Has Anyone Booked a Holiday Yet?

[walkerleeds]

On 09/05/2020 at 14:53, StanSP said:

Definitely get a car.

 

Is it just the 2 of you?

 

There were 3 of us with a fair bit of luggage so hired a pick-up truck. Depending where you go, it's pretty much all you'll see in terms of cars/trucks on the main roads so might be worth looking in to hiring one of them. You won't stand out as a tourist - the advice we were given was to get a white car/pick-up truck and don't stop on the motorways/main roads if you can avoid it! If you see someone flagging motorists down, ignore them and don't stop - the people that flag you down will most likely want to mug you or not let you leave til you pay them off.

 

Genuinely though, having said that, we did feel safe everywhere we went. Never once felt like we were gonna get mugged/followed/beaten up etc. Even driving through a township on the way to a crocodile park it was fine. 

 

It's cheaper to go on a group trip for safari park (for Kruger Park for 3 of us it was anyway). Lunch provided and you're there all day (early start I hasten to add, up at 4am as that's when animals are likely to be around when it's cooler). 

 

Sorry only just seen this. Sounds amazing cheers for the info. How long were you there for? I've read it's fairly cheap there but are we talking Vietnam cheap or cheaper than Europe? 

[StanSP]

6 minutes ago, walkerleeds said:

 

Sorry only just seen this. Sounds amazing cheers for the info. How long were you there for? I've read it's fairly cheap there but are we talking Vietnam cheap or cheaper than Europe? 

Oh much cheaper than anywhere else I've been on holiday (apart from Marrakech).

 

I know there's other things than just a view but if it's this kind of thing you like looking at out from your balcony it's gonna be up your street...

 

 

 

 

There's a place we stayed at called La Roca Guest House, in Nelspruit and not far from Kruger Park. Secure private parking, very spacious accommodation, nice areas to chill out outside, great views, excellent made-to-order breakfast. Really couldn't fault it. The cost? About £50/n. 

 

The cost of food, alcohol, drinks is ridiculously cheap as well. We went out one night in Durban. Went to a fancy hotel to have a nice meal as it was one of our last nights there. Think the whole night cost about £30-40? Round of drinks (beers, shots, spirits) cheap as well.

 

We went for 2 weeks. Few nights in one area of Durban (near Kingsmead Cricket ground), a night in Heidelberg (near Jo'burg, as we went to an animal sanctuary in Lanseria seeing baby black leopards, lions, white tigers), 4-5 nights in Nelspruity and then back for a few days in Durban.

 

Flights were only £600+ return on Fly Emirates, stopping off at Dubai. 

For the length of holiday, and kind of things we did/places we visited, it was very good value for money. 

[Costock_Fox]

9 hours ago, walkerleeds said:

 

Sorry only just seen this. Sounds amazing cheers for the info. How long were you there for? I've read it's fairly cheap there but are we talking Vietnam cheap or cheaper than Europe? 

It’s not Vietnam (I’ve not been but I’ve been Cambodia and presume it’s similar)cheap but it’s cheaper than anywhere I’ve been to in Europe.

 

For example you will go to Michelin star standard restaurants in Cape Town with stunning views and have a feast for about £50 for 2 people.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

I’m feeling a little more confident as each day passes that my October holiday to Gran Canaria will go ahead.

[Ric Flair]

Well, well, well after spending weeks abusing TUI on any form of social media for how they've handled the refunds process, I finally got through to them on Friday and I received my refund within 48 hours. Anyone else still awaiting their refund or to get through to them to even apply for it, keep persevering as they will sort it if you can just get through to them. They at least now have a phone queuing system rather than it cutting off.

 

@walkerleeds I can only echo what others have said about South Africa. Phenomenal country and so cheap. I lived like a king out there for 3 weeks in 2014 and spent £700 in addition to having a few things pre-booked. It was astonishing. Ice cold piss for about 80p and fillet steak for under a tenner.

