Holiday Plans 2019

[Sith Happens]

38 minutes ago, richinspain said:

Derby 9th till 13th of May ??????

Don't you start.

[NC--RAM]

12 minutes ago, Paul71 said:

Don't you start.

BRILLIANT !!!!!!!

[Mucker1884]

We're foregoing our usual late-May flights to Malaga  and privately rented villa (Self-Catering) in Nerja this year (So I'll be free for Wembley!)  Instead, we'll be leaving it until early June, and go touring via tunnel/car/bikes and tent in and around the Mons area of Belgium, in an attempt to follow in the footsteps of Muckerette's Grandad, when he took a similar tour of the area just over a century ago.  Muckerette is just about to study his regiment's war diaries (recently sourced), to try and come up with a route/itinerary.  All very informal, probably include a fair bit of "make it up as we go", and hopefully take in as many of the various battlefield/war memorials as we can in our meagre fortnight(ish). 

September will see us return via the tunnel, but head due south, until we hit either the med or the Basque region!  Probably the latter, as we so enjoyed last year in The Landes.  This again will involve car/bikes and tent, so no flights at all for us this year!(*Oops... see edit!)

Twixt all of that, we try to get as many camping weekends/short breaks away in the UK, but to our shame, we are a little "behind schedule", as we failed to get away from November to Feb, inclusive, so only 5 nights camping thus far this year, with another 3 (hopefully 4) over the coming Easter weekend (Conwy).  Last weekend, it was camping near Chapelle Ste Leonardois, and cycling in and around Mable, Skeg and Gibraltar Point... and it was bloody freezing... oh, and all the local bogs have now installed "Pay as you go" this year, so be warned!

Looking to break our record this year, which currently stands at 38 nights (2015).  I'll be disappointed if we don't smash it, seeing as we are missing out on our non-camping Spain trip!

EDIT:

Oh... nearly forgot... we did a sneaky week in Nerja (Cheap Half Board/Hotel Package with Tui, so different from the norm) for my Jan birthday, seeing as we aren't bothering in May!  Seems so long ago already!  

[Rev]

We have just come back from a couple of days in Harrogate for the wife's birthday.

Strange place, Belper sized but with supercars lining the streets, pubs and hotels at reasonable prices, the fanciest Weatherspoons I've seen, and not a single black face to be seen aside from the Oriental tourists.

Locals seemed equally split between City of London type suits, and Cheltenham Festival winning owners attire, i.e. Plaid, Checks and Velour in equal measure.

Wierd place, all in all.

I took the following photo, of garden ornaments for sale in the town centre, which I think summed it up.

 

 

[Turk Thrust]

For me it's a mix of a business trip and holiday. I will be taking a group of Nigerian Court of Appeal judges to Kuala Lumpur to expose them to modern ways of working in courts (Malaysia and Singapore are in the forefront of electronic records)  That's for a week so I will stay on for an extra week and mosey on down to my favourite place Singapore to have a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar at Raffles. Fly back to Nigeria for a week and then home. Not forgetting to buy some expensive perfume for the Bolukbashi.  It's a tough life....

[sage]

37 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

We're foregoing our usual late-May flights to Malaga  and privately rented villa (Self-Catering) in Nerja this year (So I'll be free for Wembley!)  Instead, we'll be leaving it until early June, and go touring via tunnel/car/bikes and tent in and around the Mons area of Belgium, in an attempt to follow in the footsteps of Muckerette's Grandad, when he took a similar tour of the area just over a century ago.  Muckerette is just about to study his regiment's war diaries (recently sourced), to try and come up with a route/itinerary.  All very informal, probably include a fair bit of "make it up as we go", and hopefully take in as many of the various battlefield/war memorials as we can in our meagre fortnight(ish). 

September will see us return via the tunnel, but head due south, until we hit either the med or the Basque region!  Probably the latter, as we so enjoyed last year in The Landes.  This again will involve car/bikes and tent, so no flights at all for us this year!(*Oops... see edit!)

Twixt all of that, we try to get as many camping weekends/short breaks away in the UK, but to our shame, we are a little "behind schedule", as we failed to get away from November to Feb, inclusive, so only 5 nights camping thus far this year, with another 3 (hopefully 4) over the coming Easter weekend (Conwy).  Last weekend, it was camping near Chapelle Ste Leonardois, and cycling in and around Mable, Skeg and Gibraltar Point... and it was bloody freezing... oh, and all the local bogs have now installed "Pay as you go" this year, so be warned!

Looking to break our record this year, which currently stands at 38 nights (2015).  I'll be disappointed if we don't smash it, seeing as we are missing out on our non-camping Spain trip!

EDIT:

Oh... nearly forgot... we did a sneaky week in Nerja (Cheap Half Board/Hotel Package with Tui, so different from the norm) for my Jan birthday, seeing as we aren't bothering in May!  Seems so long ago already!  

I've done the Belgium WWW1 stuff a few times if you need any tips.

[Mucker1884]

@reveldevil Oh wow!  I'd be amazed if that wasn't actually illegal in this day and age!  Maybe the all-over "stone grey" colouring keeps it under the radar?

Compare that, to last weeks ridiculously insane (and not-too-cheap, I'd imagine) re-call of those supermarket packs of three chocolate Easter Ducklings, simply because the plain chocolate version (ergo the darkest) went by the name of "Ugly", whilst the milk and white chocolate versions were apparently "less offensively" named!  The racism squeals were deafening, by all accounts!  

 

 

 

[Mucker1884]

10 minutes ago, sage said:

I've done the Belgium WWW1 stuff a few times if you need any tips.

