Right. I have now spent three 'romantic' breaks fighting operatically with DH. Having decimated the 'romance' of Dublin, London and Venice, what can we spoil for ourselves next?

[snigger]

Suggestions?

We don't mean to - it's just I can't bear to leave the kids for more than 3-4 days, and it takes us that long to get even work out our disagreements.

We always make up on the plane home, but if we're going to have a full-blooded deal-breaker row, it might as well be somewhere scenic.

I fancy Bruges, DH is brewing up a world of resentment over my dismissal of Amsterdam as we speak, neutral picturesque ground is required

Casablanca?
Morocco?
Samarkand?

Berlin is fab!

Paris, definitely. Nothing like sticking 2 fingers up to the city that prides itself on being the most romantic place on earth.

prague?

I wonder if going to the obvious places is something of a trigger for you? Maybe you need the Hull (or whatever) of another country to allow you to focus in on what is important?

As such I would suggest:

• [NL] Barle Nassau. Nice town. Main claim to fame is it's half in Belgium even though the border is nowhere near it now. Was more exciting when there were two currencies.
• [SE] Karlskrona. I worked there for a long time and I love it. But it has no global significance after a nuclear sub scare in the (?) eighties.
• [SP] - Murcia. Don't know why, have never been, but it seems to be a bit of an unknown destination. If not try Zaragoza.

Otherwise how about a UK destination? Western Isles, Channel Islands, Hull?

Barcelona.

(Am LOLing at your op,reminds me of myself and dp)

My first reaction, Jux, was "Does Samarkand exist anywhere outwith Saki stories?"

My second was to strike Samarkand off the list arbitrarily, as I'm sure the last thing Uzbekistan needs is DH and I working on our own particular version of quality time there.

However, having Googled - it does look pretty good.

Have you been there? Or were you being sarky ?

go somewhere where you DO something - ski, cycle, hike, and you'll be too tired to argue.

Paris is a goodie.

I loved Berlin.

Krakow is nice in warm weather.

Copenhagen is one of my fave European cities. Good beer, and laidback, with none of that schmaltzy touristic shite.

Oslo? Tres expensive, though.

Seville is beautiful.

Oi,Tribpot,Hull ain't that bad!!!(In places)(Angry Hullite emoticon )

Oh, God, tribpot, we've been to Hull. Even under the auspices of a family visit, we managed to hiss threats of separation halfway round The Deep.

Karlskrona might work. It'd certainly provide an open forum for discussion if I was responsible for booking it. I like your thinking.

ROFL, btw, at two fingers to Paris. We keep avoiding it - even he acknowledges it'd be pretty lousy to mess with Paris - we want to retain some illusions.

Where I think you are going wrong is that you are not going to feel-good cities. You need cities that will jolly you out of bad moods. You've been going for grey and crowded places. I prescribe sun and vibrancy.

With that in mind

Barcelona

It is impossible to be miserable in Barcelona. Lots of cultural bits but it's you know, happy culture. Go on, I dare you to try.

You must on NO ACCOUNT go to Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a marital argument waiting to happen. You'll come out of Anne Frank's house feeling farking miserable enough to drown yourself in the nearest canal. So you'll try to cheer yourselves up by drinking and make yourselves more morose.

I'm sorry, I was joking (NOT sarky!). The first thing I thought of when I read your OP was Casablanca because of the film. I've never been to any of those exotic places but I'd love to. I figure if you're going to spend money to row somewhere different, you might as well make it REALLY different and bugger off to somewhere where you might be so taken by the place that you forget to row, iyswim!

Happy holidays, anyway

I'm trying to mitigate my Hull comments in some way that might appease the Hullists. It's possible that I meant "undiscovered gem" (although I didn't) (although I heart The Deep).

Karlskrona honestly is lovely, and off the beaten track for Brits but not for Germans, for example (the hotel staff used to save the good bacon til the Germans had gone and then give it to us for breakfast). Also it seems to have a fertility charm over it so you might want to bear that in mind in terms of a potential destination. You would fly into Copenhagen so can do that on the way, too.

oranges - we're never too tired to argue. Really. Cycling would be the ultimate catalyst, I feel it in my water.

I'd like to go to Krakow or Berlin, but all that war history (I'm not normally shallow, but this is a holiday) is going to prompt him into historical droning and get my hackles up.

I'm thinking there may be something in Quattro's analysis - your Amsterdam prediction mirrors my own, except in my version DH's misery was enhanced by three hours of tulip bulb inspection.

On the grounds of accessibility and low travel times it may well be Barcelona..... although I'd love to say I'd been to Samarkand.

Reykjavik

Siena/Pisa/Florence

Seville/Granada

Lisbon

Cote d'Azur

New York??

Completely empathise with your op.

Girona. Ryanair sells it as Barcelona, but it's absolutely gorgeous in its own right. Has the added advantage that maybe you and dh can bond over mutual Ryanair-rage on the way, and it's always fun to see people realise as they land that they are 90 minutes from Barcelona, if you think schadenfreude might bring you together?

we only manage to argue on the first night. It has become a bit of a tradition. And almost factor it in. I make sure we go somewhere i know he will love and then it really pisses him off because he has spoilt the first night.

So i would recommend a longer break to get over the fighting. Or maybe bring up the stuff earlier on.

Berlin
Rome
Brussels

Don't go to Brussels. DH and I got very grumpy there (didn't help that he then developed fear of flying and we ended up having to go by Eurostar and spending more money to do so).

How about something totally different to the 'normal mini break'?

DP & I went to Alton Towers last year.
Stayed in a little B&B nearby and spent the day recapturing our youth, screaming our heads off and clinging to each other, in between laughing at the terror on each others faces.
Then found nice country pubs for dinner.
I can thoroughly recommend it! (we went off season and on a Friday so it was not too busy)

Oh please go to Samarkand, please, pretty please with sugar on the top.

I've just been googling it too, and it looks sooooo interesting. You couldn't possibly argue with all that stuff to look at.

Oh I'm so glad it's not just me and my DH who do this!

We have just come back from a long weekend in Dubrovnik, which was - amazingly - almost totally argument free. We managed a small one on the last night, but got over ourselves surprisingly quickly

It was really interesting, lovely hotel on the sea and warm weather.

Also particularly enjoyed Positano, on the Amalfi coast. Especially this lovely, lovely hotel

Actually, perhaps you'd better not go to Samarkand. The cheapest flights I found were over £2K. My bubble has burst.