Best holiday you've ever had? | Page 3 | Vital Football

Best holiday you've ever had?

Good posts by StokeImp, the type of holiday varies as life goes on, we loved the Devon beach holidays when the kids were young (Croyde for us, great beach and nights in The Thatch) then more adventurous as the youngest finally decided flying was ok, we've done some super stuff as a family.

But the best was back in the 80s, before children, 3 weeks fly drive in and out of LA. Despite the road trip experience being in a Renault 9, we did 3000 miles to New Mexico and back, snow in Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, roasted in Death Valley, all sorts of incredible stuff, some of the drives now feel bonkers.

Sunset at Grand Canyon, 100 mile drive to a motel in the dark, bottle of wine and "submarines" for a 'posh' dinner, waking up the following morning to find ourselves in a setting from a John Ford western.

Taos Pueblo and the food in Santa Fe; aircraft carriers under the Golden Gate and mountain lions on the roadside were major highlights too.
 
Did a Transalpino rail trip when I was much younger. Was in the days when inter-railing was popular but I was working and you need more time to take advantage of that.
On Transalpino you picked a route through Europe and stopped where you want. Was my 1st time abroad and we did London -Paris - Florence - Venice - Austria - Amsterdam in 2 weeks taking night trains or just finding accommodation as we went. Can’t imagine doing it now, no such thing as the internet in those days.
 
Red Wimp said:
Did a Transalpino rail trip when I was much younger. Was in the days when inter-railing was popular but I was working and you need more time to take advantage of that.
On Transalpino you picked a route through Europe and stopped where you want. Was my 1st time abroad and we did London -Paris - Florence - Venice - Austria - Amsterdam in 2 weeks taking night trains or just finding accommodation as we went. Can’t imagine doing it now, no such thing as the internet in those days.
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I did a Transalpino myself back in ‘81ish, only got as far as the south of France though, and roughed it under canvas. Fresh out of college just before my first job started, ended up in St-Raphael near Cannes.
I got charged extra on the way back as although I’d got an open ticket I had failed to pre book the couchette, bit lucky really some others returning the following week got thrown off in Paris in the middle of the night for the same thing
 
I think it was the following year I did a two week tour of Europe on a converted double decker London bus (summer holiday style). Top deck bunk beds, down stairs kitchen, certainly not luxury travel and everyone mucked in with the cooking and cleaning etc, but got to see plenty in a short time. Paris, Pont-du-Gare, Monte Carlo, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Munich, Heidelberg and Salzburg amongst others
 
Since we discovered the Greek islands, pick any of the last few years in Zante and Kefalonia. Always book a little villa directly with the same people, follow our own schedule, laze and swim and eat out a lot!
 
HitherImp said:
Since we discovered the Greek islands, pick any of the last few years in Zante and Kefalonia. Always book a little villa directly with the same people, follow our own schedule, laze and swim and eat out a lot!
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We hadn't visited Greece until a couple of years ago, and we went to Zante last year. Our first holiday all inclusive, and a great hotel, especially the restaurant. Didn't fancy the famous "Strip" much, but an excellent day out to see the turtles swimming wild. Mrs S had planned for us to go again this year, so maybe that'll be next year's holiday if things are straight by then - and we'll do the turtle boat trip again
 
HitherImp said:
Since we discovered the Greek islands, pick any of the last few years in Zante and Kefalonia. Always book a little villa directly with the same people, follow our own schedule, laze and swim and eat out a lot!
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Some severe heat out there in the summer.

Spent some time in Corfu(prior to it being developed) and Santorini many years ago...............for the sunbathing and nosh.....BURNT LIKE A CHIP.
 
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stokeimp said:
We hadn't visited Greece until a couple of years ago, and we went to Zante last year. Our first holiday all inclusive, and a great hotel, especially the restaurant. Didn't fancy the famous "Strip" much, but an excellent day out to see the turtles swimming wild. Mrs S had planned for us to go again this year, so maybe that'll be next year's holiday if things are straight by then - and we'll do the turtle boat trip again
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We normally stay in Tsilivi when in Zante, a bit less frenetic than Laganas! Better food, too....
 
We were late starters to Greece too and have been to Rhodes a couple of times fairly recently. We found a lovely friendly hotel at the south of the island and liked it so much we returned. Much too hot in the height of summer to do much other than laze and swim which suited us fine though they do say Rhodes old town is worth a look.
 
Chesterimp said:
Good posts by StokeImp, the type of holiday varies as life goes on, we loved the Devon beach holidays when the kids were young (Croyde for us, great beach and nights in The Thatch) then more adventurous as the youngest finally decided flying was ok, we've done some super stuff as a family.

But the best was back in the 80s, before children, 3 weeks fly drive in and out of LA. Despite the road trip experience being in a Renault 9, we did 3000 miles to New Mexico and back, snow in Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, roasted in Death Valley, all sorts of incredible stuff, some of the drives now feel bonkers.

Sunset at Grand Canyon, 100 mile drive to a motel in the dark, bottle of wine and "submarines" for a 'posh' dinner, waking up the following morning to find ourselves in a setting from a John Ford western.

Taos Pueblo and the food in Santa Fe; aircraft carriers under the Golden Gate and mountain lions on the roadside were major highlights too.
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That sounds amazing. We packed as much as we could into our driving trip but didn't manage to go as far as you did! Would love to do it again though and visit some other parts of the west. We were planning to do a Nevada/Utah trip before lockdown, but obviously that got knocked on the head.
 
HitherImp said:
Mr Hither and I have done the Northern Lights in Iceland (avatar is me in a Reykjavik bar pre going out on a minibus tour in search of said Lights), save up and do it for sure. It's AMAZING and Iceland is a wonderful place generally.
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Agreed, Iceland is amazing! So much natural beauty for one country, it's ridiculous.
 
HitherImp said:
We normally stay in Tsilivi when in Zante, a bit less frenetic than Laganas! Better food, too....
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Yes, have just checked and Tsilivi was where we stayed - at the TUI Caravel. As I said, it was a bit unusual for us, first time going all inclusive and the two excursions we did were totally TUI. In some ways missed the browsing to choose restaurants and cafes/bars, and doing our own thing, but can't argue with the quality, and Mrs S certainly fancies it again - think she's getting her own back for all the holidays in a tent and 12 foot caravan!! Seriously, though, we would certainly go on another boat trip to see the turtles, and also have a day mooching and exploring Zakynthos town - rest of time crashing on beach
 
Eweimps said:
We were late starters to Greece too and have been to Rhodes a couple of times fairly recently. We found a lovely friendly hotel at the south of the island and liked it so much we returned. Much too hot in the height of summer to do much other than laze and swim which suited us fine though they do say Rhodes old town is worth a look.
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Chance to get the Imps thong out of the suitcase and get an allover tan?
 
Of more recent holidays enjoyed the most was probably Sorrento. Obviously a very popular area but places like Ravello, Portafino & Capri are stunning plus Pompeii or Herculaneum.
In this country we go back to Southwold a lot, rented a house last year for daughters + partners and enjoyed much Adnams of various varieties
 
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