We’re planning on going away this year and are very likely to be staying in the UK.

I’d love to go abroad and get a little place near the sea and hire a car so we can go off and explore but it’s so expensive, and with having two young children I’m not convinced a package holiday would be practical (I’m thinking of the logistics of hauling them around the airports at crazy hours and having to share a room with them).

Have you got any plans to go away this year? If so, where are you off to?

  • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝AEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    I haven’t been on holiday in 5+ years - I couldn’t actually tell you when or where. Possibly either when I went up to my old stamping grounds in the NE or when I went to Istanbul for a couple.of weeks to stage an intervention (which solidly didn’t work but that freed us up for a nice wander round my favourite city). I’d usually go down London way to see my auntie and coordinate it with a fee exhibitions but she’s now in a secure dementia unit since lockdown and my best friend in London died in 2019. As it’s just me now it’s difficult to plan anything or get properly motivated.

    Ideas in the offing:

    • I want to go to more traditional events, top of my list is the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance and I can combine that with a bit more family history research in Staffordshire.
    • There’s a very vague plan to go to Paul Simenon’s next “disco” in London as a good friend knows him and quite a few of my friends are Clash mad.
    • There’s a plan been mooted for a group of friends to hire a big house in Wales for a few weeks in September. We’ve never done anything like that before but it should be fun (and possibly the basis for some future murder mystery movie) but it needs someone to grab the bull by the horns - so I might try some subtle nudges to ensure it isn’t me.
    • I was planning on going to York before the world shut down (and my life got derailed), so I may just bugger off for a few days at some point.

    So nothing nailed down and I may just repost this to next year’s thread on this topic.

    • blackn1ghtOP
      2·
      2 months ago

      I’m sorry to hear about your friend and auntie.

      I’ve heard a lot of people say they enjoyed Istanbul, what did you enjoy about it?

      We hired a big house in Wales for our wedding, it was lovely! We stayed in Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire, overlooking the valley, it was gorgeous. Huge house, hot tub, decent garden, it was perfect. If I had a group of friends then I’d definitely head back.

      • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝AEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        I’m sorry to hear about your friend and auntie.

        Thanks. Just the kinds of hand grenades life throws at you.

        I’ve heard a lot of people say they enjoyed Istanbul, what did you enjoy about it?

        I should caveat it with the fact that I am not really a big city kind of guy but I have been to a few. So what do I like? The people, the food, all things to see and do and, yet, it doesn’t feel like a huge city. You can stay up near Istiklal, stroll down (or take the Tunel - the world’s second oldest underground railway) down to the Galata Bridge and then wander up through the spice market into the Grand Bazaar. From there you are just a short stride away from any number of historical sites. I’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country and, if you go to Turkey, I’d recommend going central and eastwards (although I still have a few boxes to tick in the west as I wasn’t “allowed” to go to Troy and I’d like to finally make it to Afyon) as there are wonders to see out that way, but if you only had a week and/or wanted a city break, then go to Istanbul.

        We stayed in Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire, overlooking the valley, it was gorgeous.

        Sounds great - we might head over towards thr Llyn peninsula or down the west coast towards Barmouth.