holidays 2018

[Jonesy]

CC get yourself here too

 

lake Kournas ....it's up in the hills. A fantastic spot for swim and a bite to eat. 

[charlie clown]

[Molby]

After the Thailand enquiry 24 hours back, Mrs.C decided last night that we are now going to Crete to some boutique-y hotel. Suits me, less flying hours, guarantee sun, plenty of island to explore if I get bored by the poool. 

 

right, so you're all by the pool and you'll put your book down and declare "I'm a bit bored, I'm just off to explore some islands, see you for cocktails at 7"

 

or will you, the patriarch, declare that the pool is boring, so the entire family unit will be spending the next few days exploring islands?

please reply in detail, then give further details about how you will explore the islands (rent a boat, get a boat AND driver etc)

 

edit, I see this has been partially covered

 

nevertheless I'm after as much info about Greece/Crete and island hopping as poss

Edited January 18, 2018 by Molby

[charlie clown]

It's only me and missus so what the family wants or is dragged in to is academic. Chances are I will hire a car for 4 or 5 days in the middle of the fortnight. WE will maybe go out for a couple of days seeing the touristy bits visit a town or two, goa bit further afield and eat lunch at a shack on a remote beach - fresh octopus, squid, rabbit, and a nice bottle of wine.

 

On the other days, I will likely go out on my own and just get lost, up to the mountains, searching out the ancient Minoan ruins, checking out some WW2 sites, finding ways to get to inaccessible beaches, and then reporting back at the end of each trip so that if anything I have discovered on my travels will peak Mrs.C's interest, we may then revisit on our next joint drive out.

 

Last time we went out on a boat on holiday she puked and the fish had a feeding frenzy, it was entertaining enough but we'll probably be avoiding doing that again just in case there is a repeat performance. There will be very little island-hopping.

 

Can't tell you any more than that for now, but that would be the general plan.

Edited January 18, 2018 by charlie clown

[muleskinner]

right, so you're all by the pool and you'll put your book down and declare "I'm a bit bored, I'm just off to explore some islands, see you for cocktails at 7"

 

or will you, the patriarch, declare that the pool is boring, so the entire family unit will be spending the next few days exploring islands?

please reply in detail, then give further details about how you will explore the islands (rent a boat, get a boat AND driver etc)

 

edit, I see this has been partially covered

 

nevertheless I'm after as much info about Greece/Crete and island hopping as poss

Paros, Anti-Paros, Naxos, Mykonos and Tinos all worthy of your time. Short ferry rides between all of them. Schinoussa if you want isolation, it's the hiding place for Greek shipping magnates on their huge 'yachts".

Stay in Naossa if you go to Paros, it's full of Ialians.

[D.Boon]

So CC is going to have a few days doing some w***ing in the mountains?

[charlie clown]

Busman's holiday, mate.

[Molby]

this all sounds good

 

when you going?

 

when's the best time to go?

[Duncan Disorderly]

We're off to Cuba for a couple of weeks in April.

 

Never been before and really looking forward to it

 

[muleskinner]

this all sounds good

 

when you going?

 

when's the best time to go?

Not sure if you were replying to me or not Molby? If so, been the last 2 years late July/August. Having a change this year once we are able to confirm a few things next month.

[forde]

We're off to Cuba for a couple of weeks in April.

 

Never been before and really looking forward to it

Cuba is mad but great, you will love it I reckon.

 

I am going to Sao Paulo in late July, mate going back home to get married, my first trip to Brazil, should be amazing, even more so if Brazil have just won the world cup.

[charlie clown]

Yeah, we had a really good holiday in Cuba. Go in with the right expectations and you'll love  it.

[Tommok]

Yeah, we had a really good holiday in Cuba. Go in with the right expectations and you'll love it.

What are the right expectations out of interest?

 

Generally just be prepared that they do stuff slightly differently and it might be a shade "less organised" than some western cities - is that the sort of thing you meant?

[Cobs]

Anyone been to St Lucia?

Yes

[charlie clown]

I think it's more to do with standards, the best hotels in Cuba may be no more than a three star anywhere else. And because of trade embargos and sanctions they have had a lot of shortages of a lot of pretty standard basics for a long time so the food choices are limited. Even in the best hotels what is served up is not what you might expect in almost any other destination, here or abroad. For example we found that if there was fondant potato served up with a meal it was likely to be reconstituted spuds - presumably Russia's equivalent of Smash type stuff - rather than the real thing - and a lot of other standard fare, especially of U.S. origin were just not available e.g. Coca-Cola etc. None of which is a bad thing as long as you work with and around what is available. We found that the key was to go for the food that you can reasonably expect to come from the island - seafood, fruit etc.

 

It's not just the food though, although you will get toiletries etc. in your room, they will not be especially good and its worth taking your own toilet paper.

 

And finding stuff in shops etc. can be difficult because they have very limited imports from only a small number of friendly countries - sunscreen is an obvious example of that. It can be hard to find and expensive.

 

And you can pretty much forget about Wi-Fi access - the general infrastructure is poor for that service (or was when we were there).     