Cheers @sage.

Need to check out these diaries first, and suss out precisely where we're heading.  Too early to say whether we need any tips, until we come up with a hint of a plan, but if we do, rest assured I will take you up on your kind offer.  

[Steve How Hard?]

44 minutes ago, reveldevil said:

We have just come back from a couple of days in Harrogate for the wife's birthday.

Strange place, Belper sized but with supercars lining the streets, pubs and hotels at reasonable prices, the fanciest Weatherspoons I've seen, and not a single black face to be seen aside from the Oriental tourists.

Locals seemed equally split between City of London type suits, and Cheltenham Festival winning owners attire, i.e. Plaid, Checks and Velour in equal measure.

Wierd place, all in all.

I took the following photo, of garden ornaments for sale in the town centre, which I think summed it up.

 

 

Quite like Harrogate. Must sum up my personality if you deem it a weird place. Having said that, it is in Yorkshire after all so you're probably right, full of weirdos. 

[sage]

4 hours ago, eddie said:

Exchange rates are not great, but we thought 'to hell with that'. I'm semi-retired, and in order to pay for a decent holiday abroad, I do a bit of consultancy. We didn't bother with the brewery tours last month when we were in Belgium (once you have seen one, basically you have seen them all), but we did go to De Halve Maan on a couple of occasions just for a glass of Straffe Hendrik Wild. Similarly we went to Bourgogne Des Flandres for the beer flight, and of course a couple of glasses of Tripel in Staminee De Garre. I am a creature of habit.

I have one regret, and that is the fact that I have never visited the USA and probably never will. My blood has a tendency to take on the consistency of black pudding, and a 6 or 7 hour flight would probably be instant deep-vein thrombosis for me, and having survived 4 episodes, I don't wish to try for a 5th.

It is £800 each way pp with Cunard, Takes 6 days each way. 

[eddie]

16 minutes ago, sage said:

It is £800 each way pp with Cunard, Takes 6 days each way. 

I might look into it in future years - thanks.

[sage]

5 minutes ago, eddie said:

I might look into it in future years - thanks.

it includes 4 meals a day so that may kill you anyway

[Rev]

1 hour ago, Steve How Hard? said:

Quite like Harrogate. Must sum up my personality if you deem it a weird place. Having said that, it is in Yorkshire after all so you're probably right, full of weirdos. 

I said strange place, although that's splitting hairs.

I liked it too, very much so, but it is odd, don't you think?

Like someone has lifted Chelsea and plonked it 300 miles north.

Just re read @Steve How Hard?, I did indeed call it wierd.

[eddie]

2 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

Cheers @sage.

Need to check out these diaries first, and suss out precisely where we're heading.  Too early to say whether we need any tips, until we come up with a hint of a plan, but if we do, rest assured I will take you up on your kind offer.  

If it was like my step-grandfather's trip to Ypres in 1917 (at least, how he told it), that involved digging a hole and lying in it for several months while both sides threw various bits of ordnance at him and his mates.

[eddie]

51 minutes ago, sage said:

it includes 4 meals a day so that may kill you anyway

Wearing a suit for dinner would, for sure.

[Stagtime]

Big week for me. Going to Book of Mormans in Brisvegas Saturday, fly to chilly Melbourne Sunday, MCG for Aussie Rules (Geelong vs Hawthorn) on Monday and the traditional ANZAC day game Thursday, Melbourne Storm vs New Zealand Warriors (Rugby League).

[Steve How Hard?]

4 hours ago, reveldevil said:

I said strange place, although that's splitting hairs.

I liked it too, very much so, but it is odd, don't you think?

Like someone has lifted Chelsea and plonked it 300 miles north.

Just re read @Steve How Hard?, I did indeed call it wierd.

Gotta admit I've never really noticed all the super cars lining the streets but then again I'm not the most observant of people. The Wetherspoons is a decent one and we usually find ourselves finishing the night off in there. There is a cracking fish restaurant just a stones throw from it that we like to frequent also. It's called the Drum and Monkey if you're ever there again.

[Coneheadjohn]

7 hours ago, Stagtime said:

Big week for me. Going to Book of Mormans in Brisvegas Saturday, fly to chilly Melbourne Sunday, MCG for Aussie Rules (Geelong vs Hawthorn) on Monday and the traditional ANZAC day game Thursday, Melbourne Storm vs New Zealand Warriors (Rugby League).

I love how everywhere’s chilly to the Aussies.

My mate in Queensland is always sending me pics of his log burner(chilly tonight mate)!

And pictures of big spiders and snakes.

[Stagtime]

3 hours ago, coneheadjohn said:

I love how everywhere’s chilly to the Aussies.

My mate in Queensland is always sending me pics of his log burner(chilly tonight mate)!

And pictures of big spiders and snakes.

I was just saying to the missus we’ll have to get the fire ready. Temperatures going to be 18 - 27 this week. Talking about snakes, the neighbor saw a big Eastern Brown come into the yard a couple of days ago. Can’t find him anywhere, might be in the wood pile.

[Coneheadjohn]

49 minutes ago, Stagtime said:

I was just saying to the missus we’ll have to get the fire ready. Temperatures going to be 18 - 27 this week. Talking about snakes, the neighbor saw a big Eastern Brown come into the yard a couple of days ago. Can’t find him anywhere, might be in the wood pile.

When we went our friends neighbour shouted over the fence.

Tell the Poms to be careful I’ve just seen a brown snake on the drive!

They  led me to believe they’re pretty dangerous?