After only a small Bali trip in 2018 I have arrange a couple of really exciting trips for 2019.
Going to Hong Kong for 10 days in January. Can’t wait. Never been so super keen for the food and culture experience, not to mention happy valley and Disney land.
We are heading to Amsterdam in September for a week and 3 weeks in Italy also. Got super cheap flits with Qatar.
Any suggestions on must do’s in HK, Amsterdam or Italy as I am a virgin for all three.
Any kids in tow?
Disneyland and Ocean Park are a must for kids or even without them.
Go down to the Stanley markets and even stop off at Repulse Bay for a swim. The Stanley promenade has some great cafes and restaurants and the bus ride down there is worth it. Take Bus number 6 back for a better view. Try to get to Happy Valley for an evening race meeting. Visit the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping, fantastic cablecar ride up there and for something different take the bus down to Tai’O which is a small fishing village and have lunch and then catch the ferry back to the city. If you have a day or two spare head to Macau if that interests you. Plenty of good eateries and shopping in HK and so much to do. As for Italy I’d concentrate on a area rather than trying to squeeze too much in and personally I prefer to drive so a car rental is a great way to see the sights. Do you have any idea on what you want to see?
Thanks
Yeah we are taking an 11 year old to both. Staying at Disneyland for a couple of nights.
We are committed to Rome for 5 nights but other than that we have a blank canvas in Italy.
I am thinking of training to Florence for 4-5 nights, training to Venice for 4-5 nights and then drive over to cinque terra / portofino for the remainder and fly back from Milan.
I think we will just do the touristy things tbh, given it is our first time but keen to get some insight from those that have been before
Can I suggest, if possible, to fly into Leonardo Da Vinci Airport, and take the speedboat ride to Venice. It is a magnificent way to start the trip, with Venice appearing out of the mist like some magical place. We stayed at the Hotel Rialto, old and well worn, but nice rooms and right on the Grand Canal. Try for six days as much to see and islands to explore.
Then train to Milano, we stayed out of the City in a small village, nice hotel, lovely people and quick train ride into Milano for touristy stuff, like climbing to the roof of the Cathedral. Couple days will do it with perhaps a side trip to Lake Como.
Then train to Florence for three days tops. I didn’t like Florence so much as my companions, but nice places out of Town to see. Others may disagree, interesting to hear Aceman on this.
Then end this trip in Rome, for as long as you can. There is so much to see, and lots of great tourist bus options. Many of the larger hotels have continuous shuttle buses, but there are many hotels in centre of Rome that are reasonable in price with great service. Just be extra careful with pickpockets and over-friendly groups of people, petty crime is high and your wallet is gone before you know it, even for experienced travellers.
Maybe Southern and Central Italy another time.
Italy is just about Mrs Fox and I favorite place to visit, I would seriously consider retiring there and may just do it.
Never mind. See the question is answered already.
Does the boat to Venice leave from Rome or do you travel to the east coast?
The boat he is referring to is a water taxi from the Venice Airport (Marco Polo airport) to the city. Great way to arrive into Venice. If you are coming from Amsterdam then I’d fly direct from there to Venice
shes used to the ongoing war between ace and his tv.
She doesn’t know or hear anything about Yemen otherwise it would have been crossed off ages ago. I was hoping for a change of situation over there but it’s just not happening so I will have to move on
Sorry got my Airports mixed. Aceman is correct, Venice Airport is Marco Polo Airport and the water taxi is fantastic fun.
So fly into Marco Polo, turn left as you come out of baggage collection, and you will see the sign to the water taxi. These are big wooden speedboats, and there will be a young Italian bloke in a blue and white striped shirt who will lift you and your bags into the boat. Mrs Fox still has hot flushes about him, and he looked pretty good to me as well.
It is a very special way to get to Venice, the train is for leaving Venice.
We love Venice, and especially a gondola ride and dinner at a Restuarant on the Grand Canal.
The other thing, is that trains in Italy are good but can be confusing as few Railway staff seem to speak English. There are fast train between big cities, but I prefer the local trains that travel the same route, cost much less and stop all stations, some of which are great to see. Taxis in Rome as very hard to get.
Get to Sicily if you can
In the process of arranging a 17 day trip to Iran next November atm.
Mrs Gwilty will need to wear a head scarf, and that will be about the extent of the hassle for her.
Check out the Iran episode of Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road.
First off I hope you have a great trip and I’m sure you will. And now to the nitty gritty, if someone told me to wear a head scarf covering all my hair except a bit of fringe, everywhere except the hotel room, I reckon I’d be a bit cheesed off. Not just mosques, I’m told, but anytime you leave the hotel room, even to go down the the lobby.
Just told my better half about your post and I’ll leave out the profanities and the “second class” citizen references but she “asked”
A: Can she swim in the hotel pool in her one piece swimming costume?
B: Can she go anywhere without me? She pointed out it wasn’t so much she wanted to dump me just that she wanted the option.
My reading of the clothing rules is a bit more restrictive than yours, basically women can show forearms but little else and clothing must disguise the body shape and go down to the ankles, and that’s tourist women too which isn’t the case in places like Dubai where we’ve been. Maybe the rules have been relaxed a bit, I don’t know.
When I pointed out she never wore toenail polish anyway she told me to “■■■■ Off”, she’d paint them them just because she coudn’t.
When I told her about the the Joanna Lumley comment she bristled and pointed out where I could shove my celebrity exceptions.
PS She did wear a scarf in Dehli. Why? Because, she told me she got sick of the local men perving on her on and invading her personal space at every possible occasion. That was 10 years ago and she was in her fifties and India’s not Iran but…
PPS Have to be honest, I’d go if I was single, but not if I was female.
PPPS My understanding is that Iran was fairly liberal socially, at least in relation to women’s rights in the middle east, if not politically and economically, until the 70s and then the iron curtain fell. But I’m no expert and expect to be corrected.
Mrs GRR sounds a feisty women, and good on her.
From my travel observations, India is the last place in the world I would go as a solo female traveller. It must be the sex offence capital of the world.
What really frightens me from the Dress Code link you posted were the outfits worn by the 3 men - truely hideous!.
The dress code in Iran is not onerous and applies to men and women. I have seen many glamorous women in Tehran dressed very modern and fashionable.
October/November us the best time to visit, mid 20’s, little rain, but cool nights. I am sure you and Mrs G will enjoy the different culture and interesting places.
If i want to get gastro, get hammered, chuck and ■■■■ my brains out I can do that at home.
Doing EBC in march, but have a spare day either side of trek. Just trying to figure out what to do and where to go on those days…thinking of doing an organised day tour around kathmandu to get as much info/history of the area
Yep definitely. And the other day visit Bhaktapur - we just caught a Taxi & wandered around.
Our son has just informed us he will be spending Christmas with his GF’s parents in Cairns this year and as this will be the first Christmas without him we have bit the bullet and are heading OS. 4 weeks holidays approved and finish work on the 20th of December. Now to find a destination and start planning. At this stage leaning towards pushing the Oman and UAE trip back to then and tacking on a couple of weeks elsewhere.