The Mock Turtle

wendy james wrote: ↑Fri Mar 18, 2022 7:32 am I’m sure you could find something just as nice that’s a bit easier logistically, if that helps?

Yes, these are my thoughts too!

I would jump at the chance of Mexico, but for six nights I'd want to stay in the same place.

Also, I’ve never been to Mexico before so I’d want to be somewhere I could explore and do stuff and eat out rather than just stay in a hotel, so I’d rather a more convenient location for that, too. But you might just fancy a chilled sunny luxury week! Though as Wendy says, then you could maybe get somewhere closer or easier to get to.

Do they have shuttles from the hotel Epp, and a time table if so? If they’re remote, they might have a frequent shuttle service. When we stayed in Mexico, pre children, our hotel was about twenty minutes from the nearest town (Playa del Carmen), but shuttles there was fairly frequent.

I’d be very tempted by Mexico, but I am yearning to go back after our failed attempt in 2020 .

These are all good thoughts, thanks everyone. Definitely giving me pause to think about this more rationally. Places like Cabo/Baja and Puerto Vallarta do have more convenient (direct and usually cheaper) flight options, but I have a friend who has holidayed in both those places recently and I don’t want to copy her

Good question about the shuttles F’arty, they aren’t mentioned on any of the hotel websites or in reviews that I’ve seen (though one place is quite newly opened). I should message to find out.

Kenickie wrote: ↑Fri Mar 18, 2022 8:39 am I would jump at the chance of Mexico, but for six nights I'd want to stay in the same place.

I know what you mean, Ken. It’s mainly because I like the look of both hotels and would want to stay at both if I make the trip, and because the one I really want to stay at doesn’t have full availability (and is the most remote). Also I’m only looking at about a week because I’m trying to fit things around work stuff and choir rehearsals that I’m committed to. I would like to go away for longer, but at those prices much longer starts to look like the deposit on a house

The thing is I feel as though I have been looking for nice places to stay elsewhere and these two are far and away the most appealing (to me) I’ve seen. This bit of Mexico is touristy but not Tulum/Cancun or Cabo levels, which is more appealing. I think all of America is going to Hawaii at the moment so there’s not much choice of accommodation and what there is is relatively expensive for what you get, especially as I prefer rentals to hotels there as I’m more confident in doing my own thing solo.

I do basically want a chilled sunny week with beaches, but a little bit of exploring opportunity would be nice. I’m fine with booking excursions/tours for sites. Holiday research takes so long, especially if you (one) are not fixated on going somewhere specific. I worry that by the time I’ve come up with an alternative it’ll be May and I’ll just go home again and not go on a proper break.

Centre Parcs Sherwood for a weekend in may?

I’ve never been to a CP and that’s my closest. We probably wouldn’t get there until about 7/8pm on the Friday and we’d be leaving on the Sunday.

I’d have my mum with me so no long walks/bicycles as she has mobility issues. Is there enough to do to make it worth our while?

I heard that my work trip to London/somewhere else in Europe is almost certain, which has definitely put the nail in my plan to go to Mexico that week (as well as the eye watering cost and long flights). But we are going ‘back to the office’ from then anyway, so I have a smallll window in April to get away before the rules of the game change again (not that time off has anything to do with being in the office).

Anyway, after much swithering I’ve just booked a week in Hawaii (Big Island) in two weeks’ time 🏝 Nothing fancy, just a sea-facing, oceanfront self-catering condo in a resort with a pool, and close enough to the main town and a beach to bop around on foot for a couple of days, and have longer day trips by car. I don’t need to do some of the more touristy sights/tours again, so I just plan on revisiting some of the places I liked before (like the observatory though there’s a full moon while I’m there ) and maybe a bit more time in Volcanoes NP and hiking. I’m shook at how much more expensive accommodation is compared to the last time I was there (seven years ago, so fair enough). But I at least managed to get decently priced non-stop flights at short notice.

SUNSHINE (I hope)

Kleio wrote: ↑Mon Mar 21, 2022 8:20 pm Centre Parcs Sherwood for a weekend in may?

I’ve never been to a CP and that’s my closest. We probably wouldn’t get there until about 7/8pm on the Friday and we’d be leaving on the Sunday.

I’d have my mum with me so no long walks/bicycles as she has mobility issues. Is there enough to do to make it worth our while?

Yes, it’s really nice there. There are lodges nearer to the centre for accessibility reasons if you are able to book one with incurring extra charges.

Hawaii! Enjoy.

Hawaiii! Lovely.

I booked a 5 star hotel on Crete, flying from Norwich which is so close and civilised. Much better than flying from London airports!

I am still a bit jel of a 5 star hotel! I amused myself by looking at a few days at the Four Seasons for about sixteen grand

I’ve just booked a weekend away for my birthday in May. It’s just camping but it’s in a river bank place with a heated pool and nice looking family restaurant too. Plus I had credits from a cancelled trip last year so it felt like it was free.

Epponnee Rae wrote: ↑Tue Mar 29, 2022 9:54 pm I am still a bit jel of a 5 star hotel! I amused myself by looking at a few days at the Four Seasons for about sixteen grand

I've not been this fancy in ages! I got a decent discount through Tui for being nhs, which was pleasing.

https://www.theislandhotel.eu/

OMG that looks amazing! Definitely well jel.

I forgot I’ve been invited to a wedding in Mallorca in October and I Quite Want to go. They have some suggested hotels in Soller (I think) that look nice, but not quite as nice as yours! It’ll be a shit time for work to take time off, but I might have resigned by then so who knows (or cares!).

MUST book my hire car!

Soller is gorgeous, Epp!

Yes, it's beautiful there.

Oh good! Ive only been to Mallorca once and only made it to Palma and the boot camp I was staying at basically in the opposite side to Soller. I should just book the time off now!

We’ve booked a couple of weekend camping trips now. Once close-ish to Torquay in June so we can return to the museum before our annual ticket runs out. It has a heated outdoor pool, which will hopefully make up for not being near the coast.

We also have our usual trip to Burnham-on-Sea in July but the beach race we usually do isn’t on this year. It will still be nice to get away though. We already have a potential camping trip at the end of July with Sproglette’s old school friends.

I’m still undecided about August. My parents are up for taking the girls for a week so that wipes out two weekends (dropping them off/picking them up).

We just booked a trip to Iceland, with a side trip to Scotland, in July.

Exciting, LM! That's what I am hoping we can do on our next trip to Scotland - after the one coming up this June/July. Do you have any special plans yet?