Holiday Planning Help

Mumum

Hi everyone, I haven't ever been abroad (as an adult) so am at a bit of a loss. I'm looking to go either of the first two weeks of July with my 17 year old son. He's never been in a plane and desperate to fly but it needs to be as short a flight as possible as I'm terrified of flying. Neither of us are interested in sea or sand (we live right by the beach and never go) and neither of us like the heat. I guess that leaves a cultural city break? Or are there other destinations which would meet our needs? Bournemouth Airport would be ideal as we live here or Southampton, but would rather avoid the extra travel expense to fly from London. We were hoping to keep everything under £1K including flights, transport and accommodation.
Can anyone tell me the best places to book? I don't want the difficulty of having to organise and get around in a foreign country so a package holiday where excursions etc are all laid on might work better. Can anyone recommend which booking sites are best or any destinations which might suit our needs? Son isnt sporty. Also any other tips as this is all new to me. Thank you 😊 

CKhalvashi

Wroclaw or Gdansk would be my immediate suggestions here, the former being quieter than Krakow and including a day to get to Malbork from Gdansk.

Wroclaw has flights from Bournebouth, Gdansk doesn't, but trains are reasonably cheap in Poland and Ryanair do fly between the two if you want to 'mix and match' and the Polish domestic flights can be picked up quite cheaply (and take about an hour). Gdansk has buses or trams to the city and for Wroclaw you can take the 106 bus (and buy tickets on the bus using a debit/credit card), the tickets are electronic and you simply present the card if checked (you'll need to use 2 cards for 2 people, 3 cards for 3 people etc). WRO is connected by Ryanair as are the WRO-GDN services.

Ryanair also fly to Budapest and Venice (which is the main airport), again from Bournemouth. For public transport in Poland the Jadkojade app is best.

For accommodation, I have used and can personally recommend Moon Hostel or Colourful Hostel in Wroclaw (the former has better kitchen facilities although restaurants are quite cheap, especially around the university North of the old town, I'm not sure if the latter offers single beds). Neither are 'traditional' hostels and are clean and comfortable. I can't find the name of where we stayed in Gdansk. I normally use booking.com when travelling and choose somewhere cheap-ish with good location and most importantly good reviews.

For excursions, it's generally cheapest to find what you want to do/where you want to go (Youtube is generally good for this) and most can be accessed cheaply using public transport (buses/trams in the city, trains outside) especially as it seems a budget is quite important for you.

It's no more difficult in reality to book everything yourself than to research holidays and book through an agent, it is however a lot cheaper in general. I would struggle to get you 2 weeks with excursions for less than £1000 anywhere in Europe at the moment, with a bit of DIY you should be able to do this and have change left.

Voyager2002

Since you don't like flying, why not take a ferry from Bournemouth? You would sail via the Channel Islands (with lots of natural beauty as well as beaches) and reach France, within easy reach of the Bayeux tapestry and also of the wonderful Mont St Michel. There is also lots to see there relating to the Second World War if that interests either of you. 

maman

Why not try something really simple to start with.

We flew from Southampton to Belfast last month. The flight is short. You're still in the UK, so currency and language aren't a problem. We did 3 nights/4 days and visited the Titanic experience, tour around the city, coach trip to Giant's Causeway and around the coast etc.

We've done similar from Southampton to Edinburgh and Dublin. 

Perhaps try these before venturing abroad? 🤔

Mumum

Voyager2002 said:

Since you don't like flying, why not take a ferry from Bournemouth? You would sail via the Channel Islands (with lots of natural beauty as well as beaches) and reach France, within easy reach of the Bayeux tapestry and also of the wonderful Mont St Michel. There is also lots to see there relating to the Second World War if that interests either of you. 

Thanks Voyager, the main purpose of the holiday is so that my son can fly. I'd forgotten about Mont St Michel, that would be wonderful to visit, although son not too much into history.

Mumum

CKhalvashi said:

Wroclaw or Gdansk would be my immediate suggestions here, the former being quieter than Krakow and including a day to get to Malbork from Gdansk.

Wroclaw has flights from Bournebouth, Gdansk doesn't, but trains are reasonably cheap in Poland and Ryanair do fly between the two if you want to 'mix and match' and the Polish domestic flights can be picked up quite cheaply (and take about an hour). Gdansk has buses or trams to the city and for Wroclaw you can take the 106 bus (and buy tickets on the bus using a debit/credit card), the tickets are electronic and you simply present the card if checked (you'll need to use 2 cards for 2 people, 3 cards for 3 people etc). WRO is connected by Ryanair as are the WRO-GDN services.

