The Lemon Fool

This year I would like to try Christmas away from home, and I would be interested in a few suggestions. I will be travelling alone (am perfectly comfortable with this). I do not want a beach holiday, preferring cities or towns. On the other hand, I do not really want to be freezing my *x@!'s off either. Perfectly happy with short or long haul and preferably to a destination that does not completely shut down over the holiday period. Looking at about a 10 day break.

Right now I am thinking of southern Japan (Okinawa, Fukuoka), Colombia or Mexico (although the latter two may fall into the "shut down for Xmas" - category.

Any suggestions or advice welcome

Yell

I would have thought that Japan would be cold at that time of the year. Australia is the obvious place but not very interesting. South Africa? I once spent Christmas in New York. Cold but may not be and it seemed to close for one day only. Savannah is an interesting and attractive place. The climate is warm enough then for the grass still to be cut. Not many tourists at that time of year.

Dod

I flew to Cape Town on Christmas Day a few years ago. Motorway clear all the way to Heathrow, terminal deserted, SA Airlines flight departs 9.30pm or thereabouts, Boxing Day arrival.

Lots to do, Table Mountain, Robben Island, Botanical Gardens, wine regions within an hour, cape tour, tame safari, and a great city break.

Oh and lovely weather, and super value for money.

Dod101 wrote: Australia is the obvious place but not very interesting.

welll... i dunno about that.

That really depends on what one wants from one's experience . I could think of worse things than spending Boxing day at the Melbourne test for starters, but obviously that only works for cricket lovers

South Pacific islands, and scuba diving?

didds

Hong Kong could be your ideal choice for a Christmas break. temperatures 15 to 20C. Lots to do. It certainly felt quite tropical to me, after having flown in from Seoul (which is very cold) at Christmas time some years ago..

I would not have seen HK as being very interesting at Christmas but then I lived there for many years and Christmas was spent being as Christmassy as we could indoors, because it felt cold. I accept though that it was not much below 10C I suppose. I doubt that you will see 20C in Hong Kong at Christmas even with global warming.

A general holiday in HK especially not Chinese New Year will bring out the crowds though and I would not choose it at that time.

Given a choice I would plump for Savannah.

Dod

Thailand (Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai/Bangkok as you don’t like beaches) or a two/three centre holiday in SE Asia so Bangkok/Angkor temples in Siem Reap/Luang Prabang (a beautiful quiet backwater for a few days to relax - fabulous temples, great fusion food - the French influence, and a wonderful location.) None of these places are committed to Christmas although some in Bangkok make an effort for the tourists. All will celebrate NY big time.

Wherever you go do lots of research beforehand and you’ll get massively more out of it. Have a great time.

Best wishes,

Steve

Dod101 wrote:...
Given a choice I would plump for Savannah.

Dod

Savannah GA ?
I've never visited, but it's on my list. A mate of mine was posted there for a year or so, and loved it.

Yes Savannah GA. As I think I said earlier, we spent the run up to Christmas there some years back. The climate was mild/warm, chilly in the evenings, wonderful Christmas decorations. It was one of the only cities to be spared by Sherman in the Civil War and so it still has the original 18th century squares and big ex cotton warehouses on the waterfront which are now mostly converted into hotels.

Deep south of course but actually we saw no race problems and all in all a most interesting place to visit. I guess in the summer it will be very hot and humid so I would give it a miss then.

Dod

Thanks for the responses.

I'll look into Savannah (have relatives in Atlanta so could combine a visit). I'll also do a bit of research into Bangkok/Chiang Mai. Option 3 is Okinawa and outlying islands - love Japan and December temps are 16-22 c so avoiding the chills on the mainland.

