Holidays 2026

cblock

usetobunkin said:

Am off to Crete , Chania. 

Is the EES Coping or should I factor in 3 hr check in? 

In Chania now, landed at the airport last Friday and no delays through check in.

PrincessFiona

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

Guardy

AndyG said:

Booked 10 days touring Sri Lanka ( never been and know little about the Country but looks great ) and then 7 days doing nothing in the Maldives after the 10 full on days for January, cant wait.

Which resort in the Maldives?

Algarveaddick

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

We came through ten days ago. As residents we don't have to queue with the Brits, but all seemed to be moving well in the non-EU line. 

Guardy

Off to Cyprus for the first time in September. Maldives in January.

PrincessFiona

Algarveaddick said:

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

We came through ten days ago. As residents we don't have to queue with the Brits, but all seemed to be moving well in the non-EU line. 

Thanks. When we arrived in June last year, the queues for non-EU moved quicker than the other ones - we got though the baggage hall so smoothly, we arrived before our luggage!

Elthamaddick

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

we're off to Portugal on the 5th Aug, so hoping that it's all smooth

PrincessFiona

Elthamaddick said:

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

we're off to Portugal on the 5th Aug, so hoping that it's all smooth

Hope so! Hope we both get through easily. we travel quite often but have not had to do EES for a variery of reasons. WIll be interested to know how you get on as we don't travel til the end of August

SporadicAddick

Elthamaddick said:

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

we're off to Portugal on the 5th Aug, so hoping that it's all smooth

I'm afraid not. Portugal has a number of mountain ranges - in fact mountain ranges cover about 18% of the country's territory.

PrincessFiona

SporadicAddick said:

Elthamaddick said:

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

we're off to Portugal on the 5th Aug, so hoping that it's all smooth

I'm afraid not. Portugal has a number of mountain ranges - in fact mountain ranges cover about 18% of the country's territory.

How does that affect the time getting though immigration then?

AndyG

Guardy said:

AndyG said:

Booked 10 days touring Sri Lanka ( never been and know little about the Country but looks great ) and then 7 days doing nothing in the Maldives after the 10 full on days for January, cant wait.

Which resort in the Maldives?

 Furaveri ... not been there before but looks ok 

MrOneLung

Arrived in Zante yesterday evening. 

No additional checks on arrival. 

SporadicAddick

PrincessFiona said:

SporadicAddick said:

Elthamaddick said:

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

we're off to Portugal on the 5th Aug, so hoping that it's all smooth

I'm afraid not. Portugal has a number of mountain ranges - in fact mountain ranges cover about 18% of the country's territory.

How does that affect the time gettingt though immigration then?

The queue may be uphill.

PrincessFiona

SporadicAddick said:

PrincessFiona said:

SporadicAddick said:

Elthamaddick said:

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

we're off to Portugal on the 5th Aug, so hoping that it's all smooth

I'm afraid not. Portugal has a number of mountain ranges - in fact mountain ranges cover about 18% of the country's territory.

How does that affect the time gettingt though immigration then?

The queue may be uphill.

more likely an uphill struggle

stockportugaladdick

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

Hit and miss currently. We’ve flown back and forth regularly the last couple of months and it really depends on how many other flights are arriving from non Schengen countries at the same time as your own flight. Sometimes no queues other times it’s been horrendous. The EES system is definitely operational but thankfully as residents like algarveaddick, we can use the EU gates.

PrincessFiona

stockportugaladdick said:

PrincessFiona said:

Anyone been through Faro in the last few days? Any delays on arrival through Immigration? Is EES operational or suspended?

Hit and miss currently. We’ve flown back and forth regularly the last couple of months and it really depends on how many other flights are arriving from non Schengen countries at the same time as your own flight. Sometimes no queues other times it’s been horrendous. The EES system is definitely operational but thankfully as residents like algarveaddick, we can use the EU gates.