 

We did the private game reserve for 5 nights up on the edge of the Kruger at a place called Karongwe River Lodge and it was beyond words. We went in early December and there was literally about 6 other people there and it felt like we had our own personal chefs and game ranger as we were often the only ones out there. Food and drink there was out of this world.

 

Cape Town is phenomenal, we were lucky in that we went away with one of our best friends who was from Cape Town so he spent the 3 weeks taking us to a lot of places tourists would ordinarily not know about. But in terms of the obvious stuff then getting out to do the wine tram tour from Franschhoek is breath taking. You go on an old 19th century tram (I have a framed photo in my lounge which i'll upload shortly) through the mountain ranges to the different world class vineyards. You get to go to 6 of them and have 3 glasses of wine at each one and the whole day costs about £10 hahahahahahaaaa. Probably one of the best days of my life, a tip is DO order boxes of wine to be sent back to the UK rather than plan to do it but then get too blasted and forget. If I remember rightly you could order about 10 cases of wine and with the shipping included it would work out about £4 a bottle of stunning wine.

 

The Atlantic Ocean is absolutely bracing but as soon as it meets the Indian Ocean it soon warms up a bit, you can actually see where the two oceans meet which is pretty crazy. The garden route is out of this world too.

[Costock_Fox]

Finally got my refund via the credit card for my Ryanair flights.

[Leicesterpool]

Maybe stupid but took a chance in rebooking my holiday to Orlando in November, maybe optimistic but who knows what's install in the next six months. 

[grobyfox1990]

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Edited 29 May 2020 by grobyfox1990

[Wakeyfox]

5 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

Flavourly are doing a good deal here - https://www.flavourly.com/l/OFFER22FBPB/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=UK_Prospecting_LAL-5-5%2B Orders _Autoplacements_M_20-65%2B_Cans-On-Grass-£29.95-1x1_square-image_PC-Reward_All_OptP_OFFER22FBPB_oCPM_Beer&fbclid=IwAR0_Zqadd3NuDi1k5iHg7QNSYYYO-m_AFo2q-nKB4Bd8Lad5AsKxNw0o210

 

Likesiwse, there's new free beer52 code out. Beer52.com/xexec3

 

Beer 52 are good for haggling with, ring them up and threaten to leave and squeeze offers out of them. After my free box i got down to 12 beers for £16 inc delivery for my next box

Now that's my kind of holiday!

[grobyfox1990]

2 minutes ago, Wakeyfox said:

Now that's my kind of holiday!

wrong thread!! clearly booze has overtaken holidays in my mind's priority list

[stripeyfox]

On 27/05/2020 at 02:11, Costock_Fox said:

Finally got my refund via the credit card for my Ryanair flights.

did you do a chargeback? 

 

 

[Costock_Fox]

1 hour ago, stripeyfox said:

did you do a chargeback? 

 

 

Yes mate, I wasn’t expecting it to work but it did.

[stripeyfox]

15 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Yes mate, I wasn’t expecting it to work but it did.

cheers. I might give the bank a call then. Got about £400 worth of cancelled flights with Ryanair so if there's a chance of getting it back that would be great!

[Leicester_Loyal]

Looking at a jolly to Spain in August or September, don't know what the quarantine situation will be by then though.

[grobyfox1990]

13 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Looking at a jolly to Spain in August or September, don't know what the quarantine situation will be by then though.

No need to quarantine, govt have made it clear we can interpret the rules as we wish. A fair interpretation is don't bother with it

[fuchsntf]

14 hours ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Looking at a jolly to Spain in August or September, don't know what the quarantine situation will be by then though.

By August & September,we should know alot  more, how returning Holiday-makers Europe Wide have made out.

Especially if any country has brought hotels,vacation-Spots under quarantine..!!

 

I suppose there will be a few more hours to reckon,for your actualtravel-days,with Virus  precautions & regulations,Plus Customs-officers on tenterhooks.

Including any of the previous Security checks & rigmarole.

