Holidays 2019

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Ricardodaforce

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I haven’t made any plans yet, but if you’re planning a driving holiday in Europe be aware of the following:

Plans are being drawn up to issue millions of permits so Britons can drive on EU roads after Brexit.
Up to seven million International Driving Permits could be needed inside a year if the UK and the EU do not agree to mutual recognise of licences, the National Audit Office (NAO) says.
The public spending watchdog warned that "detailed delivery plans" had not yet been completed.
But the government told it the project was "deliverable".
 
Hope we don’t need a permit for Yorky shire land
 
Turkey could be very cheap
 
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Ricardodaforce said:
I haven’t made any plans yet, but if you’re planning a driving holiday in Europe be aware of the following:

Plans are being drawn up to issue millions of permits so Britons can drive on EU roads after Brexit.
Up to seven million International Driving Permits could be needed inside a year if the UK and the EU do not agree to mutual recognise of licences, the National Audit Office (NAO) says.
The public spending watchdog warned that "detailed delivery plans" had not yet been completed.
But the government told it the project was "deliverable".
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Just in case one is needed, I'll be getting an IDP when we get back from Crete in a month or so. Even if it takes a few months for it to come through, I should have it before next year's trips.

Keeping an eye on assorted sites just in case the PTB decide that visas are needed...
 
So what exciting travel trips have you all got planned?

Tomorrow I’m off to Spain. Edinburgh next month. Disneyland Paris in May. Italy in July. Spain in October.
 
Sorrento booked. I haven’t seen much of Italy. Started the Coffee Break Italian podcasts.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Planning to visit India next year - a country knee-deep in Beaurocracy.
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Mrs Nod and I were chatting about India trips earlier today. Out of 10 or so friends who have been, at least 2 picked up life changing diseases over there - one still has severe problems almost 20 years later and the other has just got out of intensive care.

Just over 8 weeks until we're back in Crete. :) :cool:
 
Nod said:
Even if it takes a few months for it to come through, I should have it before next year's trips.
..
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According to the post office website its a walk in service.
 
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Ricardodaforce said:
Sorrento booked. I haven’t seen much of Italy. Started the Coffee Break Italian podcasts.
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We were in that area about 12 years ago, staying just outside Vico Equense. The area is spectacular but was incredibly crowded even back then, to the point where it's hard to imagine it would be possible to fit more tourists in, and we tried and failed twice to actually drive into Sorrento, giving up after sitting in traffic for more than 30min each time. There are ferries that run around, if you want to make local visits to other coastal towns. Pompeii and Herculaneum were amazing, and positano was beautiful but crowded, Napoli fascinating. We finished our trip with a few days in Rome, and the city actually felt more relaxed than the coast.

I hope you have a better holiday than we did.
 
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ancient_mariner said:
We were in that area about 12 years ago, staying just outside Vico Equense. The area is spectacular but was incredibly crowded even back then, to the point where it's hard to imagine it would be possible to fit more tourists in, and we tried and failed twice to actually drive into Sorrento, giving up after sitting in traffic for more than 30min each time. There are ferries that run around, if you want to make local visits to other coastal towns. Pompeii and Herculaneum were amazing, and positano was beautiful but crowded, Napoli fascinating. We finished our trip with a few days in Rome, and the city actually felt more relaxed than the coast.

I hope you have a better holiday than we did.
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Thanks! I’ve also booked a Thursday to Sunday in Spain to catch up with friends.
 
ancient_mariner said:
We were in that area about 12 years ago, staying just outside Vico Equense. The area is spectacular but was incredibly crowded even back then, to the point where it's hard to imagine it would be possible to fit more tourists in, and we tried and failed twice to actually drive into Sorrento, giving up after sitting in traffic for more than 30min each time. There are ferries that run around, if you want to make local visits to other coastal towns. Pompeii and Herculaneum were amazing, and positano was beautiful but crowded, Napoli fascinating. We finished our trip with a few days in Rome, and the city actually felt more relaxed than the coast.

I hope you have a better holiday than we did.
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We stayed just outside Vico Equense last year! Fantastic place and really want to go back again. Didn't find Sorrento too bad, although we used the train and not the roads. Trains get busy as you'd expect at certain times.

Loved the area and definitely will go back again sometime.
 
Nod said:
Mrs Nod and I were chatting about India trips earlier today. Out of 10 or so friends who have been, at least 2 picked up life changing diseases over there - one still has severe problems almost 20 years later and the other has just got out of intensive care.

Just over 8 weeks until we're back in Crete. :) :cool:
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Loves me a bit of Crete. "Island hotel " Gouves. Total chill. Going again early sept. Austin Texas in june.
 
chris954 said:
According to the post office website its a walk in service.
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It is. £5.50 for a 3 year 1967 IDP at many Post Offices.

Cockney said:
Loves me a bit of Crete. "Island hotel " Gouves. Total chill. Going again early sept. Austin Texas in june.
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We've found the stretch between Heraklion and Ayios Nikolaios a bit noisy from the flights so head West as fast as possible! Chania is our area of preference (area more than city, although we have a fair few favourite restaurants in Chania itself.)
 
Nod said:
It is. £5.50 for a 3 year 1967 IDP at many Post Offices.



