Storms and chickens

[patsylabrador]

What's your preference? I like B&Bs because they're so individual and attention to detail is often quite luxurious. OH prefers the anonymity of larger hotels. I want to try self catering apartments some time because I'm not a fan of eating out. We used to camp but got seduced by hotels and anyway I like to get away from people at the end of the day. All that smiling and bonhomie from dawn to dusk wears me out!

[Daphne]

I am grateful for B&Bs because they are often off the tourist route, but I find them to be very variable, and we have had some odd experiences. I used to love SC for holidays, particularly in France and Italy as the excitement of shopping in the markets and cooking unfamiliar things was a big part of the experience for us. But now I find that it is not different enough and its just like being at home, so I have gone off it. I still like camping as its the sign of an active holiday - either cycling or bodyboarding. In fact when we go to Australia to visit my brother we still camp, lugging our Decathlon 20 euro tent half way around the world, to set it up on a site where we are the only campers, the Aussies are all in their massive RVs with TVs and the kitchen sink! I used to dislike hotels as boring and expensive, but since I've got older I appreciate them more. Especially as we can now afford to spend a bit more and they are less dive-like. And many of them have been overhauled so they are very modern and clean. But the thing I like most is that in Spain and Portugal, which is where we tend to travel now, you can find hotels which are in old monasteries, convents, manors, mills and the like, and I absolutely adore them. They are usually full of very heavy old furniture, big, cool rooms, and they are my most favourite places

[Blackrocksrock]

Have you looked at Air bnb - Just back from 4 days in Edinburgh and stayed in a flat - beautiful with all amenities, at the end of the day you are on your own with your friends/family and can come and go as you please - was so good would recommend it.

[Grandmashazzie]

I love all! Holidays are great. We have touring caravan and are off to France/ Switzerland with 1 teenager,4 boys,bicycles and 2 dogs. We will do a lot of walking and stuff. It is not luxury by any means.Kids are happy so we are too. Usually at half term we will do an all inclusive in the sun,which is nice,no cooking,no cleaning . Also if we do city break just OH and me we will stay in a fairly nice hotel but may look at air B and B as daughter has had great holidays using them.I don't tend to interact much with others on holiday except when camping for some reason.It seems more communal,people borrow corkscrews,tin openers,sugar etc it's just more friendly and I like having my own stuff,my own mug and pillow,which OH finds bizarre.

[Daphne]

I have used airBnB, just the once so far, and it was great - we were extra lucky and were the people's first guests, they couldn't do enough for us I would definitely try them again.

[Blackrocksrock]

Our air bnb was accessed with a lock box outside with keys and then a full set of keys in the flat once we got in - we never saw our host but she was available if we needed her. That made it good as we just could do what we wanted with all the amenities of home if we required them - we did not cook at the flat - preferring to eat out but had breakfast and one day we brought sandwiches home.

[soapdragon]

We have always self catered. Mainly because it gives us greater flexibility than B and B and is cheaper than hotels. Since having the boys we have only stayed in two hotels...1 night in family room Premier Inn (dreadful) and two nights in a small hotel in Prague where OH and ES had one twin room and YS and I another. ES and YS are owl and lark respectively and it doesn't work for them to share. Also, due to ES Asperger's he generally needs to have his own space that he can retreat to if in need and so this does limit us; we always have to have 3 bedrooms when self catering. He simply would not cope with camping!

 

We have had some wonderful self caters over the past 30 plus years, a few too horrible to recall and many in the middle! Self catering also gives us the freedom to eat what and when we want - either in or out - and gives us privacy; we are not a terribly sociable lot!

 

Its interesting to hear about others experiences though but I'm not familiar with the air bnb concept?

[mullethunter]

Definitely self catering for me. Partly because we're always doing something (surfing or fishing) and you have so much more freedom to come and go as you please, make mess, have space and can eat in or out as you prefer.

[Cinnamon]

For Proper holidays then its a Hotel for me, all the way!

 

But for quick visits back to the Uk then we use Air bnb, with great results.

We had one DREADFUL (& I do not use that word lightly) one in France when we were househunting over there. It was just filthy - smelt of damp, dirt all over the floor & skirting boards, muddy cat prints & hair on the bedding, toothpaste round the sink.....yuck!

We packed our bags back up & did a flit to a nice hotel in Sarlat, which was both cheaper, & totally gorgeous.

We got a full refund from Air bnb, but they did put up a bit of a fight about it. Luckily I had photos.

 

We stayed in an Air bnb again in May, & it was quite nice, but still a bit neglected. She sort of cleaned what she could see, so there was dust in the nooks & crannies, & behind the bed was just full of dust bunnies. The bed was a small double rather than a proper double, so Huz slept on the sofa bed! But a lot of thought had gone into other aspects of the place, so it was a pleasant place to stay.

 

We have one booked again for October, but you know what, at £500 for a week it ain't a cheap option!

[Valkyrie]

We've done hotels, some better than others. We've done an awful lot of B&B, but we found we have more control over our food by self catering. Also you aren't tied to a time for breakfast and not obliged to eat what's on offer because you are paying for it after all! We did enjoy not having to be out by a certain time, and sometimes we just stayed in because it was too hot and waited for the wildlife to come to us - we were in a remote spot and the view was fantastic. It's nice to have a treat by someone else doing all the catering, but by being free gave us more time to relax. We had a lot of salads and we alternated eating out. I didn't put on weight, so I was delighted!