Toying, just toying, you understand with the idea of having a month or three in a warmer climate to escape the worst of the British winter.
Where to go?
It must be cheap. It must be warm - but not unbearably hot. Things to do for the brain, so that I/we don't spend all day drinking. Did I mention cheap?
Suggestions so far:-
Spain
Morocco
Florida
Thailand
Any thoughts, ideas, alternative locations?
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Not quite the same question but some ideas here:
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=9636&v=f
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>> Toying, just toying, you understand with the idea of having a month or three in
>> a warmer climate to escape the worst of the British winter.
Why?
I can think of anything worse than 12 months of "same" I wouldn't miss that first clean crisp deathly quiet morning after a night fall of snow for anything. Dewey cobwebs, frost covered trees, swans on ice, crunchy frozen grass, damp still spooky foggy nights. How can you appreciate spring summer and autumn if you don't have winter.
Anyway, everywhere you go will be full of brits moaning about the weather at home.
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>>everywhere you go will be full of brits moaning about the weather at home<<
Hehe! - they'll be moaning alright (about something or other) but not about the weather!
Back in the naughty nineties I decided to drop-out, turn on, and tune in to something other than work, so I sold orf my little one man business and flew orf to Tenerife for Jan, Feb, and March,
I knew the Island well anyway and had a few connections so managed to get a flight with avro for next to nothing and a front-line apartamento for just £70 a week :)
I did it on my own BTW, and lived very frugally - eating mainly sardines, tuna, chicken, bread, cheese, and veg/salad,
I returned to blighty in the Spring feeling like a $million (how does a million dollars actually feel I wonder?)
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A few of the retired 'residents' of the caravan park go abroad when the park shuts in January and February.
One guy I spoke to said it works OK, but there's nothing to do and no one to talk to over there.
Not sure where, might be Spain.
He also finds the landscape, particularly the absence of trees, not to his liking.
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A few of the retired 'residents' of the caravan park go abroad when the park
>> shuts in January and February.
>>
>> One guy I spoke to said it works OK, but there's nothing to do and
>> no one to talk to over there.
That's why I wouldn't mind Florida. Ok, the yanks can be tiresome, but they speak something similar to English.
This is just a thought, you understand. I agree with Zero (for once) in his eloquent post about swans landing on the ice and all that.
The cold in England doesn't bother me, it's the rain I find tedious and we haven't had much of that this winter.
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>> The cold in England doesn't bother me, it's the rain I find tedious and we
>> haven't had much of that this winter.
I don't even mind rain, the smells sights and sounds are delicious.
Mind if we had horizontal cold rain in your face every day of the winter, you would find me moaning about it in somewhere warmer.
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Zero, The only reason you love it here is because it's full of steamers to film on a cold day with clouds of steam, you won't get that in Spain.!!
Australia for 3 months it's there summer time go watch the topless girls on the beach!!
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"...you won't get that in Spain.!!"
You might get some snow though - this morning's report from the Volta a Catalunya:
www.velonation.com/News/ID/11426/Chaos-in-Catalunya-as-snow-temporarily-hems-in-five-teams.aspx
Yesterday's stage was shortened due to the weather
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>> I returned to blighty in the Spring feeling like a $million (how does a million
>> dollars actually feel I wonder?)
>>
>>
>>
Green and crinkly....
Too much turbulence on the flight?
Anyway, attempts at humour aside:
house insurance may be an issue if you're away more than a certain number of continuous weeks (maybe 6?)
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Thu 22 Mar 12 at 11:25
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>>house insurance may be an issue if you're away more than a certain number of continuous weeks (maybe 6?)<<
I believe its 30 days for standard home insurance.
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>> I believe its 30 days for standard home insurance.
Mine is 60 days an will extend that if requested
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Excellent post Zeddo me ol' chum. I know (95%) of the time when it's you that's posting. I read a bit then look up the name. You have a handle on a few things.
I hate the cold damp weather and often yearn for some warmth. On the odd occasion I have ventured to the Canaries etc. in the Winter I can't wait to get back.
I knew an ex Military man, active service here there and everywhere, Bursar of a local private school who once said, "Martin, I have served and lived in lots of places. The hot one's are just that, HOT. They have little to recommend them, there is no place like England." I'm with Zero.
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Having just come back from 2 week on the island of la Palma in the Canaries that would be my choice. More or less guaranteed sunshine but not too hot. Beautiful countryside. Mountains, beaches . Unspoiled with not that many tourists , relatively cheap to live with cheap wine beer and petrol and a european lifestyle.
May well take a longer break there next winter myself
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>> to escape the worst of the British winter. >.
I thought 20111/2012 had just one week of a mild winter in S E England.