We've found the stretch between Heraklion and Ayios Nikolaios a bit noisy from the flights so head West as fast as possible! Chania is our area of preference (area more than city, although we have a fair few favourite restaurants in Chania itself.)
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I think we are just far enough away at gouves. You can hear them if you listen out, otherwise we never notice them. We fell in love with the hotel and a few local restaurants & bars. So we just keep going back. Not very adventurous i know but I just cant imagine anything suiting our purposes better.
 
ancient_mariner said:
We were in that area about 12 years ago, staying just outside Vico Equense. The area is spectacular but was incredibly crowded even back then, to the point where it's hard to imagine it would be possible to fit more tourists in, and we tried and failed twice to actually drive into Sorrento, giving up after sitting in traffic for more than 30min each time. There are ferries that run around, if you want to make local visits to other coastal towns. Pompeii and Herculaneum were amazing, and positano was beautiful but crowded, Napoli fascinating. We finished our trip with a few days in Rome, and the city actually felt more relaxed than the coast.

I hope you have a better holiday than we did.
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Were doing Sorrento next year. I'm not too keen for the reasons you outline. Mrs Cockney really wants to see it though and its a big birthday year for her so were going. (She hates traffic and crowds. I've even described the Italian "driving" but its not put her off.)
 
Cockney said:
Were doing Sorrento next year. I'm not too keen for the reasons you outline. Mrs Cockney really wants to see it though and its a big birthday year for her so were going. (She hates traffic and crowds. I've even described the Italian "driving" but its not put her off.)
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It may have changed, but one tip I'd give is to take a large bag of 1 euro coins to pay for parking. ;)

I like Italian drivers - they know how long & wide their car is, how fast it will accelerate and stop, how fast it will corner and whether or not you'll let them pull out in front of you. They can be a bit fearless, especially so close to Naples, which takes a little getting used to.

TBH I loved the archaeology and the views, but hated the restrictions, parking, traffic and how nearly every bit of beach seemed to be owned by someone or other who wanted to be paid before you could use it. We went there at a difficult time, and that's probably coloured my memories.
 
Well I loved Sorrento, what a lovely place.

Next trip will be Rome in October then a trip to Spain in the new year.
 
We've got a trip to NY in September, and then after NY headed directly to LA which should be awesome. Plus for my birthday, the better half booked a trip to Niagra Falls.

To say excited is an understamernt!
 
Off to Morocco in September, then India (Goa & Kerala) for a friend's wedding in December.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Off to Morocco in September, then India (Goa & Kerala) for a friend's wedding in December.
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They’re both amazing countries but I hope you’ve got a strong stomach. I once went on an organised group tour with my family to Morocco and all of 16 of us came down with food poisoning. My (now ex) wife got it really bad and had to go to the docs when we got back. She was eventually sent to the Hospital for Tropical Medicine where she was diagnosed with Shigella, a nasty little bug related to dysentery. Ironically we worked out that we’d all picked up the illness from a group meal in a decent hotel, not from any street food.

Then my new wife and I did a group trip to India a couple of years back and again we all got stomach bugs. The good thing is you can buy antibiotics over the counter in India so it’s fairly easily sorted. (The Indian tourist visa is another matter, they seem to have made it as hard as possible to apply for it, even the photos they want are a nonstandard size :rolleyes: At least they’ve scotched the idea of wanting biometrics to get a visa, they were talking about building eight visa centres in the U.K alone and wanting tourists to submit to fingerprint and retinal scans a couple of years ago, talk about bureaucracy gone mad!)

I’d recommend taking very strong probiotics before both trips, you can get 50million strength ones online. They definitely help. P Obviously avoid tap water, ice in drinks and washed salads.
 
And if at altitude, use a pressure cooker to boil water. A friend contracted Amoebic Dysentery after a trip into the foothills of the Himalayas and she thought she had been very, VERY careful.
 
We've been to India before and all but 2 of our party were ill :puke: we seemed to get away more lightly, possibly because we had cholera vaccine before going. Infection most likely came from buffet food, kept warm for several hours for guests in the nicer hotels. :rolleyes: We will be going native at least some of the time, likely eating with the family.

Morocco I had assumed would be a bit cleaner than that, so thanks for the warning. We'll have to get the Indian visa application process rolling as soon as we get back.
 
ancient_mariner said:
We've been to India before and all but 2 of our party were ill :puke: we seemed to get away more lightly, possibly because we had cholera vaccine before going. Infection most likely came from buffet food, kept warm for several hours for guests in the nicer hotels. :rolleyes: We will be going native at least some of the time, likely eating with the family.

Morocco I had assumed would be a bit cleaner than that, so thanks for the warning. We'll have to get the Indian visa application process rolling as soon as we get back.
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Which bit of Morocco are you visiting?
 
boogie man said:
Which bit of Morocco are you visiting?
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Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Atlas mountains, finishing up at Marakech. It's a guided trip taking in quite a bit of the country that we'd probably not see if we just visited for a couple of weeks.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Atlas mountains, finishing up at Marakech. It's a guided trip taking in quite a bit of the country that we'd probably not see if we just visited for a couple of weeks.
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That’s a nice mix. (y) Personally I loved Fes, it’s not as manic as Marrakesh but still has some great things to see and do, the leather tanneries are interesting for instance. Smells a bit whiffy but you’ll get great photos.
 
boogie man said:
That’s a nice mix. (y) Personally I loved Fes, it’s not as manic as Marrakesh but still has some great things to see and do, the leather tanneries are interesting for instance. Smells a bit whiffy but you’ll get great photos.
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Thanks - we're looking forards to it. :)
 
My flight to Rome tomorrow has been cancelled due to strikes in Italy.
 
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