Where are you going on holiday this year?

Disneyland Paris next weekend :p

Malaysia for 3wks in a couple of weeks time (and a trip to Singapore)

Portugal in July for a week (£499 bargain!)

Hoping to go to see friends in Vienna in August too :)

BB x
 
Havent had a holiday for a year ( exams :( ) , but got my honeymoon in Aug !

Maldives - Conrad Hilton - 4 Nights - Water Villa

Kuala Lumpur - 1 Night - Mandarin Oriental

Langkawi - 4 Nights - Tanjung Rhu Resort

Dubai - 2 Nights - Mina a Salam on Jumeirah Beach

Wooohoooooooooooo . . . . . . just dont ask how much ££££ - ready to cry . . . . . :eek:
 
thewanted said:
It isn't cheap, but it's good value for money. I don't pay for any meals or sight-seeing until we get to Hong Kong, which is only the last 3 days. I'll have to pay for my laundry obviously :)

2 weeks and counting....
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But really, how much do you expect to pay for sightseeing and food in China?

I went there last year for around three weeks, ended up spending £950 odd based on three people for flights and accommodation and around £500 each on other expenses. Those prices also include three worryingly cheap domestic flights and one overnight train journey in first class.

Food is obviously very cheap, transport more so. We usually paid £1-2 to get anywhere within a city, the most we paid was around £15 that was for a full morning to go to the great wall and back.
Part of the fun is to get to mess around and have a laugh with slightly less than perfect travel plans. If it's all organised and done for you, IMO you end up missing out on stuff.

Also the standard of accomodation was excellent throughout, no cheap hostels or anything.
 
jamoor said:
But really, how much do you expect to pay for sightseeing and food in China?

I went there last year for around three weeks, ended up spending £950 odd based on three people for flights and accommodation and around £500 each on other expenses. Those prices also include three worryingly cheap domestic flights and one overnight train journey in first class.

Food is obviously very cheap, transport more so. We usually paid £1-2 to get anywhere within a city, the most we paid was around £15 that was for a full morning to go to the great wall and back.
Part of the fun is to get to mess around and have a laugh with slightly less than perfect travel plans. If it's all organised and done for you, IMO you end up missing out on stuff.

Also the standard of accomodation was excellent throughout, no cheap hostels or anything.
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I don't deny for one second that I'm paying for the convenience of having it organised for me. I work incredibly long hours and just didn't have the time this year to organise something on this scale myself. Trust me, I would've loved to!

I organised a mammoth UK roadtrip last year when my Dad flew over to visit, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. We ended up doing more than I had planned which was awesome.

If you have any advice (especially concerning currency in China) or photos, I'd love to hear from you :) MSN perhaps?
 
thewanted said:
I don't deny for one second that I'm paying for the convenience of having it organised for me. I work incredibly long hours and just didn't have the time this year to organise something on this scale myself. Trust me, I would've loved to!

I organised a mammoth UK roadtrip last year when my Dad flew over to visit, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. We ended up doing more than I had planned which was awesome.

If you have any advice (especially concerning currency in China) or photos, I'd love to hear from you :) MSN perhaps?
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I would prefer to put it here so everyone can benefit.

Go on tuesday and open a nationwide bank account, you may still have time if you havent done already. Before departing deposit all the money you are likely to use into there and when you get there withdraw from cash machines as required. Very little hassle and much cheaper.

I am not sure what else to say as it's all been done for you:confused:, Obviously visit all the sights, but they will do that for you. shopping is availible everywhere but clothes are generally availible to suit the local population.

Hong Kong is cool, go up the victoria peak on the train, that was nice, erm, anything specific you need to ask, have you had your jabs etc?
 
I'll have a look at Nationwide's site and compare the ATM charges, thanks. Wasn't sure whether to take Chinese Yuan notes and a combination of US$ travellers cheques.

Yeah we're going up Victoria Peak which is cool. I believe there's quite a good bar in Hong Kong at the top of a skyscraper and the men's urinals look out over the city or something? Gotta go see that just for a laugh.

I'm really surprised that you managed to go there for 3 weeks for just £950. Kinda makes me wish I had investigated doing it on my own. Oh well, it's my first overseas holiday so I had to burn my fingers at least once.

