Ok guys- a nice thing to think about- suggest a "building memories " holiday to me!

anonymousie

Background info-

I have some nominal "sabbatical time" next year, meaning I can take all of the kids summer holidays off to be with them.

THey are now 15/12/9 yrs. Next yr may be the last they all want to spend with the wholw family, before jobs/uni etc get in the way. DH teaches so we are constrained by that too.

Money "no object" (within reason, sabbatical time is unpaid!).

Thoughts have been milling in my mind to do this, and have been gelled rather painfully this week as my 9yrs olds school friend M lost his Mum to cancer this week (the older kids are 13 and 14).

I can live on value beans etc with the help of MSE and I can spend my money on perhaps the only thing that really matters and build some phenominal memories for us all next summer.

What do you suggest?

Would consider anything. Mild "peril" as they say, permitted, but not serious danger! No loafing in the carribean though. Active stuff or stuff that helps make the world a better place perhaps?

REmember guys- once in a lifelime stuff to remember for ever, for 2 adults and 16/13/10yr olds pls.

THanks!

foreversomeday

If you want to look into charity work I found a lot of results by typing "volunteer holiday" into google. I am not sure how they would react to the idea of children helping though, I suppose they would have different rules.

CBBC have run some series recently where children did projects such as this though, perhaps you could find out if any companies run something similar?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/wild/andes/

anonymousie

foreversomeday wrote: »

If you want to look into charity work I found a lot of results by typing "volunteer holiday" into google. I am not sure how they would react to the idea of children helping though, I suppose they would have different rules.

CBBC have run some series recently where children did projects such as this though, perhaps you could find out if any companies run something similar?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/wild/andes/

That is interesting . THanks!

THe "volontourism" does appeal, but given that DD2 will only be 10 could be an issue. I don't want to go and just be "passengers" without making a contribution though.

AnnieM_3

How about taking your family to go and work on an organic farm or a 'green' project?

www.farmstayuk.co.uk/index.asp

http://www.ecotravelling.co.uk/WorkingHolidays.html

http://www.austria.info/xxl/_site/uk/_area/417074/_subArea/677428/_aid/934776/home.html This last one looks fab - I'd like to go!

ems2

I am not necessarily suggesting go on holiday to NZ ( but if you could I am sure you would all love it!!) but here is a link of 101 things to do over there. Most of these things can be done elsewhere, UK, Europe etc but might give you some ideas as to what to, rock climbing, festivals etc;

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/101/101-gallery.php?section=Weekends&regions=Nationwide&category_1=1&category_2=2&category_10=10&category_11=11&category_3=3&category_7=7&category_4=4&category_5=5&category_6=6&category_12=12&category_8=8&category_9=9&selectAll=on&searchGallery=Search&totCat=13

Lunar_Eclipse

anonymousie wrote: »

That is interesting . THanks!

THe "volontourism" does appeal, but given that DD2 will only be 10 could be an issue. I don't want to go and just be "passengers" without making a contribution though.

I think 10 is old enough to participate actively.

We are about to start planning a 3 month family trip in a couple of years time after our eldest sits her Yr 6 SATS and then starts secondary school. They will therefore be 11 and 9. My starting point is a short list of places I'd love to visit - Mexico, Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan and Brazil. Since these are all part of the New Wonders of the World, current thinking is to make it a 'Seven Wonders' trip. With a Coast to Coast USA if time permits. Although I have also thought about opening it up to an 'everyone choose 2 places to visit or things to do' type holiday too. My 8 year old is quite fascinated by the thought of Pompeii which would be interesting, along with the Orangutang sanctuary in Borneo. Youngest currently wants to go up the Eiffel Tower - since Grandma is in Paris this weekend!

Ultimately your trip should be tailored to your families interests and the memories will be made if it is different to all their other typical Summers.

ETA - just found out the Eiffel Tower was a New Seven Wonders Finalist, so would fit the trip theme if we 'have to' go there!

Savvy_Sue

I agree start by asking them. We've done what's probably the last family holiday with boys of 21, 18 and 16 - but we haven't done a family holiday for some years before that. Our penultimate holiday - which we all have good memories of - was to Manor Adventure. But they split you by age group (at least at the UK site) so that may not suit.

But DS1 has just gone into his final year at Uni, and the younger two had just finished A levels and GCSEs, so probably the last 'long' holiday. Although for other reasons we didn't get away until just before the schools broke up!

This year, I asked where they'd like to go, anywhere in the world, within reason, as long as they could say why.

DS1: "Australia." Me: "Why?" "Because it's the furthest you can get."

DS3: "South Africa." Me: "Why?" "No, I don't want to go there, everyone gets murdered. Cuba!" Me: "They won't let you into Cuba with hair that length!"

DS2: "I hear Bristol's very nice in July." (We live in Bristol.)

What we ended up doing was going to the USA for 10 days, because there was a 'meet' of some of their online buddies. And despite my worries and misgivings, we had a very good time.

I'd have liked to have planned it more in advance, but my lot didn't co-operate with that ...

Just remembered: one of my family took her family to Peru last year, which included a visit to an orphanage they have links with through church. If you have any contacts like that, use them!

ginvzt

I would second NZ - We have spend there 3 weeks over last Christmas and it was fantastic - so much to do and to see.... If I could, I would go there this year again, but I'll have to wait a bit to go there again for various reasons.

You can learn so much about their tradition, culture, history - it is amazing. Nearly a year on, and we are still buzzing with excitement!

margaretclare

It all depends, it's so 'individual'.

DH and I have recently been on the 'holiday of a lifetime'. We've talked about it for some years, DH used to go to Germany a lot on business, belting down the motorways with foot to floor. We wanted to drive along the Rhine Valley and through the Black Forest. I wanted to pick up on some Roman sites along the way and also to follow the Nibelung legends. We wanted to see scenery - the Rhine gorges, the vineyards, to eat and drink well, and to get as far as we could, driving approx 100 miles a day and staying somewhere different.. We stayed at Friedrichshaven on the shores of Lake Constance, 5 nights there, during which time we went to Austria one day and Switzerland another. We saw the Rhinefalls in Switzerland and went 6000 feet up a mountain in Austria.

You can hire bicycles around there, people in the hotel we stayed in were doing so then going off on the ferry to Switzerland by bike.

Fabulous scenery, lovely people, a 'taste of Europe' if you like.

LilMissEmmylou

I too would ask them, but perhaps give them some ideas to start them off i love the festival idea - somewhere like glastonbury where they have great music but lots of activities going on too!

or what about hiring a camper van in whatever country and going exploring. If you did it in Europe you could even hit several countries through the course of the trip

I think its great ur doing this for ur kids btw

ymcas

How about Thailand? When I was there travelling a couple had brought their children for 10 days (age about 9 & 11 I think) and they were having a fantastic time. The flights are the main expense but once you get there living is pretty cheap. Vast range of experiences to be had in one country... beaches, hill tribes, Burma Railway, Tiger Temple, elephant riding, bamboo rafting... etc. One big thing for me was that labour is cheap, so courses such as massage, Thai cooking, treks, and other sightseeing work out very cheap.