We'll give pre-registering on the app a go, as Portugal are only 1 of 2 countries using it. We've been lucky to avoid it so far but have to do it some time. We've got quite an early flight so I suppose it's as good a time as any. I've seen the car hire firms are allowing additional time to collect your car to your pre-booked time, so that's one less concern

Thanks for letting me know you're able to use the EU gates - big help for us, lol

ArmchairAddick

Did four days in Dublin a couple of weeks back.  Enjoyed it, but fuck me is it expensive there.

ProperCharlton

I'm going to Vietnam with a friend in mid August for 10 nights. We're keeping the plan pretty loose but landing at Ho Chi Minh and returning from Hanoi. If anyone has any recommendations for things to do in-between then I'd love to hear them 

bolloxbolder

ProperCharlton said:

I'm going to Vietnam with a friend in mid August for 10 nights. We're keeping the plan pretty loose but landing at Ho Chi Minh and returning from Hanoi. If anyone has any recommendations for things to do in-between then I'd love to hear them 

The Cu Chi tunnels and the war museum are both great and very sobering.

bolloxbolder

So trying to fit multiple holidays in during the scheduled international breaks. Two weeks in Turkey in September, Egypt in November, Morocco in March and China in September. Doing 4 weeks in Tenerife in January, so unfortunately missing a couple of home games.

Solidgone

I’m heading to Egypt and Jordan in November which will be my final trip this year (although I’ve still have Switzerland, Portugal and Spain before then). However, Looking forward to Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in early January.

ArmchairAddick

ProperCharlton said:

I'm going to Vietnam with a friend in mid August for 10 nights. We're keeping the plan pretty loose but landing at Ho Chi Minh and returning from Hanoi. If anyone has any recomme dations for things to do in-between then I'd love to hear them 

My other half has a plan for us to go on a walking holiday there in a couple of years for her 60th.  It's a full on "tourist" one though where they drag all your crap, feed you meals in nice places to eat etc. so I think our old bones can cope with it.

jamescafc

ProperCharlton said:

I'm going to Vietnam with a friend in mid August for 10 nights. We're keeping the plan pretty loose but landing at Ho Chi Minh and returning from Hanoi. If anyone has any recommendations for things to do in-between then I'd love to hear them 

Hey - lived in HCMC for 6.5 years so feel free to DM if you need any planning support. HCMC is a great city for food & drink, but very little else to do there. If you do Cu Chi, defo do the boat option as traffic is grim. 

Loads of great places to check out on the way to Ha Noi - Da Lat, Hoi An, Da Nang, Ha Long Bay. 

ProperCharlton

jamescafc said:

ProperCharlton said:

I'm going to Vietnam with a friend in mid August for 10 nights. We're keeping the plan pretty loose but landing at Ho Chi Minh and returning from Hanoi. If anyone has any recommendations for things to do in-between then I'd love to hear them 

Hey - lived in HCMC for 6.5 years so feel free to DM if you need any planning support. HCMC is a great city for food & drink, but very little else to do there. If you do Cu Chi, defo do the boat option as traffic is grim. 

Loads of great places to check out on the way to Ha Noi - Da Lat, Hoi An, Da Nang, Ha Long Bay. 

Appreciate that mate, thank you 

cantersaddick

Solidgone said:

I’m heading to Egypt and Jordan in November which will be my final trip this year (although I’ve still have Switzerland, Portugal and Spain before then). However, Looking forward to Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in early January.

Amazing - proper bucket list that. Whats your plan for this? 

Early stages of planning a similar trip for 2028 as have extended family in Uganda. Have spent a month in Kenya before and fell in love. Cant wait to go back. Plan is to take a mini-career break and get 6-8 weeks out there. 2 with family in Uganda and do the gorilla trekking, some time in Nairobi as my best mates family is there, some safari (potentially Tanzania this time as have done a number of parks in Kenya) and maybe finish in either Zanzibar or the Seychelles for some time relaxing on the beach and some Scuba diving in the Indian ocean. But appreciate any tips as havent yet firmed up anything.

