Tim & Rachel’s Babymoon!

We’re going on a babymoon!

We have a couple of windows in our busy diaries where we can go away for a babymoon before our little one arrives. The windows are:

30th January to the 3rdof Feb

7th of Feb to the 14thof Feb

I’ve put together a few plans for our little getaway before we hit the no fly zone and we can book flights on boxing day (Virgin Atlantic and other airlines will be having sales).

Looking forward to it already xxx

Budget weekend away option 1:

Weekend in Barcelona

The details:

Dates: Friday 31st of January to Monday 3rd of February

Number of nights: 3 nights in Barcelona

The flights: Direct to and from Gatwick, 2 hour each way

Temperature: 8-15 Degrees (quite cold)

Dengue report – safe

The cost:

  • Flights: £50
  • Good 4* Hotel: £70 per night
  • Other stuff: £50 for Barcelona football tickets
  • Total cost: £590 (incl. £60 per day spending money)

Fun things to do:

  • Watch Lionel Messi play for Barcelona on the Sunday
  • Go on a food tour
  • Rent a boat
  • Brush up on our tango at a Milonga
  • Go on an escape tour…

Minor issues:

  • Won’t be very warm
  • Been there, done that.

Budget weekend away option 2:

Northern Lights & Iceland

  • The Silver waters of Silfra
  • Inside the Ice Caves
  • Silhouettes

The details:

Dates: Friday 7thto Tuesday 11th of Feb

Number of nights: 4 nights

The flights: Direct to and from Gatwick, 3:20 hour each way

Temperature: -2 to 3 Degrees

Dengue – No

The cost:

  • Flights: £150
  • Good 4* Hotel: £100per night
  • Other stuff: ?
  • Total cost: £1000 (incl. £75 per day spending money)

Fun things to do:

  • See the north side of the island
  • Go see the volcanoes and lava outlets
  • Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

Minor issues:

  • Will be cold
  • Been there, done that.
  • Might be going there for a wedding in 2020

Budget weekend away option 3:

Istanbul & Cappadocia

The details:

Dates: Thursday 6th to Tuesday 11th Feb 

Number of nights: 4 nights

The flights: To and from Gatwick via Istanbul or Stuttgart, 2 hour each way

Temperature: 2-10 Degrees

Dengue – No

The cost:

  • Flights: £180 return to capadocia, £35 return to istanbul
  • Good 4* Hotel: £50per night
  • Other stuff: £250for Hot air balloon ride for 2
  • Total cost: £1,000 (incl. £60 per day spending money)

Fun things to do:

  • Watch the balloons go up over sunrise
  • Do a balloon flight
  • Go on a trip to Istanbul for a day or 2 

Minor issues:

  • Might be quite cold
  • Not a good time for balloon rides… lots of cancelations

Bigger trip option 4:

South Africa

  • Kenya, Masai Mara, Masai, Kananga International, Julia's River Camp, Governors Camp, Safari, East Africa, Lion, Lions, Big 5, the big five
  • Kenya, Masai Mara, Masai, Kananga International, Julia's River Camp, Safari, East Africa, Wildebeest, Migration, The Great Migration, Mara River
  • Zebras in the Masai Mara, Safari, Serengeti, Essential Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar

The details:

Dates: Saturday 8th to Friday 14th Feb 

Number of nights: 5 nights

The flights: To and from Heathrow via Nairobi , 13 hours flight each way

Temperature: 14-26 Degrees

Dengue – No

The cost:

  • Flights: £400
  • Good 4* Hotel: £90per night
  • Other stuff: ?
  • Total cost: £1,550 (incl. £60 per day spending money)

Fun things to do:

  • Internal flights Kruger park for safari
  • Visit Cape town
  • Travel by train around country
  • Go to Victoria falls
  • Go to Botswana

Minor issues:

  • Internal/additional flights not cheap, cost would rise

Bigger Trip option 5:

Ethiopia

  • Tarime Airport, Tanzania, kiwi.com
  • Four Seasons Serengeti, Serengeti National Park, East Africa, Infinity Pool, Tanzania, FSSafari, MyFSSafari, watering hole

The details:

Dates: Friday 7th to Friday 14th Feb 

Number of nights: 6 nights

The flights: To and from Gatwick via Rome, 9 hours flight each way

Temperature: 11-25 Degrees

Dengue – Not before 2013 but some cases emerging now. No mosquitoes in the mountains so no risk there. 

The cost:

  • Flights: £380
  • Good 4* Hotel: £90per night
  • Other stuff: ?
  • Total cost: £1,500 (incl. £60 per day spending money)

Fun things to do:

  • Go up the mountains to mountain lodges
  • See the blue nile falls
  • See the volcanic lakes
  • See some safari animals (e.g. hyenas) 

Minor issues:

  • Small dengue risk 

Bigger Trip option 6:

China and Hong Kong

The details:

Dates: Fri 7th to Wed 12th Feb 

Number of nights: 4 nights

The flights: from Gatwick via Chengdu & Beijing, 13 hours each way. potential direct flight with virgin Atlantic for less than £400 on boxing day.

Temperature: 14-19 Degrees

Dengue – only some cases in the East of China

The cost:

  • Flights: £400 but could drop boxing day
  • Good 4* Hotel: £200 per night
  • Other stuff: ?
  • Total cost: £1,750 (incl. £60 per day spending money)

Fun things to do:

  • Night markets in Chengdu
  • 5 nights in Hong Kong
  • Night or Day in Beijing

Minor issues:

  • Bit political right now

Bigger Trip option 7:

Miami: Key West road trip or Caribbean cruise

  • The view from the Conrad Hotel Miami
  • A stroll through the park to break up the tour and see the sights
  • Alternative Orlando - Blue Spring State Park
  • The underwater world of the manatee (Courtesy of Sami El-Haddadeh)
  • Alternative Orlando - Blue Spring State Park

The details:

Dates: Friday 31stJan to Wed 5thFeb 

Number of nights: 5 nights

The flights: Norwegian direct from Gatwick, 9 hours each way

Temperature: 18-24 Degrees

Dengue – No

The cost:

  • Flights: £280 (although VA flights could drop to £200 on boxing day)
  • Good 4* Hotel: £150 per night
  • Other stuff: ?
  • Total cost: £1,600 (incl. £60 per day spending money)

Fun things to do:

  • Road trip down key west
  • Could rent a house on the beach or stay in hotel
  • Short Caribean cruise
  • Trip to bahamas

Minor issues:

  • Done Miami before
  • Will probably be going back to Florida again…