@silverginger my condolences mate, really sorry for your loss.
5K is a massive budget for 10 days, you might even manage to get away 2/3 times for that.
Also sometimes booking odd days like 8 or say 11 tanks the price per day, worth checking
I initially really hated flying like panic attack level on take-off and landing.
Really there's nowt to worry about now, I normally despise Noise cancellation on headphones but I've found that for flights they really help.
Every knock and creak I heard put me on edge thinking summit was wrong, what a divvy I was eh lol
I reckon for a week away 3-4 hours flight is the most I'd push or Yer just spending too long flying.
Flights of 4+ Hours I'm look at 2 weeks normally.
We used to fly pretty much Easyjet only from NCL but have now done a few with Ryan air also.
Luggage wise I think Ryanair is the worst, seating wise there's not much in it really, until you switch to long haul.
You can also look to mitigate costs on flights with reward points and flying clubs with a number of Credit Cards.
We use BA/Avios and now do our day to day spending on an Amex, by doing this I've saved thousands on our next flights to Florida.
There's a canny chunky rewards point incentive at the moment as well for referrals, lemme know if you would like me to send one.
Portugal is on our list but we've not yet been, looks vv nice and still has some semblance of a golden visa, well they did last time I checked haha.
We're off to
Paris in the next few month (Disney really) but were wanting to actually head into Paris this time - will update you when we're back.
Rome - Very hustley bustly and like max level touristy when we went, not for me.
We did goto the top of the Sistine chapel, on the hottest day feasible, tiny corridors with ancient massively steep steps...Stuck behind a group of Americans that clearly hadn't walked more than 100m in decades - that was not fun
The romulus and remus statue was summit I wanted to see but the coliseum, again just too busy for my liking.
The roads were utterly insane as well adn the place came across as overly dirty too.
Amsterdam, we went in January, it snowed... was amazing! Deffo on my recommend list.
Van Gogh museum was superb, Anne Frank house was very much worthile visit.
The House of Bols we enjoyed as well as the ice bar haha
Hotel espresso we stayed and I remember it being very good for what we paid.
As above with AI, you'll tend to find that these hotels are often in the middle of nowhere with nothing really in walking distance.
We've been Gold Coast Turkey (think we paid about 3k ish) for 2 weeks and that was a nice hotel, but as above, leave the hotel and was like a wartorn movie
Tunisia we went a couple of times and whilst a lot cheaper than Turkey was deffo massively lesser quality and again outside opf the hotel was just well... wastelands
Neither Turkey or Tunisia are on my visit again or recommend list.
We went to
Barbados a couple of year back for a mates wedding and had superb time.
We first stayed AI at:
https://www.o2beachclubbarbados.com/ for the wedding
This was utterly superb, the food and drinks were mind blowing.
There also seemed to be a number of people from the north east just pretty much live here for 3/4 month of the year, got pulled on my accent a handfull of times and was asked about how things were back home haha.
Then we had a few days booked in a local Hovel whilst we travelled the island (pointless paying AI if yer travelling about all day)
It was here that we realised the insane cost of living in Barbados even in little stores and places for beers/food Very expensive even for just day to day stuff.
We lasted one night in the hovel and shifted...
We then had a few days in Turtle Beach, not realising it was pretty much next door to the first one we had just left lol!
https://www.marriott.com/en-gb/hote...bute-portfolio-all-inclusive-resort/overview/
Both this and the O2 are on the higher priced side of places I've stayed and comparing this to the cheap quick last minute jobbies we've been on it really is indicitive that when go AI you really do get what you pay for.
We had a couple few really nice days out on Barbados sightseeing, if you would like any more links just say
One thing I would say not to miss, there's a little area full of food vans on the island and we had an amazing evening there just snacking with drinks
Normally we go self catering and usually go places we've been before haha we decided to try
Zakynthos
We tried (what was meant to be) a fantastic little hotel for families at Laganas pretty much during Covid... Utterly dire "Hotel Sarakina" Avoid like the plague disgusting place and as for TUI selling Laganas as family Orientated... not a chance
We moved to Alykanas Beach Grand Hotel by Zante Plaza and would happily go there again amazing time, right on the beach, great places for food and drink nearby.
Walked for miles on the beach as well was awesome, saw a loada turtle nests!
The bairns were out of their minds when they saw real turtles just bumbling about near the boats
Menorca and Majorca I really enjoyed both
Talayot Apartments at Cala n Forcat, nice little strip not overly touristy and still lots of locals out for food and drinks - we've stayed here a few times now.
Short (cheap) bus ride to the Ciutadella and we had some great days out there as well bus service was way more reliable than here and dirt cheap.
Deffo on my recommend list.
We've also stayed in a few hotels around the Cala Bona area and this is a lovely place, these a good amount of hotels of varying prices along the cost here really spoilt for choice.
I adore this place, sitting pretty much on the water in the harbour, fantastic seafood and cocktails and a great atmosphere at night.
If you enjoy a wee bike ride you can go for absolutely miles around here and the roads, bike lanes and traffic were all vv good for it as well.
