration. And we will be drinking.

Your earlier post said you can make as much noise as you like as it's isolated.

[mat the expat]

Fly out tomorrow morning, Muchas Excitemente!

[Sards]

Fly out tomorrow morning, Muchas Excitemente!

enjoy

[Sards]

Some owners of rental properties don't really like the idea of other people actually staying in them.

I was in a B&B in Italy 4 years ago. It was immaculately clean but the owners were picky to the point of winding everybody up. Don't lean your bike against the wall, don't use the coffee machine - ask us for a coffee. Don't help yourself to bread/butter/jam at breakfast. Take your shoes off before entering your room etc. etc.

I am still puzzling the no loud music. At 60 I am not going to be head banging or into doof doof till the early hours....but it's a celebration. And we will be drinking.

Your earlier post said you can make as much noise as you like as it's isolated.

So we thought. After we paid deposit and breakage deposit they sent a complete list of rules etc.........still going to decide whether we look for another house or what.

[vball]

Fly out to Malaga on Saturday morning with the kids (23 and 21). 23 year old will be studying for exams during the day, 21 year old will be baking in the sun, and "her indoors" and myself will be museums, galleries, churches sort of thing. Evenings will be great food and drinks. Staying in the city and will not venture near the beaches. Went last year so already have some initial plans for food but any recommendations are greatly received.

[TheNatalShark]

Need to figure out what to do later September after packing up all my stuff for immigration, either spend some time Bos/Mont/Alb/Serb or thinking of the below which some may have done here?

Skirting west coast, something like start Gretna (yes yes), touch some of the islands and the usual hiking things, finish up Kirkwall. Although without a car I've got zero clue how feasible that is, and am not inclined to do it cycling either.

Whichever I do, have to do on the fly and be able to bail out if whatever job I land up with starts asap. Can do that in Balkans as cheap and mainly hiking, just looking at hostels seems not great availability west coast in later summer.

[Sards]

Oh Vok.....

Malgas has been isolated because of the flooding of the Breede and we have no idea if the house is ok we booked for 2 weeks time....we will know shortly.

[Biffer]

I was just in Matera (Southern Italy) for a week - work not holiday unfortunately. If your idea of a holiday is wandering little narrow streets, stopping for coffee or a glass of wine occasionally, and good food from small restaurants, then I'd thoroughly recommend it. It's beautiful.

[duke]

I was just in Matera (Southern Italy) for a week - work not holiday unfortunately. If your idea of a holiday is wandering little narrow streets, stopping for coffee or a glass of wine occasionally, and good food from small restaurants, then I'd thoroughly recommend it. It's beautiful.

Add Puglia on to that as well - some beautiful hilltop towns to wander around

[Sards]

Oh Vok.....

Malgas has been isolated because of the flooding of the Breede and we have no idea if the house is ok we booked for 2 weeks time....we will know shortly.

Suspicions confirmed
House 1. Thorn problem
House 2. The entire jetty has been destroyed with the flooding. That was the coolest feature of the house. As far as playtime was concerned. So the agent offered us 2 other houses. We decided on the Ossies house. We were very fortunate because it had just come on the market.
Selling features
Big screen for the Quarter finals
Huge beach across the river. We will ferry by rubber duck.
Great fishing
And no neighbors...
So we can party.....

https://livingthebreede.co.za/room/ossies-kloof/

[Insane_Homer]

in Bruges for 3 nights in a couple of weeks time. Between the rugby (Sun to Wed)

Cheaper, quicker & easier to fly than catch Eurostar (dropping daughter at Heathrow at same time helps the logistics greatly too)

[dpedin]

in Bruges for 3 nights in a couple of weeks time. Between the rugby (Sun to Wed)

Cheaper, quicker & easier to fly than catch Eurostar (dropping daughter at Heathrow at same time helps the logistics greatly too)

Just back from visiting a mate who lives just south of Brussels close to Waterloo. 3 of us go over and play golf there - love it! Been there about half a dozen times and enjoy the country, well mostly the beer, the food, the golf and seeing my mates family. Waterloo battlefield and museum is well worth a visit as well as the brewery/bar located nearby. You can get a sample tray of all their beers to try ... dont take the car. https://fermedemontsaintjean.be/en/bras ... estaurant/

We fly Edinburgh to Charleroi about an hour and 20 mins, easy. However waited almost as long as the flight for Edinburgh airport to get my bags off the plane and into the baggage hall - it really is the most badly managed airport. Charleroi much more efficient.

