What are your best (and worst) holiday experiences

[Dave7]

I was just remeniscing and thinking (i do sometimes) and got to thinking...... there must be some amazing/awful holiday memories from CCrs with the mix of personalities on here.
As we have grown up grandchildren we have some wonderful holiday memories with very few (if any) bad ones.
One of our best was in 2000. Malta. 4 star A.I in the Fortina hotel. I got some good diving in. We visited lots of interesting places. Hotel was bril......food and drink super.
We often talk about it but never went back as prices went thro the roof.
Negative.......
Booked a Caravan on a farm near Harlech (north Wales). Arrived very late and it was dark.....we literally just crashed out without unpacking.
Next morning we realised what a filthy dump we were in. We left a note and money to cover one night (why?) and did a runner to Anglesey where we had a good holiday.

Tell us your best and (if you want) your worst.

 

[Sharky]

1956 Blackpool. Only 6 at the time and although a great place for a 6 yr old, that year it was infested with swarms and swarms of flying ants.

 

[Dave7]

1956 Blackpool. Only 6 at the time and although a great place for a 6 yr old, that year it was infested with swarms and swarms of flying ants.

Must have been really bad for it to stick in your mind from then.
When I was about 6 (1953) I recall a caravan holiday in north wales. No running water or electricity. We (my dad) had to dig a hole for a bog.

 

[Fnaar]

Best: camping on island off the coast of Spain with the ex-Mrs Fnaar: I realised I was in love
Worst: Prague, with the ex-mrs Fnaar, when I realised I wan't any more and my daughter had a bad seizure and injured her head quite badly

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Goa: early 90's, relatively unspoilt. Great food, great people a totally chilled 3 week dossathon back in the day when we were both working very hard and needed a break from corporate life. Cost very little, about £600pp + £80pp for the extra third week. We found it hard to spend a tenner a day. Brilliant value. Probably gone downhill by now as many places do once they get very popular.

Dominican Republic: late 90's, paid a small fortune for an 'exclusive' hotel for a couple of weeks. Hotel was just about ok but the resort and whole of the North/North East coast that we visited was awful. We were harassed by locals, it was unsafe to visit towns at night, the beaches were nothing to write home about (despite looking gorgeous in the snazzy brochure), the food was so-so etc. I wouldn't go anywhere near the place again even if someone paid me to so. Best part of £5k straight down the drain - you live and learn!

 

[Dave7]

Best: camping on island off the coast of Spain with the ex-Mrs Fnaar: I realised I was in love
Worst: Prague, with the ex-mrs Fnaar, when I realised I wan't any more and my daughter had a bad seizure and injured her head quite badly

Was going to 'like' that but realised it was quite sad in parts.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Worst
Two days in New York 1998
Only upsides were going up the Empire State Building, & seeing the Chrysler Building, at night

 

[slowmotion]

Acapulco, 1976. I woke up in the middle of the night in a cheap hotel feeling that something wasn't quite right. On turning on the light, I looked down to see that the blanket on the bed was a seething carpet of cockroaches. They had been dropping down from a hole in the ceiling. I didn't get any more sleep and checked out before breakfast. The next hotel was quite good in comparison.

 

[gbb]

Never really had a bad holiday, we always (sometimes to the point of being annoying) research as much as possible, but also adapt to what we find if it doesn't meet expectations. For instance Cape Verde, we didn't realise how little there is there, some small towns, a Martian landscape and some mediocre day trips, but adapt and relax, shut down completely and enjoy the endless Sandy beaches and fun waves that crash in...marvellous.
Cancun I thought was overrated. Perhaps the nightlife, of which we didn't partake is world class..?but the rest isn't. Still enjoyed it though.

 

[Drago]

Best - meeting lots of young ladies who were up for a bit of young squaddie in Cyprus.

Worst - Getting arrested in Portugal. Being a young squaddie I'd been stupidly caught fighting, and got slapped around by the local Five-0. At the time I was quite resentful but looking back...fair play, I deserved it, took my knocks, didn't get any broken bones, and went home otherwise none the worse for wear. A lesson in growing up.

 

[NorthernDave]

Worst - Playa del Carmen, Mexico 2005. A fortnight AI in a 4 star resort hotel. To be fair, the first week was pretty blooming good. But then Hurricane Wilma (the most intense tropical cyclone ever reported in the Atlantic basin) arrived...although we got away quite lightly compared to the poor people up the road in Cancun.

Best - there have been some good ones - let me think...

 

[Adam4868]

Best is a hard one as I was lucky enough in my younger days to do a lot of traveling (think lazy get !) But I loved south east asia in the early 90s.But I guess I better say China as met my partner there in Dali 20 ISH years ago.Id spent 7 months travelling through and she said she felt sorry for me when we met !
Worst...probally South Africa without wishing to offend anyone I just didn't enjoy it.

 

[Dave 123]

Bunyola, Mallorca. Mrs Dave and the boy, then aged about 10 had the squits for 10days of the 14.
Between them they broke the loo seat in the house we rented.
We didn’t get to see much....

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Not getting onto my island to go fishing courtesy of Hurricane Matthew counts as the lowpoint. It got worse when I came back home and found out the limitations attached to my insurance. (No, not a bean...)

Best? Tour of the Western Isles in a convertible in beautiful weather zig-zagging between the best restaurants ranks pretty high.

 

[snorri]

Best was my month in Canada, the first week in Toronto and travelling to the west coast where I stayed for three weeks. I can still remember my feelings as the homeward bound aircraft climbed up from Vancouver. I'd had my 40th birthday over there and it was too late to change direction, but if it had been my 20th birthday?? Anyway, no regrets, things have changed there too.
I can't recall any "worst" holidays, most of my holidays have been cycle tours where any bad experience is soon forgotten.