not quite, but who cares ?

The French, one assumes.

My brother was a world traveller when we cycled Brittany in '93, he'd literally only just returned from hiking all the way around the world for 18 months, you could say that the air turned blue when we got to the ferry terminal and he realised that he didn't have his passport with him.

Luckily it was 1993, the world wasn't as paranoid as it is now, we were on bikes at the ferry terminal and they let all the cyclists board first so he just got himself into the middle of a group of bikes and rode straight through the passport check at Portsmouth, when we got to St Malo the next morning there wasn't a soul to be seen on the dockside to check documents





I took the family on holiday to Benodet a few years ago and so of course Quimper was on the agenda, beautiful old town, and because the family all wanted to just lie on the beach I had a fantastic two weeks of driving myself all along the south coast visiting all sorts of villages, Concarneau, Pont Aven, had a great time.

Went to Dom Rep last July, hotel was nice but the place itself is a bit rough, much prefer Cuba with part stay in Havana.

Egypt should still be hot in October. I am going to Red Sea on Monday for 2 weeks, temps are high as 42 at the moment

Long time ago, spent 3 weeks in Vancouver and a week in a place called Esquimalt on Vancouver Island, absolutely fantastic if you like wild life (Orcas are numerous). A place I have always wanted to go back to, but never made it.

Are you mad?! I hope you'll be scuba diving or visiting sites most days because it'll be way too hot for a sunbathing holiday. Egypt and Turkey (and Arizona) are the hottest places I've been and even the locals tell you not to go in August!

Loved Egypt for the diving and the cheap beer. Hated Egypt for the Egyptians, won't be going back for that reason. You've not been hassled until you've done Egypt.

You get out of a taxi at your hotel and taxis nearby zoom up and start beeping and shouting at you, even when they've seen you just arrive. Go into some of the shops and they lock the door behind you. We walked past one shop in Sharm and the owner started following us down the street "why you no buy my things" - he got pretty abusive "you f*cking English", etc until we got stern and told him to fook off back to his shop. The females in the group were pretty scared and none of us did any more shopping after that.

I realise they are a culture of traders but the sooner someone educates them that if they backed off,Western Europeans would be MORE likely to shop.

he was actually asking for 'a leg of pork and a beer' which must have been interesting for the locals to witness

I am thinking of going to Yorkshire for a short holiday. When I checked the World Tourist Organisation web site to check which vaccinations were required (chlamydia & rabies btw) it mentioned that an Olympic gold medal was required to be shown at border control. Apparantly everybody has one in Yorkshire.

I have asked my friends here in Australia and nobody has seen one let alone have one, can you get them on ebay?

No, Keith Senior never won one.

No vaccinations required, you won't catch anything from a Yorkshireman.

We, however, require a certificate from your doctor declaring that you are clean of all diseases, for our own protection you understand.

Failure to provide this will mean a six week stay in kennels at the border.

Aye, so tight they won't even give you the flu...

Have you seen the cost of flu germs these days...

that's true enough

as they say "you can always tell a Yorkshireman, but you can't tell him MUCH ! "

5th time, first in August though. Doing a spot of diving and will take in the sites (be rude not to) such as Luxor, Valley of Kings etc and maybe the pyramids. Reefs 'n' wrecks is the aim though

Went to Cala n Bosch last summer and had a great time. The restaurants around the harbour are lovely, and all reasonably priced. Not the biggest beaches, so you need to be early to book a spot, but the water park is good, and was free with a pass from our hotel.

Just to add to some of the suggestions already given, I'd recommend lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Ferhsehturm - which is the huge unmissable tower near Alexanderplatz. It's not cheap but the view is spectacular.

At night, there are a good number of bars around Oranienburger Strasse. In Hackescher Markt station, there is a bar that never closes if lively is what you're looking for (the place was still busy at 6am).

And you must try a meter of ale. Not the same as a yard of ale, mind

anyone been to a beach area in Thailand?

Any recomendations?

Phuket !

