Poorly chicken

[Alis girls]

Only done Paris in recent years. Dont know whats in Lille. Eurostar stops there. 

We took ours now grown up to Paris a few times and they loved the batobus and the Eiffel tower. Theres also catacoombs and sewers you can explore - nice and smelly etc. I didnt do catacoombs as lots of steps and my asthma gets bad if too many steps hills etc. 

[AndyRoo]

I think we've picked a destination as St. Malo. Now I just have to figure out how to get there and back with 5 adults, 2 children!!

[mullethunter]

Ferry from Plymouth?

[AndyRoo]

10 minutes ago, mullethunter said:

Ferry from Plymouth?

It's an overnight one and there are 2 people in our party who are not keen on being on a ferry that long. I think we'll be going from Paris via TGV.

[Alis girls]

I take my hat off to you Andy - trying to book me and OH for a trip to Amsterdam was like arranging a Polar expedition . We didnt want to fly. Nearly gave up and went back to Paris. lol

I think in your case Valium all round and sleep thro the boat trip. i thought it was just you and your partner and a couple of nieces/ nephews. Good luck. 

Now we just have to look at New York and a Boston trip in autumn. Anyone done the 2 cities? 

its sooo stressful booking trips. 

[Cat tails]

I quite like the overnight ferries. Took the ferry to Harwich for our trip to London. 

@Alis girls, there is a ferry going from Newcastle to Ijmuiden, which is close to Amsterdam. So if you are anywhere close to Newcastle, that might be a good solution.

[AndyRoo]

2 hours ago, Alis girls said:

I take my hat off to you Andy - trying to book me and OH for a trip to Amsterdam was like arranging a Polar expedition . We didnt want to fly. Nearly gave up and went back to Paris. lol

I think in your case Valium all round and sleep thro the boat trip. i thought it was just you and your partner and a couple of nieces/ nephews. Good luck. 

Now we just have to look at New York and a Boston trip in autumn. Anyone done the 2 cities? 

its sooo stressful booking trips. 

I used to do some event organisation where I used to work. The biggest I did was a team building for 60, which involved bringing people over to the UK from Essen, and from our London office to Swindon; the team building event, and a meal after. I was a wreck after that - bordering on alcoholic. lol

So far we have 5 adults and 2 kids coming. Which includes the MiL... which I am soooo pleased about. lol

The ferry seems like a good idea, but my partner and his brother's wife both get really sea-sick, and our nephew doesn't like boats that much; he's not a big fan of the water unless he can see the bottom. That being said, the BiL is scared of trains... but overall, it's probably just easier to give him a valium and manage everyone else.

[Beantree]

I've done Boston and New York Alisgirls. New York was disappointing; felt like being on a film set. Very scruffy place, although it was a long time ago, when the twin towers were still there. Statue of Liberty was overcrowded and the underground covered in graffiti. Boston was surprisingly small and a haven for pickpockets, but there is a heritage walk around it which was enjoyable. I remember taking a picture of a mounted policeman who insisted on posing with a drawn revolver! Neither place I would visit again, in fact I didn't like America in general. The small northern New England States were very pretty though and Niagra falls was great, especially from the Canadian side.

[Cat tails]

I found Niagra falls felt like a Disney attraction... especially at night with the coloured lighting! 

Haven’t done New York, apart from the airport on my way to Toronto. Loved that place! Itks everything a city like New York has, but then bite size. You can easily walk it all. 

[soapdragon]

I am looking at a few days abroad during the October half term - hopefully all this Brexit business will be over by then! Somewhere that has culture as well as scenery and def lots of history but cheap (ie; NOT Venice, Rome, etc!) We have already been to Prague and Bruges with the boys so wanted something a bit more mediteraniany. Just to make things really complicated we want to fly from one of the smaller airports like Southampton or Birmingham (hate Heathrow, Luton and Gatport Airwick.) I'm thinking possibly Corsica, Sicily or Lisbon. Anyone got any insights to offer?

 

Sorry, Andyroo - hope you don't mind but this does seem to have turned into a travelogue; apologies!

[AndyRoo]

28 minutes ago, soapdragon said:

I am looking at a few days abroad during the October half term - hopefully all this Brexit business will be over by then! Somewhere that has culture as well as scenery and def lots of history but cheap (ie; NOT Venice, Rome, etc!

Sorry, Andyroo - hope you don't mind but this does seem to have turned into a travelogue; apologies!

We've just had to inform our Brexit-voting family (the people coming with us) that they need to get new passports and may have to fill out the visa-waiver forms and pay fees etc. They seemed most surprised that leaving meant we couldn't just do what we did before. 🤦‍♂️ Oh, well... C'est la vie. Hopefully all the EU countries will sign up to the new scheme and we won't need various documents to move between them!

Have you been round Germany? A lot of the 'old' cities are nice. I love Berlin but it is obviously quite 'new' in terms of buildings etc., as it was virtually obliterated during the war. A friend lives in Luxembourg and she loves it there. Not sure what there is to do, though. I also love Croatia - it's beautiful!

[Cat tails]

Bilbao, Spain supposed be good. I’m with Andy on Germany though. I really like Heidelberg.

[AndyRoo]

Just now, Cat tails said:

Bilbao, Spain supposed be good. I’m with Andy on Germany though. I really like Heidelberg.

Heidelberg is really nice. And I quite like Mainz too.

[Cat tails]

Just now, AndyRoo said:

Heidelberg is really nice. And I quite like Mainz too.