We enjoyed cycling along to Delaneys at Sa Coma and having BBQ n beers
My usual recommend is
Malta (Specifically Gozo) really love the relaxed pace of the island, very laid back and you can wander for hours on end.
I could happilly just meander around here indefinatley
We got married here in 2015 and have been back multiple times since (once we even went multiple times in one year haha) I'd still like to just go live there full time.
There's some superb sights if you've never been ands whilst there's very much affordable hotels you can get away with even cheaper apartments, villas and homes via the usual places.
Leave me at Xlendi bay with a bottle of wine and the sun out and I'd be happy to stay there for days on end.
I could happily write an entire thread just about Gozo itself, Malta weve done a few bits and bobs but it is a lot more touristy and heavily over developed now
Whilst the Island across the board is deffo more expensive that it used to be it's a place I've not one thought "How much?!?!" yeah some places may be more expensive than other but they all come across as very fairly priced.
Greece, we've been a few times now...
Before we had the midgets we went to Asterias Village Apartments, situated up in the hills at koutouloufari in between 2 little villages chocked full of places to eat and drink.
We had a superb time here, food and drinks were an adventure in their own right haha, would go here again in a heartbeat.
Little cocktail bar called "The Trap" ... We had a great night out here but I watn the clue is in the title :lol: every cocktail ordered seem to come with a starter and a desert... being whatever raki they'd made in a bucket out the back
Rhodes, we've just come back from
Sun Palace at Faliraki, not somewhere we'd looked at before but it came up at like 1200 AI for 4 of us for 10 days.
Seemed daft not to
but... Hotel VV Basic, Beds were VERY hard
The food surprisingly didn't follow the usual trend of dirt cheap AI = Terrible food
I was VERY surprised at the quality and selection of the food - saying that I Could have happily lived on the yoghurt and the honey for the week alone
was also the most veg I've eaten in a long time haha
Drinks wise Standard AI fare of spirtits/brands that you've never heard of and probably will never see ever again, beers on tap cold and wet, that's about it (the usual AI vibe)
It was an OK area, close to the sea, pools were a decent size and the little water park (included in hotel) was good, kids enjoyed the pools and the beach.
We were always able to get sun beds around the hotel which is usually a challenge in AI's but I think a lot of hotels are trying to tackle the bed hoggers now.
People that stick a towel on a bed at 8am, go back to their room then come out mid afternoon really does nark me.
Seems that if the beds were left unattended for what must have been 30-60 mins staff removed everything, there were signs up saying they would do this and where the stuff would be moved to!
JD & Friends bar was decent with drink selections not seen elsewhere but was a bit on the expensive side for my liking.
If you like burgers...
Hambuerguesa
Was absolutely superb mint value for money here.
Georges Bar, signs plastered all over about how cheap they are.... well yes if you order the tap based stuff (the same as the AI fare above!)
Woudln't go back here
Acropolis Restaurant at faliraki bay, we're both a tad annoyed we only found this place the day before we left.
Portions were monstrous, quality was sky high and the food all round was just amazing.
Didn't seem that expensive compared to other places around it I may have even tipped
Sarika's Bakery This place completely took me by suprise, some of the best Ice Cream I have ever had.
Whilst it was some walk from the hotel we went a few times massive xselection of flavours and very fairly priced.
Rhodes but Pefkos -
Metina Pefkos Apartments for the money this place was superb, very comfortable, great staff, superb location and decent facilities.
In fact All of the hotels/apartments here were more than happy wo have anyone in as long as you were buying food/drink.
I think I preferred this to the place in Faliraki due to how well it was situated.
A very short walk form the beach, superb food a multitude of pools for the odd splosh.
A short walk up the way (passing a number of great places for food/drink) and you were at the main strip, plenty goign on and decent transport.
Happy Friends restaurant at the top of the hill being my call out here was superb we went a few times.
Italy but something different....
Eurocamp!
Not something we've done before but 100% would do again, We stayed at Del Garda Village and for the money really enjoyed it, take the pace here as slow as you want entirely upto you
Superb bike ride along the sea front with a few frozen coffee slushie things was idyllic, stocked up on food and drink from the local supermarket - insanely good value for money amazing steaks!
Wine and beer was cheaper than fruit juice!
We had some superb days out wandering inside the old city wall part, little place right on the river called
Al Canal would be a must visit.
Amazing value for money and again superb food, we thoroughly enjoyed this place both food and drinks both the kids really enjooyed the pizza and pasta.
One other place of note was simply called Beach Bar and Food, right outside lido campanello and pretty much on the beach.
The staff the food, the atmosphere and the setting of an evening was utterly superb we went here more than once also.
Midget says best seafood pasta he has ever had.
There's a good selection there from bargain basement self catering to ultra AI and I hope it gives you some places to consider.
If you'd like any other info about the places above just say
What airport are you planning on flying from?
If you're happy to book flights and accommodation separate I normally use google flights to keep an eye on prices (have a few alerts setup) Skyscanner is decent too.
We're based in Newcastle but will fly from Manchester or Edinburgh price dependant, skipping over borders also typically means you can avoid the school holiday hikes when they don't all line up
There's been some annoyingly cheap package deals available of late over on HUKD - if you're from a more southern airport might wanna keep an eye on there
