Holiday Withdrawal Symptoms......Tell me where you're going?

Doshwaster

Ballard wrote: »

Don't you just love jet lag. I've been awake since 2:30 so my day at work will be a delight. Tomorrow should be even better as I have a job interview at lunchtime.

I once did a job interview the day after flying back from 2 weeks in Thailand. I was half asleep and had done no preparation. It didn't go well...

Ballard

My verdict on West Bengal & Sikkim.

Kolkata.
A surprisingly nice and relatively pollution free city with a few sights to see. It also has a small Metro system which is useful until it closes around 10pm. Rickshaws don't appear to be allowed in all areas so we either got a taxi or walked most places.

Darjeeling.
A mostly peaceful place which has a large pedestrianised area. Sadly, and very annoyingly, this meant that building works right outside the hotel started around 3am and went on for about 90 minutes for two nights. Thanks for that.

We took a trip on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway 'toy' train along the streets including the Batasia Loop which affords a lovely view.

A very early morning trip to Tiger Hill to see the sunrise was just about worth it but if I'm honest I've seen the sun rise plenty of times and standing in the cold for almost 2 hours wasn't the best fun I've ever had. It did at least mean that we missed the building works back in Darjeeling!

The Rangeet Valley Cable Car was also worth the trip without being outstanding.

Darjeeling itself had a few decent restaurants and a small pub. Few places had much in the way of heating so people sat in restaurants in their coats and hats.

The highlight for me was a one day trek which crossed the border into Nepal. More accurately it was 75% of the trek as the descent wasn't kind on my knees so I struggled badly about half way down. There were some spectacular views which definitely made it worthwhile.

We spent half a day getting a permit to Sikkim. Typical red tape meant that we had to go to one office for a form and then try to find the magistrates office at the other end of town to complete the process.

We then had a couple of days in Kalimpong which had great views from our hotel but I abandoned plans to trek in that area as I hadn't recovered from the trek. This did allow me a day and a half to relax with a lovely view.

We finished off our time in the hills with a couple of days in Gangtok in Sikkim. We both really liked this place which had its fair share of sights and also took a short trip to Rumtek to visit the beautiful monastery. We had hoped to be able to take the helicopter back to the nearest airport but it was fully booked so we had to take another jeep.

Getting around by jeep was reasonably easy and we learnt that the best thing to do was to buy yourself two seats or you'd be crushed for several hours. Tickets were £2-3 each for up to 5 hours so it wasn't exactly a large expense.

The cash situation was a pain as it meant queueing at an ATM for up to an hour (after having searched for one that wasn't out of cash for up to the same time) but we got by on my credit card as much as we could. We tried to remember to ask restaurants whether they took credit cards before ordering but forgot a few times. One of those times meant urgently cancelling the order that we'd given a few minutes beforehand but they understood our situation.

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip but the hills (everywhere outside of Kolkata was very hilly) took my body to the limit so I was happy to return home after the fortnight.

PompeyPete

Ballard, great trip report. Lots of memories that won't fade away, but hopefully the aches and pains will.:)

duchy

From the exotic east to the more down to earth south West.

I'm off to Devon for a few days visiting friends and family before Christmas.

Booked through Airbnb and just a reminder that anyone who uses your referral gets £20 off their first booking and you get £20 off your next one too. I'd forgotten about it until a long forgotten referrals credit popped up on my account. Impressively it was credited the same day their stay ended.

More annoyingly I've had to delay booking our next trip as son has moved into his first flat (a real biggie as he has Aspergers) and I'm covering his expenses. My ex Euro return to Orlando remains around £360 return so hoping it hangs around long enough for me to get booked after Christmas when the piggyback has recovered.

PabloWilson

Being on a holiday, then passport photos to be kept handy as these are needed at multiple times.
paspic.com/us

holidaysforme

Where is everybody holidaying in 2017? Just back from New York.
Next up, is a four day break in Malaga. Hoping for some pleasant weather, and some good food.

PompeyPete

holidaysforme wrote: »

Where is everybody holidaying in 2017? Just back from New York.
Next up, is a four day break in Malaga. Hoping for some pleasant weather, and some good food.

Here, very soon...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5504582

All organised, just watching the tick-tock.:beer:

Doshwaster

Nothing at all planned yet for 2017. I really don't like my holiday calendar being empty.

Hopefully a long weekend in Europe in Feb or March as I have a couple of days holiday left to use. The rest of the year will depend on what happens with my job as my contract expires at the end of March.

littlereddevil

We have had an amazing 2 weeks in Puerto Vallarta, another week to go. They sure know how to party and bring in the New Year

lady1964

6 weeks until we go to Malaysia; 3 nights in KL then a week in Penang, can't wait!

Nothing else booked for 2017 yet, we have our 30th wedding anniversary later in the year so I'm looking at various places. We had initially thought we'd have 10 days or so somewhere in the Caribbean but DD2 is due to give birth to her first baby in June so the plan is to spend a week with her when her DH goes back to work which means we've altered our plans for our anniversary holiday to a week in Europe, we just need to find somewhere & book it.