Month's Paid Holiday

Wompa1

Lingua Franca wrote: »

Canary islands will be hottest. Malta is another option. I despised the Canaries, myself. I'm trying to take a short, hot holiday between March - May next year and Malta's looking like the most viable and appealing option.

Yip. The Canaries are awful!

How about California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas as a road trip...maybe even New Orleans. Drove across most of those states. It's pretty fun. There's a lot of national parks and monuments in each that don't get a lot of attention but are really cool.

If I had a month myself, I'd love to go from Chicago to Nova Scotia and maybe on to New Foundland but it might be dicey at the time of the year

Taajsgpm

FTA69 wrote: »

Due to the fact I've continually avoided taking holidays over the past couple of years in work, I've been told by work I have 24 days holiday I need to take between now and the 31st March; this is excluding Christmas. It basically means I can take the whole of January off to go travelling.

Has anyone any good ideas about where to go? The chances of this coming up again are pretty slim to say the least. So far I'm thinking of splitting the month between Bangladesh and Nepal, has anyone any experience of these places?

Both would be expireneces of a lifetime get out there andenjoy

Capt'n Midnight

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I'd love a go on one of those freighters that take passengers, go to China or Argentina or somewhere, love the high seas but the idea of a cruise ship appals me.

wojesully expensive


anyway if you have lots of cash and you are off in Jan then head to the southern hemisphere

smurfjed

I think that Bangladesh is a hole, Nepal if you aren't going climbing isn't much better. I would suggest flying to Kuala Lumpur, then using Air Asia to jump around Asia, Cambodia and Vietnam are amazing, you could then jump into Thailand and possibly all the way down to Bali. I work on a roster system so i get a calendar month off every year, I tried Australia for a month, very expensive, further north in Asia is much cheaper, Europe, ouch! The USA is good value for money.

But not knowing if you are single and what your budget is going to be, its hard to give you good suggestions.

Heisenberg88

Vegas and put your life savings on red on the roulette wheel.

Could also go to Cork and milk cows for the month.

Fratton Fred

Head over to New Zealand and Australia in February/march for the world cup.

jank

32 days a year? Government job of some sort I'm not mad, I'm jealous!

Nepal will be freezing at that time of year, well up in the mountains it will be and lets be honest, that is the main reason for going there. I wanted to do a trek in July of this year in Nepal but was rainy season any many people told me not to bother unless you are a fan of leaches. So instead I did a tour of Tibet. Unbelievable but Tibet in winter is a no no. Not only would you probably die (no not joking) but they don't give out permits to westerners at that time of year anyway.

Nepal is best in the shoulder seasons, right before and after monsoon.

January the weather is in the Southern Hemisphere. Someone mentioned Namibia. An amazing place to visit. I did a tour there a few years back and still pine for those isolated still mornings at sunrise where the whole world seemed to stand still. Probably the best holiday I ever had. You could easily combine it with South Africa and/or Botswana. Cape Town is a great city to visit. Africa blew me away and is a must for anyone interested in travel.

Alternatives would be South America? Rio Carnival? Argentina? Of course there is always Australia or NZ but you strike me as someone that wants something alternative.
With that said however, NZ is a great spot for travel. Sure it may cost a little to get there but the country is relatively small (compared to Australia or Brazil for example) but so travel friendly and good value if you are bringing in GBP or Euros. You could easily do both islands in a month. Or if you want to take your time do one (South Island >>>> North Island) at a really relaxed pace and fit in a few treks or walks. NZ have some of the best walks in the world and the scenery is stunning. Check out the Milford track or Kepler. The DOC look after their parks really well over there something that puts Ireland to shame to be honest.

Plenty of options, all that you need is a credit card and your passport (and maybe a few shots depending where you end up). Let us know what you decide.

BrokenHero

Thailand looks magical. Always wanted to go. Camile is no doubt the closest I'll get.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUW-gmCcHwc

FTA69

jank wrote: »

32 days a year? Government job of some sort I'm not mad, I'm jealous!

Ha, I work for a trade union so they practice what they preach when it comes to work-life balance! The hours are often unsocial and we do every weekend, 6-7 day weeks are common but the pay is good and the holidays are brilliant. I can't complain for a second!

