Holidays

Egypt is just an Amazing place to go on holiday! There are so many things to do and see! I'd love to go back to Egypt at some point to explore some more!

Oh no! Yes, sometimes the best laid plans can still go wrong! I find with the English Heritage cards that there is usually 'somewhere' that I can visit, even if it's not my first choice. 

Ennerskillen sounds interesting, what was it like? Likewise, the Lake District. I've never been to the Lake District myself, when I was in year 9 at secondary school (back in the early 90's) I had the choice between Snowdonia or the Lake District for the year 9 trip and I chose Snowdonia. Is the Lake District worth a visit?

I hope that your sunburn wasn't too bad when you finally got to visit Hadrian's wall?

My Plans go wrong sometimes. 

My failure to see round Donegal castle was unavoidable.  I was on a package coach holiday with the hotel in the town of Donegal and one free day.  The town was almost dead.  The castle was closed for two consecutive days per week. 

In fact the holiday firm had arranged a boat tour for the morning to see the spectacular coast.  Unfortunately our driver couldn't find the ships captain.   I suspect the problem was that it was February. 

After a couple of hours of wondering around a dead town,  I took a local bus to the larger town of Ennerskillen and spent the day there, seeing their sights and their castle museum. 

The Hadrians wall fiasco was because I tried to visit it in November. I checked the bus timetable on the Internet but not the date.

There was a regular tourist bus service between the towns of Haltwhistle and Hexham.  I arrived at the dead town of Haltwhistle in the middle of November, and discovered that the next tourist bus was due in April.

Attempt No. 2

Next July, I had it all planned out, train timetables, bus timetables.  I arrived in Carlisle by train with 10 min to spare to get the Newcastle bound train to Haltwhistle again!  in Carlisle I discovered that the train was cancelled.  Next one in an hour.  I went to the lake district instead.

Attempt. No. 3

A week later I travelled by train to Newcastle then Hexham, then caught the tourist bus and successfully visited Hadrians wall.  Unfortunately I had no sun cream . And on the hottest day of the year I was exposed to a burning sun.

I did a good holiday a few years ago - learning to dive in Egypt.    It was an all inclusive, high-intensity course based in a hotel in Sharm el Shiek.  Day one was get all you gear from the store - wetsuit, mask, snorkel, octopus/regulator, weights & fins - all in a little carry-crate.   Once kitted out, it was straight into the classroom and hitting the training books for the first chapters followed by getting geared up and into the pool practising what we had just covered.   Lunch was followed by more lessons and back into the pool.    It was continuous assessments throughout.    We were free to explore the town in the evenings.   Day 2 was more of the same, day three was based on the beach and day four was on a dive-boat - and done.

Day 5 was for anyone who had failed any of the previous day's tests to re-do that section   It was high-intensity learning with a very high drop-out rate.   People found that they either couldn't keep up or had inner-ear equalisation problems or just got freaked out by the whole underwater environment.

I thought it was brilliant - I passed everything and on the spare day I did a trip to the top of Mt Sinai.

I found it was an excellent experience - and I'm now a qualified open-water diver to boot.   All for £399 at the time.

Yes the opening hours of castles and historical places of interest can be sketchy to say the least! I always check first before I set off on my journey and select a plan B if the plan A is closed. 

I got caught like that in February last year - took my daughter down to do a course during her uni 'reading week' (half term) expecting to drop her off every morning and pick her up every evening and each day I was planning on visiting local touristy stuff - unfortunately, everything was only open the week before and closed during the week I was there - the half terms weren't synchronised.    I got to sit in a Costa every day and wait for her instead.

One thing to be careful of. Is that many historical places are closed on certain days or even over the winter months.

I missed out on Donegal castle, Totnes castle because I was there on the wrong day of the week.

The Hadrians wall bus service only ran April to October. 

The moral is check before you travel.

I think it’s good to have such a high level of knowledge on any topic. Hopefully your advice will help others to have a more enjoyable holiday.

I know - it's a bit sad - but it really is THAT GOOD!    

Unfortunately, there's so much there to do and so many choices that people can accidentally blow a lot of cash and not get value for money doing the same holiday.

I like how you are literally the world’s leading expert on holidays to Disneyland Florida  you should start charging for your services

Universal is a separate company - it's worth doing if you can afford it on top of what you've paid for the Disney holiday - a 1-day park hopper (Universal is 2 main parks - the Studios and the Islands of Adventure) is about £200 each!.   You need to do both parks for the full experience - Universal Studios has Harry Potter Hogwarts and the IoA has Harry Potter London - there's the Hogwarts Express train linking the two - which is an experience in itself!

I REALLY recommend getting the disability assistance card - it makes getting around the parks so much easier.

We're on the Disney and Virgin Holidays mailing lists - they send deals all the time but you just have to wait until a bargain drops into your inbox - often around May-time for the following Jan/Feb/Mar outside school holiday time - the price drops dramatically!    We're also preferred members of the main hire-car companies - you get a free upgrade of the hire car (we normally end up with a huge 305bhp Chevrolet Impala LTZ instead of a tiny Spark/Matiz)

When I go on holiday, I like to go to somewhere there are lots of historical buildings/monuments/sites of interest that I can explore. My best ever holiday was in Egypt, I absolutely loved exploring the Valleys of the Kings and Queens; The Pyramid complex at Giza and various Temples. These days I tend to stick to UK holidays and am slowly working through the English Heritage catalogue of castles.

Ideally it’s always best to check the website of the resort/company your booking with, most places will offer some kind of offer to encourage families to go certain times of the year, always best to check the reviews as some places may exaggerate what they have on offer for advertising purposes.  I’m not sure about Universal studios, but Disneyland (Eurodisney, I take it your planning on one in the states) offer 3 day breaks for families in one of their resorts.  But who are you intending to go with and when are you intending to go?

Where did you find this deal?  I'm useless at planning stuff like this.  I don't even know where to start looking for a fully inclusive holiday like it.  Does it include universal studios?

I go on at least two holidays (usually 3 or 4) each year, I’m generally more interested in travelling than in having a ‘family holiday’ or ‘holiday’ as most people would refer to having a beach, swimming pool, sun, hotel, etc.  It’s hard to say whether I’ve had a favourite holiday, I’d say three top would be Lucca, Italy (First time round in June 2017), Cancun, Mexico (March-April 2018) and Malta (August 2014).  I’m extremely interested in travelling to Italy, Portugal, Latin America (namely Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina) Russia, Poland and possibly Norway.

I’m into cultural/architectural/historical sites, local culture, attractive cities, cathedrals, museums, art galleries, squares, piazze, exotic/local foodstuffs, nature, exploration, peoples/customs/languages, leisure, theme parks, etc.

That does sound perfect

I love the fact that The Mouse does not allow things to go wrong - everything is guaranteed to be perfect all the time - so no need for anxiety - it's very, very relaxing for me. 

I love all things Disney, so the kiddy image doesn't bother me at all

I know it has a kiddy image, but it's brilliant for adults - entertainment all day.