Holiday suggestions?

rorylando45

Hi all,

I was hoping some of you might be able to help suggest a holiday destination for myself and my partner, we have really been struggling to decide on somewhere to go. With the abundance of experience and expertise on here, I thought it might be worth asking.

We are both in our mid-20s, and fairly fit and active. Below are some of the (fussy!) criteria we'd like the holiday to have:

When: Some time in Sep, Oct, Nov or Dec 2015 for 7 nights. It has to be weekend-to-weekend as we can both only take 5 days off work (Mon-Fri). So preferably flying out a Friday night or Saturday morning, and returning overnight the following Saturday. November or December would probably be preferable to Sept/Oct (as we like to have something to look forward to at the end of the year) - unless there was a particularly good reason to go in Sept/Oct.

Where: Somewhere "exotic" (i.e. outside of Europe). Given that it's only for a week, we wouldn't really want somewhere where the flight time is more than 11 or 12 hours. We're looking for nice warm "t-shirt" weather, long sunny days and the possibility of rain unlikely.

It is important to us to have a combination of relaxation and activities/excursions. Last year we did Barbados in December and I absolutely loved it, but she said she'd rather somewhere where there's more "to do". In this regard, potentially a two-centre thing might be suitable for us, where we spent a few days somewhere doing some sort of activity and then a few days at some sort of beach/spa/resort/retreat.

Flights: No preference really regarding airlines. Departure airport could be any of the London ones. Convenient flight times are a big plus, in fact overnight flights would ideal for maximising holiday time. Direct flights also desirable unless indirect much cheaper.

Budget: We don't really have a budget per se, but typically on a week's long-haul holiday I try to aim at around £800-£1000 for flights and accommodation and then maybe £500-700 for food/activities for the week. Wouldn't wanna spend more than £1500 each all in I think.

Some of the things we looked at already were safari in Kenya, but that seems to be quite beyond our budget - also looked at India but got overwhelmed by all the options. Thailand is kinda on the boundary of how far we'd be prepared to fly, but that could potentially be a good option, and plenty of activities to do there (e.g. jungle trek). Also looked at Central America, places like Nicaragua where you can do "desert surfing" which she seems keen on.

Anyway any suggestions would be really greatly received! I know it's no-one's job to be my personal travel agent but given the number of people on here, I'm sure there's barely a country on earth which hasn't been visited by one of us.

Thanks for any help!

Rambosmum

1 week isn't long for that kind of flight. Don't forget that if you go to the America's a flight on Saturday will have you back home Sunday and if you fly east a flight Saturday morning will have you land Sunday, losing a day either way.

Meant to say how about North Africa - Egypt or Morocco? flights about 5 hours and lots to do both culturally and activity.

richardw

Mayan Area in Mexico.

Voyager2002

Remember that parts of Europe can be extremely exotic: I have a long-standing desire to see Kyev in the Ukraine, and I think that it would involve a greater culture shock than would somewhere in Latin America. Since you can only go for a week a long-haul flight is probably not a good idea, since travel could easily eat up an unacceptable proportion of your holiday time.

Cuba has a lot to offer in terms of culture and music, natural beauty and history, but the flight might be a little too long. Otherwise you are likely to find a good option somewhere on the Mediterranean: even Morocco can be sufficiently exotic to meet most tastes.

missbiggles1

I don't think splitting a one week long/medium haul holiday into two centres is a very good idea.

rorylando45

Rambosmum wrote: »

1 week isn't long for that kind of flight. Don't forget that if you go to the America's a flight on Saturday will have you back home Sunday and if you fly east a flight Saturday morning will have you land Sunday, losing a day either way.

Meant to say how about North Africa - Egypt or Morocco? flights about 5 hours and lots to do both culturally and activity.

I agree it's not ideal, but a week is as much as we can get. Depending on flight timings we could still get 7 or even 8 full days so still worthwhile imo. We're both young and fairly experienced travellers and can handle the journeys and the jetlag reasonably well (no young screaming kids - yet :eek:)

North Africa is definitely an idea. We've both done Morocco (only Marrakech mind you) but never Egypt. Will look into.

rorylando45

richardw wrote: »

Mayan Area in Mexico.

She's already done all that back in 2009 as part of a Mexico/Guatemala/Belize trip so I don't think she'd be too keen to go again. It's a shame cos I'd love it, looks incredible!

rorylando45

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I don't think splitting a one week long/medium haul holiday into two centres is a very good idea.

Neither do I, it's her idea. Better imo would be somewhere where we can relax (either at a beach or in our hotel/resort) but then also go out an do activities, whatever they may be - or even overnight excursion of some sort.

rorylando45

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Remember that parts of Europe can be extremely exotic: I have a long-standing desire to see Kyev in the Ukraine, and I think that it would involve a greater culture shock than would somewhere in Latin America. Since you can only go for a week a long-haul flight is probably not a good idea, since travel could easily eat up an unacceptable proportion of your holiday time.

Cuba has a lot to offer in terms of culture and music, natural beauty and history, but the flight might be a little too long. Otherwise you are likely to find a good option somewhere on the Mediterranean: even Morocco can be sufficiently exotic to meet most tastes.

The point about Europe is a fair one but come November/December most of the continent will be cold and wet. A nice climate is really important to us for this holiday!

We were thinking about Cuba, especially since this might be one of the last times to visit it before it comes Americanized. It's never massively appealed to me but the "now or never" aspect makes it slightly more compelling, and the flight times are reasonable and the climate fantastic. Will look into further, thank you.

Regarding Morocco, which someone else above also suggested, we've both done Marrakech before. Does anyone have any experience elsewhere in the country, e.g. Fez?

richardw

rorylando45 wrote: »

She's already done all that back in 2009 as part of a Mexico/Guatemala/Belize trip so I don't think she'd be too keen to go again. It's a shame cos I'd love it, looks incredible!

It is. Keep it on your list.

rorylando45

Well...we just completely abandoned the warm weather requisite and booked flights to New York. She's never done it before and I haven't properly been for a good few years.

We found return direct flights for £345, leaving at really convenient times too. Seemed too good to pass up. Will just need to take plenty of layers!

Thanks for the suggestions all anyway, they have all been taken on board for future holidays.