Winter Travel

an capall

an capall

Senior Jockey
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Mrs AC has advised that she needs a holiday, roughly in the time between the Breeders Cup and the The Open Meeting.

Required; long beaches for walks, not too much noise, sunshine and 28 degrees each day, no rain, good restaurants, secure.

We are thinking of Phuket in Thailand or Vietnam.

Has anybody been at this time of year? any other recommendations?
 
I'm not 100% certain, AC, but I think that might be around the arse-end of the monsoon season in Asia, so you might not get too many guarantees on no rain.

Your best bet might be the Emirates, tbh.
 
I wouldn't be looking that far ahead. It's 24 hours to dooms day according to ITV news.

IMO not a good time to be booking holidays.
 
an capall said:
We are thinking of Phuket in Thailand or Vietnam.

Has anybody been at this time of year? any other recommendations?
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I was in Phuket for five days last December. The beach at Patong is awesome, very long. It`s very hot all year round but I`d check to see if it`s rainy season or not. When we went it may have just ended. Phuket can be noisy as well although there were more families there than in Pattaya which was noisier. Vietnam is very much an up and coming place. I`m going back same time this year and I`ve heard good things about Cambodia so may be dropping in there also.
 
I'd go to Biarritz or Nice on a cheapy flight, and stay somewhere nice with the rest of the budget. Bring a woolly jumper and a rain mac for the walks on the beach.

Serge Blanco's place in Anglet looks nice - Chateau de Brindos.

Ok it doesn't meet much, or any, of the proposed criteria but that's where I'd go.
 
Sicily would be a good bet ... beautiful place, weather should hold up for some time and great food and wine.
 
Ahh, memories.

I used to get the bus from Wicklow town to Brittas Bay and hitch-hike back. The Silver Strand was a lovely wee beach (free originally) but I believe it's been taken over by a campsite.
 
I have been to Brittas on the last two Saturdays. Fantastic days.

Silver Strand has been privatised DO. Shame.
 
Goa is a gamble. AC. Can be both very good and very unpleasant. Even the best of the large hotels can be quite uncaring if there is a local convention or marriage party.Still some antipathy to tourists. Quality of hotels varies enormously.

Have you been to Bali. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt , Nisa Dusa. Fabulous beaches, incredibly friendly people who do not hassle you to the extent that you get elsewhere. Hired a cab driver for £25 p.d. for a week to take us anywhere on the island at any time.Fantastic sights,sites and scenery. For $200 plus $100 tip hired a powerful boat for the day with crew. Went to an almost deserted island where family had whole bay to itself. Jungle down to the beachline. Clear blue water, many types of coral and thousands of exotic fish. Paradise.
The hotel is certainly grand and is laid out in the traditional style of the island. Spoil yourself and the Mrs.
 
Now I want everybody to read Tout's post carefully. This is exactly the type of response I was hoping for. Now get to work.
 
Fair enough. I wasn`t going into any details because you`re taking the wife. I went with four blokes.

The hotels are dirt cheap though, even in Bangkok. And from Patong Beach you can go on a trip to the Island where Scaramanga lived before Roger Moore offed him.
 
Tout Seul said:
Goa is a gamble. AC. Can be both very good and very unpleasant. Even the best of the large hotels can be quite uncaring if there is a local convention or marriage party.Still some antipathy to tourists. Quality of hotels varies enormously.

Have you been to Bali. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt , Nisa Dusa. Fabulous beaches, incredibly friendly people who do not hassle you to the extent that you get elsewhere. Hired a cab driver for £25 p.d. for a week to take us anywhere on the island at any time.Fantastic sights,sites and scenery. For $200 plus $100 tip hired a powerful boat for the day with crew. Went to an almost deserted island where family had whole bay to itself. Jungle down to the beachline. Clear blue water, many types of coral and thousands of exotic fish. Paradise.
The hotel is certainly grand and is laid out in the traditional style of the island. Spoil yourself and the Mrs.
Click to expand...

Feck Mrs Capall. Can I come with you?
 
Girlfriends brother just back from Thailand where he was on his honeymoon, and it p*ssed down for the duration. Not amused!
 
Vietnam is very safe (Communist countries always are) but it sits in the middle of a climate zone with the South and North reversing seasons. I seem to recall there's two weather windows, one of which is February (can't remember the other) that permits travel. If you get it wrong it can be quite dreadful as a lot of the infrastructure tends to washed away, especially in the delta. I tend to agree with grassy that Thailand is probably in the monsoon about now if memory serves me right, and it isn't the best time visit. I seem to recall going there in September.

As Tout says Goa is very hit and miss, and wouldn't necessarily be described as safe, but it depends how precious you are. I've laways been prepared to take my chance and even went to Israel in the middle of the intafada to escape christmas. South Africa's good value, but not everyone's cup of tea as you need to be wary as it most definately isn't safe, although if you take sensible precautions you'd have to be unlucky to be shot. North Africa is value, (Morroco? never spoke to anybody whose enjoyed Tunisia) but again you could always get unlucky on the safety side, as you could in Turkey.

If its simply boring beaches and chill out that you're looking for, then you may as well use the Maldives or Seychelles. If you want a bit more I suppose you could add Zanzibar to the short list
 
For anybody remotely interested, this saga ended in the Domenican Republic. Golf (him) and diving (her).

Thanks to all for helping.
 
Did you consider swapping tasks one of the days?

You diving and her playing a round with your balls?
 
Out of interest, is there anywhere is Europe guaranteed good weather towards the end of November...by good weather I mean 25c plus?
 
Open a new account and I'm sure the banks will guarantee you good weather. There making all sorts of promises these days.
 
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