Holiday Bucket List!

[LoraLoo]

I'm wondering if anyone else has one, or has been an amazing holiday theyd like to share? Has anyone holidayed in any if the places on my list that can share their experiences?

We've just booked to go back to Turkey in May. Last year we did France. Theres so many places I really want to visit but top of my list are

Canada - im really hoping to go there within the next 12 months. Probably to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia.

Iceland- in an ideal world id love to go here for a few nights just me and hubby but my anxiety means I couldnt leave the kids. Would love to see the Northern lights.

Holland- just think it looks lovely

Ireland- because we have visited Scotland and Wales but still to do Ireland. Would love to go to Dublin for New Year.

Lapland...no reason needed!


Florida- for the kids.

There's loads further afield too but I think at this point its unrealistic, but these are all the places in hoping to tick off in the new few years.

 

[Boozlebub]

Well I can help with one of those. Lapland. I live in Finnish Lapland and honestly it is the most amazing and most magical place in the world. We have the cleanest air, Northern lights, tons of snow, Father Christmas (obviously) and it is so peaceful and quiet here. Almost everyone who visits wants to come again.

I know you have a large family and generally people think it is expensive to visit. It can be, but the best thing is to compare costs of booking through a travel agent who specialises in the Lapland Santa break or doing it yourself.

Pros to going with an operator are the activities being all included, all your outside clothing being included and the Santa visit included etc. But it could be cheaper to do it all yourself.

One thing I know for sure is you will have a magical holiday and it will be worth every penny. If you want any further info about which areas to visit or which travel operators to look at please just pm me. I’ll be happy to help!

 

[LoraLoo]

Well I can help with one of those. Lapland. I live in Finnish Lapland and honestly it is the most amazing and most magical place in the world. We have the cleanest air, Northern lights, tons of snow, Father Christmas (obviously) and it is so peaceful and quiet here. Almost everyone who visits wants to come again.

I know you have a large family and generally people think it is expensive to visit. It can be, but the best thing is to compare costs of booking through a travel agent who specialises in the Lapland Santa break or doing it yourself.

Pros to going with an operator are the activities being all included, all your outside clothing being included and the Santa visit included etc. But it could be cheaper to do it all yourself.

One thing I know for sure is you will have a magical holiday and it will be worth every penny. If you want any further info about which areas to visit or which travel operators to look at please just pm me. I’ll be happy to help!

I'm so jealous! Yes so expensive, I got quoted £8000 for 3 nights for all of us 😨... I'd definitely consider doing it diy but not sure id know where to start!

 

[c1403]

I'm not huge on travelling TBH but I'd love to take the girls on a beach holiday this year or next. Also Disney (Paris and Florida). I'd also love to go back to Cornwall and try the lake District.
A nice city break for me and DH but like Loraloo I doubt I could leave my girls at home.

 

[LoraLoo]

I'm not huge on travelling TBH but I'd love to take the girls on a beach holiday this year or next. Also Disney (Paris and Florida). I'd also love to go back to Cornwall and try the lake District.
A nice city break for me and DH but like Loraloo I doubt I could leave my girls at home.

We did Disneyland Paris just for the day whilst in France last year... the kids loved it but the queues really stressed me... I hate queuing!

I live in the Lake District so I'm biased but highly recommend! 😉

In my mind isd love a nice child free weekend away (or even a night!) but in reality is probably just miss the kids and be miserable and counting down the hours til we were home!

 

[CRWx]

Paris - I’ve done Paris twice pre-DD and enjoyed both times very much! The first time was seeing the sights and being a tourist and the second time was seeing some of the smaller suburbs and Disney (just after I found out I was pregnant!) I’d like to go back because my DD loves Disney and for a bit of a nostalgia feel because I was so newly pregnant with her last time I was there!

California/Florida- for a nice sunny holiday and to do Disney’s there. I’ve been to both places before but I’d like to go as an adult although I’m not sure how doable this is because of cost and taking DD when it’s just us... maybe as an extended family holiday, lol.

Would love to go to Lapland for the magic, desperately want to see the northern lights.

In this country I LOVE Cornwall and would like to go back maybe this year. Again, I was pregnant last time I went and would like to take DD to the beaches etc and my friend lives there so wouldn’t have the cost of a hotel. I also really like Brighton and would like to go back for the same reasons as Cornwall. I also had the most amazing ice cream there last time that I still haven’t stopped thinking about, years later

 

[LoraLoo]

Id love to do Cornwall but its just such a long drive for us...woukd maybe have to look at stopping over somewhere midway to break it up a bit. It does look beautiful though! So many beautiful parts of our own country ive yet to visit!

