Costly holidays

JohnC6

JohnC6

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We arrived here in Tenerife Tuesday evening. Depending on flight times we book an airport hotel. We get a taxi there which saves a drive there and back and saves waiting for a shuttle bus from the car park in very cold weather. What does all this cost ? Taxi return £230-£240 plus two tips. Hotel..Novotel £285. If we used our car the parking is £185,infact my wife forgot to book in advance on one trip and we had to pay £230 to exit the car park. She was not a happy bunny. A very empathetic young man..an employee of the parking company,who happened to be sitting in his van by the pay machine, commiserated but could do nothing except urge us to book in advance next time.

So..before we even start paying for the hotel here it's costing about £550 using a taxi. Using our car..and pre-booking £470. Depending on the time,maybe a sandwich and drink from Pret A Manger at Birminham airport as we did this time ..really good, I have to say and for this flight we bought a sandwich 'to-go' as they say in the US , to eat on the plane as I was not impressed with the toasted cheese buttie last time..like chewing rubber..never mind, the tea was very nice...lol. All extra cost. In September our flight to Croatia has been brought forward to 0645..so 0445 at the airport....the only positive about that is no point in staying in the airport hotel...

We were a bit annoyed with the taxi driver this time because he was about to drop us off at the drop-off area which meant we'd have a fair walk..in the cold,to the airport with two large suitcases and two 'carry-on' including my camera for flight shots. We told the young man that last time..only November,his mate had dropped us off right outside the terminal..well, 50m away. He relented and did that but had to go through a £6 pay barrier. I assume the cost included this in the first place.

So..here we are. Re temperatures..Tenerife south..when I Googled it up came 19C.So..at 3.00pm.. 2 hours 15 minutes ago the balcony was too hot to sit on..43C..110F old money..to be expected..white-walled and in direct sun Outside. in the sun in the grounds..33C ..90F. I then sat in the shade..27C..80F. Back in the room 25C.. On the balcony now..5.20pm..38C 100F..so it's cooled off.lol.

I know how they officially take temperatures but people walk round in full sun and lie in full sun.
 
That's hot for winter sun. Not my cup of tea, but I hope you enjoy your hols.
I agree, logistical costs are crazy in the UK these days. I can understand why people like cruises when you compare - no airport hassles etc if you go from Southampton etc. Again not my cup of tea, but understandable.
If we still did holidays, I think I'd be taking the train to Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam then changing to go long distance somewhere nice, like Madrid, Milan, Vienna etc. Different type of trip though.
 
What airport are you using? We’re just back from a week in Madeira… a week’s parking and a night at Premier Inn before the flight from Gatwick was £163 all in.
 
boogie man said:
What airport are you using? We’re just back from a week in Madeira… a week’s parking and a night at Premier Inn before the flight from Gatwick was £163 all in.
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We're booked to fly out to Thailand in April..... 22 days parking at Manchester Airport costing me £133...
 
boogie man said:
What airport are you using? We’re just back from a week in Madeira… a week’s parking and a night at Premier Inn before the flight from Gatwick was £163 all in.
Click to expand...
Yes we usually use the Premier Inn although costs vary. £97 in June and £12 on the train! A taxi costs us £110. Parking short stay at Gatwick is £60-80 ish a week
 
£20 each way to the airport this end and £75 or so for a one way transfer at the far end. We then drop the hire car off at the airport at the end of the holiday, having had the car for the duration. Using the local airport at this end reduces the chances of severe delays (which were always a worry when we used to have to get up the M5 to Bristol airport.)
 
