Special Holiday Ideas Please!!

[LaFlottes]

Hi - I would love to hear about some of your most special holidays to give us some ideas.

We are family of 3 and DD will be 16 next summer. After GCSE’s we are looking to go away around 22nd June for 2 weeks.

Not a beach holiday but it could contain a bit of beach. Currently thinking of west coast USA but struggling with the itinerary!

Maybe Canada or even Japan?? Any other ideas very welcome!!

Thanks!

Is there a rough budget?

If not, personally I would go trekking for mountain gorillas in Rwanda or Uganda. That is v expensive though.

Otherwise, a tour round Cuba (not just an AI and Havana but a proper tour to see the country).

Not a long haul holiday but best holiday we had was travelling by train through France and Italy. Having between two and five days in different cities and exploring.

I'd love to go to Wyoming, that area is stunning. Jackson Hole, the ranches, cowboys etc. The scenery is spectacular. It's worth a look at.

Thank you!
I guess budget wise £5-£6k ish? Flexible for the right holiday though as this is to be a special one. We have quite a lot of air miles we can use too potentially.
Will look into Cuba - love the idea of the gorillas but am sure we can’t afford it!

Have you thought about Thailand or Cambodia? Although they might be a bit further than you were thinking, I think it'd be worth it. Because your DD will be 16, you can go exploring without worrying about boredom/tiredness - Southeast Asia has to be seen on foot. I work for TransferTravel and we get a lot of families with teenagers who go to Thailand. Plus the most expensive part would be the flights - hotels, food and shopping are pretty cheap!
Hope this helps

West Coast USA is a brilliant idea. One of my fave ever holidays though we went as a couple when the pound was stronger and I think it cost at least 5k so don’t know how far 5-6k would stretch for 3 of you (the airmiles might help here).

Our itinerary was San Fran - Yosemite - highway 1 inc Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara - Palm Springs - Flagstaff - Grand Canyon - Vegas. We skipped LA. Lots of driving but the roads are great and it felt like part of the adventure to be American roadtripping.

I loved everywhere except Vegas but am glad I went there too as it’s like nowhere else on earth and so recognisable from TV.

Canadian Rockies could be another good option if you want beautiful places but not beaches - mountains, lakes, wildlife.

Hope you have a wonderful trip together.

Best family holiday was a Galapagos cruise but that would probably over your budget.
Peru, SE Asia, Japan and Wyoming were also great family holidays.

Canada - British Columbia
Japan - very hot and humid in summer which can be quite debilitating
most of SE Asia is wet then, but dry areas are Borneo, central area of Vietnam, parts of Thailand, Bali, Java
You can be lucky with the weather in SE Asia then - I've been to Phuket for 2 weeks and we only had one day of rain, but would personally stick to dry areas. Hoi An and Hue in Vietnam are great and really good value, but it can get very hot, edging up to 40 degrees.

Yes the Gorilla pass for a day is about £1k each not including any of the rest of the travel and accommodation so too much.

Our Cuba tour cost about £12k all in for 4 of ud so probably a but much too.

We did a week winter activity holiday in Finland for that budget, it was amazing and well worth doing. Kids think it is one of their best holidays. We did snow skiing, reindeer herding, ski mobiling, husky sledding etc.

Sorry I clearly ignored the June timetable talking about a winter holiday!

Costa Rica has a good mix of activities in contained space, you have volcanoes, rainforest and beaches. You would need to like wildlife though, there is a lot of it, you get sloths and monkeys. It also has active parts like ziplining through jungles and arv driving.

We nearly did nw USA last year ie Washington state via Portland to SF but we struggled with itinerary.. however I am sure you could make it work.
Instead we did Washington DC/ ArlingtonSkyline/ Charlottesville/Blue Ridge Mts/ Outer Banks/ Williamsburg/ Chesapeake... there are so many modifications to this that one could make eg start at Philadelphia, it was a fantastic trip with something for everyone

We've had wonderful holidays in Borneo and Vietnam around that time of year. Also as said earlier, Costa Rica is fabulous for teenagers.

Thank you ladies for all your of your ideas - we will be going through them over the weekend and I will probably then have more questions about your suggestions!!

Lots of fabulous ideas!