Upcoming trips - vague intentions - half-done plans

[TravelMusings]

Can we have a general travel chat thread? Somewhere to discuss trips we're looking forward to or places on our radar that we've started to loosely plan for?

For me: Moldova is pretty well planned but waiting to see what happens in the elections next month then happy to go asap.
Monaco just needs to be booked for early summer.

I just finished reading a book set in communist Poland and am thinking of a "WW2/Communism" history trip - Berlin, Warsaw, German/Austrian alps. Never really felt a strong urge to see these historical places before but the seed has been planted! It's been fun learning about what museums/sites exist devoted to that period of time. I live in Canada and get three weeks annual leave (😭) so have to use holiday time very wisely.

DD and I have decided our one on one trip (I alternate the kids each year) will def be Florence and def during Easter holidays, need to figure out European schools hols so we avoid them otherwise we’ll do may half term. I want to take the train rather than fly so need to look into that next

Someone up thread wanted ideas for Jan/Feb & I can recommend Kenya at that time of year. Sub Saharan Africa is under represented in this thread. I wouldn't bother with Mombasa, but Watamu further up the coast is beautiful. Zanzibar is also great at that time of year. The time difference to UK is only 2 or 3 hours, so jet lag isn't an issue.

It is! Vote for Uganda here. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been. If it wasn't for NZ, it would be the most beautiful.

The issue for me with sub-Saharan Africa is my travelling companions are either DH and DD, who are a little less adventurous than me, and my friend, who has been everywhere in Africa. We try to go places neither of us have gone. If I was planning there, I would look at Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia. I've love to go to Angola and Mozambique but I don't know about safety. They weren't safe when I was in Africa years ago.

Uganda is very difficult politically. Don’t be gay!

@MrsTerryPratchett ah, I'd love to go to Mozambique! Angola too if the occasion arose. Sad to think they might still be unsafe, that's a lot of years travellers haven't been able to go there if so.

The ethics of various countries is difficult to navigate. My take is that I try to travel everywhere but with the most ethical way I can. Local guides, homestays, avoid funding dodgy governments as much as possible. In some places locals will have real conversations with foreigners and not with other locals for fear. Travelling as a women I am aware that in many countries white women get honorary male status and are allowed to behave as they like when local women can't.

It's a minefield and I don't know if there is a correct answer.

I'm back from India and Korea (bit of a contrast there!) and am now working on the bookends around our Antarctica trip in Feb. I've given DH some options on what we can do but before we can move forward and book anything he's bought himself a book to consult 🙄😂

This thread is amazing, but making me feel unambitios in my travel plans of a trip to Porto, catching a train to Lisbon and flying back. I have DS who has severe autism and LD to factor so we love travelling but it has to be 'easy'.

There are so many places I would love to go in my head but it doesnt translate to being able to keep DS safe and happy. Argentina is top of my list.

We Interrailed down to Rome the Easter before last. Unfortunately you do coincide with everyone else's school holidays, but it was fine apart from not being able to get into the Pantheon (apparently you have to book now to get in at peak times, which I wasn't prepared for, always having just strolled in before), and massive check in queues at the Gare du Nord on our return to the UK (last day of the holidays).

Incidentally, I've just been checking French school holidays for our train trip down to Marseille at half term, and it appears that they, at least, pretty much have holidays when we do- and more of them, too! When we have a week for half term, they have 2 weeks off for All Saints!

Ooh, I should let all the train fans know that Interrail have a 25% off sale right now! (ends in a few days). I'm a bit pissed off because we bought our passes for the full price a few weeks ago ☹️

@Specialnameforanoutingthread I get a book too once the daydream moves towards reality. Usually, I open a random page and leaf through the book from there onwards. Until I go "oooh", Google it and get caught up online, plan the entire thing and then remember I have a book about a year after I get back.

Whereabouts in India and Korea did you hit?

@TravelMusings I was in Mumbai (for wedding shopping for my friend and boss), then up to Bhuj, then to Ahmedabad.

In Korea, we were just in Seoul with a trip down to Suwon to finsih off our wall walk. We had DD with us this time and the hotel we wanted (next door to DS) had not had any availability so when it showed the rooms we wanted I just grabbe and booked them without planning the whole visit, which was a mistake. I would like to have taken her to Jeju or somewhere more rural. But DD wanted to do a lot more Kbeauty shopping than I do so we actually spent quite a lot of time on that #howmanyfacemaskscanonepersonneed 😂

How's the KSA plans doing? Where did you decide you're going?

@Specialnameforanoutingthread sadly my KSA I've had to shrink but only by a little! Probably just going to the big obvious places: Jeddah, Madinah, Yanbu, Riyadh and AlUla with the odd daytrip/overnight as can be fit in. Will get in some diving, climbing and stargazing. Should be pretty good fun!

