Surprise holiday
Mar. 3rd, 2019 05:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
halojedhaWe're going on holiday, but we don't know where yet!
We've earmarked the week March 27-April 4, and at the weekend I spent a few hours researching options that are a) sunny, b) less than four hours flight away, and c) beautiful and interesting. Originally I was thinking Barcelona, for the sake of going somewhere I already know so we don't have to spend ages exploring a new city (Leo has a bad hip and their mobility can be somewhat unpredictable), but when I looked up prices it seems that everyone else knows how great Barcelona is, and Airbnbs are pretty expensive. So we're looking elsewhere. My top choices are:
Antalya, Turkey - Mediterranean beach town with beautiful cliffs and turquoise sea, great snorkelling, boat trips, a sunken ruined city, waterfalls, impressive Roman and Byzantine ruins, lovely old town, museums and galleries. 18-22 degrees in March/April, although the sea is still cold (16 degrees). Turkish food is delicious and relatively Leo friendly - lots of fish and rice.
Marrakech, Morocco - I've wanted to visit Marrakech for years. I want to explore souks and art gardens and visit mosques and tombs and museums and sit on rooftops and soak up all the colours and get lost in tiny alleyways. 21 degrees in March/April. If we're in Morocco, I'm also tempted to do an excursion to the coast, either to...
Essaouria - 3-4 hours away from Marrakech via direct coach, port town with beach, art, markets, coastal walks. Big enough to have lots of places to eat, but not too crowded and touristy. It's the Atlantic, not the Mediterranean, so the sea will be colder, the waves bigger, and the wind windier.
or Oualidia - a little further north up the coast, no direct transport links so we'd need to rent a car and drive. Remote, unspoiled coastline for romantic getaway. Nothing to do but walk on the beach, sun ourselves on the terrace, and eat oysters.
We're both feeling a little overstimulated and overwhelmed from various work stresses, so right now the latter is actually sounding rather lovely. But I'm a bit nervous about being able to easily feed Leo in the land of tagine, tomatoes, peppers and couscous; and the extra travel involved in getting to the beach is time we can't spend sunning ourselves, as well as being a faff to arrange.
I also looked into Tunisia, but it's apparently a little less warm than Morocco (being further north), and the food is even more nightshade-rich, so it didn't make the shortlist.
While I was looking up flights, Skyscanner helpfully reminded me that in the event of a no deal Brexit, we'll need passports with at least 6 months left on them in order to be able to travel. (I'm mildly surprised we'd be able to travel at all, but thank you Skyscanner for the heads up!) Leo checked their passport and lo, it expired a couple of months ago. Ooops.
They've sent off for a new one, which allegedly takes 3 weeks, and we're planning to go away in a month. So will the passport office process it on time? Place bets now! We talked it over, and decided that if the passport is delayed, booking the trip and then realising at the last minute that we can't go would be quite a stressful experience. Chances are, the passport will come back in 2 or 3 weeks and we'll have 1-2 weeks notice. We had a look, and discovered that flights in a week's time are very much available and the same price as the ones in a month's time. So we've decided not to risk it. We'll wait for the passport to arrive, and then book everything once we know we can leave the country.
This is super frustrating - I dislike uncertainty and was hoping to have this holiday all booked so I could start properly anticipating it, it's well overdue - but I think it's ultimately less frustrating than wasting the flights and not being able to leave the country would be if something slows down the passport process. So we haven't decided where we're going yet! Once passport is in hand, we'll have a look at what's available and make a decision then. (If passport does not arrive in time, we'll do something in the UK.)
It's quite exciting, having a surprise holiday to look forward to. Any of the options would be lovely, and to be honest whichever we don't do now, I'd quite like to do later. I'm looking forward to seeing what we end up with!
We've earmarked the week March 27-April 4, and at the weekend I spent a few hours researching options that are a) sunny, b) less than four hours flight away, and c) beautiful and interesting. Originally I was thinking Barcelona, for the sake of going somewhere I already know so we don't have to spend ages exploring a new city (Leo has a bad hip and their mobility can be somewhat unpredictable), but when I looked up prices it seems that everyone else knows how great Barcelona is, and Airbnbs are pretty expensive. So we're looking elsewhere. My top choices are:
Antalya, Turkey - Mediterranean beach town with beautiful cliffs and turquoise sea, great snorkelling, boat trips, a sunken ruined city, waterfalls, impressive Roman and Byzantine ruins, lovely old town, museums and galleries. 18-22 degrees in March/April, although the sea is still cold (16 degrees). Turkish food is delicious and relatively Leo friendly - lots of fish and rice.
Marrakech, Morocco - I've wanted to visit Marrakech for years. I want to explore souks and art gardens and visit mosques and tombs and museums and sit on rooftops and soak up all the colours and get lost in tiny alleyways. 21 degrees in March/April. If we're in Morocco, I'm also tempted to do an excursion to the coast, either to...
Essaouria - 3-4 hours away from Marrakech via direct coach, port town with beach, art, markets, coastal walks. Big enough to have lots of places to eat, but not too crowded and touristy. It's the Atlantic, not the Mediterranean, so the sea will be colder, the waves bigger, and the wind windier.
or Oualidia - a little further north up the coast, no direct transport links so we'd need to rent a car and drive. Remote, unspoiled coastline for romantic getaway. Nothing to do but walk on the beach, sun ourselves on the terrace, and eat oysters.
We're both feeling a little overstimulated and overwhelmed from various work stresses, so right now the latter is actually sounding rather lovely. But I'm a bit nervous about being able to easily feed Leo in the land of tagine, tomatoes, peppers and couscous; and the extra travel involved in getting to the beach is time we can't spend sunning ourselves, as well as being a faff to arrange.
I also looked into Tunisia, but it's apparently a little less warm than Morocco (being further north), and the food is even more nightshade-rich, so it didn't make the shortlist.
While I was looking up flights, Skyscanner helpfully reminded me that in the event of a no deal Brexit, we'll need passports with at least 6 months left on them in order to be able to travel. (I'm mildly surprised we'd be able to travel at all, but thank you Skyscanner for the heads up!) Leo checked their passport and lo, it expired a couple of months ago. Ooops.
They've sent off for a new one, which allegedly takes 3 weeks, and we're planning to go away in a month. So will the passport office process it on time? Place bets now! We talked it over, and decided that if the passport is delayed, booking the trip and then realising at the last minute that we can't go would be quite a stressful experience. Chances are, the passport will come back in 2 or 3 weeks and we'll have 1-2 weeks notice. We had a look, and discovered that flights in a week's time are very much available and the same price as the ones in a month's time. So we've decided not to risk it. We'll wait for the passport to arrive, and then book everything once we know we can leave the country.
This is super frustrating - I dislike uncertainty and was hoping to have this holiday all booked so I could start properly anticipating it, it's well overdue - but I think it's ultimately less frustrating than wasting the flights and not being able to leave the country would be if something slows down the passport process. So we haven't decided where we're going yet! Once passport is in hand, we'll have a look at what's available and make a decision then. (If passport does not arrive in time, we'll do something in the UK.)
It's quite exciting, having a surprise holiday to look forward to. Any of the options would be lovely, and to be honest whichever we don't do now, I'd quite like to do later. I'm looking forward to seeing what we end up with!