Mainz is lovely too!

[soapdragon]

Thanks, Peeps! We are hoping to go somewhere south and all have a few years yet on our passports so hopefully no probs there! I went to Corsica about 30 years ago () as a nanny and spent most of my time with my little poppet at a 'resort' whilst parents took a hire car and explored! However, it looked like a wonderful place and I'd like to see more....hopefully a bit off the beaten track so not expensive (we NEED a new bathroom!!!!!!!)

[AndyRoo]

21 hours ago, soapdragon said:

Thanks, Peeps! We are hoping to go somewhere south and all have a few years yet on our passports so hopefully no probs there! I went to Corsica about 30 years ago () as a nanny and spent most of my time with my little poppet at a 'resort' whilst parents took a hire car and explored! However, it looked like a wonderful place and I'd like to see more....hopefully a bit off the beaten track so not expensive (we NEED a new bathroom!!!!!!!)

I don't know if you've done Tuscany, but there are some really nice little towns in that area: Montecatini, Figueres, Girona, Lucca.

[AndyRoo]

Annnnnd, it's official: we're all booked in for Montpellier in July. YAY!

If you know how to keep a 5 year old boy and an 8 year old girl contented for 8 hours of travel, now is your time to shine. lol

[soapdragon]

Phenergan! (Seriously, I was horrified when I started Nannying many, many years ago to find that doping small children for the long car journey to one's bolthole in Tuscany, South of France etc was common practice  especially if one didn't take Nanny and - shock horror - had to cope with ones own children alone!)

Seriously, AR....sticker books, I Spy books, story DVDs, Fuzzy Felt (is that even a thing now!?) start stockpiling bits and bobs now so that you have a good variety - try Poundland. You can even get little Etch a Sketch things too which are the perfect size for car journeys. 

 

[Cat tails]

A bag of presents (aka small games, pack of pencils etc) per time slot. Just label each one with a set time (or location, landmark etc). Keeps them occupied and have something to look forward to throughout the trip.

labels like:

- first French rest stop

- second vineyard 

etc

[AndyRoo]

On 3/12/2019 at 1:45 PM, Cat tails said:

A bag of presents (aka small games, pack of pencils etc) per time slot. Just label each one with a set time (or location, landmark etc). Keeps them occupied and have something to look forward to throughout the trip.

labels like:

- first French rest stop

- second vineyard 

etc

I'm not even sure they have the attention span to make it folder to folder. lol I cannot impress enough how easily distracted these children are.

Taking them to a vineyard and giving them a glass or two might shut them up, though.

[patsylabrador]

We used to drive across Europe in a rickety VW van with four small children, it took forever. The first time we tried it the twins were only one year old. Lots of pit stops at aires for fresh air. The older ones were 4 so they could get out and run around. We used to do a sort of army training session. We did get funny looks. I developed a 'summer holiday' box of cheap toys, new books and activities and language flash cards (we always insisted that they said at least thank you in the appropriate language) which no one was allowed to look in... the suspense seemed to help. This was in the eighties / nineties so pre smart phones and kindles and all the rest. It did help the journeys. As soapdragon said start stockpiling now, you'll be glad you did. 

[Grandmashazzie]

Hi Ali’s girls, hijacking Andys  thread. I love America, they speak our language and I like the food, though it was much better when you got more dollars to the pound. We flew into Boston and stayed on outskirts in a Best Western if I recall.  It was on tramline and it was very cheap and quick to get into town centre. We did the walking tours, the duck tours, walked in the park and Quincy market I loved it, it is very walkable.We stayed from memory 3 days and then hired a camper van and travelled to Cape Cod ( very tacky ) and got ferry to Martha’s vineyard, really beautiful,I could have stayed there a month. Then I think we went to Lake George which is in NY state, I am sure if you did something like that there is train that could get you to NY. It is much like London, bits of history and run down in places. We went post 9/11 and the area around towers is now a memorial garden. I liked seeing Ellis Island,it wasn’t too busy and they have got audio display .We went to a show £££££ and wandered about. I like seeing famous sites, eg Central Park, the big yellow taxis, the noise, but in most cases once seen don’t have to be revisited. We stayed in Radio City Apartments which is just off Times Square and was reasonable.Although it very recently used to be an area for hookers and probably explained why it felt a bit odd walking to delis etc.It was great to get apartment as I get bit fed up eating all meals out. On another note my daughter went last year for 5 days and she said it was very, very expensive.

[AndyRoo]

11 hours ago, patsylabrador said:

We used to drive across Europe in a rickety VW van with four small children, it took forever. The first time we tried it the twins were only one year old. Lots of pit stops at aires for fresh air. The older ones were 4 so they could get out and run around. We used to do a sort of army training session. We did get funny looks. I developed a 'summer holiday' box of cheap toys, new books and activities and language flash cards (we always insisted that they said at least thank you in the appropriate language) which no one was allowed to look in... the suspense seemed to help. This was in the eighties / nineties so pre smart phones and kindles and all the rest. It did help the journeys. As soapdragon said start stockpiling now, you'll be glad you did. 

We have an hour and a half change over in Paris. Unfortunately we've got to get from Gare du Nord to Gare du Lyon in that time. I have a plan, though. Basically, I just drink until I don't care and just hope by the time I arrive in Montpellier that there are still 2 children with us.

[patsylabrador]

That could work! 

[AndyRoo]

19 hours ago, patsylabrador said:

That could work!