Holidays from Heaven

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Well the other topic got me thinking

I've been lucky, I've had some hoidays that could have been from hell but were saved by luck or the company

The best holidays I remeber are sometimes the least planned.

The first hol hubby and I had was camping in Paris> the campsite were rather rude to us for some reason and told us to move the tent, so we did ,to Amsterdam.
Fantastic, at the time, Van Gogh museum & rijksmuseum alone were worth it.
Stopped off in Belgium to see some Magritte

Then there was Iceland.
It was a dry country then, Hubby had a hepatitis infection. Cheaper to fly from Scotland. Didnt stop the locals approaching us in the street and offering their "brew"
So different and fantastic
The Blue Lagoon, Thingvellir, Gulfoss, Myvatn
sigh
And they rejoice in every artist they've ever produced

The trips round Scotland when we just put tents in the car and went
Ending up in Orkney ( free fishing, hubby is in love with Loch Harray )

The *mum need a driver * when eldest had tickets to Reading music festival, fell out with driving boyfiend ( spelling noted )
& she and pals were left with a spare ticket
I LOVED it
Been back ever since

Got saucy photos to prove it

But my favourite is a wee place in Greece, ( didn't go there this year )

No karaoke, no discos,
Bakery, warm seas, tavernas,
local produce in the shop ( he actually said, one time " I no charge, gift from my garden " when we got tomatoe, peppers and cucumbers and they tasted fantastic ).

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:56 am

One of my all time favourite trips was to Sweden. What a beautiful country.

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:55 am

Many years ago, I took my family on a 5 day weekend camping trip to here

Edit, resized to 600 wide, Thx JMR

My daughter who was 12 years old, the boys who were 10 and 7, and herself and I

The campground was sparsely populated, it was March, late summer in NZ, but amongst the campers were a couple of 13 - 14 year old boys

Well more than a couple as we found out, we would wake up in the morning, and find 3 or more hanging off the fence line, a couple more staked out on the pathway to the beach, and by the time we, and my daughter had got to the beach, there would be a mass movement of gangly, awkward, embarrassed *I'm not really looking at you* boys following us

Amongst ourselves we had a lot of laughs, if only one of them had plucked up the courage to approach Mel, they would have had a great time with us all, but in typical teenage angst, turmoil and whatever goes on in the mind of a teenage boy, (and don't tell me, I was one) they never got nearer than a few metres away, and just stood there drooling and shuffling their feet.

Anyway, Mel had a great time, she went fishing, caught a lot of fish, squid and got into diving with me, the boys went fishing, diving, we all got great tans, and the love struck boys in the camp followed us around for the whole time, and never got close enough to say hello. In fact I think if any of us had said *hello*, they would have run a mile before realising what we said.

She's now 30 years old, and still blushes when I remind her, pulling the pics out does not help

Best weekend we have ever spent

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 6:28 am

at this point, can I just say `Hello` from a very sunny Cyprus Very Happy

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 8:17 am

In 2000 I went on an Australian War Memorial tour of Turkey, France and Belgium, spending Anzac Day at Anzac Cove, visiting memorial sites in all three countries, and seeing many of the other things they had to offer.

One thing I took away from that was a small hint of the camaraderie that the soldiers must have felt in their time in the ranks. The harmony that developed between us was tangible. I was felled by a brief but intense bout of gastric flu; I recall with gratitude how my roommate went at sunrise to find help, the many tour members who came to see how I was, and the souvenirs they brought back from Troy as I couldn't make it there.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 24

I don't travel much, but in 2005 I spent a few months in northern India that was a big eye-opener Shocked

about how - unfortunately - much of the world lives. I don't know that I would go back, simply because of the utter culture shock, but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world.

Maybe I'll post some pictures if I track down those DVDs full of them. Smile

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:47 pm

I've been all over, but I quite enjoyed Dubai... the old souks down by the river and the desert safari were memorable. I'm glad I went when I did though, it's getting overdeveloped now.
I also loved Oslo and Madrid, (short breaks) and I really like Porto and Seville, they're both beautiful.