I'm booking the tickets to Bangladesh and Nepal tomorrow anyway, I've managed to get London to Dhaka, Dhaka to Kathmandu and Kathmandu to London for £600. I'll be gone for the month.

As I said in an earlier post, I work in the East End with migrant workers who are overwhelmingly Bengali and I'm the only white member of staff in the gaff I'm in. I think it would be fascinating to visit the country itself; it has immense natural beauty and is also well off the beaten track as that general area goes. You also don't get half of the hassle and scam artistry that you do in India. One of the lads I work with is a former diplomat and has been on the blower all day to Bangladesh organising free accommodation and tours etc in Dhaka and Sylhet. Couldn't ask for more really.

Secondly, one campaign we had here in the East End was raising awareness of the conditions of garment workers in Bangladesh, around 700 of them were killed a few years ago in a factory collapse. I'll be visiting that area and meeting with a few of the workers' groups they have there.

I'll have 9 days in Nepal which will allow me to see the cities of Pokhara and Kathmandu as well as take a 3 day trek up one of the ranges and visit a few villages and temples etc. It'll be cold but apparently the views are fantastic at this time, the trails are still solid and I'll buy a sleeping bag when I get there for the hostels.

January the weather is in the Southern Hemisphere. Someone mentioned Namibia. An amazing place to visit. I did a tour there a few years back and still pine for those isolated still mornings at sunrise where the whole world seemed to stand still. Probably the best holiday I ever had. You could easily combine it with South Africa and/or Botswana. Cape Town is a great city to visit. Africa blew me away and is a must for anyone interested in travel.

Fantastic idea. Ethiopia was one gaff I was going to head to next year but Namibia sounds pretty unreal as well. Was it a pricey endeavour?

Alternatives would be South America? Rio Carnival? Argentina?

I was in Cuba earlier on in the year for boxing which was fantastic; if I return to Latin America though it will be for a few months at some stage though. I speak a bit of the old Spanish too which was handy.

Plenty of options, all that you need is a credit card and your passport (and maybe a few shots depending where you end up). Let us know what you decide.

Some great ideas there mate, thanks very much.

MadYaker

Post in the Travel Forum. But yeah SE Asia is supposed to be amazing, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia etc.

jank

FTA69 wrote: »

jank wrote: »

Ha, I work for a trade union so they practice what they preach when it comes to work-life balance! The hours are often unsocial and we do every weekend, 6-7 day weeks are common but the pay is good and the holidays are brilliant. I can't complain for a second!

I'm booking the tickets to Bangladesh and Nepal tomorrow anyway, I've managed to get London to Dhaka, Dhaka to Kathmandu and Kathmandu to London for £600. I'll be gone for the month.

As I said in an earlier post, I work in the East End with migrant workers who are overwhelmingly Bengali and I'm the only white member of staff in the gaff I'm in. I think it would be fascinating to visit the country itself; it has immense natural beauty and is also well off the beaten track as that general area goes. You also don't get half of the hassle and scam artistry that you do in India. One of the lads I work with is a former diplomat and has been on the blower all day to Bangladesh organising free accommodation and tours etc in Dhaka and Sylhet. Couldn't ask for more really.

Secondly, one campaign we had here in the East End was raising awareness of the conditions of garment workers in Bangladesh, around 700 of them were killed a few years ago in a factory collapse. I'll be visiting that area and meeting with a few of the workers' groups they have there.

I'll have 9 days in Nepal which will allow me to see the cities of Pokhara and Kathmandu as well as take a 3 day trek up one of the ranges and visit a few villages and temples etc. It'll be cold but apparently the views are fantastic at this time, the trails are still solid and I'll buy a sleeping bag when I get there for the hostels.



Fantastic idea. Ethiopia was one gaff I was going to head to next year but Namibia sounds pretty unreal as well. Was it a pricey endeavour?



I was in Cuba earlier on in the year for boxing which was fantastic; if I return to Latin America though it will be for a few months at some stage though. I speak a bit of the old Spanish too which was handy.




Some great ideas there mate, thanks very much.

Not really. South Africa is great value if you stay away from western style safaris that are expensive. You can make it as cheap or as expensive as you want. Rent a 4x4 and away you go, paying for camping fees along the way.

