Prioritising where to go on holiday

[doistayordoigo]

Chatting with DH last night and we were talking about holidays we'd like to take in the future, and which ones would have to wait until after we retire due to length and distance. It occurred to me that if we had a couple of holidays a year, each a week or so long, we would only be going away about 20 times between now and when we hope to retire. That suddenly didn't seem like many trips (and yes I know we are fortunate to hopefully be able to go away twice a year).

So that being the case, where would you prioritise for these 20 holidays?

@ProfessorLayton1 Wow, great list!

I think I'd be happy with pretty much all of those. We've been to bits of Spain and are going to Costa Brava next week, albeit on a package holiday as my 80 year old dad, sister and 7 year old nephew are coming too.

Totally agree about France, we used to go every year and I love it there. We've been to Turkey, but were based in Marmaris as we were there for a wedding, but did manage an overnight trip to see Ephesus and Pammukale.

We're going to Jordan next yea, which I'm really excited about.

I also like the idea of the Isles of Scilly and Bavaria.

I was the most ill I've ever been during a trip to Jordan! Honestly thought I was dying and was lucky it happened while I was in a hotel for several nights, as the next stop on the tour was staying in a Bedouin camp in the desert (with VERY basic toilet facilities). But it is an awesome place so you will love it!

@ProfessorLayton1 ooh that's worrying...we also have a night in a Bedouin camp booked, hopefully we won't have the same problem! Do you know what caused it?

I don't know for sure what caused it. It happened while we were in a hotel in Petra. I had spent the day visiting the site and had been given a packed lunch. Possibly it was the apple - maybe it had been washed in local water? But I was with a group and we were all eating the same meals, so it's strange that only I got sick. By that evening I was feeling terrible and the next day (New Year's Eve!) I couldn't leave my room/bathroom. Fortunately by following morning I could at least get on the bus knowing I wasn't going to have to rush to the loo, I'm just so thankful I didn't get sick a day later!

But the whole trip around Jordan was wonderful - you'll have a fabulous time!

Sounds like a good idea OP. There are so may places that I want to visit and I have resigned myself that we can't do it all. Some on the list are;

Cappadocia and Istanbul
Folegandros, Greece
Cinque Terre, Italy
Black Forest, Germany
Norwegian Fjord cruise
Sierra Nevada, Spain
Porto
Faroe Islands

After retirement;

Machu Picchu
US and Canadian National Parks in a RV
Europe in a campervan.

@livingonpurpose Apologies, not sure how I tagged someone else, I copied and pasted, but ProfessorLayton1 got picked up for some reason. Mental note to be careful what I eat, and take Dioralyte with us 😀 Had to use it for similar but milder symptoms in Sri Lanka before climbing Sigiriya, and it seemed to do the trick!

@weekendninja Your after retirement list is very similar to mine, I forgot about Machu Picchu. I'd love to try Greece and the islands, but every time I look I get so confused by all the different options that I give up!

Do the long haul to places with poor health care now.
I thought I'd spend my retirement trekking round the world but my health went downhill at 60 and now I wouldn't go anywhere remote or without a first class health system. My travel insurance for a week in canaries was £300.

@TheRoadToRuin I do agree with this to some degree, but can't really justify going long haul just for a week and can't take much more than a week due to my job, so it's not really possible at the moment.

@doistayordoigo You really must explore Greece. If you're on Instagram follow stef_greece - he travels the lesser known islands and its fantastic for inspiration and information.

Greeka.com is great for information too.

I see another poster has recommended Crete of which I completely agree - stay in the Chania region with a hire car, you'll not regret it. Just don't stay in a all inclusive...you'll miss the real Greece and won't contribute to the local economy as much as if you stay local.

@weekendninja Thanks, I'll check those out 😀

We have a list of where we want to go (it is long) some of the trips are more for DH than me and there will be some he goes on solo. We are early 50s so about 10 years from retirement, although I may go earlier. DH gets a ridiculous amount of leave (hence the solo trips) and I get a normal amount, we are doing long haul now where we can and trying to do at least 2 per year. Mortgage is paid off, although our DC are not yet self sufficient and we are fortunate to have a decent income.

We are also fortunate to have done many trips over the years, for week to 10 day breaks I would suggest

East Coast USA
Caribbean
Singapore
Malaysia
Hong Kong (when the situation improves)
Athens
Maderia
Iceland
Norway
Amalfi Coast

Places I loved or have to visit soon but would want longer
New Zealand - went years ago and did the typical tourist route in 3 weeks, now want to go back and do more, planning 2 x 3 week trips
Costa Rica
Hawaii
Australia, we are doing this in 2-3 week blocks
Alaska

Ooh I love a holiday planning thread
We've done mainly camping in Europe so far so have lots of other places in mind to explore.
DH had very fixed ideas on places though - can't imagine I'll ever get him to agree to India for example.
Top of my list is definitely a safari. We were meant to go for our honeymoon many years ago but then Kenya wasn't deemed to be safe for British tourists.

Kenya’s always been safe. We’ve been several times. They did have riots at an election once but generally it’s fine. Is DH a bit of a worrier? India is brilliant. Super quality hotels. Other than poverty, what is he worried about? Poverty is an issue in Africa too. You will need to speak to him or you’ll not get anywhere exciting.

It was 1998 and there were lots of bombings the week we were due to go.
DH has very fixed ideas about what places will be like

@NCTDN
Ipoh yes. I forgot the USA embassy was bombed there in 1998. It was sad it coincided with your plans later on. I have to say we didn’t go in 1998 but you can find issues with lots of countries. Of course we shouldn’t go if there’s a FO warning. However as long as you can get insurance and holidays are available, try snd persuade DH to be more adventurous.

I'm generally an anxious traveller but am trying to overcome this in order to go to some more far flung places.

I'd choose the short haul places you would probably only want to visit once. Depending on how near you are to London, Eurostar and one connecting train will take you to most of France, all of Belgium, almost all of the Netherlands and parts of Germany.

I do think you need to address whatever work issue means you struggle with longer holidays. If colleagues are not pulling their weight when you are away, don't hide from it.

@balalake Good idea to target the places we'll probably only want to go to once, as in theory we can do most of nearby Europe once we get a motorhome and have retired.

With work, it's not that colleagues aren't pulling their weight, everyone else is working flat out too! It's partly because we're a new department and it wasn't really known beforehand what the staffing levels needed to be (which is gradually being addressed and fixed) and partly that we all have our own areas of responsibility, with a monthly reporting structure, so if one person is off on holiday it's not realistic for anyone else to pick up their work, so you just come back to it, along with hundreds of emails to be answered!