I'm having a winter holiday this year... 10 days skiing in Whistler, British Columbia, then a 4 day stopover in Vancouver. It should be great fun, I love Canada.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

I've had a few great holidays too.

Toronto
Dubai
Barbados
Antigua
Miami

That's my best holidays, I don't really have one in particular Razz

And who could forgot Luss? Camping and speedboating, cannae beat it!

EDIT: @ Mugatu, from our balcony in Dubai, we counted 119 cranes!

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 1:04 pm

Miami? It sure looked nice on Miami Vice, isn't Florida regarded the US' biggest retirement home?

Anyway, I'd love to have a look around there, although I'm still far from that age...

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

I can't find any pictures I took there, rootuser, but here are some randoms from the Caribbean.

http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b164/Craig007/

Master Baiter Joined: 19 Sep 2008 Posts: 114

Kona on the big island of Hawaii was just paradise, well worth 22hrs flying and braving US immigration.

The north shore of Oahu was petty good also, sailing round Diamond Head in a sail boat was pretty special also.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 720

I like to visit Battlefields

Ypres,Anzio,Verdun,Gettysburg and will be going to the Falklands

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 6:01 pm

Amsterdam for me.

I go several times a year and I would gladly move there if I had the funds.

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 6:24 pm

For me it would have to be the summer holidays I spent in Hastings as a young boy. We would stay with my uncle and auntie in St Leonards-on-sea. It was only a short a bus ride to the pebble beach and there was loads of things to do if you were of the British seaside holiday persuasion. Castles, cable car, pier, penny arcades and go-carting on the beach. And they never ran out of candyfloss despite my best efforts. Very Happy

We lived there for a year in 1969 when I was nine and I was let roam around pretty much anywhere I wanted. It was before stranger danger was invented and like living one huge playground or on a holiday that would never end. I was heartbroken when we moved back to London.

It became a bit of dump in the eighties as local authorities (including my own ironically) sent homeless to live there in B&Bs which effectively killed of the holiday market. I haven't visited there in years but believe it is making a bit of a comeback.

Otherwise I've been to most European countries for my holidays. Mainly Denmark.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 3551

The White Mountains of New Hampshire (U.S.) are gorgeous every October after the leaves have turned. There is a pontoon ride on Lake Winnipesaukee, and you can see and hear loons on the lake. This is the lake where On Golden Pond (with Jane and Henry Fonda) was made. The shoreline is so perfectly lined with round rocks that it looks man made. I must have a hundred pictures of the covered bridges and waterfalls.

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 10:33 pm

Climbing in the Gunks in NY or at the New River Gorge, WV with friends is always high on my list.
The one I am looking forward to taking with justicebserved is the canoe trip on the Edisto river with an overnight in a treehouse that my best friend and I took a couple years ago.

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 11:20 pm

A year and a half ago, 16 members of our cummunity chorus went on a Mexican Riviera cruise. This was my first vacation since landing in a wheelchair, and it was absolutely fantastic.

I could hardly turn around without someone - crew member or passenger - offering to help me. When we returned, the chorus director called me the Queen of the Ship.

I did not go ashore in Cabo San Lucas, as negotiating the transfer to the tender (there was no pier) was just too much for me to even consider. But I sat on the deck and watched the para-sailers and the motorboats racing around, as well as the arrival and departure of several other cruise ships.

In Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, I had not realized that the cruise line needed advance notice to provide a tour bus with a wheelchair lift, but I went ashore anyway, and purchased tours from local van-drivers. In Mazatlan we had a regular van, and the driver recruited a passing man to help me into the van at each stop. In Puerto Vallarta the van had a lift, but there were no tie-downs. Another tour guide sat behind me and held my chair so I didn't end up in the driver's lap on the steep downhill portions. In both cities we had wonderful private tours, and a joyous time.

I shared a wheelchair-accessible cabin with another member of the chorus, and the bathroom was pure luxury.

I enjoyed the cruise so much I'm doing it again next year, with my roommate and her sister and brother-in-law. This time we'll get an accessible suite.