 

You'll have a great time, its a brilliant place and the people are amazingly smart and friendly - and things may have improved over the last year or two since the Obama hand of friendship - but you just need to go in there prepared for it not be the west coast of Barbados or whatever...

Edited January 20, 2018 by charlie clown

[Tommok]

I think it's more to do with standards, the best hotels in Cuba may be no more than a three star anywhere else. And because of trade embargos and sanctions they have had a lot of shortages of a lot of pretty standard basics for a long time so the food choices are limited. Even in the best hotels what is served up is not what you might expect in almost any other destination, here or abroad. For example we found that if there was fondant potato served up with a meal it was likely to be reconstituted spuds - presumably Russia's equivalent of Smash type stuff - rather than the real thing - and a lot of other standard fare, especially of U.S. origin were just not available e.g. Coca-Cola etc. None of which is a bad thing as long as you work with and around what is available. We found that the key was to go for the food that you can reasonably expect to come from the island - seafood, fruit etc.

 

It's not just the food though, although you will get toiletries etc. in your room, they will not be especially good and its worth taking your own toilet paper.

 

And finding stuff in shops etc. can be difficult because they have very limited imports from only a small number of friendly countries - sunscreen is an obvious example of that. It can be hard to find and expensive.

 

And you can pretty much forget about Wi-Fi access - the general infrastructure is poor for that service (or was when we were there).     

 

You'll have a great time, its a brilliant place and the people are amazingly smart and friendly - and things may have improved over the last year or two since the Obama hand of friendship - but you just need to go in there prepared for it not be the west coast of Barbados or whatever...

Cheers, that's really useful.

 

I was told basics like don't drink the water or take ice in your drinks etc and I'd heard people say vaguely similar things to you in passing and kind of guessed what they were driving at but thanks for clarifying!

 

What's the score with jabs - do we need to get anything?

 

Also I hear it's pretty much a total cash economy over there, no credit card etc, right?

 

I need to sort out our visas soon actually.

 

Cheers again.

[New York Red]

Down in Acapulco?

 

Getting bladdered in Puerto Vallarta

 

 

Just north of Cancun. First time up that end. Wasn't bad at all. 

 

I usually go to Cabo. We have two properties down there so I'm there a fair bit. I love it down there. The people are exceptionally cool.

Edited January 21, 2018 by New York Red

[Leo No.8]

 

 

 

 

Just north of Cancun. First time up that end. Wasn't bad at all.

 

I usually go to Cabo. We have two properties down there so I'm there a fair bit. I love it down there. The people are exceptionally cool.

Is it not a bit dangerous down there at your own place NYR? There seem to be a lot of kidnappings through organised crime. We are going to Mexico in the summer but staying in a huge resort which will be secure.

[muleskinner]

Is it not a bit dangerous down there at your own place NYR? There seem to be a lot of kidnappings through organised crime. We are going to Mexico in the summer but staying in a huge resort which will be secure.

Went to Tulum a couple of years ago, no big resorts down there thankfully, it felt safe as anywhere I've been. There has been some issues over property/land ownership but that seemed to be amongst developers from talking to people.

[The_Adder]

Heard Juarez is quite nice this time of year?

[Ibby]

Is it not a bit dangerous down there at your own place NYR? There seem to be a lot of kidnappings through organised crime. We are going to Mexico in the summer but staying in a huge resort which will be secure.

whatever floats ya boat and all that but the idea of going to a foreign country to be cooped up in some resort isn't my idea of fun

[charlie clown]

Cheers, that's really useful.

 

I was told basics like don't drink the water or take ice in your drinks etc and I'd heard people say vaguely similar things to you in passing and kind of guessed what they were driving at but thanks for clarifying!

 

What's the score with jabs - do we need to get anything?

 

Also I hear it's pretty much a total cash economy over there, no credit card etc, right?

 

I need to sort out our visas soon actually.

 

Cheers again.

 

I don't remember us having specific jabs but we did make sure the basic were already done or topped up - tetanus, polio etc.

 

And, yes, we paid cash for pretty much everything. IIIRC we took USD and converted locally. Could be wrong on that though.

 

*edit - we went all-inclusive so apart from when we left the hotel the only cash spend generally was tips for the staff.

Edited January 21, 2018 by charlie clown

[New York Red]

Is it not a bit dangerous down there at your own place NYR? There seem to be a lot of kidnappings through organised crime. We are going to Mexico in the summer but staying in a huge resort which will be secure.

 

 

On the Baja California it is as safe as houses mate. Maybe a bit less so further north but even then its ok. Down in Cabo, San Jose and La Paz is totally cool. It's sort of isolated by a huge national park half way down the peninsula. North of that in TJ and Encinitas it is a little different of course.

 

As Muley says, Tulum is lovely. Plenty to do and see and great people. If you haven't cave dived, you should. It's brilliant.

[RP]

We are going to Mexico in the summer but staying in a huge resort which will be secure.

 

 

You do love a bit of culture on your holidays

[charlie clown]

 We are going to Mexico in the summer but staying in a huge resort which will be secure.

 

Is there a decent hospital nearby?