Oh yeah, I'm going to get my Hepatits A injection on Thursday. Might get another Diptheria one while I'm there because I was a baby when I got it before.
 
thewanted said:
I'll have a look at Nationwide's site and compare the ATM charges, thanks. Wasn't sure whether to take Chinese Yuan notes and a combination of US$ travellers cheques.

Yeah we're going up Victoria Peak which is cool. I believe there's quite a good bar in Hong Kong at the top of a skyscraper and the men's urinals look out over the city or something? Gotta go see that just for a laugh.

I'm really surprised that you managed to go there for 3 weeks for just £950. Kinda makes me wish I had investigated doing it on my own. Oh well, it's my first overseas holiday so I had to burn my fingers at least once.

Oh yeah, I'm going to get my Hepatits A injection on Thursday. Might get another Diptheria one while I'm there because I was a baby when I got it before.
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Are you travelling alone?

Nationwide charges are nil on foreign transactions. I took about £500 cash with me in case I had lost my card or something, I also had a friend who was also a backup :D

£950 is a price for good accomodation, there were three of us so we stayed in 2 bed apartments most of the time. In xian we stayed in the chinese version of a traveloge, perfectly acceptable accomodaion, better than a traveloge imo for £10/night for a double room, that was a bargain :D
 
jamoor said:
Are you travelling alone?

Nationwide charges are nil on foreign transactions. I took about £500 cash with me in case I had lost my card or something, I also had a friend who was also a backup :D

£950 is a price for good accomodation, there were three of us so we stayed in 2 bed apartments most of the time. In xian we stayed in the chinese version of a traveloge, perfectly acceptable accomodaion, better than a traveloge imo for £10/night for a double room, that was a bargain :D
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Nah, a friend of mine is coming with me.

Busy signing up for a Nationwide account right now :) The debit card better arrive in the next 2 weeks! :eek:

Do any of you speak Chinese? I'd imagine that would be the most difficult thing to cope with if you're not travelling in a tour group.

I fear we may be derailing this thread, hehe.
 
thewanted said:
Nah, a friend of mine is coming with me.

Busy signing up for a Nationwide account right now :) The debit card better arrive in the next 2 weeks! :eek:

Do any of you speak Chinese? I'd imagine that would be the most difficult thing to cope with if you're not travelling in a tour group.

I fear we may be derailing this thread, hehe.
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Nope none of us spoke a shred of chinese and didn't really learn much by the time we had finished.
Getting around wasn't a problem, we usually got all the places we wanted to go to written on a piece of paper before we left, or looked it up on the internet and took a photo of it and showed it to the taxi driver, but then again, you won't have these fun problems.
We always had a handful of hotel cards each in case we got lose, just show a taxi driver the hotel card to return home :D
Younger people spoke reasonable english, but most people dont have a clue, although sign language goes a long way, as does a piece of paper and a pen.

Food wasnt a problem either, some places had english menus that were very non descriptive, so we used to order lots of food to make sure if any of it was bad, we wouldnt be hungry. We usually spent around a tenner on dinner,once we spent closer to £20 and we did order enough food to feed 6-7 people.
If they had no menu we would just look at what other people were eating.
 
jamoor said:
Nope none of us spoke a shred of chinese and didn't really learn much by the time we had finished.
Getting around wasn't a problem, we usually got all the places we wanted to go to written on a piece of paper before we left, or looked it up on the internet and took a photo of it and showed it to the taxi driver, but then again, you won't have these fun problems.
We always had a handful of hotel cards each in case we got lose, just show a taxi driver the hotel card to return home :D
Younger people spoke reasonable english, but most people dont have a clue, although sign language goes a long way, as does a piece of paper and a pen.

Food wasnt a problem either, some places had english menus that were very non descriptive, so we used to order lots of food to make sure if any of it was bad, we wouldnt be hungry. We usually spent around a tenner on dinner,once we spent closer to £20 and we did order enough food to feed 6-7 people.
If they had no menu we would just look at what other people were eating.
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Sounds like it was truly a case of "balls to the wall"! I want to go to India next year so I'll investigate doing it myself first.

Thanks for the help mate :) Just applied for a Nationwide account so hopefully I can get that before the 18th.
 
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