Special Post GCSE/A Level Holiday with family

phatbear

although flights to thailand are expensive on average hotels are cheap and you can eat amazingly for next to nothing, one of my favourite restaurants in bangkok our normal order, starter each, main each and 2 drinks each is usually less than £10. 

New York, hotels are expensive and on a recent trip, everything seems to have become much more expensive, i use to visit every few months a few years ago and gone are the days of bargains and cheap good food, also it would be bonkers hot in the city. 

How about vietnam, again expensive to get to be crazt cheap once you are there, also its beautiful and some fascinating history

Marmaduke123

Iceland! Like nowhere else, amazing scenery, Blue Lagoon, shopping in Reykjavik, loads of activities possible. Two weeks would give you time for a really good self drive tour. Expensive though!

anonmoose

Some cracking ideas here I will do some research on all options mentioned.

I would like Iceland and its on my travel list but I think the kids will be less interested. As it would be expensive and they wouldn't necessarily appreciate it I might save it until they are at uni and just go with my partner.

Portugal is a good call but is already on the cards for us this year. I am taking them to Lisbon in October for a week and possibly algarve in Dec depending on my work schedule.

All suggestions are greatly appreciated and will lead to lots of research and planning.

tightauldgit

phatbear said:

although flights to thailand are expensive on average hotels are cheap and you can eat amazingly for next to nothing, one of my favourite restaurants in bangkok our normal order, starter each, main each and 2 drinks each is usually less than £10. 

New York, hotels are expensive and on a recent trip, everything seems to have become much more expensive, i use to visit every few months a few years ago and gone are the days of bargains and cheap good food, also it would be bonkers hot in the city. 

How about vietnam, again expensive to get to be crazt cheap once you are there, also its beautiful and some fascinating history

Only downside of Vietnam/Thailand in July/Aug is if you think NYC is going to be hot then it's going to be HOT and HUMID in SEA at that time of the year, plus you are going to hit monsoon season. I wouldn't say it would make it a no go but if it's the kind of thing that you wouldn't enjoy then it could certainly make it less special and depends how the kids would manage. Think I went there around that time and while it was nice I got a right old soaking on a couple of occasions and just found the humidity to be a pain. If I was going again I'd probably do it Autumn or Spring.

Iceland is a good call some of the most amazing scenery, waterfalls, volcanoes and the hot springs etc but yeah pricey for food etc.  

If Japan appeals but seems pricey you could break it up a bit with some time in South Korea which is also really cool but more affordable but again both will be hot/humid/rainy around that time. 

CKhalvashi

If you maybe want to tour several countries, nothing to say you can't fly into say Poland and fly out of say Romania/Bulgaria 2-3 weeks later. This will require some planning, but is perfectly possible with 2-3 days in a place.

Also, day and weekend trips are possible, especially to Poland/Hungary. Leaving on a pre-9am flight on Saturday you'll be there before lunchtime with a late night flight back the following day, so don't feel you need to do everything at once. There are often quite cheap (sub-£20/night) family rooms in hostels, although from experience you'll be sharing a bathroom/kitchen (although not really a problem in the grand scheme of things, everywhere we've stayed has always been clean). We do this quite regularly for sub-£100/person, especially over the winter months.

Flixbus is also a perfect way to travel around Europe, with modern air conditioned coaches and inter-city tickets from a few €, as are trains in many countries. Krakow to Wroclaw was about 70zl when OH needed it for work, or just under £15.

In addition (for anyone finding this thread in the future), I'd normally say Ukraine is a must, but there's no point even suggesting this at the moment sadly.

daveyjp

For a one off memorable trip it wouldn't be anywhere I can nip to in a weekend!

For something memorable I'd be looking at the northern hills of India (Shimla etc) and Nepal.

anonmoose

I hadn't thought about it from that point of view Dave. Having thought about it I would like somewhere the cost of living is cheap once there as I don't want to have to budget/penny pinch or stress about money once there. Although I am happy to pay for long haul for the right place and will have a decent budget.

The Italy idea for example sounded lovely but I think my daughter would bankrupt us in Milan!

phatbear

tightauldgit said:

phatbear said:

although flights to thailand are expensive on average hotels are cheap and you can eat amazingly for next to nothing, one of my favourite restaurants in bangkok our normal order, starter each, main each and 2 drinks each is usually less than £10. 

New York, hotels are expensive and on a recent trip, everything seems to have become much more expensive, i use to visit every few months a few years ago and gone are the days of bargains and cheap good food, also it would be bonkers hot in the city. 

How about vietnam, again expensive to get to be crazt cheap once you are there, also its beautiful and some fascinating history

Only downside of Vietnam/Thailand in July/Aug is if you think NYC is going to be hot then it's going to be HOT and HUMID in SEA at that time of the year, plus you are going to hit monsoon season. I wouldn't say it would make it a no go but if it's the kind of thing that you wouldn't enjoy then it could certainly make it less special and depends how the kids would manage. Think I went there around that time and while it was nice I got a right old soaking on a couple of occasions and just found the humidity to be a pain. If I was going again I'd probably do it Autumn or Spring.

Iceland is a good call some of the most amazing scenery, waterfalls, volcanoes and the hot springs etc but yeah pricey for food etc.  

If Japan appeals but seems pricey you could break it up a bit with some time in South Korea which is also really cool but more affordable but again both will be hot/humid/rainy around that time. 

July/Aug in central vietnam is ok weather wise, but i see your point

anonmoose

OK so say we looked at long haul destinations where would people advise with low cost of living once we get there that won't be too hot beginning July.

We are all fair skinned and don't particularly thrive in extreme heat/humidity . Thailand appeals but it sounds like it's the wrong time of year.

CKhalvashi

Not quite as far, but would Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan appeal? Both are quite mountainous so not too hot.

Again, very historic, Joanna Lumley did a silk road tour a few years ago, which may be available on Youtube somewhere.

I'll need to check Covid documentation for entry, but I believe both are ok for this now. Both are mountainous.