Hocking around Airports, on hot days,also with facemasks,not my idea of stress-free holiday...

 

This weekend in Germany is Whitsen,so a long weekend,will be interesting how and where the traffic-jams Build up.First real test for National breaks after the  lifting of major lockdown restrictions...

Me and my wife..we are going to search for a local new trail,for Wchair and chill out.  .

[fuchsntf]

2 hours ago, grobyfox1990 said:

No need to quarantine, govt have made it clear we can interpret the rules as we wish. A fair interpretation is don't bother with it

Only under a DC  License & waiver...

[Detroit Blues]

On 28/05/2020 at 18:09, Leicesterpool said:

Maybe stupid but took a chance in rebooking my holiday to Orlando in November, maybe optimistic but who knows what's install in the next six months. 

Florida is pretty lax as far as restrictions go. I think you'll be fine.

[Costock_Fox]

14 hours ago, Detroit Blues said:

Florida is pretty lax as far as restrictions go. I think you'll be fine.

If by fine you mean coming back with a nice tan and a healthy dose of the rona then yeah, right as rain.

[Detroit Blues]

47 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

If by fine you mean coming back with a nice tan and a healthy dose of the rona then yeah, right as rain.

 

If you're traveling to Florida, of all places, then you already know that you are putting your life in danger

 

That said, the # of coronavirus cases in Florida is relatively low compared to the rest of the US/UK. I have family down there, and apparently outdoor restaurants are starting to re-open, same with beaches and parks. By November, things could be better. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Leicesterpool]

7 hours ago, Detroit Blues said:

 

If you're traveling to Florida, of all places, then you already know that you are putting your life in danger

 

That said, the # of coronavirus cases in Florida is relatively low compared to the rest of the US/UK. I have family down there, and apparently outdoor restaurants are starting to re-open, same with beaches and parks. By November, things could be better. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah I think America are very keen to open up shop as quick as possible, in fact I won't at all surprised if in time it might be easier to travel to America than it would be to some parts of europe. I think some areas of europe are going to be quite strict who they let in for some time to come. 

Edited 1 June 2020 by Leicesterpool

[Jattdogg]

19 hours ago, Detroit Blues said:

 

If you're traveling to Florida, of all places, then you already know that you are putting your life in danger

 

That said, the # of coronavirus cases in Florida is relatively low compared to the rest of the US/UK. I have family down there, and apparently outdoor restaurants are starting to re-open, same with beaches and parks. By November, things could be better. 

 

 

For a second wave of covid and race issues with DT possibly winning a second term. Come to Canada instead (just bring  a warm jacket and polite manners) and enjoy some poutine, pancakes, maple syrup and most importantly legal weed.

[stretch1965]

We are supposed to be going to Mexico July 17th. TUI haven’t cancelled it yet but have said we can move it. Don’t really want to do that  as I have paid 6k in full. I’d rather get my money back and pay a deposit for next year which will be around £400. So does anyone think they could start flying to Mexico in July or is in a similar situation.

[Costock_Fox]

3 hours ago, stretch1965 said:

We are supposed to be going to Mexico July 17th. TUI haven’t cancelled it yet but have said we can move it. Don’t really want to do that  as I have paid 6k in full. I’d rather get my money back and pay a deposit for next year which will be around £400. So does anyone think they could start flying to Mexico in July or is in a similar situation.

Looks like Mexico has a travel ban that’s being reviewed at the end of this month. I think it’s unlikely but you will know definitely by then.

[Wrighty22]

We are meant to be going to a Haven site on the 11th July but the sites are currently closed until the 5th July. Given the momentum at the moment I would be surprised if the sites don't open on the 6th July as planned. The only issue, and a huge one, is that Haven have already announced that when they do open they will not open the pools, bars, restaurants and there will be no activities for the children which makes it totally pointless in going. Needless to say we have agreed that move the holiday to next year and write this year off. I'm not overly fussed because I appreciate all that is going on but I feel bad for the kids.