 

[CRWx]

Id love to do Cornwall but its just such a long drive for us...woukd maybe have to look at stopping over somewhere midway to break it up a bit. It does look beautiful though! So many beautiful parts of our own country ive yet to visit!

Definitely! It took me about 5.5 hours on my own (train) and I live in the middle of the country, dread to think how long it would take for you guys!

 

[xarlenex]

LOVE holiday chat!

We visited Lapland with Santa's Lapland Dec 2016. It was thee most magical most special holiday so far. It's not cheap, and I really struggled when it came to booking it to actually hit that button with the amount it was costing, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. We'd try Thomson Thomas cook etc who had worked out roughly a thousand cheaper, but it included only 2 minute tasters of activities and the cost to add those one seperately were usually £100 each, even looking independently. Also the meeting with Santa were to be group meetings with them, at hotels! I felt we could do that here! With Santa's Lapland we were taken to the artic circle centre and amongst so many other activities we took a snowmobile pulled sleight over a frozen lake through a forest to meet some elves who then took us to the only cabin you could see and Santa was inside, Truly magical. Santa had our kids letters they'd sent off earlier in the year and knew their names. From the moment you land in the airport to the moment you leave, it's amazing!

I wouldn't recommend DIY unless you already had the snow kit for everyone, just buying merino wool basic layers hat and spare gloves we were almost £400 on top of that youd have top of the range snowboots and Snows unit to be, we were also advised that what we can buy here in the uk isn't as good as what they suppl, whether that's a con to get you to book who knows.

 

[xarlenex]

Holland - we visited last year for 10 nights with eurocamp. 5 at duinrell, 5 at bekseebergen. Both sites are jam packed with stuff to do on site and nearby. We hired a car, which isn't necessary if your just going to Duinrell, but I would say it is with bekseebergen. In hindsight I wished we'd done a full week at each. Holland is literally made for families, even a trip to the supermarket there sees the kids pick their own oranges to then use the machine to squeeze their own juice. It's so reasonably priced too, as a family of four doing what we wanted, hiring bikes, days out, dinners out etc. We spend around £1100 the entire time. That included a trip to the massive theme park Eftling which was the most expensive outing.

If anyone's interested, Duinrell is available for cheaps with the sun holidays over September weekend for a week. I priced and for us four flying from glasgow it was going to cost us for flights and accommodation just £400!

 

[LoraLoo]

LOVE holiday chat!

We visited Lapland with Santa's Lapland Dec 2016. It was thee most magical most special holiday so far. It's not cheap, and I really struggled when it came to booking it to actually hit that button with the amount it was costing, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. We'd try Thomson Thomas cook etc who had worked out roughly a thousand cheaper, but it included only 2 minute tasters of activities and the cost to add those one seperately were usually £100 each, even looking independently. Also the meeting with Santa were to be group meetings with them, at hotels! I felt we could do that here! With Santa's Lapland we were taken to the artic circle centre and amongst so many other activities we took a snowmobile pulled sleight over a frozen lake through a forest to meet some elves who then took us to the only cabin you could see and Santa was inside, Truly magical. Santa had our kids letters they'd sent off earlier in the year and knew their names. From the moment you land in the airport to the moment you leave, it's amazing!

I wouldn't recommend DIY unless you already had the snow kit for everyone, just buying merino wool basic layers hat and spare gloves we were almost £400 on top of that youd have top of the range snowboots and Snows unit to be, we were also advised that what we can buy here in the uk isn't as good as what they suppl, whether that's a con to get you to book who knows.

Oh that just sounds amazing! I was right there with you when you were describing it!
Obviously my older 2 no longer believe but I would still like to take them but it's be a lot cheaper minus 2! Those are really good points about the additional costs x

 

[LoraLoo]

Holland - we visited last year for 10 nights with eurocamp. 5 at duinrell, 5 at bekseebergen. Both sites are jam packed with stuff to do on site and nearby. We hired a car, which isn't necessary if your just going to Duinrell, but I would say it is with bekseebergen. In hindsight I wished we'd done a full week at each. Holland is literally made for families, even a trip to the supermarket there sees the kids pick their own oranges to then use the machine to squeeze their own juice. It's so reasonably priced too, as a family of four doing what we wanted, hiring bikes, days out, dinners out etc. We spend around £1100 the entire time. That included a trip to the massive theme park Eftling which was the most expensive outing.

If anyone's interested, Duinrell is available for cheaps with the sun holidays over September weekend for a week. I priced and for us four flying from glasgow it was going to cost us for flights and accommodation just £400!

