It's come

Tegan I've just seen your post.

Re holiday weather in Menorca. We've had:

1 week starting mid-June - lovely weather
1 week early June - more changeable, a couple of days overcast/breezy
2 weeks late June-early July - lovely weather

We stayed twice in Santo Tomas (quiet but, I think, really nice) and once in Cala Blanca (still quite nice but I preferred Santo Tomas). I think many of the resorts in Menorca are lovely. It's not as spectacular as some places but gently pretty, with very nice beaches at Son Bou and Cala Galdana (I'm not sure I'd like to stay in Cala Galdana as sometimes it can smell a bit "drainy").

It's a shame you had bad weather in Kefalonia. We've been there in June and August - lovely weather both times - fairly hot in August. I think a car is needed to get around as there are some really beautiful parts of the island.

Every time I go for my long holiday in New Zealand, I leave something that I am going to need, especially heavy walking boots, a warm dressing gown, spare trainers, and two walking poles. As my daughter uses her washing machine several times a week, I really need only one week's clothes for the whole seven weeks.

Pack your underwear in your shoes, Nellie - saves some space.

Shoes are my big problem with packing and trying to travel light. I often go on holidays that need walking boots.These are worn and when at airports taken off to go through the scanners. Then I just try to take two other pairs.

I never seem to have mastered the art of travelling light! I tried that scheme, Greatnan and found that I could have done with some of the garments I rejected. Can't win.

Packing is easy - you just pack what you think you will need and then take out half of it!

Jane I'm with you on the packing . I used to do it easily when DH worked as he had to put up with what I sorted. Now he seems to start the packing three weeks beforehand and takes what I call inessentials like a light sweater and an Aran ,a jacket and a Goretex . I also saw the light in Christchurch about six years ago when I was sitting in the sweaty laundry room of our very nice hotel and realised DH was sightseeing. Since then I have sent all our stuff to the laundry. He still mutters about the cost but I can't hear him. But I do enjoy pottering around the shops to buy picnics if I'm in France . He's just planned another route march around Vietnam. We have plenty of time but he's squeezed it all in three weeks.

My sister and I had week on the river Moselle in Germany this July and it was delightful. The cabins were very small, but had a private shower/WC and plenty of storage space. The meals were really excellent. The scenery along the river was very pretty and we tied up every day by a different small village or town. I went on a different excursion each day, including one to Luxembourg (my sister stayed on the boat to read or take a nap, as she cannot walk very far). In the evening, there was a very good singer/keyboard player in the comfortable bar, and I actually did quite a bit of bopping.
It was my first catered cruise, although I had been on a self-drive cruiser down the Canal du Midi with a man friend - I liked working the locks.
Next summer, I am planning to take a cruise down the Danube as I want to see a little of Eastern Europe before I emigrate.

Petra I don't think it's age, I just think you need somewhere else to go. I love my home and the area in which I live (suffolk/norfolk border) and feel no reason to leave it particularly, apart from wishing to visit friends and family all over the UK. But DBH gets itchy feet and I do love to go abroad, just not with him...A friend would love me to go with her, but I don't have the money that she does and it would be mean and more expensive to have separate holidays from him. I have costed it out. Plus I want us to have shared memories. So I am gradually talking him round to taking holidays at times that are not too hot, and cutting back on the sightseeing routemarch that is his preferred activity. We didn't make it Barcelona this year, which was a good thing as by the time we got to Carcassonne I was more than willing to go home and still had another two weeks to go.

I really hate packing. I deliberately didn't pack a cool box and picnic stuff so that he couldn't make me make packed lunches on top of everything else. He bought one when we were there but I managed to outmanoeuvre him at every suggestion because the thought of trailing around yet another huge supermarket buying things when it is so much nicer to have a reason to sit at a pavement cafe and watch the world go buy exhausted me before I even started.

I think you just need to find a different type of holiday. I love the sound of a river cruise. Any recommendations?

I've never really enjoyed holidays except when I was small. The stress of packing and being limited on the amount I can take I've always found tiresome. We're lucky enough to have a holiday flat where we can chill out because there is no pressure to visit everything within a set amount of time and I do think holidays are for chilling out. The thought of spending hours in an airport does not appeal - and I have the added concern of always needing to know where the loos are or else I could be in trouble. I've travelled a lot for work and enjoyed experiences that holiday makers probably never have and those memories are sufficient for me. My ideal holiday is being at my flat and sitting on the prom with a good book.

Greatnan - Thank you. I could tell my neighbour about that but she is not one for listening if you see what I mean! She would never understand it in a million years and even if she did, and it went wrong, she would be round here to tell me off bless her. She loves her trips abroad, she goes with a couple who are a quite bit younger than her, I expect they will give her options (if she will listen).

We use that card but travel insurance has to be specifically okayed by them for people over 70.

So far so good!

KatyK - I pay for my travels with a Gold MasterCard which gives me good insurance.

