Holiday Planning Help

CKhalvashi

Mumum said:

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.

Wroclaw I'd definitely recommend then. Definitely have a look on Youtube to see if you think it'd be right for you! The flight will be about 2 hours each way so only you can decide if it's too much for you. I tend to find Ryanair reliable and their BOH flights this week are twice weekly, not sure about July but that may increase to 3.

Make sure you get to the Sky Tower and get to see as many gnomes as you can. We took mom for 2 nights in January and it came all in to just over £300 all in for 3 people/2 rooms, including food and flights (which in fairness were about £80 of that) with public transport but excluding airport parking.

We speak reasonable Polish but mom doesn't and she had no problem doing everything she needed in English. She was also surprised at how efficient the transport is, especially how we could get anywhere within the city with 72 hours ticket for about £6.

As also mentioned, if more suitable for you, the Aurigny flights should be ok for the Channel Islands. I believe they use 72-ish seat ATRs on the SOU route now but it may be the DO-228 which are 19 seaters.

tightauldgit

An obvious choice would be Paris as it'll be a short flight and there'll be plenty options. Plus there's more than enough to entertain yourself there for 3 4 or 5 days. Ditto Amsterdam. Another place I heartily recommend is Rome but that's becoming a longer flight then. For a first trip and a short flight plus loads to do I think you'd struggle to beat Paris.  

Neil49

Slightly off topic but just to make sure you both have valid passports.

If not then you need to apply asap as there are lengthy delays due to strike action. 

heatherw_01

Requested it be moved to the main travel board as this is just for reporting holiday deals.

Mumum

Neil49 said:

Slightly off topic but just to make sure you both have valid passports.

If not then you need to apply asap as there are lengthy delays due to strike action. 

We do, thank you Neil.

Mumum

tightauldgit said:

An obvious choice would be Paris as it'll be a short flight and there'll be plenty options. Plus there's more than enough to entertain yourself there for 3 4 or 5 days. Ditto Amsterdam. Another place I heartily recommend is Rome but that's becoming a longer flight then. For a first trip and a short flight plus loads to do I think you'd struggle to beat Paris.  

Thanks oldgit (lol), funnily enough those were my top choices, although son not keen on Paris, I think a day in the older Disneylsnd Park may persuade him. I'd love Amsterdam but what to do apart from cannabis and the sea industry lol. Canals and windmills would be wonderful but don't think son is fussed. He's so awkward to cater for, just likes gaming and computers and doesn't like walking!! His choice is Japan as he loves the culture but too expensive and too far! I'm.nrrvous about the language barrier as I could get lost in a supermarket, hence ideally wanting a rep.

Mumum

heatherw_01 said:

Requested it be moved to the main travel board as this is just for reporting holiday deals.

Apologies, thank you Heatherw. 

CKhalvashi

Mumum said:

tightauldgit said:

An obvious choice would be Paris as it'll be a short flight and there'll be plenty options. Plus there's more than enough to entertain yourself there for 3 4 or 5 days. Ditto Amsterdam. Another place I heartily recommend is Rome but that's becoming a longer flight then. For a first trip and a short flight plus loads to do I think you'd struggle to beat Paris.  

Thanks oldgit (lol), funnily enough those were my top choices, although son not keen on Paris, I think a day in the older Disneylsnd Park may persuade him. I'd love Amsterdam but what to do apart from cannabis and the sea industry lol. Canals and windmills would be wonderful but don't think son is fussed. He's so awkward to cater for, just likes gaming and computers and doesn't like walking!! His choice is Japan as he loves the culture but too expensive and too far! I'm.nrrvous about the language barrier as I could get lost in a supermarket, hence ideally wanting a rep.

Paris really wasn't my thing but was a nice and historic city in its own right.

I have never done Eurodisney.

Amsterdam is also historic and quite interesting in its own right, although again not really my thing personally (give me Poland or just about anywhere East of it and I'm happier). A quick Google for Amsterdam may give you the better idea, however there's a lot more than you mention.

tightauldgit

Mumum said:

tightauldgit said:

An obvious choice would be Paris as it'll be a short flight and there'll be plenty options. Plus there's more than enough to entertain yourself there for 3 4 or 5 days. Ditto Amsterdam. Another place I heartily recommend is Rome but that's becoming a longer flight then. For a first trip and a short flight plus loads to do I think you'd struggle to beat Paris.  

Thanks oldgit (lol), funnily enough those were my top choices, although son not keen on Paris, I think a day in the older Disneylsnd Park may persuade him. I'd love Amsterdam but what to do apart from cannabis and the sea industry lol. Canals and windmills would be wonderful but don't think son is fussed. He's so awkward to cater for, just likes gaming and computers and doesn't like walking!! His choice is Japan as he loves the culture but too expensive and too far! I'm.nrrvous about the language barrier as I could get lost in a supermarket, hence ideally wanting a rep.

Japan is great and I'm sure you'd love it but it is a bit of a big leap for a first ever trip/flight and language can be an issue.

In Europe you're fine as if the first person you see doesn't speak fluent English then the second one will. 

Would something like this appeal to boy and then you can wander off and see the sights and leave him doing whatever he wants all day? https://www.arcadehotel.nl/

From memory Amsterdam has a fair amount of Japanese-y things also - there's plenty of little comic book/anime type stores and ramen cafes and the like. So I'm sure you could probably find a few things like that with a Google that might interest him.  

maman

If you did decide to go to Amsterdam, the Heineken experience is good fun and I'm sure you could persuade your son to go on a boat trip around the canals. 😁