Now that astronomical vernal equinox has passed, and the weather this week is 2 months ahead of normal, I think the worst of the British winter has long gone.
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Canaries have acceptable weather although they are a bit breezy. Some very good one month self-catering deals available. Neighbours of mine have just come back from a month in Fuertevantura which was very cheap. They booked direct with an owner at Owners direct. Here is a one bed room property in Lanzarote for £100a week.
www.ownersdirect.co.uk/canaries/C2471.htm
London area flights from £150 return + Baggage
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>>Here is a one bed room property in Lanzarote for £100a week.
www.ownersdirect.co.uk/canaries/C2471.htm
London area flights from £150 return + Baggage<<
Crikey! - so it can still be done then Mildew, Fuerte ('strong wind') & Lanzagrotty can be a tad, eh, windy.
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You'll save on utility bills in UK, too.
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Yes - if you have the time to trawl the net. A firm called Mercury direct used to have full board month stays in Malta for a keen price. Latest offer here:-
www.mercury-direct.co.uk/ISOA13-hp
That's pretty good when your only further cost is going to a bit of drink.
Last edited by: Meldrew on Thu 22 Mar 12 at 16:10
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>>That's pretty good when your only further cost is going to a bit of drink.
>>
Plus a ticket to ride on a Boris bendy bus :-)
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Have they given up on these then?
t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSM1Rb6DMTR0PMAeUHp8S99ukLW0XRm75bSqGuirESruiIE97pj
They used to be painted in a colour which designated the route for those who couldn't read ISTR!
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...how does a million dollars actually feel I wonder?
Full of cocaine, apparently, if our bank notes are anything to go by.
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>>Yes - if you have the time to trawl the net<<
We got to know quite a few folk in Tenerife while we were there, mostly Northeners for some reason?
If I had Lud's sort of money I'd spend 3 months in the Canaries every winter, I know I harp on about the place, and there are nicer Islands in the world, but the Canaries are under 4 hours away (with a tail wind) and the climate is sooo healthy for us old buffers :)
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How come the Spanish ended up with the Canary Islands, the Portugese with Madeira, the French with Martinique and Tahiti and the only bit we managed to hold on to was the Falklands with a climate worse than the Orkneys.
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We got to keep the Turk and Cacos Islands as well - it was where I was considering to after I failed the Citizen Test... ;-)
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With a nod to WC Fields maybe, or if it wasn't him who said it perhaps he should have...
"I like to go abroad, matter of fact, I could go one right now..."
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'We' tried to take Tenerife, and failed, it cost Nelson an arm and a leg.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Santa_Cruz_de_Tenerife_(1797)
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>> How come the Spanish ended up with the Canary Islands, the Portugese with Madeira, the
>> French with Martinique and Tahiti and the only bit we managed to hold on to
>> was the Falklands with a climate worse than the Orkneys.
We have Gibraltar. Its the only bit of spain with a rain cloud.
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>> >> How come the Spanish ended up with the Canary Islands, the Portugese with Madeira,
>> the
>> >> French with Martinique and Tahiti and the only bit we managed to hold on
>> to
>> >> was the Falklands with a climate worse than the Orkneys.
>>
>> We have Gibraltar. Its the only bit of Spain with a rain cloud.
................and a Morrison's supermarket!
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>> We got to know quite a few folk in Tenerife while we were there, mostly
>> Northeners for some reason?
>>
That kind of hits a point I was wondering about adding to the thread:
It's not so much the cold, the problem I have with winter in the UK is shortage of daylight hours, and I'm not alone in being something of a "S.A.D." basket.
The folk from oop North have even less daylight (and generally more cold too) than southern UK, so that might answer your question.
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Always seem sensible to me to take overseas sunshine holidays in winter and spend the summer in the UK or within driving distance in Europe. I know a clear winter days in England can be wonderful but most winter days in this country are dreary and and grey. A few weeks guaranteed sunshine after Christmas is something to look forward to and when you get back it's Spring!
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>>The folk from oop North have even less daylight (and generally more cold too) than southern UK<<
Yes, many of them were Lancastrians, N. Yorks ect., most of them owned their own places but some would rent an apartment for the whole of December, then come back for the whole of February!
I possibly suffer from SAD, I've even got a SAD light, somewhere, sunlight boosts serotonin - nuf sed :)
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We have been back in Blighty for just over a year now and are glad we returned.
Yes, we miss the Costa del Sol weather and our friends (a few of them would like to return, too) but that's it.
Despite its problems Britain is, by and large, a good place in which to live.
Last edited by: Roger on Thu 22 Mar 12 at 22:14
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I don't think I'd want to live anywhere else but England. However a few weeks in the sun in that miserable couple of months after Christmas is quite another matter.
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A few Months Abroad in the Winter? - Focusless
