Something different

[Weirdlynormal]

Where have you been that people have said 'oh wow, that's unusual', but you have really enjoyed? I would love some inspiration!

narrow boats

I do like a narrow boat, but never done a long trip, perhaps a 2 week trip would be really good.

www.gcex.com/

This. Fabulous. You could do a couple of days in Vegas either side if you wanted (that's what we did but it left me a bit cold)

Now that looks amazing! did you dory or motor?

I love the way the canals explore unfashionable backwaters of Britain but always calm and beat

Motor, though dory looked fun too. Motor wasn't sedentary though - there was a hike every day, and suprising level of exercise involved in staying on the rib!

Sounds great. Our kids are 13 & 11 so think they can cope. We are all pretty active so I’m going to investigate more

im also going to look at a longer canal trip.

… I may spend too much time planning holidays!

Jordan or Oman….fascinating places.

My daughter did that Grand Canyon trip and had an absolutely fantastic time. They did some driving on the West Coast as well but only stayed one or two nights in Vegas.

Depends on the sort of thing you like but we toured Andalucia by train (did the first bit by car from Malaga to Granada via El Caminito del Rey but after Granada went to Seville for a few days with a day trip to Cordoba from Seville, but unless your DC like historical sites, might not be their sort of thing.

We've just booked Menorca, but we're hiring a camper van to sleep in and are going to visit all the out of the way beaches on the north coast and just generally bimble around for a week.

We've also mountain biked in Spain and scuba dived in a few different European countries. Your DC are just about old enough to start to learn to dive - there are special courses for younger divers from around 10.

With DDs as teens, Peru, India, South Africa, Kenya, Ecuador and Galápagos Islands, various European cities, New York, Boston and Cape Cod. Depends what you can spend.

I thought they were all wow snd so did our girls.

Slovenia, Guatemala were both destinations enjoyed by teen ds.
I had a most fabulous holiday in Iran (yes really!)

Iran?! Ok that is definitely different! Was it the history? @Chisquared

some of these trips sound fab. I think that might be it, a different way of visiting places.

We have had some pretty great trips, and kids are very flexible. We are lucky to not be too bound by budget, but I did balk at a Silverseas quote for Galapagos. Out of interest, what time of year did you go @TizerorFizz?

We went in the Easter holidays. We went for 1 week on The Beagle. First week was in Ecuador (Quito and estancia stay) and then we followed up with a few days at Sacha Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon basin. The Galapagos trip was one for families. You really don’t want or need a big boat. Small is beautiful. As is a great naturalist. The slight downside of Easter is cold sea water but the giant tortoises were easy to find. Under a passion fruit tree! It’s amazing and you won’t forget it. We went with Ultimate Travel and they still use this boat. I can highly recommend it. Wildlife Worldwide use smaller boats too.

Peru is best in our summer holidays and we went to India just after Christmas. Galapagos is all year round but we found Easter suited us. Might not if your DC have exams coming up. I would discuss times of year but I suspect the summer is ok too.

We stayed at Sacha Lodge on our honeymoon nearly 20 years ago! Had such a brilliant time. We still talk about our guide, who was amazing. Would love to go back one day apart from the tarantulas

Bhutan was amazing.

Bhutan and Galapagos are amazing but way beyond many people's budgets!

DH and I went before having children and it cost 7k then (2003) for three weeks travelling around Ecuador including Galapagos 😊

Slovenia is beautiful mountains and lakes as well as access to the sea

Ljubljana is a fab city and really accessible

Easy and cheap to get to as well

@Weirdlynormal yes, history, culture, architecture, empty museums stuffed full of treasures, fabulous food and really friendly people. It was an eye opener.

Yes are heading to Peru and doing an Amazon stay this year, but the rough seas at this time of year was another thing that put me off Galápagos for Aug, but if we tone down the cost it might be viable. Easter is always a tough time as it’s busy for us.

when did you go @Chisquared and how did you end up visiting? … my DH might query the destination! Sounds really interesting though.

…

@cantheydothisreally that sounds fab too. Europe has it all really, but I almost feel
like I should head far away whilst I can, then explore closer to home when I can’t do the long flights

Bavaria
free swimming lakes,nice cities, culture, shopping, warm in summer

Lake Constance, lots of outdoorsy stuff to do - or do some cycling all the way round?
You can visit Austria, Switzerland and Germany in one go. The mountains are beautiful and very different in all 3 countries.

@Flockameanie
Its a superb lodge.

Obviously Ecuador isn’t a cheap destination. The op asked for further details though, so I gave them.

@Weirdlynormal I would think Easter is better than August then. We had no rough seas at all. Very smooth at all times. As it’s very special, I would clear my diary and go. It’s only one year!