If you had an amazing holiday this year…

[Sunnydaydreams]

…please share what you did, wherever you went. Having spoken to friends and colleagues, no one seems to have had their best time this year (although most of us have had the ‘pleasure’ of taking grumpy teens bringing down the mood!). Not to everyone’s tastes, but our best family holiday so far has been to Florida, visiting Universal Studios and Disney - it was such good fun.

@SparklyDeer it was the Dylan Coastal resort. Highly recommend it.

Went to Brittany by car/ferry. Lots of walking and enjoying the sun. Stunning coastline.

We went on a theme park road trip to Europa park via Ghent , Walibi Belgium, Luxembourg, Europa park and Rutlantica , Colmar, Reims and Calis.

If you enjoyed Florida you will love Europa park!

Camping (teens) and small caravan (me, DH and pre-teen) in Jersey. Boat there, then beautiful beach after beautiful beach for a week. Safe, quiet and teens love it.

3 weeks in Southern California. Did a big road trip a few years ago and wanted a more relaxed holiday this time with less driving. Stayed in Disneyland, Orange County and San Diego. It was brilliant. Fun days out, beautiful walks and scenery, stunning beaches, great food and perfect weather. Kids are 19 and 17 and past the grumpiness and are just great company. They went and their own thing some evenings.

Vancouver Island 2 weeks - stunning

Our days of hols with grumpy teens are well behind us. This year, we had a fun week in the spring in Corralejo with our DD 40, which we really enjoyed, hectic, none stop, lots of fun in the music bars. Then a quieter 2 weeks in Afytos, in a super small hotel 5 mins from the town centre, overlooking the sea. V relaxing, a couple of trips out, lots of good food in a really friendly, adult oriented small town.

Thailand. Heaven on earth and we’d go back in a heartbeat…

South Africa on safari for my 65th birthday with Dd, absolutely amazing, it was top of my bucket list and was absolutely magical

We had a great holiday this year three nights in Miami and 7 night Caribbean cruise to Mexico Honduras and Bahamas with 2 16 year olds. We all had the best holiday 👍👍

just read a thriller set on the island, written by someone whose grandmother lives there and inspired the book - made me want to visit!

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463484/this-is-not-a-game-by-mullen-kelly/9781529939064

We've had two incredible ones recently. Both road trips, one in the US and one in Canada.
Obviously it won't be everybody's cup of tea but National Parks, activities and new sights at every turn is what works for us. We now actively avoid cities and plan trips that have us in a new place every night, and I love it!

Amsterdam. We used to go pre children to do… exactly what you think two nineteen year olds would be doing in Amsterdam. Went before I was pregnant this year (child free) and just had fun. We met loads of cool people and just chatted to strangers in bars, DH did kareoke with this guy we met who played piano and this dude could play anything after hearing it once, it was actually spectacular. I obliterated some Swedish blokes at darts as well which made me super happy, they thought they could beat me because I’m a woman but I was neglected in pubs so much as a child I’m really good. We didn’t really have a strict itinerary like we do when we take the kids away, and at first that made me a little anxious but it was great! We still know how to have fun! We want to take the kids there when they’re older, if they’re willing to still holiday with us as teenagers that is.

The actual highlight of my holiday was getting IDed two times though I can’t lie. I was 26 (27 now) and maybe they were just being polite but I was fucking buzzing. DH was salty he didn’t get IDed which made it even better.

I had a girls mini break in Isle of Wight in June and we loved it, the highlights were The Needles and Osborne House.
in October DH and I are going to Sharm El Sheikh scuba diving, we’ve been diving for years and it’s how we actually met

We did 10 days in France. We drove, first stop boulogne sue mer, then Caen, Rouen and finally st malo. Went with our 3 yo twins and it was bliss. Didn’t want to come home.

Camping in Dorset, it was lovely. DP had the full week off (sometimes goes off to work mid holiday), teen dc was actually pretty chipper despite (or maybe because of!) no electric or phone signal. He got to do quite a bit of fishing and crabbing. Campsite was really quiet, flat and lovely with a big space for games. Weather was nice but not super hot. And we ate out quite a bit which relived the pressure on cooking/shopping etc.

We have just spent a month in Spain and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

We took the train between Málaga, Córdoba, and Jerez, ( with a visit to Cadiz) soaking up amazing tapas, glasses of fino, socialising in gorgeous city plazas, and visiting the breathtaking Mezquita, and the beauty of the Alcázars, all under endless blue skies. Apartment stays with rooftop tubs and cool patio plunge pools helped in high temperatures.

Between the cities, we switched via a private transfer to the coast — ten nights in a stylish hotel, walking distance to a traditional seaside town, with white beaches, slow days in the sun, and beautiful sunsets. (very few Brits around)

Spain gave us everything this year: history, flavour, and pure relaxation

We went to an all inclusive in turkey this year and it was fab, we had one grumpy teen and one lovely one but we still had fun. DS2 said it was his second best holiday - the first was Florida (once in a lifetime as it cost an arm & a leg)

We didn’t have a summer holiday , but we did go to Japan in early spring .
very tiring indeed but we managed to see Osaka, Kyoto and Nara 🦌

We did our first haven holiday with 3 teens 12 , 14 and 15. Along with our friends who have a 9 and 10 year old. We had the best time. We're both cricket families so we played it on the beach (devon) swam in the lovely sea. Went to exmouth found a cricket ground and played. Lots of swimming on site, arcades, drinking for the adults lol. Bbqs and games . We loved it x

2 weeks in Germany/Austria/Italy.
3 days in Berlin. Train and bus to Bavaria. Hiking over the Alps through Austria into Northern Italy for a week and finishing up with a train to Venice and 3 days there. Wonderful

We had a week in Italy earlier in July, staying in Venice and Rome. Got cheapish flights to Rome, but had a horrible time travelling - ended up spending almost 4 hours at Roma Termini train station in almost 40 degree heat. But then we got on a lovely air conditioned train, and got off on Venice just as the sun was setting, which was breathtaking,
Had three nights there in an airbnb in the Cannaregio, then back to Rome where we had a great airbnb with a roof terrace with great views. Teen DD loved it, and cost was under £3k for the week.
Also had five days camping in the sunshine in north Yorkshire at a site we all love, and then a weekend in London to see the Stranger Things play
all in all a good summer (even if I had to organise all of it)

We always try to visit a couple of different places in one trip to shake things up a bit now our kids are older (12 and 16).

A couple of years ago we took the car ferry to a holiday village type place in the Netherlands and then drove through to Amsterdam. That was a good mix of watersports etc and then a city.

Last year we flew to Barcelona and then hired a car and drove to the coast and then through to Southern France. Good mix again.

This year we went to New York for almost a week which we loved, but we do all enjoy big cities! We then had 5 nights in the Lakes a few weeks later for paddleboarding, walking etc. It's been a fab summer.

Very lucky and been to Lisbon, Krakow, Madeira, Skiathos, Croatia, Venice, Verona and Lake Garda and loved them all. Favourite probably being Croatia despite the heatwave.
Going to Lublijana in December.

2 weeks backpacking in Malaysia. The teens said it was their favourite holiday yet and had a lot of fun. They tend not to be stroppy on holidays anyways I just go and have a Gin Tonic and any irritation is quickly forgotten. They also know that being entitled twats doesn’t get them anywhere with their even more stroppy single parent arsey mother.