Summer Holidays

[RichieRiv]

I've just got back from Parga on the Greek mainland. It was a very nice place and somewhere I would most definitely return to - we don’t tend to visit the same place twice. The quality of food and drink was top notch, no moussaka and chips here. Very pretty place and picturesque surroundings.

[Jonah]

Nice Rich, did you fly into Preveza/Aktion? Still run by the Greek Air Force? I went there in 99, first time I'd had my luggage handed to me on the apron off the back of a troop carrier.

[pablo jaye]

Having done a fair bit of planning for a trip to Ireland, plans have changed this summer and now heading up to northern Scotland, via a mates 50th birthday in Shropshire and staying with mates in Glasgow. Have booked an old smokehouse north of Inverness and will get up to John O’Groats. On the way back we’re stopping in Loch Lomond and North Yorkshire.

[smuts]

Not looking forward to braving Gatwick in a few weeks time...

Heathrow was apparently carnage today. Welcome to the UK everyone.

[Jonah]

Went out of Gatwick (both North and South) twice in the last 6 weeks Smuts, absolutely fine - but busy - don't expect to get in at the cafe's/pubs/restaurants without a wait. The last trip was return to LHR (thanks Easyjet) and sailed through passport control. Maybe lucky? Just give yourself 30-60 mins extra I think.

[btajim - mcfc]

If you can get to Granada for the day do it. About an hour on the bus from Malaga.

Wonderful city with wonderful food.

Tapas is top notch. Order a drink anywhere and you’ll get a proper hot dish, rather than the smaller snacks elsewhere in Spain.

I did Sevilla Away in the Champions League with City. Won and I came home with a Real Betis jersey. I’d like to do a Seville / Malaga double one day.

When I last checked in to my usual Malaga hotel, the fella asked me about football. I was “You support Malaga?” “Oh no, I am from Granada.”

[RichieRiv]

Nice Rich, did you fly into Preveza/Aktion? Still run by the Greek Air Force? I went there in 99, first time I'd had my luggage handed to me on the apron off the back of a troop carrier.

Yes, it's full of hardened aircraft shelters! Not much in the way of military activity though and there is a nice little modern terminal building. There is also a tunnel now which cuts out the ferry and means a 50 minute transfer time. According to our cab driver, who claimed to be tee total, the day the tunnel opened he got as drunk as a Lord.

Lovely part of the world.

[Jennings]

Me & two of my daughters fly out to Lima next week for two months of high altitude trekking in the Andes

We’ve planned our own itineraries so we’re not hiring any guides or mules - just going for that secluded experience which means apart from a couple of popular acclimatisation treks we will be far from the madding crowd.

Nervous & excited in equal measure.

First month down & completed three hikes. One of which was ten nights out camping in the mountains and hillsides of The Cordillera Huayhuash. 140km distance travelled and with the highest summit being just over 5100 metres.

Daytime temps in the mid twenties, nights of around -5°c.

Didn’t get much sleep, mainly due to the over exuberance of wild dogs barking at their own echos every night seemingly testing out the acoustics of the cavernous valleys.

Now chilling in Cusco before the next leg. Just had an amazing meal in a local food market. So tasty.....

a snack of Roast black corn kernels in a dish to keep me there whilst I waited for the food.

Then a clear Fish Broth as a starter.

Main dish of Lettuce, red onion, raw fish, octopus, hot peppers, Potato, seaweed all served in some kind of intense lime juice sauce and garnished with large pieces of deep fried calamari.

All washed down with tiger milk (made with shredded spring onions and limes and tiger nut juice)

All for £2.00

Had a pint of a local dark beer afterwards. It was nine percent abv. so going for a lie down now.

[btajim - mcfc]

Ryanair staff are threatening to strike. Guess who flies to Malaga with them?

[EvilC]

Day one in ‘beefa. Nearly had the start postponed due to a child having a stomach bug but luckily he recovered. Got here, was crossing the road at the airport and didn’t realise you was walking under a descending car park barrier. Narrowly avoided a trip to hospital, just have a nasty bump on my head.

Water in the pool is ****ing lovely.

[S-H]

Day one in ‘beefa. Nearly had the start postponed due to a child having a stomach bug but luckily he recovered. Got here, was crossing the road at the airport and didn’t realise you was walking under a descending car park barrier. Narrowly avoided a trip to hospital, just have a nasty bump on my head.