TheBeardedLady

Ye lucky duck.

SameDiff

Deleted User wrote: »

You lucky bastard.

That is all.

I wish I'd been as lucky as him, to have taken no holidays in two years

FTA69

SameDiff wrote: »

I wish I'd been as lucky as him, to have taken no holidays in two years

In fairness I did take holidays, usually only half of what I was allowed though. In the past two years I've been to the USA, Palestine, Cuba, the Basque Country and Morocco as well as a good few weekends in Ireland. I was often caught to work bank holidays etc and it just built up. I've been very lucky the amount of gaffs I've been able to visit in such a short space of time.

SameDiff

FTA69 wrote: »

Palestine, Cuba...Morocco

They'd certainly be in my top ten, along with Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip and Finglas.

FTA69

SameDiff wrote: »

They'd certainly be in my top ten, along with Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip and Finglas.

"I took the road less travelled..."

Also you'll find that Gaza is in Palestine. They have lovely Medjoul dates that grow there.

SameDiff

FTA69 wrote: »

"I took the road less travelled..."

Also you'll find that Gaza is in Palestine. They have lovely Medjoul dates that grow there.

Sounds great!

*holds breath to try and pass out*

Meathlass

FTA69 wrote: »

"I took the road less travelled..."

Also you'll find that Gaza is in Palestine. They have lovely Medjoul dates that grow there.

Sounds like a fantastic trip.

You should post a trip report in the travel forum when you get back.

MadYaker

FTA69 wrote: »

"I took the road less travelled..."

Also you'll find that Gaza is in Palestine. They have lovely Medjoul dates that grow there.

Some people are very small minded about travel. I talk to people about having spent time in Uganda and Kenya and they look at me like I've got 2 heads. "Will you not be killed??? You'll get ebola" etc etc. Then they go and spend twice as much on 2 weeks in some awful spanish resort as I spent on 2 months in Africa.

FTA69

Palestine is hands down the best place I've ever gone. Although I was sick sh*t of f*cking hummus by the end of it. I found a KFC in Ramallah and barrelled through man, woman and child in order to get a crispy strips meal.

Meathlass

FTA69 wrote: »

Palestine is hands down the best place I've ever gone. Although I was sick sh*t of f*cking hummus by the end of it. I found a KFC in Ramallah and barrelled through man, woman and child in order to get a crispy strips meal.

I did something similar in Iran; a month of eating rice and vegetable will do that do you!

Except there it was called 'The Colonel's'! Not a worry about trademark infringements!

Sufa

FTA69 wrote: »

In fairness I did take holidays, usually only half of what I was allowed though. In the past two years I've been to the USA, Palestine, Cuba, the Basque Country and Morocco as well as a good few weekends in Ireland. I was often caught to work bank holidays etc and it just built up. I've been very lucky the amount of gaffs I've been able to visit in such a short space of time.

Did you spend any time in Tel Aviv when in that part of the world?

I was at university with someone who played cricket for England at age group levels and he toured Bangladesh with the national team set up. Having briefly listened to him talk about it, I can't say it sounded the most alluring destination!

FTA69

Meathlass wrote: »

I did something similar in Iran; a month of eating rice and vegetable will do that do you!

Except there it was called 'The Colonel's'! Not a worry about trademark infringements!

Everything in the West Bank is a knock-off. All the clothes are counterfeit and the eateries are ripped off as well; I used to go for coffee in Stars and Bucks all the time.

Sufa,

I spent one night in Tel Aviv on my way home. It was an absolute scream. The sun was splitting the stones in the middle of November, they have a beautiful white sand beach that goes on for miles and loads of hopping bars with outdoor terraces. It was savage craic.

Sufa

FTA69 wrote: »

Everything in the West Bank is a knock-off. All the clothes are counterfeit and the eateries are ripped off as well; I used to go for coffee in Stars and Bucks all the time.

Sufa,

I spent one night in Tel Aviv on my way home. It was an absolute scream. The sun was splitting the stones in the middle of November, they have a beautiful white sand beach that goes on for miles and loads of hopping bars with outdoor terraces. It was savage craic.

