Holidays

Being pensioners we have to cut our cloth accordingly. Even though our £230 is only to increase by a tenner in April, it's still important we get to lick a few more cornets before paying the ferryman for that trip accross the Styx.

This year we stayed mainly in the UK in hotels, cottages and Caravans vacationing at Berwick, The Lakes, Beautiful Cleethorpes, Edinburgh, and a right nice little hobbit hole three clicks from Harlech.

Abroad we got to enjoy a short run to Rome and then finished off with a cheeky week in the Dorm, so on the fiscal front thought our travels had well and truly subsided for 2025. But then came Black Friday and joy oh joy.

We just Right Now booked a six day December full Package to the Reef with TUI. Decent flights with s/c, full transfers and 10k hand luggage for £124. Now't wrong with bottom picking and for that price you'd be hard pressed to nab a fox hole in the Mons.

 
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Stephen Ireland's pants said:
That's probably why tui are literally giving away all inclusive holidays to the place .
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Worked on the dam at Aswan for a few months and I was glad to get back home. We also did a cruise stopping off at Suez. All the way to the beach hordes of young kids were either oggling the wifes tits or worse still eyeing up my arse. I felt objectified and undervalued. When we hit the beach it was full of rubish cans and bags. Couldnt wait to get back on board.

I did some diving in Sharm and that was good to go but I did get maudlin with the trots. Some of the prices with tui ATM are beyond the mad. Cheap winter sun for sure.
 
Two Gun Bob said:
Worked on the dam at Aswan for a few months and I was glad to get back home. We also did a cruise stopping off at Suez. All the way to the beach hordes of young kids were either oggling the wifes tits or worse still eyeing up my arse. I felt objectified and undervalued. When we hit the beach it was full of rubish cans and bags. Couldnt wait to get back on board.

I did some diving in Sharm and that was good to go but I did get maudlin with the trots. Some of the prices with tui ATM are beyond the mad. Cheap winter sun for sure.
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Any ass pics? You big stud
 
Two Gun Bob said:
Worked on the dam at Aswan for a few months and I was glad to get back home. We also did a cruise stopping off at Suez. All the way to the beach hordes of young kids were either oggling the wifes tits or worse still eyeing up my arse. I felt objectified and undervalued. When we hit the beach it was full of rubish cans and bags. Couldnt wait to get back on board.

I did some diving in Sharm and that was good to go but I did get maudlin with the trots. Some of the prices with tui ATM are beyond the mad. Cheap winter sun for sure.
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Haha. I did both at the meet up mate.
 
Were back now and cheap holidays don't have to be cheap. In order to keep up apearances and bond with our other 3 star housemates, we decided to upgrade from self catering to all inclusive tarrif for 30 euros a day increasing our pre Xmas jolly from £124 to £256. It was a wise choice as the Los Gigantes area is fairly quite of an evening.

Drinks were Ok with their palatable draught being San Miguel, the shorts were a range of meh to acceptable, however their Thompson gin was more suited to a shelf in a furniture restoration shop. It smacked of tightness when they could have used a decent local brand like Larios.

Entertainment was utterly dreadful with Flamenco tap dancers, Karaoke which was gash as most of the germans couldn't sing a note and then a Mr and Mrs show followed by an acrobatic trio of oddities posing limited appeal.

Nay mither as our glass was still pretty much half full so we just had a few scoops and then went out to Route 66 for live music until midnight. Great resident band and a resident guitar singing compere who covered all the early rock hits from the floyd, supertramp ac/dc etc etc.

Weather was in the late seventies all week and the only upset of the holiday was the death of four tourists that had been swimming in the sheltered sea pool on the rocks. Waves were pretty agressive and kept rising up into the pool eventually sucking a number of them out to sea. We witnessed the helicopter winch up a lady that had gone into cardiac arrest but she was sadly DOA. Dive boats were still searching for days for a missing chap and unsure if they ever located him. The sea is unforgiving. RIP

Next outings a short three day melay to Blackers dragging us nicely into Christmas eve. Going to be sic!
 
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Two Gun Bob said:
Back now and cheap holidays don't have to be cheap. In order to keep up apearances and bond with our other 3 star housemates, we decided to upgrade from self catering to all inclusive tarrif for 30 euros a day increasing our pre Xmas jolly from £124 to £256. It was a wise choice as the Los Gigantes area is fairly quite of an evening.

Drinks were Ok with their palatable draught being San Miguel, the shorts were a range of meh to acceptable, however their Thompson gin was more suited to a shelf in a furniture restoration shop. It smacked of tightness when they could have used a decent local brand like Larios.

Entertainment was utterly dreadful with Flamenco tap dancers, Karaoke which was gash as most of the germans couldn't sing a note and then a Mr and Mrs show followed by an acrobatic trio of oddities posing limited appeal.

Nay mither as our glass was still pretty much half full so we just had a few scoops and then went out to Route 66 for live music until midnight. Great resident band and a resident guitar singing compere who covered all the early rock hits from the floyd, supertramp ac/dc etc etc.

Weather was in the late seventies all week and the only upset of the holiday was the death of four tourists that had been swimming in the sheltered sea pool on the rocks. Waves were pretty agressive and kept rising up into the pool eventually sucking a number of them out to sea. We witnessed the helicopter winch up a lady that had gone into cardiac arrest but she was sadly DOA. Dive boats were still searching for days for a missing chap and unsure if they ever located him. The sea is unforgiving. RIP

Our next outings a short three day melay to the Pool next week dragging us nicely unto Christmas eve. Going to be sic!
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Sounds great. Was that a late TUI deal?