lindsay said:
That's hot for winter sun. Not my cup of tea, but I hope you enjoy your hols.
I agree, logistical costs are crazy in the UK these days. I can understand why people like cruises when you compare - no airport hassles etc if you go from Southampton etc. Again not my cup of tea, but understandable.
If we still did holidays, I think I'd be taking the train to Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam then changing to go long distance somewhere nice, like Madrid, Milan, Vienna etc. Different type of trip though.
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We wanted to have a cuppa and cake on the balcony at 3.30pm..I have my thermometer there, and I kid you not, Lindsay, at 48C..just under 120F in old money we had them in the room. Last time we were here..November,it had many days like this but we didn't know how hot it was but too hot to be walking round in let alone lie in ,so, I brought a thermometer this time.I haven't checked today as it's too hot to do one..lol. Yesterday, as I sat on a bench in the grounds a man stopped by to chat about what I was doing and he was surprised at hot it was and very soon afterwards he apologised for cutting it short as his back was burning.

My wife has just returned from the pool after swim..the pool is quite cool and told me that the Norwegian lady who we chatted to this morning and is...was....very white skinned (and bloned)is lying by the pool looking like one of the red rock crabs here..In my wife's words,"burnt to a frazzle"

Re cruises. We've had three when the ships were not so large as today's fleets but now, many carry 3000-4000 passengers with a crew number of what passenger numbers used to be when went early to mid 2000s. Also, the high risk of the likes of norovirus concerns me .Infact, we spoke to a couple ...partners....at the airport in Birmingham..on our flight..who were joining a cruise ship to sail around the Canaries and it was hit by norovirus last week. I actually saw the ship from our balcony on Wednesday. The lady told my wife that it was a surprise 50th birthday present for her but she doesn't like water. I wonder if she told him ? .Oh dear. Sometimes surprises go wrong.

Re your last paragraph, it's a. reason I wished I'd lived on the Continent. You can travel by train or car to all those countries.
 
boogie man said:
What airport are you using? We’re just back from a week in Madeira… a week’s parking and a night at Premier Inn before the flight from Gatwick was £163 all in.
Click to expand...
Birmingham airport. That was for two weeks..even more this time had we driven as we're here for three weeks so, almost March when we return and the winter cold should have gone.

They say everything went up after Covid..an excuse, I'm sure but we used to pay about £120-130 and £60 -75 for parking..10 days/two weeks. The price swings at the Novotel,Birmingham are crazy. £283 just before we travelled here and my wife tells me it's 135 euros.. April 11/12. She's just Googled it. It came up as euros because we're in Euroland. One problem is it's so close to the NEC conference centre so any major meeting up go the prices. I've mentioned before on here the way the prices of the hotel wildly fluctuate. Also, the there's the issue of Birmingham traffic in the mornings as people go to work..ie, if we booked a hotel 4-5 miles away. All in all much easier for us using a taxi.

Driving back in winter after a long day with a 4 hour plus flight wasn't good, either. Lugging heavy cases onto the car park shuttle bus got hard going as the years went by... We were collected from home at 6.30 am this time..We were up at 5.30am so I nodded off on the journey...lol
 
When we did fly from Bristol a few years ago, the flight times were 06:00 or thereabouts so we had a room in the hotel in the car park the night before to give us plenty of time to get up the M5 etc.. Added a few quid to the price of the holidays but it was worth the peace of mind. We parked in the airport's own long stay car park, again, a few quid extra compared to the Silver Parking a couple of miles away but it meant I could keep the keys with me rather than leaving them with randoms.
 
We are very lucky my bezzie spanky has a 5 bed mansion in mac so we just drive up park on his 5 acres and he drops and uplifts us in the tesla.
is nice having top budds
 
JohnC6 said:
We wanted to have a cuppa and cake on the balcony at 3.30pm..I have my thermometer there, and I kid you not, Lindsay, at 48C..just under 120F in old money we had them in the room. Last time we were here..November,it had many days like this but we didn't know how hot it was but too hot to be walking round in let alone lie in ,so, I brought a thermometer this time.I haven't checked today as it's too hot to do one..lol. Yesterday, as I sat on a bench in the grounds a man stopped by to chat about what I was doing and he was surprised at hot it was and very soon afterwards he apologised for cutting it short as his back was burning.

