Has Anyone Booked a Holiday Yet?

[John rayner]

13 hours ago, Chris_OGrady said:

I'm off to Sri Lanka in October for 2 weeks on my honeymoon. I know a few people on here have been recently... Any recommendations/tips/do's/don'ts would be greatly appreciated. Haven't done a huge amount of research yet!  

I'm off to Jamaica in September, and then to Krackow in November,  so looking forward to both trips.

[John rayner]

13 hours ago, Chris_OGrady said:

I'm off to Sri Lanka in October for 2 weeks on my honeymoon. I know a few people on here have been recently... Any recommendations/tips/do's/don'ts would be greatly appreciated. Haven't done a huge amount of research yet!  

I've just had a mate come back from Sri Lanka ,

You will love it ,only drink bottled water tho,

[John rayner]

3 minutes ago, John rayner said:

I've just had a mate come back from Sri Lanka ,

You will love it ,only drink bottled water tho,

You must go on  TUT TUT ,,It's also good to tip  especially the pool man ,if you like animals go on a safari tour ,what part of Sri Lanka are you going to bud 

[Guest Lako42]

On 30/05/2025 at 08:53, Chris_OGrady said:

I'm off to Sri Lanka in October for 2 weeks on my honeymoon. I know a few people on here have been recently... Any recommendations/tips/do's/don'ts would be greatly appreciated. Haven't done a huge amount of research yet!  

I will get back to you with a few things. 

 

How you doing it? Travelling around I assume? 

[Chris_OGrady]

1 hour ago, Lako42 said:

I will get back to you with a few things. 

 

How you doing it? Travelling around I assume? 

Cheers mate.

 

Yes, will be travelling around. Not really bothered about spending too much time in Colombo (unless you think this is a mistake) and then want to do Galle, Ella, Kandy etc - all the standard places really. Would also like to do a few nights at a nice beach town/resort. Good food and drinks recommendations always welcome- as you know, i love my curry and beer 

[The Blur]

A friend of mine spent £15,000 on a recent holiday to DisneyWorld.  Is this the norm?   I was looking into it for my two boys when they are older but worked out even if I go in 6 years time, I will need to put away £100 a month starting now!

 

@Izzy I recall you went last year or so?

[NJFox]

21 minutes ago, The Blur said:

A friend of mine spent £15,000 on a recent holiday to DisneyWorld.  Is this the norm?   I was looking into it for my two boys when they are older but worked out even if I go in 6 years time, I will need to put away £100 a month starting now!

 

@Izzy I recall you went last year or so?

It's very easy to spend this much, but it's also possible to do Disney World at a much lower cost, and not sacrifice much on the experience. So many different permutations/combinations of deals that impact the pricing:

• Entry to the theme parks can be upwards of $125 per day, depending on the type of ticket you buy. Including a meal plan in the ticket can add more to the cost, too.
• Paid ticket add-ons/experiences can add up quickly
• Disney resort hotel prices can vary wildly, depending on the category of hotel, location, time of year you travel, etc. A quick search shows room rates of  1 week in August, for 2 adults + 2 kids, can vary from $125 per night to $726 per night.

My wife and I have just booked 4 nights there, in July. For two people, flights were $500 , rental car $400, and 1 day of theme park access is $250. Though if you stay at a Disney property, you can choose to travel without a rental car, since there is an extensive free bus network between resorts, parks, and more.

 

Guilt by association, with a wife who is a lifelong Disney World regular and knows a good number of the hacks. Happy to answer any questions!

[Izzy]

25 minutes ago, The Blur said:

A friend of mine spent £15,000 on a recent holiday to DisneyWorld.  Is this the norm?   I was looking into it for my two boys when they are older but worked out even if I go in 6 years time, I will need to put away £100 a month starting now!

 

@Izzy I recall you went last year or so?

Yeah, we went four years on the trot between 2015-18 when the kids were younger.

 

I reckon on average we spent about £12,000 a time and we were fortunate that I was earning decent money back then.