It was eurocamp we did with France last year and we found it a great base plus there was loads on site! It was druinell I was co sidering as that seemed the easiest option via ferry but I'll keep my eye out for the Sun holidays- have they finished now? What month did you visit and how was the weather? X

 

[xarlenex]

Sun holidays are open for booking just now. We visited end of June, start of the scottish school holidays. It was lovely, low to mid 20s most days, we had a massive thunderstorm one night, but the Waterpark on site is indoors so we headed there during it. The theme park on site you have constant open access to, when the rides shut we often took the go karts around it haha lovely beach near by, we hired the big buggy and cycle the kids there, that was tough

Where abouts in France were you? We booked right back up with eurocamp when we got back, got a double loyalty discount as well as the early bookers saving and landed at week at Aloha village, beziers, for just less than £300! We go end of June again x

 

[LoraLoo]

That sounds really good I will look into the Sun hols. We stayed at Croix Vieux de Pont in Picardy, about an hour from Paris. We did Disney for the day, visited Pierrefonds castle, Soissionnais caves, took the kids horse riding at the local horse training school and explored the little villages either side of the camp. There was lots to do on site too x

 

[xarlenex]

I've looked at that site before, we were considering staying there August 2016 but we ended up going back to the explorers hotel at Disneyland Paris, which if another trip to Disney Paris is ever on your mind I couldn't recommend more, has way more going on than any of the Disney hotels, indoor pool open all day until 10-11pm and soft play open from 7am-11pm, as well as outdoor play areas, but is classed as a Disney associated so you still get the free shuttle to and from the parks, takes 5 mins.

Where we you going in turkey? Some of the resorts look amazing for families. It's definitely somewhere we want to go too. We took the kids to Morocco in June 2015 and they still say now it was their favourite hot holiday we stayed at the aqua fun club, it had countless pools and 50 waterslides, all included! We never moved from the resort at all x

 

[LoraLoo]

We are staying at Palm Wings Beach Resort in Didim, Altinkum. We've stayed there before and it was lovely. We're just looking to completely chill out this holiday, just lounge around and eat and drink really 😂 haha.

We've actually booked to go to Disney Florida next Sept, private villa with pool and booking flights and tickets separately which isa fraction of the cost of a package holiday but still sooo expensive, and hubby is putting doubts in my head saying its alot fir a 'commercialised' holidsy and we could have several holidays for that price. I've told him I will only change it for Canada ...thing is we already told the kids about florida and ones having a big sulk over it all.i don't know what to do for the best!

 

[xarlenex]

What would yous want to be doing while there? If it's a fortnight you don't have to try cram in every park. We went over Christmas in 2010, we done Disney sea world and Busch gardens. In hindsight Disney alone would have been more than enough for the fortnight, it's exhausting, the parks are massive. But Yea you could save a bit by not doing all the parks. Oh I forgot we went to Gator land as well, not a theme park as such but still a great day out x

 

[LoraLoo]

How were the queues whilst you were? Its probably only be somewhere we would go once so i was looking at the disney/universal combo tickets and some of them had free tickets to gatorland etc. We would deff want a few days just around the pool though....
The youngest would be turning 3 over there, some people have said its too young and others have said its fine?
The approx costs I was working it out on is
Villa £1400
Flights £4000
Car £1000
Tickets £4000
Then spends. It's alot of money. I'm guessing total costs going to come in at £13k or more 😐

 

[xarlenex]

Yes I would say it would be more by the time you factored in spending money. £13k would only leave £2600 for spending. For a big family like yours (I hope that doesn't sound cheeky!) I'd say £3500 to be comfortable really. It's not as cheap as it used to be over there.

Ques early December are very quiet, nearer Xmas it's so busy they often shut the park. September is known for being reasonable with que times. I do understand wanting to do it all if it'll be a one off, but then I'd say consider 3 weeks and plan plan plan! Universal has two theme parks then a water park. Disney has 6 parks alone, 4 proper theme parks that are not do able in a few days each, fully, without completely exhausting yourself. Our DS was only 2 going on 3 when we went. He had a ball, obviously doesn't remember a thing now, but it's magical enough at the time that I don't regret it. We never done universal because his age, we felt it wasn't worth the extra cost because there were do little he'd benefit from,it could be totally different now though.

Our days usually consisted of being at the park opening until 1ish, back to the villa for couple hours chill (sometimes nap) dinner then back to the parks to catch a few more rides, parades then fireworks and home. It is exhausting, but worth it! It's even tiring for older kids, my young sisters were 7 and 9 when they went and my dad ended up hiring buggy for them to sit and be pushed around or nap, because they were so tired because the parks are massive xx

 

[LoraLoo]

No not cheeky at all....theres a few if us now 😂

Yeah could deff end up more as the car is only an estimate etc too, although it does all sound amazing. Don't think I'd get away with taking the kids out of school for 3 weeks though. Everyone ive spoke to has said its tiring for the kids and to take a pushchair even for older ones- I guess the Sun knocks it out of them too though?