My wife has just returned from the pool after swim..the pool is quite cool and told me that the Norwegian lady who we chatted to this morning and is...was....very white skinned (and bloned)is lying by the pool looking like one of the red rock crabs here..In my wife's words,"burnt to a frazzle"

Re cruises. We've had three when the ships were not so large as today's fleets but now, many carry 3000-4000 passengers with a crew number of what passenger numbers used to be when went early to mid 2000s. Also, the high risk of the likes of norovirus concerns me .Infact, we spoke to a couple ...partners....at the airport in Birmingham..on our flight..who were joining a cruise ship to sail around the Canaries and it was hit by norovirus last week. I actually saw the ship from our balcony on Wednesday. The lady told my wife that it was a surprise 50th birthday present for her but she doesn't like water. I wonder if she told him ? .Oh dear. Sometimes surprises go wrong.

Re your last paragraph, it's a. reason I wished I'd lived on the Continent. You can travel by train or car to all those countries.
Click to expand...
Sat here looking out of the window at sleet and rain I am rather jealous.
Mid January we were lamenting that there was nowhere within sensible flying distance from London to head off for five days to top up the fading sun tans prior to our March skiing holiday in Mayrhofen.
 
We can almost see Edinburgh airport control tower over the river from our street, 10 minute drive to the park and ride terminal, 35/40 bus ride- free, oldies bus passes-bus every 20 minutes, 1 minutes walk max from the bus to terminal doors, check in then the bar. 39 days till the next trip.:cool:
 
zx9 said:
Sat here looking out of the window at sleet and rain I am rather jealous.
Mid January we were lamenting that there was nowhere within sensible flying distance from London to head off for five days to top up the fading sun tans prior to our March skiing holiday in Mayrhofen.
Click to expand...
I think you have to be as far south as the Canaries to get decent temperatures in winter. We've spoken to couples here this time that are here for a month..we'll see how we feel after this three weeks. Another guest told us he's here for 3 months. After just 4 full days we're talking about cutting down on the amount we have at mealtimes....the choice and quality is so good.

Mayrhofen looks lovely and on our bucket list is a train trip through the Alps and a Fred Olsen cruise through the Norwegian fjords. We're only here once...lol.
 
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mj4456 said:
We can almost see Edinburgh airport control tower over the river from our street, 10 minute drive to the park and ride terminal, 35/40 bus ride- free, oldies bus passes-bus every 20 minutes, 1 minutes walk max from the bus to terminal doors, check in then the bar. 39 days till the next trip.:cool:
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If your bus service is anything like ours, you should have set off at lunchtime!!!
 
I thought I'd post this funny in this thread.

This morning my wife went into a shop..Ale-Hop, there's a few in Tenerife and they have a huge range of decent quality stuff...often items we don't see at home. It's quite a big shop and they had a miniature toy dog right in the middle of the floor just in the right place for someone, who was looking at the goods around them and not where they were going, to trip over so my wife got hold of its ear to move it to the side and it let out yelps just like a real dog if someone treads on its paw..lol. All the customers stopped browsing to see what had happened and burst out laughing, including staff. The 'dog' was an absolute replica of the Alaskan Husky or Malamute....amazing. A member of staff moved it, gently, to the side and no yelps..lol.
 
Nod said:
If your bus service is anything like ours, you should have set off at lunchtime!!!
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Regular as clockwork, buses equipped for airport runs with extra luggage racking, 90% motorway route.
 
JohnC6 said:
Lol..bezzie spanky. ? mac. ? uplifts us..? ...having top buds..are you ex RAF by any chance..?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rKYL0tW-Ek
Click to expand...

nah we met about 25 yeard ago as IT contractors in Shefield doing doing like a faulty towers like job
we worked together for about 3 years and became firm friends, he is now a VP for a major bank but like
we have a set of keys to his house, nuff said....
 
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