Yeah the pubs, bars and restaurants located along and around the promenade are excellent (there is even an Irish themed pub at the heart of it too that does great breakfasts) and as you say the beaches are great too. But I can't get my head around the fact you would choose to holiday in Judea and Samaria when such a great, safe, lively city was at your fingertips! Ramallah in particular, did you ever feel safe in somewhere so dangerous?

Not trying to be pejorative at all btw, I just don't understand the mindset.

FTA69

Sufa wrote: »

Yeah the pubs, bars and restaurants located along and around the promenade are excellent (there is even an Irish themed pub at the heart of it too that does great breakfasts) and as you say the beaches are great too. But I can't get my head around the fact you would choose to holiday in Judea and Samaria when such a great, safe, lively city was at your fingertips! Ramallah in particular, did you ever feel safe in somewhere so dangerous?

Not trying to be pejorative at all btw, I just don't understand the mindset.

Nobody who lives there calls it Judea and Samaria, (bar the illegal settlers living on stolen land) it's Palestine. And it's populated by Palestinians. Funnily enough the only hassle I had there was off the Israeli military who detained me at Qalandia checkpoint for five hours at gunpoint where I had a great view of them herding people through cattle gates and generally treating them like sh*t.

I found the Palestinians to be the most friendly and hospitable people I ever encountered. That having been said, most of the average Israelis I met were perfectly friendly, normal people as well. I went to that Irish pub to watch a Spurs game and the Guinness was actually drinkable enough. I spent my night there on Dizengoff St and don't remember much to be honest!

Gannicus

Screw all of these ideas for January take this.

http://www.transsiberianexpress.net/tickets-search.html?from=Moscow&to=Vladivostok+Gorod&date=03.01.2015

DainBramage

FTA69 wrote: »

Nobody who lives there calls it Judea and Samaria, (bar the illegal settlers living on stolen land) it's Palestine. And it's populated by Palestinians. Funnily enough the only hassle I had there was off the Israeli military who detained me at Qalandia checkpoint for five hours at gunpoint where I had a great view of them herding people through cattle gates and generally treating them like sh*t.

I found the Palestinians to be the most friendly and hospitable people I ever encountered. That having been said, most of the average Israelis I met were perfectly friendly, normal people as well. I went to that Irish pub to watch a Spurs game and the Guinness was actually drinkable enough. I spent my night there on Dizengoff St and don't remember much to be honest!

I spent some time working in Tel Aviv last year and enjoyed it for the most part. None of the religious tension you get in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. Bars/clubs open all night. No scum hanging around.
I found both Israelis and Palestinians to be generally quite sound. the only real arseholes I encountered were the Haredi (orthodox jews with the beards and hats).
also I found many Israelis referred to West bank/Palestine for whatever reason as 'the Territories'. can you remember the name of bar and did you head allenby st at all?

FTA69

DainBramage wrote: »

I spent some time working in Tel Aviv last year and enjoyed it for the most part. None of the religious tension you get in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. Bars/clubs open all night. No scum hanging around.
I found both Israelis and Palestinians to be generally quite sound. the only real arseholes I encountered were the Haredi (orthodox jews with the beards and hats).
also I found many Israelis referred to West bank/Palestine for whatever reason as 'the Territories'. can you remember the name of bar and did you head allenby st at all?

I think the pubs was called Flanagans or something. I remember that Spurs got f*cking hammered as well by Man City that day. Aside from that we just bar hopped along the main strips. They do this mad happy hour for three hours where you get a free pint and shot with every pint you buy. It saved us a fortune by the time we had to start shelling out £5 a pint. They had some great beers and spirits on offer though. Best city for nightlife I've ever been I'd say. We were only there for one evening, which is a shame because as much as I disagree with Israeli policies, Tel Aviv is a cracking town.

You could be unicycling down the road in your jocks necking vodka and nobody would give a f*ck.

Fratton Fred

I loved Israel when I was there, although I only had a day trip outside of eilat.

****ing spooky Sat in a bar with a group of kids at the table next to you with rifles or handguns strapped to them.

Irish Steve

FTA69 wrote: »

Fantastic idea. Ethiopia was one gaff I was going to head to next year but Namibia sounds pretty unreal as well. Was it a pricey endeavour?