 

One of the biggest expenses were the attraction tickets. We were doing parks every day with fast passes and that alone probably cost about £3,000

 

Then you're eating out every night, spending money at every park and generally spoiling the kids rotten to give them a great experience. We could have got cheaper accommodation but splashed out on a posh villa each time.

 

In hindsight the fourth time in a row was probably one too many but at least we can say we did the full Disney experience and more.

 

You could easily do two weeks for less than 10k if you skimped out on certain things I guess, but it's still big money.

 

Would love to go back again at some stage but much different financial circumstances now unfortunately.

[Tommy G]

16 hours ago, The Blur said:

A friend of mine spent £15,000 on a recent holiday to DisneyWorld.  Is this the norm?   I was looking into it for my two boys when they are older but worked out even if I go in 6 years time, I will need to put away £100 a month starting now!

 

@Izzy I recall you went last year or so?

£10-12K easy unless you want to do it ''on the cheap'' 

[Chris_OGrady]

On 31/05/2025 at 10:48, Lako42 said:

I will get back to you with a few things. 

 

How you doing it? Travelling around I assume? 

I've done a bit more research now and have spoken to a few people. Was thinking of doing the below as a rough itinerary. Let me know what you think:

 

Day 1- chill in Colombo

Day 2&3 - head to Dambulla - stop off at Elephant Orphanage, do the Sigiriya Rock and visit the temple

Day 4/5/6 - Minneriya National Park, head to Kandy and do a river cruise, tea factory/plantation, and Horton Plains hike

Day 7 - head to Ella and check out the bridge and whatever else is there

Day 8&9 - head to Mirissa for a couple of nights- see some whales

Day 10 - Galle

Day 11/12/13 - chill at a beach hotel - maybe Bentota

Day 14 - home 

 

I think I'm going to get a driver for the trip (as long as it's not crazy expensive) as there's lots of travelling involved!

 

 

Edited 3 June 2025 by Chris_OGrady

[jgtuk]

On 19/08/2024 at 09:48, grobyfox1990 said:

Mate that sounds incredible. Please report back during the planning stage and actual trip. In Baku last year, there were plenty of Brits who had initially travelled to Georgia who all said it was incredible scenery. Proper travellers not your south of France types. That piqued my interest in Georgia, would like to hear more.

So, not been able to make it this year so plans in place for next spring to tie in with the raptor migration. 
Turns out I have a few choices:

Flight to Istanbul, stay for a couple of days (have friends there) then either

A. fly (2.5hrs but boring) to Tblisi before renting car and on to Batumi for a week, fly from Batumi to Stansted. 

2. coach to Tbilisi (27 hours but more fun) for a few days then coach (about 5hrs) to Batumi for a week, fly from Batumi to Stansted. 
I could mix up the order to suit my agenda and not tied to a time frame so could travel and stay for as long as I wanted. 
I really wanted to go by Black Sea Ferry to Batumi but the Istanbul to Batumi no longer runs since the Ukraine invasion - there also used to be a ferry from Odessa to Batumi which would have been interesting. 
I could skip Istanbul completely and fly to Varna then 3 day Black Sea ferry to Batumi. 
 

I’ve been in touch with the Batumi Raptor count organisation and secured a spot there and they have local people offering guest accommodation. 
Anyway, my final destination is on this video (TRIGGER WARNING, contains killing of Raptors) 

 

 

[grobyfox1990]

1 hour ago, jgtuk said:

So, not been able to make it this year so plans in place for next spring to tie in with the raptor migration. 
Turns out I have a few choices:

Flight to Istanbul, stay for a couple of days (have friends there) then either

A. fly (2.5hrs but boring) to Tblisi before renting car and on to Batumi for a week, fly from Batumi to Stansted. 

2. coach to Tbilisi (27 hours but more fun) for a few days then coach (about 5hrs) to Batumi for a week, fly from Batumi to Stansted. 
I could mix up the order to suit my agenda and not tied to a time frame so could travel and stay for as long as I wanted. 
I really wanted to go by Black Sea Ferry to Batumi but the Istanbul to Batumi no longer runs since the Ukraine invasion - there also used to be a ferry from Odessa to Batumi which would have been interesting. 
I could skip Istanbul completely and fly to Varna then 3 day Black Sea ferry to Batumi. 
 

