Advice - what do you look for in a holiday?

[Paddy's mum]

Whether or not Martin and others gave an opinion that anyone else does or does not agree with - Titch ASKED for people's opinions. Presumably those replies were given in good faith.

To come back at anyone with swear words/gutter type expressions is the one sure way to be certain that I won't bother to continue to read posts by that person, however valid their viewpoint.

You may call me narrow-minded, pompous, or other words of that ilk, but may I just observe that this is an open forum, accessible by children/families and as such, I do not believe that poor language of that type has any place here. That's my rant for the day over with! :)

[red]

aside from price - is the eco-side an issue with you? for a long haul tropical holiday - assuming its something you would go for if funds allow - would donations to climatecare, local projects in health and education, grey water re-cycling, sustainable development, solar and gasification, etc hold any sway?

ok in more direct answer to the original question, yes the eco side is an issue - I am no longer comfortable with flights for no good reason, and I am never particularly keen on the concept of paying for the damage you do in other ways.. the damage is still done is it not?
however, this view is easier to hold if flying to far away places is something you dont want to/ are unable to do. I can't afford it, burn in the sun and my OH's passion for watching programmes about air crashes is enough to put anyone off.....
none of us here are pure.. the pure people don't spend energy on computers... and I drive a car and run my pc etc. just I feel more comfortable with my own decision not to fly to sunnier climes.

Each must make their own choices

[titch7069]

The fliying thing really hit a nerve huh! A lot of our 'business' will come from expat residents on the mainland - and they could indeed come by sea, 18 hours is not so bad. However, i can't see many customers from europe or america doing so - in a perfect world maybe. Sadly, we don't live in a perfect world, although i don't actively advocate flying - passively simply by building a tourist lodge i am obviously encouraging it. 1. we need to make a living, 2. we want to lessen the impact HERE. whats the answer? don't know yet, this is all new to us and we are still feeling our way.

Re: my bad language, i can only apologise to those it offended - living in isolation has obviously affected my ability to gauge my audience - call it Island Fever or plain bad manners, i apologise unreservedly.

[Annpan]

I think Titch has a good thing going - and quite right to apologise for his language.

Heres a thought, what if you could encourage the mass market to take more ecofriendly holidays (not completely eco-friendly, as I live in the real world and I don't believe the mass market care that much )

18 months ago my husband and I decided to do the West Highland Way before we started a family. We did it for the experience, for the views and for the fresh air.
My life will never be the same, it converted me completley to a more eco-friendly, sustainable, selfsufficient-ish way of life and I think some people taking that kind of holiday might come round to a similar point of view. We camped wild and had to watch our water supplies closley as well as the impact any rubbish or even urinating or defecating might do to the environment around you. We suffered directly the consequences of those who didn't care and we knew who they were as we saw the same people at campsites or lunch stops on the way.

I think that those of us who do care have to do what we can to encourage the rest of the population to at least consider it (I once heard that McDonalds changing to Free-range eggs did more for animal welfare in the food industry than any other movement or regulation had ever achieved)

We are not going to stop the average family in Britain flying to Alecante or Florida for their hols - but maybe if you could encourage them to plant a few trees to make up for it - is it just possible that they might think about their impact on our environment. If there are more eco-friendly options maybe people would take a £22 boat to spain instead of a £22 flight.

By the way I am going to Spain for my brothers wedding in july - any ideas on how not to fly with a 9 month old baby in tow??? - ie another way of getting there in the hieght of summer (my brother already put me on a guilt trip )

Ann

[red]

By the way I am going to Spain for my brothers wedding in july - any ideas on how not to fly with a 9 month old baby in tow??? - ie another way of getting there in the hieght of summer (my brother already put me on a guilt trip )

Ann

I guess the only realistic alternative is to drive with stop overs. bit of a nightmare with a baby - OTOH you can take all that baby parafanania (now i need that spell checker!) with you...

tricky isn't it - my bro has just had his first baby (or rather his wife has) - and they live in Australia.....

[Annpan]

We travel light even with the baby (just that kind of person) so taking baby paraphanalia (sp?) not really a benefit to driving. Plus that would take days... with a baby... in the hieght of summer... no thanks!