Water in the pool is ****ing lovely.

f*** sake Jennings, go careful will ya.

[smuts]

Was dreading flying out of Gatwick yesterday afternoon.

Easyjet bag drop took 10 minutes, security about 2 and was a breeze. Probably the easiest quickest experience to get air side ever.

Only pain was the queue to have a pre flight Wagga's which took 40 minutes to get in a find the place was half empty and half the menu had vanished...

[Shabu]

Has anyone ever caught the ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen?

Going to see my mum next year and thinking of flying into Oslo then Copenhagen then Scotland then down to Rochester.

[PF.]

We’re at the airport on the way back from GC after two weeks.

Nice enough time spent just the four of us making memories, but it’s the first and last time we’ll do the all-inclusive package thing.

Back to the car rental and a private villa next year.

[dasnutnock3]

Couple days left on ile de re, lovely place, if a bit ****ing pricey. Rent for this gaff for a week was £9k. Bronzed crumpet as far as the eye can see.

[pablo jaye]

Enjoying the far north-east coast of Scotland near Portmahomack. Been glorious weather until yesterday when we tootled up the NC500 to John O’Groats and Thurso. A real pea souper there and back but glorious sun on Dunnet Beach near Thurso - you’d forget it was the north coast of the UK … miles of sand, dunes and sun.

We’re staying in a converted fishing shack with no TV but huge windows overlooking the Moray Firth. It is captivating watching the oystercatchers, cormorants, curlews etc going about their business. Had an amazing experience yesterday of dolphins swimming past the end of the garden. Local food is glorious as is the drink….v relaxing!!

[Clucking Bell]

In Fiji at the moment. Scuba diving with sharks is pretty cool but top dollar. The rest of it has been a bit meh .... not that warm, and frequently cloudy or raining. So far it's going down as one of those places we're glad that we had the chance to visit but, it's not one that we'll be in any hurry to return to.

[The Sherriff]

Just returned from a Florida road trip. 

Couldnt board the planned flight to Miami from LHR as my Mrs forgot to do the ESTA. There were tears at check-in, alot of finger pointing and blamestorming. Considering she is long-haul cabin crew and flies to the States regularly, this one was on her.

Got on a flight that evening to Boston, stayed in an airport hotel - managed to get a clam chowder and a few Samuel Adams that evening. Booked expense internal flights with Spirit to Miami. Stayed in South Beach for 3 x nights, great city but that area is a tourist trap. Massively expensive, too much hip-hop and all that bravedo for my liking. Got sunburnt on the first day and stung by a jellyfish.

Hired a car, visited the Everglades before spending a night in Marathon. Made it down to Key West for another 4 x nights before turning around and heading back to Key Largo before flying home.

Plenty of laughs, swimming, adventures, snorkelling, boat trips, lovely meals, an abundance of proper seaford and a fair few drinks. 
Heathrow was a nightmare on our return, not as bad as what it was at the start of the summer but its still a complete joke. Sat on the apron waiting for a stand for nearly an hour, then had to wait 1.5 hrs for our luggage to pitch up. No communications, no assistance ... airport passing the buck onto the airlines. Absolute shambles. 

It didnt deter from what was a great family holiday but f*** me that airport is awful, having worked there on/off for 17years I know alittle about what goes on operationally and how its hould fucntion. Its the worst passenger experience you can have in any transport setting. 

[blaze.s8n]

Has anyone ever caught the ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen?

Going to see my mum next year and thinking of flying into Oslo then Copenhagen then Scotland then down to Rochester.

I have done a lot of traveling around Scandinavia and the ferry to Copenhagen via Frederickshavn is pretty good, but 15 hours or something. There is a train from Oslo to Copenhagen via Gothenburg (check out vy.no to check, I recently been on that a few times but there was train disruption. However, that should be completed now or soon, so it'll be easier by the time you may do it).

DFDS ferries do that route, Stena Line may have alternatives.

[Shabu]

I have done a lot of traveling around Scandinavia and the ferry to Copenhagen via Frederickshavn is pretty good, but 15 hours or something. There is a train from Oslo to Copenhagen via Gothenburg (check out vy.no to check, I recently been on that a few times but there was train disruption. However, that should be completed now or soon, so it'll be easier by the time you may do it).

DFDS ferries do that route, Stena Line may have alternatives.

Brilliant. Thanks for that info. I'll look into that train. Really appreciate it.