Yell

Longer flight than Savannah but Taiwan is worth a shout. About half as big again as Wales, it’s a very modern, highly efficient country - so little in terms of old architecture save for temples - but ... great value hotels, loads of good food options, “open” all the time except Chinese New Year, pleasant climate at that time of year (more so in the South around Kaohsiung and beyond where the beaches are) and, compared with the UK, truly amazing integrated public transport which is excellent value. The bullet train was the only ”expensive” transport but nothing like as expensive as UK and well worth it. Best of all lovely people who seemed to want to help everywhere I went. Honestly, their generosity of spirit just left me shaking my head in disbelief sometimes.

You would just need to be happy with the length of the flights compared to the actual time on holiday.

Regards

RD

Regdragon wrote:Longer flight than Savannah but Taiwan is worth a shout. About half as big again as Wales, it’s a very modern, highly efficient country - so little in terms of old architecture save for temples - but ... great value hotels, loads of good food options, “open” all the time except Chinese New Year, pleasant climate at that time of year (more so in the South around Kaohsiung and beyond where the beaches are) and, compared with the UK, truly amazing integrated public transport which is excellent value. The bullet train was the only ”expensive” transport but nothing like as expensive as UK and well worth it. Best of all lovely people who seemed to want to help everywhere I went. Honestly, their generosity of spirit just left me shaking my head in disbelief sometimes.

You would just need to be happy with the length of the flights compared to the actual time on holiday.

Regards

RD

Thanks Regdragon

I will definitely look into Taiwan - would you recommend anywhere outside of Taipei?

Yell

Regdragon wrote:Longer flight than Savannah but Taiwan is worth a shout. About half as big again as Wales, it’s a very modern, highly efficient country - so little in terms of old architecture save for temples - but ... great value hotels, loads of good food options, “open” all the time except Chinese New Year, pleasant climate at that time of year (more so in the South around Kaohsiung and beyond where the beaches are) and, compared with the UK, truly amazing integrated public transport which is excellent value. The bullet train was the only ”expensive” transport but nothing like as expensive as UK and well worth it. Best of all lovely people who seemed to want to help everywhere I went. Honestly, their generosity of spirit just left me shaking my head in disbelief sometimes.

You would just need to be happy with the length of the flights compared to the actual time on holiday.

Regards

Last time I was in Taiwan was around 1990 and your description is about as far from my experience as possible. In those days almost nothing was written in English and there were no trains to speak of. A very foreign country. They need friends of course because they want to avoid PRC domination but it is good to hear that they now know enough English to be able to help.

Dod

“Last time I was in Taiwan was around 1990 and your description is about as far from my experience as possible. In those days almost nothing was written in English and there were no trains to speak of. A very foreign country. They need friends of course because they want to avoid PRC domination but it is good to hear that they now know enough English to be able to help.”

Re trains, that puts the Taiwanese rate of progress into amazing context. They are way ahead of us in terms of public transport efficiency and value. Most people under 40 speak some English. Although in taxis it’s best to have your destination written out in Mandarin too, I found they just accept your business anyway and then pull over next to the first young person and say “Where does he want to go?!” Older people that need to speak to tourists usually can after a fashion but the rest can use Google Translate which is fun sometimes. I liked the big cities especially Taipei, Tainan and Kaohsiung but the holiday areas around the Kenting peninsular are good too. They are perhaps the most helpful people i’ve come across on my travels. When I got caught in the rain a mile from the hotel and was sheltering under a shop front, a lady in a motorbike helmet came from nowhere, pressed an umbrella into my
hands, said “Bye!” and rode off!

Regards

RD

Not quite sure why I wrote 'no trains' but certainly they had nothing modern. They like the PRC have obviously made huge progress though in the last 30 years. Good for them.

Incidentally, Chinese characters are not written in Mandarin. They are the common connection between speakers of the many different dialects, and practically all Chinese whatever dialect they speak can read them so as to communicate.

Dod

Its been a few years since I went to Cuba for Xmas having done it 3 in a row but can recommend it as a new experience, communism is not dead yet! Havana you should do before it becomes completely Americanized again. Weather perfect that time of year.