The Great British Holiday Getaway Nightmare

[Bobby Dandruff]

You only get one life, seems a bit of a waste to spend it all in one tiny country if you can afford to see other places. Just my opinion obviously

Exactly.

[Tuerto]

I think this is one where Gordon Brown is to blame.

When he was Chancellor of the Exchequer (as I remember) he removed the centuries old government taxes or duties on local/craft gin production - the ones brought in when Hogarth was doing his cartoons of Gin Alley and pissed mothers pouring booze down their toddlers' throats. The result was an explosion of local and small-scale gin production all over the country. From a handful of national brands (Gordons, London, Hendricks etc) there were hundreds within just a few years. Local tonics followed. Close behind that came the gin bars. Now the UK is the biggest gin exporter in the world (all pre Brexit!).

Cheers for that, interesting! Yeah, Gin is everywhere it seems, all of this flavoured stuff as well, it looks awful.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Exactly.

That's two of you then

The question I would have Bobby if your view is that life is short then why waste your time every other Saturday driving to Wales to watch a game of football

Feck off to Egypt and tell your grandchildren you have seen the pyramids

Do something with your life

Join me in Cardigan

[blue matt]

I think this is one where Gordon Brown is to blame.

When he was Chancellor of the Exchequer (as I remember) he removed the centuries old government taxes or duties on local/craft gin production - the ones brought in when Hogarth was doing his cartoons of Gin Alley and pissed mothers pouring booze down their toddlers' throats. The result was an explosion of local and small-scale gin production all over the country. From a handful of national brands (Gordons, London, Hendricks etc) there were hundreds within just a few years. Local tonics followed. Close behind that came the gin bars. Now the UK is the biggest gin exporter in the world (all pre Brexit!).

I know a " home brewer / moonshiner " who made his own craft Gin ( sold a little illegally ), a guy had some at a party they both attended and was blown away, the guy asked if he was interested in making is full time, so the guy invested and he now has a small unit with 2 fairly big stills and works full time legitimately legal and above board, 2 people working for him ( both part time but it suits them both ) he often sells his runs weeks in advance, fully booked up for about 3 months, its crazy

[Tuerto]

I know a " home brewer / moonshiner " who made his own craft Gin ( sold a little illegally ), a guy had some at a party they both attended and was blown away, the guy asked if he was interested in making is full time, so the guy invested and he now has a small unit with 2 fairly big stills and works full time legitimately legal and above board, 2 people working for him ( both part time but it suits them both ) he often sells his runs weeks in advance, fully booked up for about 3 months, its crazy

Matt, you know ****ing everyone. If you went to the seaside, even the seagulls would stop fora chat.

[life on mars]

Everytime the French feck up at its borders its Brexits fault , great default , even Eurostar identity it as staffing problems.

There's always been long queues at Dover on the first summer holiday weekend ..

With regards to overall travel 90% of folk are flying with the odd hourly delay, holiday companies guilty of over selling /bookings , other countries still have Covid sickness issues , back in February it was reported bookings were up 19% from pre pandemic levels ..

Geniunally sorry for those who are stuck , its been 2 years of lockdown, no wonder they are fleeing to the sun ...

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Everytime the French feck up at its borders its Brexits fault , great default , even Eurostar identity it as staffing problems.

There's always been long queues at Dover on the first summer holiday weekend ..

With regards to overall travel 90% of folk are flying with the odd hourly delay, holiday companies guilty of over selling /bookings , other countries still have Covid sickness issues , back in February it was reported bookings were up 19% from pre pandemic levels ..

Geniunally sorry for those who are stuck , its been 2 years of lockdown, no wonder they are fleeing to the sun ...

I avoid the stress by going West

[blue matt]

Matt, you know ****ing everyone. If you went to the seaside, even the seagulls would stop fora chat.

I do like a bit of a chat , I must admit that ( it is my downfall ) I find different people interesting, I find it fascinating how people can have such varied Views or opinions on stuff, always have, I meet a fair few people in work, Im about to start 1 day a week doing customer liaison for a garden building company ( go around the job and snag it with the customer ) So I'll get to meet and bore even more people

[Tuerto]

I do like a bit of a chat , I must admit that ( it is my downfall ) I find different people interesting, I find it fascinating how people can have such varied Views or opinions on stuff, always have, I meet a fair few people in work, Im about to start 1 day a week doing customer liaison for a garden building company ( go around the job and snag it with the customer ) So I'll get to meet and bore even more people

Snagging.....hmmm, that could be tricky. Get on your Disney stories, they'll end up ripping the snag list up!

[blue matt]

Snagging.....hmmm, that could be tricky. Get on your Disney stories, they'll end up ripping the snag list up!

the company want me to be honest and keep the customer happy, but the builders / installers they use are self employed, so I have to just report back to the company and they will get it done ( at least thats the plan , I know from being a Chippy its never going to be that easy, but the money they offered was decent and I couldnt turn it down, if it does turn into a PITA job, I'll bin it fairly soon )

[Bobby Dandruff]

That's two of you then

The question I would have Bobby if your view is that life is short then why waste your time every other Saturday driving to Wales to watch a game of football

Feck off to Egypt and tell your grandchildren you have seen the pyramids

Do something with your life

Join me in Cardigan

But I don’t drive to Cardiff every other weekend. I don’t know where you got that idea from.

