Tell me your holiday plans for 2017. I might get some ideas!

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

How safe did you find it? And I reckon the infrastructure for those for whom a hostel or a bed on the floor won't work is not great. But I could be wrong about that.

The FO advice is scary. But it is probably different on the ground.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/algeria

I bet there is a huge French influence there which is interesting.

If you always listened to that site you'd never go anywhere, parts if he deep Sahara in the south could be dodgy but the urbane cities on the coast are thousands of miles from that literally and in a lot of other sense too. Because there's no tourists there's no hostels so you're limited to crumbling cheap hotels that can be fairly dilapidated (tepid showers, shared bathrooms, dirty and falling apart rooms), at least in Algiers you are anyway. That having been said nicer places and guest houses can be found but not many.

I also have a distinctly Arab appearance so could walk around no bother but if you were a big blonde Norwegian in a backpack maybe reactions would differ.

EDIT: There is indeed a huge French influence, the architecture in some of the towns sometimes makes it feel you're in Marseilles or Nice, all tree lined boulevards, cafes and white masonry buildings with French shuttered windows and wrought iron balconies. There are patisseries on every street and I've had some of the best cake I've ever had there. The language is also highly French influenced and in Algiers they switch between the two regularly.

One eyed Jack wrote: »

Has she been to Uganda? My mate is actually from Uganda herself and has all sorts of wonderful stories, but ehh, well, I presume you've seen "An Idiot Abroad"? :pac:

She has. She enjoyed it very much. I've never been to East Africa but have been to parts of West Africa (very different albeit) and the best advice I was given was expect to be shown great kindness and friendliness by a lot of people and taken advantage of by others. It'll be an amazing experience, I'd love to go in future.

vicwatson wrote: »

Kerry for week in July, ya cant bate it

I agree. I'm on holidays all year round. :cool:

South Africa or Thailand , we can't decide . We haven't had a proper holiday in years and these were our chosen destinations for when we would be able .

I'll drive up town for a cone during the summer, twice if the weather is good.

Nepal, to head up to base camp. Then Bangladesh, on the way back here.

mike_ie wrote: »

Nepal, to head up to base camp. Then Bangladesh, on the way back here.

I did that in reverse a few years ago. Bangladesh only gets 4000 tourists a year in a country of 160m people so white people are a curiosity to say the least. I was having a cup of tea there once and had around 80 people standing around in a circle staring at me. It can get a bit unnerving at times. How long are you there for?

California for two weeks in April with wife and our 2 year old. Flying into LAX, get the hire car and off up Route 1 to San Fran. Herself has family living in Santa Barbara and San Jose so we will be staying with them. Might do an odd night in a hotel along the way too. Big Sur, Monterey, Morro Bay etc. I think Disneyland is in there somewhere too for the 2 year old, not her parents *cough*.....

We were there in 2008 and loved it so really looking forward to going back again.

Heading to Italy in May for a week. Hiring a car and driving around the north. Como, Garda, Venice etc.

Majorca for 2 weeks in September. No driving then, just lying in a heap for the duration.

I'm also going to India in April, but that's a charity gig so definitely not a holiday. I get very arsey when people refer to it as a holiday. Which is bound to happen as the Italy holiday is only a month after India.

"God you're good to yourself, sure you're only back from holiday and you're away again"

Zebra3 wrote: »

Iran is on the to do list.

Fingers crossed it's this year.

Intrigued somebody has been to Algeria. Visa application looks like a right pain in the hole.

I was in Iran last year it's unreal; Irish citizens can get a visa on arrival too so that's handy. Algeria's visa application was the hardest I've ever done by far. I'd to submit prebooked accommodation for every day I was there (which I cancelled after I got the visa), an invitation letter to Algeria, three months payslips, a letter from my employer confirming what I do, photocopies of every page of my passport, a full itinerary of my trip, travel insurance and an interview at the embassy.

They're not mad on the idea of tourists coming to visit really.