I should have added that as far as travelling companions go, it would be hard to beat Greatnan in her natural habitat. I also have a good time with my sister from NZ - we have similar likes and dislikes.

My next door neighbour is 85 and has been whizzing around the world for the last few years, making up for lost time as she looked after her disabled husband for over 30 years and never went anywhere before he died. She has only been stopped in her tracks now due to the high cost of travel insurance for the over 85s.

I spent many, many years exploring England, Scotland and Wales - I didn't go abroad until I was divorced, aged 39! I have now visited all the countries of Western Europe, several Greek islands, several islands in the Caribbean, Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives, Madeira, Egypt, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand........my appetite for seeing new places is undiminished. When I emigrate to New Zealand, I will start to visit the islands of the South Pacific (for the coral) and the countries of the Pacific Rim. I hope I will never lose my sense of adventure and curiosity. I realise that not everybody has the finances or the health to travel as extensively as I do but we have many members who enjoy travel, some in spite of their physical difficulties. I don't know how anybody comes to the conclusion that we need a lecture on being positive! Perhaps they need to take some time to look back at previous posts.

I do enjoy travelling - Australia and Hong Kong next year - but I agree that coming home, no, ^getting* home is bliss. But I think that will be our final big trip, apart from to the States; there is still quite a bit of this country and Europe to explore, with less effort!

All of you who say you want to go to certain places, just go now!
I had just started to think I ought to go and visit friends and relatives again when I ended up in hospital. Now I cannot carry a suitcase.
I wasn't going far, only to South Wales, Hampshire, Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire, but now I can only go anywhere if I go with my son and family.
I had it all planned and then could not drive anywhere.

I'd like to go to Menorca. When is the best time to go there, and which is the best place to stay? It rained when I went to Kefalonia and I felt cheated as I so needed some sun .

I tend to think that the anticipation of a holiday and even the journey there (provided it's not too long and arduous) can be better than the holiday itself. At the end of most holidays, I'm usually quite happy to come home. There are a few exceptions, though.

The first time we went to Turkey, it was much hotter than I'd ever experienced and we were in budget (though very clean) accommodation with no air conditioning. Our B+B was situated in a not particularly nice stretch of road in Alanya and I remember spending the first night in a state of panic wishing we were back home. However, once we'd (partially) acclimatized ourselves and found other parts of Alanya and the surrounding area that were lovely, we thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks there and I have very happy memories of it.

I immediately loved Menorca and Kefalonia.

I'm often amazed to find people who have travelled abroad extensively but have not seen much of the UK. If if the weather were more reliable here, I don't think I'd bother to go abroad.

I find it quite strange that some people have a never ending supply of energy, and others don't.
My mum at 80, had more than I have at 67, and my friend, who is 72, is full of beans every day.

Peel me a grape please someone

On our trip to Seville last month DH and I rarely got to bed before 1 am. We joined the throng wandering the streets of Seville popping in and out of the tapas bars, eating and drinking little bits of this and that. It was our fourth visit and I loved every minute of it. We hope to continue enjoying such things as long as we are able. MY DD, who is in her 40s (and working hard obviously) texts me at 9 ish each night to say night mum I'm shattered. I can't say I ever really feel shattered nor did I when I was at work. Long may it continue.

I've definitely not got there yet. I still love travelling and seeing new places and meeting lovely people (most of them anyway, haha). Barcelona and Rome are two of my very favourite places, having been to both three times, and I'd happily go back any time. If getting old means I no longer want to be away from home then I do hope it's a very long time coming.

A good holiday also depends on who your companions are. With my ex, they became a bit of a drag because he was always lecturing us on geomorphology or some such subject. I always enjoyed Ramblers' Holidays because it was good to be with like-minded people in out-of-the-way places. Nowadays it is a treat to be away in the family caravan with DS1, his wife and children, or just spend a weekend with either of my two families.

I knew I had found my ideal location when I first looked up at a plane overhead and did not wish I was on it. Of course, I live in a holiday area and it is a thrill just to drive down to the shops, but I still have wanderlust and go on other holidays each year. I can't snorkel in the Alps, so that means two weeks every year in tropical waters, for the coral. I love exploring new areas, city or country, and I am wonderfully placed to spend a few days in Italy or Switzerland, as well as the rest of the South of France.
I took my first river cruise this summer - a week on the Moselle in Germany.
When I go to New Zealand for my annual holiday with my daughter and her family, I see as much of the country as possible in six weeks - last Winter I did the road trip to the fjiords and glaciers and when I go in December I will be spending the first week touring North Island. One year, I added on a week in Phuket. My daughter is going to take me to Christchurch for a couple of days, but they will have moved into a fabulous new house so I will be discovering the walks in their new district.
I would happily live out of a suitcase - I love hotel rooms. I am very happy to travel the world alone, as I have for many years. However, it was very pleasant and enjoyable this year to have Anno and When visiting me and to see my mountains through their eyes.