In comparison to most other places, not at all expensive, the rental of the 4 x 4 was reasonable, the roads are pretty much all unsurfaced, but due to the lack of regular rain, they are a joy to drive on, albeit you have to stay a reasonable distance back from a vehicle in front due to the dust rooster trails, but other vehicles can be pretty rare if you plan it right. Accomodation was good, even the cheaper places in places like Swapokmund were very good, and the top end resorts on some of the game parks were not crazy prices.

We did a couple of thousand miles over just over 2 weeks, but it wasn't a hassle, and yes, I'd go back tomorrow if I could, as it was just so very different to anything we'd done before.

We built our own itinerary, and didn't go with a planned tour, one of our party did that a couple of years earlier, but didn't like the forced structure and inability to be flexible that our trip gave us.

As a country, Namibia is somewhat different to other African countries, in that it has things that places like China, among others, want. As a result, there are some industrial developments, even in the very remote areas. That said, it is still very much African, with tribal habits and lifestyles in the rural areas, and it is clear that the rural areas are still very much living an agricultural subsistence lifestyle. The Urban areas a more structured, and have modern style buildings, and facilities.

If you're going to do something like this, it will need to be preplanned to some extent, even camping sites need to be booked at the relevant booking offices, and using hotels between camping nights means that showers are easy to get, good meals in restaurants are available, etc, but you can't guarantee availability on spec.

Booking camp sites can be done in country, and if you are going to go long distances by road, especially North of Swapokmund along the Skeleton Coast, we went North to beyond Mile 108 (there's a camp site there, which we used for one night, but it was the one site that didn't work out so well, as unlike the rest of the country, where it was 20 to 25 C, that site was closer to 8, and blowing a howling gale straight off a very cold Atlantic Ocean, we hit horizontal at 20:00 in order to keep warm) it is sensible to have satellite phone communications with you to provide contact in the event of an emergency, while good, mobile phone coverage is only available in the larger urban areas like Windhoek, Swapokmund, Walvis Bay and the like, other areas do not have the same coverage.

Food was varied, readily available, and not expensive. English and German are widely spoken, and we had no problems communicating. Fuel is not expensive, and while it is sensible to keep the tank reasonably topped up when the opportunity is there, the 4 x 4's have long range tanks, so can cover at least 600 miles between fills. The 4 x 4's are well equipped for up to 4 people, with air con in the vehicles, and the camping gear is comprehensive, and includes things like cooking gear and a multi voltage fridge, and bottle gas lamps are also supplied for use when away from power sources.

The camp sites at the larger locations, especially in the game parks, have showers, good restaurants, and there is mains 240v power available on each pitch, so lights are not an issue, and running the fridge off main power is also not an issue.

The large urban areas have good quality hotels, and the roads are tarmac.
Driving out of town at night is not recommended, due to the risk of accidents with wildlife. The larger game park camp sites close at dark, and they have good security fences to keep predatory animals out of them, due to the manner of operation. Small camp sites outside of game parks don't have fences, and don't appear to need them, although again, walking around after dark other than close to the vehicles is not recommended.

If you don't want to drive, there are rail services over some parts of the country, but they are long distance, and most routes only have 1 train a day, and in some cases, the journey time can be up to 24 hours, as the speeds are not high, and the routes are mostly single track, and not standard gauge. Some routes may have more services where they are over shorter distances. They are however reliable.

We were there a number of years ago, and tourism is reasonably well developed, but not at the expense of being tacky, or overpowering. A lot of emphasis is validly on the wildlife, both on land and water, and there are all manner of trips, visits and other opportunities to see large and small animals in their natural surroundings. We had Elephant walk literally inches from our vehicle on a number of occasions, and small antelope would walk through camping areas without any apparent fear of the people in the area.

I don't know what flights to Windhoek operate now, there used to be a service 3 times a week from Gatwick, but that's been stopped, I think there may be a direct flight from Frankfurt, (again 3 times a week), other than that, it's connections from South Aftica. The Air Namibia A340 flights were very good prices, and operated overnight in both directions, arriving in the early morning in both directions. I think they now operate 6 days from Frankfurt to Windhoek, with internal flights to other places on a regular basis, as it's a BIG country.

Hope that helps