The rest of my family are flying down to London (from Scotland) then flying from there to spain. I refuse to take a flight to London and my family think I am daft insiting on at least driving the first bit.
I would love to take a train (££££££) or a ferry from England to Spain but they don't seem to have one?!?

Thanks for the suggestion - Oh I think we have come off the subject a little


Ann

[Merry]

There`s a ferry that goes to Bilbao on the North West coast of Spain. I think it takes about two days. I think it`s Brittany Ferries that runs it.

[Martin]

or Santander..........!

[titch7069]

sorry to hijack this interesting thread - people keep referring to me as 'he', just to point out i am a 'she', the photo of me in the blog should, i hope, confirm this.

[red]

oh yes that's right - me being a westcountry person should remember that... although I think the ferry can be bit bouncy.. its a thought
Brittany Ferries show it on their nice little map too

[DaisyDaisy]

Have you thought about the train? After Eurostar to Paris there are a few that go from there to cities in Spain.

[DaisyDaisy]

I hope I don't reopen a can of worms...
for the last 2 years I've had "ethical" holidays - I use quotes because I'm not sure how ethical they actually were - however, my intentions were good.
I went to Kenya and Guyana with a charity to help build homes - the charity (Habitat For Humaity) has the aim to eliminate worldwide housing poverty.

However, I had a few reservations which means that for the moment I'll not be taking that sort of holiday, one of the reservations being that by my working I stopped local people being given paid work (this year I actually saw people turning up asking for work & being told there were enough workers).

A huge benefit of such projects is that we are face to face with local people and see how their lifestyle affects so many things, especially their health and well being, and are no longer detatched from the poverty of our worldwide brothers and sisters. For some people it is the turning point to becoming more SISH and looking for more ways of helping some of the world's poorest communities make their way out of poverty. For others that might be the rason they go.

But of course the downside is the actual journey, which is very difficult to balance with the benefit.

This year? Well, I'm not making a good start (travel is the biggest compromise for me) but hope to make more enviromentally friendly decisions on travel for the rest of the year - including the possibility of taking the train to Spain (cue for a song? oh, no, there's an extra letter here!)

[pskipper]

This year? Well, I'm not making a good start (travel is the biggest compromise for me) but hope to make more enviromentally friendly decisions on travel for the rest of the year - including the possibility of taking the train to Spain (cue for a song? oh, no, there's an extra letter here!)

Hmm....(Does best Rex Harrison Impression)

The Train to Spain is better than the Plane..

Ethical considerations are reasonably important to me, along those lines it would be important for tourists to know how their money was supporting development on Mafia island, Martin seemed to take development to mean industrial development in a western fashion whereas it could mean solar powered wells etc.

[titch7069]

Fantastic - this is what i was getting at, the projects that are to be supported are (in no particular order); rural electrification - this will enable fisherman to competeon a level playing field as they will be able to freze their catch meaning it will arrive at point of sale in better(fresher)condition, the elec' will be provided with gasifiers to the local villagers and will be owned by the villagers.

womens projects - enabling them to sell their woven mats, handmade coconut soap (which is gorgeous - we intend to buy from the womens co=op to stock the bathrooms in the lodge) in main towns on the mainland without 'middle men' who rake off the profits - the local women will therefore have their own money.

education, both academic and vocational

and the biggie - a medical clinic, with eventually mafian inhabitants trained as nurses and doctors - not naive enough to expect that someone who has received education outside mafia in nursing or other medical capacity, will want to work on mafia for their whole career - however one of the conditions of educational sponsorship will be that they have to spend a certain amount of time after qualifiying working in the centre.

there will also be interest free loans for start up projects, the terms and agreements to be agreed by the villagers

[titch7069]

also, by building and operating a lodge we will be employing upwards of 40 people, statistically feeding over 250, and thats not counting those who will benefit from the various projects, plus local shopkeepers, carpenters, vegetable growers, fisherman, etc etc etc. This is an area which has had little or no employment since the '80's and the people here are starving. I take on board the argument about air travel, however it isn't the only thing up for consideration, we are talking about a 10 room lodge, the people flying in would be flying somwhere anyway, why not do some good at the same time.