Koh Samui/Koh Phangan/Koh Tao/Phi Phi.

hi guys n gals im going for a week away to seahouse in northumberland in a couple of weeks ive had a look on line and found a few places and things to do with the missus like the farne islands and hogworts (castle anwich i think its called) but i was just wondering if anyone has been and can give me more info ? any fishing trips ? etc ? thanks

Aye, my specialist subject



First of all have you got anywhere to stay, I can recommend some places if not (depending on what you want).

Secondly Seahouses is fine, but without being snobby its perhaps the most commercialised village on that coastline, thats not to say that its Scarborough but its certainly the only village with an amusement arcade (there, I'm sounding snobby now), but its fine - go to the Olde Ship Inn on the harbour, really nice old pub full of fishing tat and decent beer and the food looked pretty good too.

Seahouses is also the place to be for Farne Island boat trips and/or fishing trips, I haven't been to the Farne islands in recent years but frankly can think of a much better way to spend two hours than sitting on a boat and being taken out to some rocks and then being charged again to get off the boat onto the rocks - the only island you can get off at is owned by the National Trust and they charge you on top of what you paid the boatman.

Alnwick Castle markets itself as Hogwarts and knows how to empty your wallet pretty quickly, it costs around £30 each for a ticket for it and the gardens which is valid for two days, you've no choice on the two day thing, we rather thought that they should stick it up their jacksie and opted to go to Chillingham Castle instead.

Alnwick itself is worth a wander around though and just outside of the town walls is [urlhttp://www.barterbooks.co.uk/[/url if you're into poking around in second hand book shops - its one of the largest in Britain and where they found the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster from WWII.

If you only take one piece of advice then go to Chillingham Castle - its completely barmy, is the most haunted place in the UK according to Derek "I don't make this stuff up honest" Acorah, is reasonably priced to get in (tip - buy a ticket from a Tourist Office, they give a discount), is perhaps the most authentic country house/castle you'll ever go in and is like walking around Steptoes junk yard, allow several hours and absorb everything, its completely crazy and his Lordship who personally labels everything in his own handwriting is a magpie of a collector who believes in just putting random stuff in random rules and letting you wander to enjoy it - I love that sort of stuff and its the best example of complete chaos that I've ever seen.

Go to this place [urlhttp://shipinnnewton.co.uk/[/url don't ask why, just go, you can thank me later.

Lindisfarne is well worth a visit for a wander and a crafty pint, the castle is closed on a Monday though.

If you like your Edwardian Country Home to be a bit more organised then go to Cragside at Rothbury, its a bit more expensive but well worth it, Rothbury itself is worth a mooch around too but just don't ask the locals where the Raoul Moat Memorial Gardens are, there isn't one and it just gets them a tad upset.

Bamburgh Castle looked reasonable value for money but we didn't get to go around but if you're there on a sunday then check the Banburgh Cricket Club for a home fixture, there is no finer backdrop to any cricket club anywhere in the world.

Craster is a small working harbour village, a bit scruffy but authentic and it has Robsons smokehouse [urlhttp://www.kipper.co.uk/home.html[/url, I can recommend the kipper pate, crawfish tails and a dressed crab for tea.

I think thats it, do you like walking, you'll never run out of walks, if you like cycling then National Route #1 goes right down the coastline - I'll stop now.

Cheers pal thats some great info and will check a few of them places out , i did hear that castle alnwick was a bit exspensive but big harry potter fan (bit too old to say that out load haha) so gonna have to grin n bear the cost on this one .
Were staying somewere called the boat house which is what it says on the tin I think , the veiws from the windows go straight out to the water .

Thanks again really appreciate the info

If its the one I'm thinking of then its in a great location.

Just go to Chillingham though - its mad, completely mad, or as one of my mates said, "Its so bad, its brilliant"

If you go to Cragside, there are leaflets you can pick up for Bamburgh Castle which gives you discount on your visit there. Bamburgh is well worth the visit especially for the views from the top of the towers.

Can anyone recommend a good budget destination to go away at New Year? Would love to spend it in short sleeves this year as something different.