Btw, Egypt is one of THE most fascinating places that I have ever visited. Genuinely breathtaking on so many levels and one of the VERY few places that I would consider re-visiting. Almost beyond words - you should go. You will not be disappointed.

[Dorcus]

Same hear about £4.50/£5.00 around Cardiff….in fact I’m having one in a few

Peroni is great too Goats but it costs an arm and two legs. I like the other Italian one, Nastro Azzurro too 👍

[delmbox]

Well things being as they are I would rather spend 2 hours driving to somewhere in west Wales I have never seen before than put myself in an early grave pissing about with connecting flights or getting stuck in 6 hour delays at Dover to travel through Europe

If you go to Tenerife it's basically west Wales with sun , in October.

Yeah but you said you'd been doing it for 10 years, things haven't always been the way they are now. But anyway, each to their own, I suppose if you dislike the heat like you do that takes away a lot of the attraction for going to certain countries

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Yeah but you said you'd been doing it for 10 years, things haven't always been the way they are now. But anyway, each to their own, I suppose if you dislike the heat like you do that takes away a lot of the attraction for going to certain countries

Absolutely

England is far too hot for me

[xsnaggle]

Yeah, what the **** is that all about?

Gin???

[splott parker]

Wizz Air have been flying from Cardiff from the start of April. Hey are budget airline with some cheap flights to a lot of places in Europe. Went to Lanzarote and back last two weeks of May for £65. Lanzarote and back last week of Jan/first week of Feb for £25 return

Missus flew with them to Alicante a couple of weeks back, £67 for the flight, £53 for the case .......ok if you’re going away with a Tesco carrier bag with one change of knickers I s'pose.

[North Cardiff Blue]

This was Center parcs though, we would park the car on the Friday and it wouldnt move, kids would spend hours in the pool, go for a bike ride, and one of the following per day crazy golf, geo caching or rock climbing
get in car on the Monday afternoon after another day in the pool

Used to go all the time when the kids were young, it was brilliant miles better than Bluestone, but it's way overpriced these days, now that eveyone knows about it and it's become a trendy place to take little Tarquin and Lillybet !

[North Cardiff Blue]

Missus flew with them to Alicante a couple of weeks back, £67 for the flight, £53 for the case .......ok if you’re going away with a Tesco carrier bag with one change of knickers I s'pose.

Yes they catch you on the luggage, still pretty cheap overall though, and very quiet to fly out of Cardiff compared to the rest of the UK.

[North Cardiff Blue]

Give it another couple of years...

In retirement I was going to keep a place in Cardiff for the summer and buy a place in Spain for the Winter, I may have to move to the North of Scotland and get a house in Cornwall for the Winter instead?

[North Cardiff Blue]

Everytime the French feck up at its borders its Brexits fault , great default , even Eurostar identity it as staffing problems.

There's always been long queues at Dover on the first summer holiday weekend ..

With regards to overall travel 90% of folk are flying with the odd hourly delay, holiday companies guilty of over selling /bookings , other countries still have Covid sickness issues , back in February it was reported bookings were up 19% from pre pandemic levels ..

Geniunally sorry for those who are stuck , its been 2 years of lockdown, no wonder they are fleeing to the sun ...

Exactly blame the French it's always been the same, and if they are not incompetent at the ferry ports, they are on strike blocking them over fishing or something equally annoying.

[splott parker]

Exactly blame the French it's always been the same, and if they are not incompetent at the ferry ports, they are on strike blocking them over fishing or something equally annoying.

I often wish UK workers were more like the French, they do seem petty on times but they don’t bugger about when standing up for their rights. Vive la révolution I s’pose while we're still tugging our forelocks.

[blue matt]

Used to go all the time when the kids were young, it was brilliant miles better than Bluestone, but it's way overpriced these days, now that eveyone knows about it and it's become a trendy place to take little Tarquin and Lillybet !

silly prices now, though we are going in November

My mrs used to know the head of housekeeping at the longleat site ( she still does know her to be honest ), on a Friday afternoon we used to get a text message and it would say " we have this unit available ( might be 2 or 3 bed, standard upto the exec units, it was always random ) you can come over in 1 hour, do you want me to pay for it for you, its £125 " ( ranging from 90 to 200 depending on the unit ) , we would always say Yes, pick the kids up from school and Chuck some clothes in our travel bag, pop to Tesco's for snacks and drinks and be parked up by 4, in the pool by 5 ( while my mrs unpacked and faffed around )

They kept a few units back incase of emergencies and would make sure most were in the units and sell a odd few of to the staff family and friends, we were spending at least 1 weekend per month over there, it was insane, she even got us some bikes, this went on for a few years and then she selfishly retired I missed them weekends

[blue matt]

Missus flew with them to Alicante a couple of weeks back, £67 for the flight, £53 for the case .......ok if you’re going away with a Tesco carrier bag with one change of knickers I s'pose.

daughter if of around Europe with some uni friends in a week, they are flying, 4 airports in 9 days, only taking a small carry-on to keep costs down ( I eurorailed around Europe when I was younger, now it seems they just fly on budget airlines )