Ideas for wife's 40th birthday holiday

[davyatsea]

Hi there, I'm looking for ideas for holidays to celebrate my wife's 40th birthday in May. She is on waiting list for weight loss surgery which is likely to happen by end of year. We also have two dc's who have asd diagnosis. Rather than hope that grandparents will babysit, I'm thinking about ideas for whole family. We did Eurocamp in 2014 and 2015, cottage in Yorkshire 2016, and weeks all inclusive in Tenerife this year. Therefore I'm looking for something that is maybe a bit different but without raising anxiety in both dc's too much. I would consider maybe short break over Easter or May, or maybe longer duration in main summer break. My kids will be 13 and 7 next year.

Any ideas.....?

What about an activities holiday? Like PGL?

www.pgl.co.uk/en-gb/family-adventures

Then you can decide what suits all of you and which one would work best for your dc and would also be good for you and your wife. Could be a way to have some time alone while the kids are white water rafting or something!

You are lovely to think of this for her and hope the weight loss surgery goes well.

Many thanks Mycatsapirate. I hadn't thought about PGL. I'll have a look into that one...
Does anyone else have any suggestions please?

What about renting a cottage on one of the Scottish Islands? It's lovely up there, bit windswept but beaches all to yourselves and lovely and quiet if that's more the kids thing?

Hope someone else can suggest something too.

Formentera. But perhaps only for you and your wife if you manage to get someone to look after the kids.

Why don't you ask her what she would like to do. I

Oops I said once I'd like to stay somewhere with a sea view and we planned the holiday around that. You could replace this with forest View, lake views, city views, snow view. She may say a day in x city so make plans. Places with lots to do any major town or city, a zoo visit, theatre, festival

Scotland would be nice also Northumberland is lovely if you love walking on quiet beautiful beaches with big sky's. There is a company called coastal retreats quite pricey but a special treat or Grace Darling holidays is ok but a bit more affordable. If you want a change there is Alnwick Castle and Gardens and a lovely tree house restaurant.

we stayed here www.harvestmoonholidays.com/ with asd son this summer in treehouse. Was great and we weren't disturbed by noise from other. Friendly horses to feed, amazing beach over 5 mins walk away and 30 min train from edinburgh. Proper beds to sleep in though rustic enough to make it fun.

Would she actually like a holiday? With the DC? If so, would she want a surprise or to be involved in choosing? I would personally far prefer to be involved.

Or might she prefer a shorter trip without DC, with you (eg one night away, meal or show), her friends or alone (eg spa)? Or for the money to be used to give her regular, short breaks, eg for a hobby.

Many thanks everyone. Some good ideas here, which I'll give some thought about. My wife is off to Dublin this weekend with friends as a joint 40th Birthday celebration. I'm not in a rush to book anything right now as kids haven't long gone back to school, plus we've got Christmas and all that to think about first. Having said that, I'll have a chat to her when the time is right and see what she wants for her own 40th. Apologies for time of writing this - sat in work on night shift!

We love Efteling in Holland, they have different Easter holidays to us so it was nice and quiet. The accommodation is lovely too. We tried Centreparcs there too, again because our holidays were different it was much cheaper than going in the uk. The activities were cheaper too.

Cornwall - lots of stuff for kids lots of nice restaurants for you and your wife?

Or Paris as a city and/or to include Disney land Paris?

From May through to mid August you can see brown bears in the wild here in Finland.

www.arolabear.com/yleista

It's a lovely place and you can get lovely homemade food and juices and canoe there, we combined it with around Ruka and did white water rafting. My youngest is ASD and loves bears and open spaces. We saw 8 bears when we went including babies. He's also fine at the all inclusive places and likes the waterparks. Went to Costa Rica in the summer and that's amazing for animals and activities but slightly more expensive but DS favourite holiday as he got to hold a sloth and zip line. You don't say what your wife likes though I know once the kids are happy its a lot easier.