[Sards]

Amazing holiday. Vok me. Everything was perfect. Kids loved it . Parents loved it.....absolute jol






Cruising the Breede

[Blackmac]

in Bruges for 3 nights in a couple of weeks time. Between the rugby (Sun to Wed)

Cheaper, quicker & easier to fly than catch Eurostar (dropping daughter at Heathrow at same time helps the logistics greatly too)

Just back from visiting a mate who lives just south of Brussels close to Waterloo. 3 of us go over and play golf there - love it! Been there about half a dozen times and enjoy the country, well mostly the beer, the food, the golf and seeing my mates family. Waterloo battlefield and museum is well worth a visit as well as the brewery/bar located nearby. You can get a sample tray of all their beers to try ... dont take the car. https://fermedemontsaintjean.be/en/bras ... estaurant/

We fly Edinburgh to Charleroi about an hour and 20 mins, easy. However waited almost as long as the flight for Edinburgh airport to get my bags off the plane and into the baggage hall - it really is the most badly managed airport. Charleroi much more efficient.

Flying into Edinburgh is just bloody embarrassing. The passport hall and baggage reclaim have been a disaster since Covid.

[Sandstorm]

My mate flies everywhere for work and reckons the only major UK airport that makes security and baggage collection work these days is Gatwick.

Shame the quality of passenger pushing & moaning their way through that place means it is just horrible otherwise.

[Simian]

in Bruges for 3 nights in a couple of weeks time. Between the rugby (Sun to Wed)

Cheaper, quicker & easier to fly than catch Eurostar (dropping daughter at Heathrow at same time helps the logistics greatly too)

Just back from visiting a mate who lives just south of Brussels close to Waterloo. 3 of us go over and play golf there - love it! Been there about half a dozen times and enjoy the country, well mostly the beer, the food, the golf and seeing my mates family. Waterloo battlefield and museum is well worth a visit as well as the brewery/bar located nearby. You can get a sample tray of all their beers to try ... dont take the car. https://fermedemontsaintjean.be/en/bras ... estaurant/

We fly Edinburgh to Charleroi about an hour and 20 mins, easy. However waited almost as long as the flight for Edinburgh airport to get my bags off the plane and into the baggage hall - it really is the most badly managed airport. Charleroi much more efficient.

Flying into Edinburgh is just bloody embarrassing. The passport hall and baggage reclaim have been a disaster since Covid.

Yeah, I fly between Edinburgh Charleroi a few times a month and I’ve never had problems at Charleroi and always have a big wait at Edinburgh coming back. It’s so cheap though. And the bus connections to Brussels and Gent are excellent.

[dpedin]

Just back from visiting a mate who lives just south of Brussels close to Waterloo. 3 of us go over and play golf there - love it! Been there about half a dozen times and enjoy the country, well mostly the beer, the food, the golf and seeing my mates family. Waterloo battlefield and museum is well worth a visit as well as the brewery/bar located nearby. You can get a sample tray of all their beers to try ... dont take the car. https://fermedemontsaintjean.be/en/bras ... estaurant/

We fly Edinburgh to Charleroi about an hour and 20 mins, easy. However waited almost as long as the flight for Edinburgh airport to get my bags off the plane and into the baggage hall - it really is the most badly managed airport. Charleroi much more efficient.

Flying into Edinburgh is just bloody embarrassing. The passport hall and baggage reclaim have been a disaster since Covid.

Yeah, I fly between Edinburgh Charleroi a few times a month and I’ve never had problems at Charleroi and always have a big wait at Edinburgh coming back. It’s so cheap though. And the bus connections to Brussels and Gent are excellent.

I suspect they are under staffed so unload all the Ryanair/Easyjet flights first then reload with new bags for next journey so as to not cause them any delays in turnaround before taking unloaded bags to the baggage reclaim hall. Means arriving customers have a long wait to get bags. I missed two Express buses waiting for my bags, could have been home an hour earlier. Edinburgh airport is badly managed and a poor employer. During pandemic many of their staff were laid off and ended up getting jobs elsewhere, mate of mine interviewed many of them for NHS, and the stories about how shit they were treated were awful. Not many went back.

[Paddington Bear]

My mate flies everywhere for work and reckons the only major UK airport that makes security and baggage collection work these days is Gatwick.

