What is the best and worst holiday that you have been on?

[worldshottestmom]

Hi. Plane virgin here. Thats right, I've never left the UK (pity me). I am thinking of taking the plunge and taking my kids on holiday abroad next year, for the first time ever for all of us! 'Terrified' doesn’t quite cut it.

Despite my fear of flying (heavily instilled into me by my mother, who is phobic of planes) I don't want to hold myself back and die only ever having been in the UK.

But now the question is, where do we go? I'm thinking of somewhere that's only a short distance away for the first time (probably Spain), but if it goes well, will be looking to travel further in the following years.

So, what was your most and least favourite holiday that you've ever been on?

Bonus question: if you've ever been to Spain, where would you recommend taking 2 kids to within Spain?

I like Spain, I had a really nice and unexpectedly good holiday in Benidorm about ten years ago!

Worst, Scottish Highlands.

I think Majorca is popular for families, my sister, husband and kids have been to the same resort the past three years. Recommend all inclusive if going with children.

Minorca, Majorca, Portugal are lovely. Not so keen on Tenerife, lanzarote. Love fuerteventura for adults. Maybe choose somewhere with a small airport it does make a difference especially when travelling with children. .

Thank you! I have absolutely no idea what to consider in all of this yet, it is all so new to me i feel like its my first day on the planet looking at it all lmao. I have friend who has been to Majorca and loved it!

I have heard so many good things about fuerteventura so I had that in mind. Appreciate the advice about the airport, thank you!

Loved greece zante, rhodes, crete and corfu. Didn't like Tunisia

My best holidays have been (ironically to the PP) the Scottish highlands and Malaysia. Closely followed by Italy, NYC and Mauritius.

I’m not British though so scratch Scotland off if you are, OP 😂

There are many lovely regions in Spain, it depends on what you’d like to do? Are you tempted by all-inclusive package holidays and sharing a resort with dozens of other families in a similar position to yours, or would you rather book your own flat or hotel room and visit sites more independently? Do you want to lounge by the pool for a week and eat “internationally accepted” holiday food (aka British / German / Nordic friendly buffets), or would you rather explore some areas yourself and try authentic food, etc?

Keep in mind Spaniards eat lunch at 2-3pm, and dinner from 8-9pm onwards - even later in summer. If you’re going to a touristy hotel they’ll cater to more northern schedules but if you’re not, it could be part of the holiday fun getting to follow the local customs!

Yea I feel like Spain is a pretty safe bet for a first time holiday, with kids especially.

Whoever told you to go to the Scottish Highlands on holiday is no friend to you and I hope you've healed since then. Went to a rural part of Scotland on a little getaway as a child and well, I won't be going back...

I've always loved the look of Corfu! I just have this intense fear that im going to be in a plane crash (thanks mum) and im just so nervous to fly out so far. I hope this first holiday goes well, who knows, maybe corfu next!

The flashbacks are becoming less with time

What kind of things do you like to do?

We're really lazy holiday makers and like to play in the pool all day, play cards and chat at night and sometimes have a wander out.

I like a massive hotel where I'm not tripping over the same people all the time. I like a couple of different restaurants, a good AI buffet and plenty of places to sit on a night. A few different pools is great too

I know others would hate that kind of holiday though!

What do you like to do?

Wow thank you for this. Its very early days in me considering where to go, and having never been abroad before I havent even considered any of this!

My son who is 4 has autism and does not do well in extremely busy environments (freezes in fear and won't move). So I think an apartment would be better. Though saying that, relating to your later point, we eat dinner VERY early (3pm latest, ususally) as my kids go to bed pretty early too. This could change for my son by next year but probably not my younger daughter. If im having to wait till 9pm to eat im going home 😭

Gosh I really have a lot to plan. Thank you for making me aware of this!

(Also harsh disagree on the Scotland holiday, I went once as a child and my god I thought I was being punished for something lmao. Though i am from the UK, so perhaps why!)

Hahaha mine are still pretty vivid 😭

Best: hard to choose but Iceland, Japan and Sicily are the shortlist. Worst: a caravan in Cornwall - wet, cold, godchildren behaving badly.

And a little anecdote. When I was five/six, I had a recurring dream about being in a plane crash. It crashed into a scrap metal yard. I told my dad, who arranged for us to fly from Manchester to Bournemouth. After the flight, I never had the dream again. I hope your journey of discovery will banish your fears too.