I'm going to Finland for a family visit next month and we have Belize booked for May. I want to do a long distance walk and accommodation in the UK just makes the cost stupid so I'm looking at a couple of routes in Portugal. It will probably be September/October next year as we want to put the house on the market in the spring.

I know what you mean. It's an opportunity to slow travel. What are the specific requirements your child needs? Maybe we could suggest weird but easy places. China was weirdly easy, I went without DD, thinking it would be difficult to travel and adventurous. Very safe and easy. Although extremely crowded in Beijing so I would have had to factor that in for DD. She's adventurous but gets overstimulated and upset by somethings. The ADHD means she can handle risk and novelty, but some sensory stuff is really hard.

And food is always a factor.

This is such a great thread. Joining mainly to daydream and get inspo from you all!

My current plans for next year: a city break for DH and I in Feb, thinking of Lisbon or Faro.

Easter trip to Athens for a few days and then an overnight ferry out to Crete and week there. Kids are obsessed with Ancient Greece so they are providing a list of locations they want to visit, I just need to sort logistics.

Summer hols likely to be UK. Eldest DC has so many commitments through summer that it’s hard to find a block of time to go away.

Maybe some autumn sun in oct if the UK summer hol is a washout?!

Longer term: thinking of a family trip to Thailand in 2026 and possibly Japan in 2028. One DC (possibly ASD, starting diagnosis journey atm) struggles with food, insects, uncertainty, noise and sand(!) but is very enthused about Thailand so might give it a go. DCs also keen on S Korea after watching Kitty XO on Netflix 😄

Really want to go to Vietnam and Laos and do a big South America trip but think they will have to be post kids. Pre kids we did a bit of Africa, NZ, a lot of Europe, some USA and Canada. Money has been a limiting factor for a long time now. Managed one big NZ trip with kids when they were younger - actually think it was easier then with under 10s than as teens now sadly, really need to awaken the intrepid traveller in them!

@Travellinghopefully2018 welcome! How great that your kids are so enthusiastic, being able to see history brought to life will be fantastic

I m based at a University in East Java at the moment but if anyone needs advice on Indonesia or into the Pacific please feel free to ask on here.I have enough Bahasa to find useful info and know local flight apps/contacts that can be cheap.Belitung,Bawean,Sumba and Sulawesi are all my faves here...but it has 18,000 islands so it's going to take time to truly say "I ve done Indonesia"....great place to get lost in.

Love hearing all the holiday plans! My kids are now grown up so we’ve started travelling again (after years of just visiting family or the occasional French campsite).

Going to the South of France next weekend & have just counted up - it will be my 6th mini break in a year

I think I started to have a mid-life panic & worry I’d not get to do everything!

There are lots more places on my list - but mainly Europe for dh’s health reasons. I’d like to do a couple further afield on my own to visit family. One may have to wait for retirement

After our fabulous Uzbekistan trip I'm now starting to think about next year 😀
We are going to book a week up in Sutherland for May to get some walking in and are planning 2 weeks in Albania for late summer/early September. Any recommendations? I think we would like one week by the coast and 1 week exploring/walking (in case ds wants to join us for a week)

I've yet to book a hotel in Dubai for Christmas Eve night though we arrive in Dubai at 0.40am Christmas Day and fly out at 9.15pm. I don't know whether to book a hotel near the airport or in the city that won't break the bank as I'd like to do a quick tour of Dubai on Christmas Day. Decisions decisions.

@TravelMusings sounds like you will have a good adventure. We did not make it to Medinah nor Yanbu sadly but the others were all interested. My fondest memories were from Al Ula - despite a collision on a roundabout. I hope they are getting more switched on to tourists now, it's been 2 years since we left and things were changing fast.

Earlier in the thread you mentioned Al Hofuf - we went up there on a day trip from Riyadh and followed the info from Seat61 and it was very easy. Once in Hofuf we walked and used Uber.

I'm looking forward to your trip!

I love reading all these plans. It's all very inspiring and makes me feel I need to get booking. Unfortunately my husband is still working full time so it limits the amount of time we can be away.
But we did do a fantastic small ship cruise earlier this year around f the Mediterranean which was lovely. I had very preconceived ideas of cruises but this was a wonderful experience so much so that we've booked a carribean small ship cruise for February it will take in many of the smaller islands that the big cruise ships cannot access so that is something I'm looking forward to to.
Nothing else booked but will try and do something with our adult children in the summer .

I am here for the travel talk! In two weeks today, I'm off to Singapore for 3 nights and Bali for 7 nights. Just me and my DS aged 3.

I've decided to use a backpack instead of a suitcase so slightly stressing about that. I figured it should be easier as I have the pram, carry on suitcase to navigate so at least the backpack will be on my back. Also getting the train to Heathrow so not looking forward to that! Not during rush hour thank goodness.