After years of family trips with TUI, we generally use EasyJet and Ryanair, booking our own hotels. But as we hurtle towards 60 and beyond, I can see the ease of package deals and late bargains becoming a thing for us.
 
RobMCFC said:
Sounds great. Was that a late TUI deal?

After years of family trips with TUI, we generally use EasyJet and Ryanair, booking our own hotels. But as we hurtle towards 60 and beyond, I can see the ease of package deals and late bargains becoming a thing for us.
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First choice Rob coming in at £104 for 6 days. Transfers were £20 extra. Tui included a 10k bag each but we also used the underseat bag which has now increased in size to 40x30x20. We didnt struggle at all and it was great to get off the blocks first without waiting around at the carousel. First choice produce some peach deals.

On an interesting note Tenerife never fingerprinted us on their new EEC biometric checks and we were straight through with a quick stamp of the passport. Obviously being phased in slowly so all good for now.
 
Two Gun Bob said:
First choice Rob coming in at £104 for 6 days. Transfers were £20 extra. Tui included a 10k bag each but we also used the underseat bag which has now increased in size to 40x30x20. We didnt struggle at all and it was great to get off the blocks first without waiting around at the carousel. First choice produce some peach deals.

On an interesting note Tenerife never fingerprinted us on their new EEC biometric checks and we were straight through with a quick stamp of the passport. Obviously being phased in slowly so all good for now.
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Didn’t know that First Choice were still going. That is an amazing deal.
We don’t bother will checked in luggage anymore, apart from when we go to Florida (probably the last time for a while next year).

Went to Muricia last week and flew into Alicante, which was the first place we’ve been in Europe that did the fingerprinting. Actually pretty efficient with lots of desks, although bizarrely we still went through a gate AND had to have the passport stamped. Can imagine that being fun in the summer!
 
RobMCFC said:
Didn’t know that First Choice were still going. That is an amazing deal.
We don’t bother will checked in luggage anymore, apart from when we go to Florida (probably the last time for a while next year).

Went to Muricia last week and flew into Alicante, which was the first place we’ve been in Europe that did the fingerprinting. Actually pretty efficient with lots of desks, although bizarrely we still went through a gate AND had to have the passport stamped. Can imagine that being fun in the summer!
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First Choice are part of TUI, they diverged into doing just all inclusive then they diverged again as divergers do and concentrated on selling bucket holidays where you decide "exactly" what you need in a package. So transfers or no transfers or baggage or no baggage etc. Go on the deals section and press the month and watch the deals happen.

December Holiday Deals 2025 | FirstChoice.co.uk

Snap up a bargain with these holiday deals departing in December and escape the cold for less. Book now with First Choice.
www.firstchoice.co.uk www.firstchoice.co.uk

I do like Benidorm mainly as it was our honeymoom gaff back in 1980 were we stayed at the Reymar Riviera hotel which is now the Ambassador Playa hotel. Great back then but a regal pain in the arse to get back home as you had to wait patiently for all the hand stitched donkeys to come off the conveyer belt which took an age.

If anyone wants a cheap week in Benidorm for Xmas then First choice are doing full board at the Rio Park for saturday the 20th for 7 nights with brilliant flight times with TUI air. Early morning out and dinner time back. ten kilo bags and an under seat bag and full hold your hand transfers all for £370 pp. That is insane for Christmas!

Another cheap brand that is also part of TUI is Holidayhypermarket. They also carry good discounted deals.

Holiday Hypermarket | Find Your Dream Package Holiday 2025/2026

Make huge savings on your dream holiday with Holiday Hypermarket. Choose from over 30 million holidays worldwide. ATOL protected. Rated 4.7/5 by customers.
www.holidayhypermarket.co.uk www.holidayhypermarket.co.uk
 
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Two Gun Bob said:
Were back now and cheap holidays don't have to be cheap. In order to keep up apearances and bond with our other 3 star housemates, we decided to upgrade from self catering to all inclusive tarrif for 30 euros a day increasing our pre Xmas jolly from £124 to £256. It was a wise choice as the Los Gigantes area is fairly quite of an evening.

Drinks were Ok with their palatable draught being San Miguel, the shorts were a range of meh to acceptable, however their Thompson gin was more suited to a shelf in a furniture restoration shop. It smacked of tightness when they could have used a decent local brand like Larios.

Entertainment was utterly dreadful with Flamenco tap dancers, Karaoke which was gash as most of the germans couldn't sing a note and then a Mr and Mrs show followed by an acrobatic trio of oddities posing limited appeal.

Nay mither as our glass was still pretty much half full so we just had a few scoops and then went out to Route 66 for live music until midnight. Great resident band and a resident guitar singing compere who covered all the early rock hits from the floyd, supertramp ac/dc etc etc.

Weather was in the late seventies all week and the only upset of the holiday was the death of four tourists that had been swimming in the sheltered sea pool on the rocks. Waves were pretty agressive and kept rising up into the pool eventually sucking a number of them out to sea. We witnessed the helicopter winch up a lady that had gone into cardiac arrest but she was sadly DOA. Dive boats were still searching for days for a missing chap and unsure if they ever located him. The sea is unforgiving. RIP

Our next outings a short three day melay to the Pool next week dragging us nicely unto Christmas eve. Going to be sic!
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Yeah I read about that tragedy today. Apparently the pool was taped off but 20 people ignored it and 4 paid with their lives.
 
Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
Yeah I read about that tragedy today. Apparently the pool was taped off but 20 people ignored it and 4 paid with their lives.
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I dont wish to speak ill of the dead mate but sometimes just sometimes you wish a modicum of common sense would prevail. We saw many holiday makers for days working their way to the edge of the pool to get splashed by the incoming surf.

One second ..
 
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