DaveMehmet

jamescafc said:

ProperCharlton said:

I'm going to Vietnam with a friend in mid August for 10 nights. We're keeping the plan pretty loose but landing at Ho Chi Minh and returning from Hanoi. If anyone has any recommendations for things to do in-between then I'd love to hear them 

Loads of great places to check out on the way to Ha Noi - Da Lat, Hoi An, Da Nang, Ha Long Bay. 

Is that the Vietnamese version of Do Re Mi?

AFKABartram

Some amazing trips on this thread, always a great read.

caravan at Weymouth for a week coming up soon. Just praying the good weather continues 🙏

usetobunkin

AFKABartram said:

Some amazing trips on this thread, always a great read.

caravan at Weymouth for a week coming up soon. Just praying the good weather continues 🙏

Can’t beat a caravan holiday . 

Use go to Seasalter as a kid. 

Alberta Caravan Park.
Great summer holidays. 

Thing about a caravan holiday you can pretend to be a Gills fan for a couple of days.

Athletico Charlton

ProperCharlton said:

I'm going to Vietnam with a friend in mid August for 10 nights. We're keeping the plan pretty loose but landing at Ho Chi Minh and returning from Hanoi. If anyone has any recommendations for things to do in-between then I'd love to hear them 

Spent 17 nights there in 2023. One of my favourite 3 countries visited. People friendly and upbeat, food with French twist was great, scenery was outstanding.  17 days wasn't long enough, it's so long and thin distances are large. We started in Hanoi and went South.  Some things that worked for us:

Hanoi - first day we took a tuktuk tour (those cycle ones), they showed us the sights for about an hour then we went back to the ones we wanted to.  Went to train street one evening and a roof top bar that was nice (there are lots).  Cafe Giang was cool and the egg coffee was amazing.  KOTO restaurant food was great and has a great story to it.

Lan ha Bay (next to Ha Long Bay) - we did a 1 night trip on the Rita boat which was awesome

Ninh Binh / Mua Caves - was one of my favourite places. View from Mua Caves was simply amazing!  Wish we stayed a night and spent time cycling there but just did a day trip from Hanoi.

Sapa - we did overnight train from Hanoi and stayed 2 nights.  Probably too much for 10 days to fit this in but this was a huge highlight for us. We spent a day walking with "Ethos-Spirit of Adventure" they were an amazing tour group and I would love to go back and do a 2-3 day motorbike trip with them one day.

Phong Nah - stayed at Phong Nah FarmStay.  Huge cave systems, great 2 nights, rented motorbikes. Absolutely loved it.

We got a very long cab (12 hours) from there to Hoi An.  Reason it was so long is we stopped 3 places en route, one was VinhMoc war tunnels.  That was a mind-blowing experience.  

Hoi An - what a beautiful town, great buzz good food.  Did a cookery class which was great for a day, hotel near the beach was great.

HoChiMin - war museum good, AO Show by Lune was great in the evening. Otherwise it was a large, not hugely interesting Asian City, I would almost be tempted to get a flight straight out to Hoi An if you only have 10 days total.

We spent a day in Meekong but it was overly touristy and I didn't enjoy it I had been warned before and should have listened - I think you need to go there for 2 nights to see the authentic side.

We didn't use them but heard great things about KimKim travel as a local tour guide so maybe check their website for ideas.

I must go back one day there is loads more I never saw.

(I tend to pack my holidays hard and this was no exception, moving on every night or two and sleeping on trains etc (my 8 and 10yr old struggled with the pace a bit!)

Enjoy.

Ps. Finally, and this goes for any holiday tbh...  We used an app called FindPenguins" which allows you to blog your trip (privately or publicly, ours was private). You can load photos and use it as a diary and if you let it, it will track your journey.  It's free and you can load pics and videos.  When you get home you can then press print and get presto they send you a photo book of your trip (obvs the book costs ££).  It's now used on all our holidays.

DA9

Currently in St Louis, MO, start of part II of the great river road trip following the Mississippi River through the southern states to New Orleans, we did the northern half and headwaters last year.