I’ve been in touch with the Batumi Raptor count organisation and secured a spot there and they have local people offering guest accommodation. 
Anyway, my final destination is on this video (TRIGGER WARNING, contains killing of Raptors) 

 

 

Very nice, sounds incredible. If the Istanbul thing doesn't work out I would recommend going to Baku first then getting a 1hr or so flight to Tbilisi. Although the black sea ferry or a 27 hr coach sound like an experience and a half. Hope it all works out for you.

[bovril]

1 hour ago, jgtuk said:

So, not been able to make it this year so plans in place for next spring to tie in with the raptor migration. 
Turns out I have a few choices:

Flight to Istanbul, stay for a couple of days (have friends there) then either

A. fly (2.5hrs but boring) to Tblisi before renting car and on to Batumi for a week, fly from Batumi to Stansted. 

2. coach to Tbilisi (27 hours but more fun) for a few days then coach (about 5hrs) to Batumi for a week, fly from Batumi to Stansted. 
I could mix up the order to suit my agenda and not tied to a time frame so could travel and stay for as long as I wanted. 
I really wanted to go by Black Sea Ferry to Batumi but the Istanbul to Batumi no longer runs since the Ukraine invasion - there also used to be a ferry from Odessa to Batumi which would have been interesting. 
I could skip Istanbul completely and fly to Varna then 3 day Black Sea ferry to Batumi. 
 

I’ve been in touch with the Batumi Raptor count organisation and secured a spot there and they have local people offering guest accommodation. 
Anyway, my final destination is on this video (TRIGGER WARNING, contains killing of Raptors) 

 

 

Seems like a shame to miss out on black sea coast Turkey which is one of my favourite places. Very different from the rest of the country geographically and culturally. Loads of historic sights. Why not stop over in Sinop and Trabzon? 

[jgtuk]

2 hours ago, bovril said:

Seems like a shame to miss out on black sea coast Turkey which is one of my favourite places. Very different from the rest of the country geographically and culturally. Loads of historic sights. Why not stop over in Sinop and Trabzon? 

Been to both, lived in Turkey for a while and I agree, wonderful places. 

[ajthefox]

On 01/06/2025 at 22:14, Izzy said:

Yeah, we went four years on the trot between 2015-18 when the kids were younger.

 

I reckon on average we spent about £12,000 a time and we were fortunate that I was earning decent money back then.

 

One of the biggest expenses were the attraction tickets. We were doing parks every day with fast passes and that alone probably cost about £3,000

 

Then you're eating out every night, spending money at every park and generally spoiling the kids rotten to give them a great experience. We could have got cheaper accommodation but splashed out on a posh villa each time.

 

In hindsight the fourth time in a row was probably one too many but at least we can say we did the full Disney experience and more.

 

You could easily do two weeks for less than 10k if you skimped out on certain things I guess, but it's still big money.

 

Would love to go back again at some stage but much different financial circumstances now unfortunately.

 

On 02/06/2025 at 13:58, Tommy G said:

£10-12K easy unless you want to do it ''on the cheap'' 

[JonnyBoy]

just come back from Lisbon - probably best city break i have done, food scene is unbelievable. Felt less metropolitan than other cities. Almost like a hybrid between Dubrovnik/Nice in terms of the feel. People generally really friendly, was a lot cheaper than i had envisaged. 

 

A lot of walking up hills so not great for the less abled. We visited the famous aquarium, day trips to Sintra and Cascais as well. 

 

I also didn't realise how football mad they are - in Cascais the kids probably 200+ came on the beach after school and there must have been 20-30 footballs and groups of lads and girls all doing keepy ups in groups for hours. No wonder they have a good football team in relation to their population. 