Shame the quality of passenger pushing & moaning their way through that place means it is just horrible otherwise.

Nah t5 is very efficient, people just like to moan about it. Never had issues at Glasgow either.

Flew from Edinburgh on Friday for the first time and was taken aback by how poor it was.

[Insane_Homer]

In Bruges, beered up
Waffles, beer, chocolate and awesome brunches.
Great hotel, can't remember the last time I had 12 hours sleep.

[Sards]

My eldest wants to get away for his birthday this year too in mid November. We are looking at an option close to my favorite place in the world. De Mond. There is a cottage available.....just need to canvas the parents of his mates to see if they can go away for a weekend this close to the November exams..........On it.

Cottage sleeps 10 so should be good for a few mates.


.De Mond

[dpedin]

In Bruges, beered up
Waffles, beer, chocolate and awesome brunches.
Great hotel, can't remember the last time I had 12 hours sleep.

Beautiful town! Belgian beer is just the dogs bollox!

[Sards]

My eldest wants to get away for his birthday this year too in mid November. We are looking at an option close to my favorite place in the world. De Mond. There is a cottage available.....just need to canvas the parents of his mates to see if they can go away for a weekend this close to the November exams..........On it.

Cottage sleeps 10 so should be good for a few mates.


.De Mond

booked....we can sort out logistics etc after.....


I love this place......its where my soul goes to recharge
And the fishing is top class

[Biffer]

Just back from visiting a mate who lives just south of Brussels close to Waterloo. 3 of us go over and play golf there - love it! Been there about half a dozen times and enjoy the country, well mostly the beer, the food, the golf and seeing my mates family. Waterloo battlefield and museum is well worth a visit as well as the brewery/bar located nearby. You can get a sample tray of all their beers to try ... dont take the car. https://fermedemontsaintjean.be/en/bras ... estaurant/

We fly Edinburgh to Charleroi about an hour and 20 mins, easy. However waited almost as long as the flight for Edinburgh airport to get my bags off the plane and into the baggage hall - it really is the most badly managed airport. Charleroi much more efficient.

Flying into Edinburgh is just bloody embarrassing. The passport hall and baggage reclaim have been a disaster since Covid.

Yeah, I fly between Edinburgh Charleroi a few times a month and I’ve never had problems at Charleroi and always have a big wait at Edinburgh coming back. It’s so cheap though. And the bus connections to Brussels and Gent are excellent.

The baggage wait at Edinburgh has always been weird. Even pre pandemic you never knew if your bags would be five minutes or forty five minutes, there's just no pattern to it. I try to avoid having hold baggage at all times, other than that though I find Edinburgh Airport pretty quick and efficient most of the time. Needs more space in the terminal though.

[yermum]

In Bruges, beered up
Waffles, beer, chocolate and awesome brunches.
Great hotel, can't remember the last time I had 12 hours sleep.

Beautiful town! Belgian beer is just the dogs bollox!

It’s like a fairytale…

[Slick]

My eldest wants to get away for his birthday this year too in mid November. We are looking at an option close to my favorite place in the world. De Mond. There is a cottage available.....just need to canvas the parents of his mates to see if they can go away for a weekend this close to the November exams..........On it.

Cottage sleeps 10 so should be good for a few mates.


.De Mond

booked....we can sort out logistics etc after.....


I love this place......its where my soul goes to recharge
And the fishing is top class

Nice, you need a place like that. It's Glencoe and surrounds for me.

[Slick]

Flying into Edinburgh is just bloody embarrassing. The passport hall and baggage reclaim have been a disaster since Covid.

Yeah, I fly between Edinburgh Charleroi a few times a month and I’ve never had problems at Charleroi and always have a big wait at Edinburgh coming back. It’s so cheap though. And the bus connections to Brussels and Gent are excellent.

The baggage wait at Edinburgh has always been weird. Even pre pandemic you never knew if your bags would be five minutes or forty five minutes, there's just no pattern to it. I try to avoid having hold baggage at all times, other than that though I find Edinburgh Airport pretty quick and efficient most of the time. Needs more space in the terminal though.

Have to say I've always been really pleased with it. Also tend to go with just hand baggage but even when I haven't it's been fine. Arriving at the airport and being through security in 10 minutes is pretty normal.

Also, arriving back and walking straight out a waiting tram is bloody brilliant.