O/T Most memorable holiday.

Does italia 90 count as a holiday? Well if so that would be hard to beat in so many ways....

 

Absolutely love Scotland. One of my most memorable holidays was learning to sail with my dad for a week near Fort William. Just me and the old man in a b&b when I was 12. Neither of us ended up being good at sailing, but I have memories to last 2 lifetimes.

I’ve been blessed to have seen some amazing places. Mauritius, New York, Thailand and a small group of islands called the Perhentian Islands are all great memories for one reason or another. Be it backpacking in thailand for 3 months or visiting my best friend in NY and being treated to how “the other side” live for a weekend. But my most memorable holiday/trip has to be Honduras where I stayed for 5 months when I was 18. Carrying out diving surveys of the coral reefs, logging the topography of the reefs, the fish counts and various coral types. I got to dive with Whale Sharks, Dolphins, and all manner of other wonderful creatures & made friends for life. I also got to spend time engaging and working with the local children and fishermen about the dangers of dynamite fishing and cyanide fishing to the long term sustainability of the reef. Certain areas of the reefs are still marine reserves today as a result.

Now I have kids of my own I can’t wait for them to explore the world. But the one place we go back to each year is the east coast of Yorkshire. We got married there and of all the beaches in the world my favourite is The Bay in Filey.

 

As a kid got to be Blackpool. As an adult. Med cruise. Visited Florence/Rome/Monaco etc.

 

In my teens, my mates and I always used to have a week in Blackpool. We always has a great time
from the bits I remember. In later years, one of the lads went back and bought his I own B&B and my mates
now with their own families stayed there. Never been to Monaco. Enjoyed my one and only visit to Florence
and have vowed to return to Rome, because last time we visited, we didn't get the time to see everything
we wanted to see. We saw the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Cistine Chapel, the Colosseum and St Peters Square
but as it was only a day trip it seemed to be a bit rushed. On one day excursion on the same holiday in the Cafe at Monte Casino we heard a some folks on a Coach trip from Barnsley moaning about their poor refuse collection service.!

 

To get a flavour of Rome, you need at least 4 days. I love the feel of Trastevere. I'd miss the Colosseum (you can see enough of it outside), and to be honest, there are better ones in Pula in Croatia and my favourite, El Djem in Tunisia. Just ramble, walk through the little streets, neighbourhood to neighbourhood. Go in every church you can, each one a new masterpiece. Last time we visited we ventured to a district beyond circus maximus and found a museum said to have artefacts from christs death (i'm not religious, and can't know if they are real or not, but it was an interesting very quiet find). It was situated just after the original church that was home to the first popes. Incredible statues of the apostles inside. But the thing that never fails to blow my mind is the architectural dig in the heart of the city and wandering though to Palatine Hill. Or just standing looking at the trajan column and the intricate carvings. I never tire of the trevi fountain, especially at night, but the Spanish steps aren't too exciting and always rammed with tourists. Likewise the cistine chapel (which you cant take pictures of as they sold the rights to Nikon), but the huge range of ceilings statues and tapestries on the way to see the final are well worth the queue.

I love Italy, but Rome is just something else. Like London, the more you wander, the more you go off the beaten track, the more gems you find.

 

Got to agree mate re Rome, would like to spend a few days there. Lost a couple of hrs watching em filming Angels and Demons. With Tom Hanks. ( Group I was with were more interested in that, including ar lass.). In the sq. where the Parthenon is. Came out of the Parthenon to get a better look. Our lass cussed. Cos Tom Hanks walked across the sq. with a English bride and handed her over to her dad in The PARTHENON to rapturous applause. Saw it in the daily paper a few days later. Wondered how much that will have knocked her dad back.

 

On Monday 1st Julst 1991, me and three mates from Uni set off on the first train from Sheffield with a passport, an InterRail ticket and some cash. Four weeks later we came back with very little cash and lots of great memories. In no kind of order:

Paris
Berlin
Stockholm
Hamburg
Amsterdam
Prague
Vienna
Venice
Roma
Nice
Barcelona
Tunisia
Budapest

Fantastic experience I would recommend to anyone, and just wish I'd had the cash to do it again when I was still young enough to cope with sleeping in train aisles.

 

I do a lot of DJing in Scotland & always make a week of it, booking a cottage. Been up to Ayrshire & Galloway this year & I'm over in Fife in September (Anstruther). Little blog post here, if anyone is interested:

https://hi-lifemobiledjleeds.blog/2018/06/12/hi-life-in-scotland/

 

Looks excellent mate.