Help with my holiday please?

[punky]

Partly because I would like people's advice, but also partly to rub it in , i've decided to blow some savings on a real decent holiday.

Basically, I want to go somewhere with a really nice beach, hotel, and nightlight. IE: Wake up, chill on beach/do some watersports, eat, get pi**ed in a nightclub, have a laugh, sleep, and repeat 13 or 14 times.

My researching so far has brought up the shortlist:

Cancun (Hoping I can stretch to the Moon palace hotel, at least it is all-inclusive)
Phuket: (Patong beach area)
Bali: (Late entry so don't know much about it. Kuta beach sounds liveliest & best).

I might consider Mauritius/Seychelles, but seems a bit expensive and not too lively. I'm considering Australia, but somewhere a bit exotic would be nice (Although a half beach/half Sydney holiday sounds appealing).

The kind of watersports I like to do are jet-skiing scuba/snorking, but I want to try parasailing.

So... There seems to be a bit of info out there but it's rarely impartial. Can anyone provide any help/advice with:

1) A good place to go
2) A good hotel to stay at
3) A good reliable tour op to get me there
4) Any miscellaneous travel advice (It is my first time travelling alone to a distant/exotic country, bless my little cottons eh? )

I might travel before this summer if I can find a good last min deal, otherwise i'm probably looking at next march/april. (May-October is supposed to be monsoon season in south Asia. Although it only lasts an hour a day it seems to affect beach watersports).

Not asking much am I? But all help would be very gratefully recieved. Finally... Any ladies wanna come with me?

Save your money and go to Skeggy Ah you know you want to

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by punky

<snip>

i have heard fantastic things about south east asia, my g/f always tells me how great thailand is (ok she is a bit biased!) but i have also heard great things about Singapore. If you are interested in Thailand, i can recommend you particular hotels/ beaches/ pretty much everything. One advantage of going to somewhere in SE asia is the price of everything once you arrive, eg in Thailand a decent air conditioned hotel will cost you about £7-15 per night per room, and the people there are really friendly. If you want to visit Thailand (and yes i am highly recommending it, and no i don't work for a thai travel agent!) i would suggest going in April, because that is their new year, it is hot (c.40degrees) but there are huge celebrations and something that shouldn't be missed

MB

[punky]

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

i have heard fantastic things about south east asia, my g/f always tells me how great thailand is (ok she is a bit biased!) but i have also heard great things about Singapore. If you are interested in Thailand, i can recommend you particular hotels/ beaches/ pretty much everything. One advantage of going to somewhere in SE asia is the price of everything once you arrive, eg in Thailand a decent air conditioned hotel will cost you about £7-15 per night per room, and the people there are really friendly. If you want to visit Thailand (and yes i am highly recommending it, and no i don't work for a thai travel agent!) i would suggest going in April, because that is their new year, it is hot (c.40degrees) but there are huge celebrations and something that shouldn't be missed

MB

Thanx for the help Phuket is looking good atm, and probably where i'll end up. If I do decide to go there, I'll ask you about it a bit more specifically, but Patong Beach is looking real good atm.

[Charlie_Bubble]

Wahey, go where I'm considering going...Rio de Janero!!! Hotel on the beach front, fantastic views and shedloads of tasy totty!

Return flights + 8 nights in a 4 star hotel on the beach £1186 to you guv!!

[Charlie_Bubble]

Originally Posted by punky

Thanx for the help Phuket is looking good atm, and probably where i'll end up. If I do decide to go there, I'll ask you about it a bit more specifically, but Patong Beach is looking real good atm.

I'll ask my mate if you want. He has just got back from 2 years travelling (He blew his redundancy on travelling, I blew mine on a fast car and some even faster women!) and spent the majority of it in the far east, plus he has been on a couple of holidays in that area before.

[punky]

That would be excellent if you could Charlie. Thanx

And bloody hell, i've forgot all about Brazil. Researching this i've realised that there are so many really nice places to go.

[Charlie_Bubble]

Originally Posted by punky

That would be excellent if you could Charlie. Thanx

And bloody hell, i've forgot all about Brazil. Researching this i've realised that there are so many really nice places to go.

You know, women outnumber men in Brasil and I hear they like foreign men!

[punky]

Actually the moment I thought of Brazil, I rememeber someone telling me, how welcoming the locals are. And they easy on the old eyes too

[Halcyon]

Phuket: (Patong beach area)

Does that really come out as I'm thinking it sounds like ?

[Paulie]

Ever thought about Hawaii ? Oahu is the busiest island. Great beaches, great babes. You could even have a serious moment and go to Pearl Harbour (very moving). But when I went I couldn`t find fault, well if you want to get picky, the food servings were too big.

[Bex]

Originally Posted by punky

<snippity snip>I might consider Mauritius/Seychelles, but seems a bit expensive and not too lively. . Finally... Any ladies wanna come with me?

my ex flatmate comes from mauritius and he says it is lovely, as you said not the most lively place but a lovely place to visit.

have you considered mexico? my friend from work went a while back and my manager (thank god) is there at the moment.... have heard good reports about it

hey since you are inviting us ladies, you paying?

[punky]

Paulie: Thanx for the tip. I'll probably go eventually, but I feel a bit more adventurous atm. Besides, I go to the US all the time.

Bex: Thanks for the tip about Mauritius. I'm thinking about Cancun (east Mexico). Trouble is, it is so hard to decide between that and Phuket. As soon as I start to decide one way or other, I change my mind again. They are both so good in different ways. It'll probably be decided by a hat at this rate.

Originally Posted by Bex

hey since you are inviting us ladies, you paying?

Yeah, but i'll probably only be able to afford the one room though.

[Bex]

Originally Posted by punky

<snip>Bex: Thanks for the tip about Mauritius. I'm thinking about Cancun (east Mexico). Trouble is, it is so hard to decide between that and Phuket. As soon as I start to decide one way or other, I change my mind again. They are both so good in different ways. It'll probably be decided by a hat at this rate.


Yeah, but i'll probably only be able to afford the one room though.

try deciding on the merits of each place (and possibly the price) i would think about the pros and cons of each destination....eg. i'm scared of needles so would go for the one with least amount of injections needed...

one room....that's fine...us ladies can sleep in the room and you can sleep on the balcony

(missed reference to mexico in ur first post...i blame the pain killers and pain sorry)

[Charlie_Bubble]

Originally Posted by punky

Paulie: Thanx for the tip. I'll probably go eventually, but I feel a bit more adventurous atm. Besides, I go to the US all the time.

Bex: Thanks for the tip about Mauritius. I'm thinking about Cancun (east Mexico). Trouble is, it is so hard to decide between that and Phuket. As soon as I start to decide one way or other, I change my mind again. They are both so good in different ways. It'll probably be decided by a hat at this rate.


Yeah, but i'll probably only be able to afford the one room though.

Hmm, if you fancy going to Cancun then I think you better really like Americans. It's basically their equivalent to spain for us. Had some friends go there. One went about 6 years ago and said it was ok. The other friend went a couple of years ago. Enjoyed it, but then she was only 21 and it was her first real trip outside europe. If you do go then you should note that it's a big 'spring break' destination for US college kids. So depending on whether you want them around or not you better time your holiday right.