 

Makes you realise how much of our country is a mess with costs of everything 

[Spudulike]

On 03/06/2025 at 13:14, Chris_OGrady said:

I've done a bit more research now and have spoken to a few people. Was thinking of doing the below as a rough itinerary. Let me know what you think:

 

Day 1- chill in Colombo

Day 2&3 - head to Dambulla - stop off at Elephant Orphanage, do the Sigiriya Rock and visit the temple

Day 4/5/6 - Minneriya National Park, head to Kandy and do a river cruise, tea factory/plantation, and Horton Plains hike

Day 7 - head to Ella and check out the bridge and whatever else is there

Day 8&9 - head to Mirissa for a couple of nights- see some whales

Day 10 - Galle

Day 11/12/13 - chill at a beach hotel - maybe Bentota

Day 14 - home 

 

I think I'm going to get a driver for the trip (as long as it's not crazy expensive) as there's lots of travelling involved!

 

 

Wow, sounds like Race Across the World. I'm knackered just reading that! Will you get the full experience trying to cram all this in?

[Chris_OGrady]

11 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

Wow, sounds like Race Across the World. I'm knackered just reading that! Will you get the full experience trying to cram all this in?

that's what I'm trying to work out 

[bovril]

22 hours ago, jgtuk said:

Been to both, lived in Turkey for a while and I agree, wonderful places. 

Probably the best trip of my life was meandering across Anatolia for a couple of weeks, both south east and northern parts. Amazing part of the world that feels, outside of Cappadocia, like it'll never be very touristy. 

[jgtuk]

1 hour ago, bovril said:

Probably the best trip of my life was meandering across Anatolia for a couple of weeks, both south east and northern parts. Amazing part of the world that feels, outside of Cappadocia, like it'll never be very touristy. 

Aghhh, you’ve stirred memories!! 
It’s been a long time since I was there, you’ve just scratched an itch and now I need to start another trip plan!

[bovril]

1 hour ago, jgtuk said:

Aghhh, you’ve stirred memories!! 
It’s been a long time since I was there, you’ve just scratched an itch and now I need to start another trip plan!

Me too. Would love to go back. I loved Konya and the area round there and Aksaray. Loved the train ride to Adana, incredible endless landscapes. Loved the landscapes around the northern coast and really wanted to explore the little valleys and villages. Most of all though I loved the south east, especially Antioch. This was 2010 too, so before the Syrian War and obviously before the earthquakes. So the memories are tinged with sadness. 

[jgtuk]

39 minutes ago, bovril said:

Me too. Would love to go back. I loved Konya and the area round there and Aksaray. Loved the train ride to Adana, incredible endless landscapes. Loved the landscapes around the northern coast and really wanted to explore the little valleys and villages. Most of all though I loved the south east, especially Antioch. This was 2010 too, so before the Syrian War and obviously before the earthquakes. So the memories are tinged with sadness. 

I lived in Adana in the ‘80s but travelled a lot between there, Trabzon, Samsun and Istanbul. 
So many beautiful and interesting places, I often wonder how much it has changed,not sure whether going back might spoil my memories…

[CosbehFox]

Just got back from Berlin for four days. Fair to see we got the Berliner experience excepting a rave. We were very lucky with the weather until a thunderstorm on Saturday and then yesterday. 

 

After a Thursday walking the landmarks around Mitte and drinking/eating around Rosa-Luxembourg Platz, we went off to Kreuzberg, Fredrichshain and Neukollen over the next few days. So many brilliant bars. A lovely afternoon in a beer garden at Tiergarten. It's easy or not so easy to forget how young of a city it is. The juxtaposition of its residents is made. Your nightlife areas are in one of the larger Muslim immigrant areas within Europe! I have seen far too many drug deals too. Really joined Fredrichshain / Boxhagener Platz on Friday night. If you haven't been the Topography of Terror & DDR Museum are the highlights for me of history. 

 

 

Edited 9 June 2025 by CosbehFox

[ry.cunningham.5]

Anyone on here done the Le Mans 24hr,very tempted looks a cracking week away 

[LcFc_Smiv]

After lots of back and fourth over our honeymoon destination we finally settled on Thailand for Nov/Dec 26. Two nights in Bangkok, 6 nights in Phuket staying just off Karon beach and then finishing with 5 nights in Koh Lanta. We are far too excited for something that's 18 months away and keep forgetting there is the small matter of a wedding first.