Many thanks everyone. I've come back to this as Christmas has just past and we are both now thinking of ideas for the summer. Things have changed in that DS has become a school 'refuser' and it is virtually impossible to get him out of the house. We asked him about a holiday and he point blank said no. Family are clearly unable to have both kids so DW and I can go away ourselves. So it's a case of trying to find somewhere that DS can enjoy before we even think of what DW wants - unless DS is comfortable with a family member looking after him while I go away with DW and DD (or if a family member is happy to look after him.
DD will be 7 in Feb and passionately wants to go back to Tenerife again as she enjoyed it so much.....

My DS is ASD and he loved Costa Rica and Finland due to wildlife. Finland also has very few people around - more reindeer on roads than cars and we saw brown bears there at Arola Bears as above. Maybe able to attract your DS with animals. Costa Rica saw raccoons, cuddled sloth etc, ziplining, busier as in AI resort in Guanacaste but DS loved it. Booked via Thomsons and one of our best ever holidays.

Closer to home DS fell in love with Torquay - maybe rent a cottage. He loved the Living Coast place where there are penguins on the beach and you can feed them. Lots around indoor pool wave machine, outdoor waterpark, Agatha Christie's house, steam train, thatched cottage tea rooms, beach etc. Advantage of that is cottage you can have like home and can also drive back and not too expensive. Bath is not too far and nice, Taunton has a giant teddy bear shop. Quite rural areas around if need quieter days.

Many thanks Lily. Am seriously considering Finland. Saying that, DS mentioned Iceland this morning, and DW is keen too. So that gives me something to go on. He also mentioned American so he could try out all the fast food places (that narrows it down eh).

Finland is lovely and would recommend it. In the summer its daylight until almost midnight. The bears were amazing and more reindeer including white ones than cars.

The Arola Bears place is definitely worth staying at - bear watching goes to mid August, we saw 8 including these 2, some were a metre away. www.arolabear.com/ We stayed in a chalet with its own sauna by a river and the lady lent us a canoe to go in the river with for free. They also do trips to Russia from there but you would need to ask in advance and may require visa, we didn't do that, its to some remote places. The food there is homemade which was lovely for us though DS (ASD) is a bit fussy but the lady worshipped him and he got spoilt. There's a basic supermarket 30 mins away.

We also went whitewater rafting which DS loved and to a toboggan slide in Ruka which he loved. We flew Finnair to Oulu via Helsinki but there's several suitable airports. We used to eat at this restaurant (its right next to the toboggan slide and reindeer outside) and playground and they did lovely food including kids meals which my son still asks for. www.ruka.fi/en/rantasipi-rukahovi-restaurant-kaltiokivi and toboggan www.ruka.fi/en/summersledtrack. We stayed at this hotel with waterpark and own squirrel and duck soft toys (good for ASD boys!) - can't remember other hotel nearer bears but it had an Angry Birds adventure playground though that one was good but not amazing.

www.booking.com/hotel/fi/holiday-club-oulun-eden.en-gb.html?aid=357028;label=bin859jc-city-en-fi-oulu-unspec-gb-com-L%3Aen-O%3AwindowsS10-B%3Aedge-N%3AXX-S%3Abo-U%3Ac-H%3As;sid=5873f235c65e004e13f236db4813cf33;ucfs=1;srpvid=b39a6d07989801d2;srepoch=1514907023;room1=A%2CA;hpos=1;hapos=1;dest_type=city;dest_id=-1379888;srfid=c8883f6aa36fb7c2b028a4ea3aed165d1ef93bd1X1;from=searchresults;highlight_room=#hotelTmpl

I've heard Iceland is good for a few days but not great for longer. My Dad went there and described it as hell on earth but I've heard much better reports too. Finland flights are a little complicated in the summer so more for a week or longer. Never been to America, my DS keeps asking for Las Vegas, think its all the numbers / money but wouldn't know where to start. DH has been around Las Vegas / Los Angeles / San Francisco and recommends it but only Las Vegas for a short time. Quite a long flight time, says she who is going to Australia in the summer. Hope you have a lovely time wherever you go.