See, if it was just me going on holiday we may as well go together as that is my preference down to a T. However, with two children who have a habit of being pretty feral, I just do not see that in my immediate future lol.

I suppose my preferences would be somewhere that has different fun things to do for the kids (though I imagine the novelty of the holiday would be fun enough for them!), maybe some water parks and stuff like that. Somewhere we can go outside of the hotel to eat, but would probably mostly eat in the hotel, too. Somewhere thats not overcrowded (due to DS sensory needs) but not desolate either. Am I being too picky? I honestly don't mind overall as long as my kids have fun and I can consume some ethanol and get a tan tbh

Best location would be Menorca, worst Malta. I’ve had some decent holidays on East coast of Spain.

One thing I'd say if you've not travelled, if you're going to Southern Europe in July/August that it seems pretty standard for summers now to be 35C+ a lot of the time these days.

Mid-30s humid weather kind of spoiled our holiday to South of France a few years back because it was just too hot. In the very least ensure you are staying by the sea or somewhere with a pool and with aircon. We had an airbnb that only had some fans and no pool (though sea was very close) but after that I swore to ensure we had some way to cool down and tbh, I'm given to avoiding southern Europe in high summer now!

We had a great time in Croatia the year before that though, that was one of my favourite holidays.

Best - Japan
Worst - a rainy week in a damp smelly cottage in Wales with two small DC and nothing to do.

I like Spain, I prefer the mainland as there’s so much more to see and do. My kids were very happy with a pool and a beach and a few trips sightseeing. There are so many great places to choose from but I would avoid Benidorm.

We enjoyed the area around Marbella, the beaches are nice and a wander around the harbour at Puerto Banus was an eye opener. The airport at Malaga is handy.

I love Spain. ❤️

I would love to go to Sicily, maybe one day. I enjoyed caravan holidays as a child, but it is very dependent on weather and how everyone is behaving lol.

Thank you so much for that. Wish one of my parents had done the same. I just feel like getting over the fear of the first flight is a huge mountain to climb for someone like me. But I imagine after that it'll just be like getting into a taxi (I hope so, anyway!)

We've had a couple of wonderful holidays in Belgium by Eurostar. Ghent is beautiful with playgrounds, a free children's trail based around a dragon, and you can get a train to the coast. There is also a beach on a lake which has climbing frames, and waterslides for adults and children. There are lifeguards and safe swimming areas, both shallow and deeper. We stayed in a tiny apartment and cooked for ourselves in the evening, but there were lots of eating out options and incredible chips.

Ooh interesting, how come you didnt like Malta? There's a woman i work with who bangs on about how great it is everytime she goes on holiday (much to everybody's dismay).

"Yeah my holiday to X was good... but not as good as Malta! When I was in Malta..."

All the highlands hate… 🥹😭

Regarding mealtimes, with such an early dinner routine you could easily book a 3-4:30pm lunch slot in most restaurants, and treat it as dinner! Keep in mind lunch is a huge meal in Spain and usually the main one, so you’d have all the warm options etc, available (there is no real cafe culture or sandwiches at midday over there, so meals are big and warm…).

Perhaps an apartment would work well for your son and give you the flexibility of getting some food in for breakfasts and lunches, then you could also order some food to enjoy in the evening or just pick at some snacks… once the children are in bed.

Do you live in a small town or are you used to big cities? If you’re not scared of a larger town I would look for an apartment in a medium sized city which will have all the amenities you need - big supermarkets for food choices, restaurants, shops, attractions to keep the kids entertained… Possibly by the sea so you could have access to the beach but also some more cultural stuff if you enjoy that - local markets, walking through the city centre, parks and playgrounds…

Best: Canadian Rockies or Iceland
Worst: I’ve genuinely never been anywhere I didn’t like!

Brilliant advice, thanks so much for that! I'm honestly writing down all these tips everyone is giving in a notepad on my phone haha.

Yeah I don't deal with heat well at all. Im white as paper and anything above 30°c has me hiding in the shadows like a vampire. Which is sad as I love to tan lol.

Do you know if its as hot in southern Europe in May? My DS will be in primary this time next year so will only be able to go in either may half term or summer hols, and if its that hot in July/August then im definitely giving it a miss