Ryanair also fly to Budapest and Venice (which is the main airport), again from Bournemouth. For public transport in Poland the Jadkojade app is best.

For accommodation, I have used and can personally recommend Moon Hostel or Colourful Hostel in Wroclaw (the former has better kitchen facilities although restaurants are quite cheap, especially around the university North of the old town, I'm not sure if the latter offers single beds). Neither are 'traditional' hostels and are clean and comfortable. I can't find the name of where we stayed in Gdansk. I normally use booking.com when travelling and choose somewhere cheap-ish with good location and most importantly good reviews.

For excursions, it's generally cheapest to find what you want to do/where you want to go (Youtube is generally good for this) and most can be accessed cheaply using public transport (buses/trams in the city, trains outside) especially as it seems a budget is quite important for you.

It's no more difficult in reality to book everything yourself than to research holidays and book through an agent, it is however a lot cheaper in general. I would struggle to get you 2 weeks with excursions for less than £1000 anywhere in Europe at the moment, with a bit of DIY you should be able to do this and have change left.

Thank you for the great suggestions and so much information, I'm very grateful. Just to confirm that we would only be going for a few days, I obviously hadn't been clear in my post. I mentioned the first two weeks of July because that is just after my son finishes college and I wanted to go before the schools broke up when it would hopefully be cheaper and quieter.

Mumum

maman said:

Why not try something really simple to start with.

We flew from Southampton to Belfast last month. The flight is short. You're still in the UK, so currency and language aren't a problem. We did 3 nights/4 days and visited the Titanic experience, tour around the city, coach trip to Giant's Causeway and around the coast etc.

We've done similar from Southampton to Edinburgh and Dublin. 

Perhaps try these before venturing abroad? 🤔

That's a great idea maman and something I had been considering, for the reasons you mentioned, although I had thought the currency in Ireland was euros. Could you recommend what you did during your time in Dublin, to see if it interests my son? All I could find was pubs and drinking! Would love a trip to the Giant's Causeway etc. Baby steps may work better as I'll be out of my comfort zone and then could consider something more adventurous later on which does not include a plane.

Mumum

Mumum said:

maman said:

Why not try something really simple to start with.

We flew from Southampton to Belfast last month. The flight is short. You're still in the UK, so currency and language aren't a problem. We did 3 nights/4 days and visited the Titanic experience, tour around the city, coach trip to Giant's Causeway and around the coast etc.

We've done similar from Southampton to Edinburgh and Dublin. 

Perhaps try these before venturing abroad? 🤔

That's a great idea maman and something I had been considering, for the reasons you mentioned, although I had thought the currency in Ireland was euros. Could you recommend what you did during your time in Dublin, to see if it interests my son? All I could find was pubs and drinking! Would love a trip to the Giant's Causeway etc. Baby steps may work better as I'll be out of my comfort zone and then could consider something more adventurous later on which does not include a plane.

Oh and Edinburgh - apart from the castle?!
Thank you!

maman

Dublin is in euros but Belfast is Northern Ireland so part of UK.

We flew to Belfast from Southampton with Aer Lingus. The flight is about an hour. 

It felt like sort of being abroad, until I went into a little Tesco and they asked for my clubcard. 🤣

We did a package from last minute so the flight and hotel together. You can choose your own hotel/guest house/ apartment. We booked the tour around the coast and Giant's Causeway online quite easily in advance and just turn up at the Titanic.

Of course, there are pubs but hard to know what to recommend without knowing your son's interests. 🤔

Voyager2002

Mumum said:

Voyager2002 said:

Since you don't like flying, why not take a ferry from Bournemouth? You would sail via the Channel Islands (with lots of natural beauty as well as beaches) and reach France, within easy reach of the Bayeux tapestry and also of the wonderful Mont St Michel. There is also lots to see there relating to the Second World War if that interests either of you. 

Thanks Voyager, the main purpose of the holiday is so that my son can fly. I'd forgotten about Mont St Michel, that would be wonderful to visit, although son not too much into history.

Oh, he will be so disappointed with the experience that most airlines offer. Maybe try to get a flight on a tiny little propeller-driven plane? I used to use little 8-seaters when I lived in the Seychelles and sometimes I had to sit right next to the pilot! I think that there is an airline based in the Channel Islands (called Aurigny or something) who operate small 'planes.

maman

Aurigny fly from Southampton to Guernsey @Voyager2002 but, although small aircraft, I don't think they're small enough to have to sit with the pilot.