Holidays

[Rois]

Had two wks of 25-30 degree sunshine last August, and five straight days of rain for our wedding back in July 2014.

On the passport Laoislad, the girl on the passport webchat told me that a child could travel with a birth cert to the UK, but wasn't specific about the airline.
Got our baby's passport on Saturday after a real stroke of luck. Ridiculous service for first time passports at the minute. Unrealistic delivery dates communicated to people, which just gets their backs up.

[galwayman]

Would Annecy have more reliable weather in August generally speaking?
Would love to spend a week there it looks great.

[laoislad]

Flying to London in a few weeks. Still waiting on the 4 year olds passport to come through. Worried it won't come in time. Does anyone know can you bring a child to England without a Passport? Will a birth cert suffice? We are flying British Airways if that makes a difference? I know Ryanair insist on Passports. We all have them bar the 4 year old.

If you are coming from Dublin I can't see how they wouldn't insist on a passport. Hopefully you can get it through in time.

But sure what do I know... Looks like a birth certificate should hopefully do the job!

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/passports-visas-and-api

Well his passport tracker changed to Printing this morning! So should be all good.
Maybe someone in the Passport Office reads gaaboard 

[GAABoardMod5]

Flying to London in a few weeks. Still waiting on the 4 year olds passport to come through. Worried it won't come in time. Does anyone know can you bring a child to England without a Passport? Will a birth cert suffice? We are flying British Airways if that makes a difference? I know Ryanair insist on Passports. We all have them bar the 4 year old.

If you are coming from Dublin I can't see how they wouldn't insist on a passport. Hopefully you can get it through in time.

But sure what do I know... Looks like a birth certificate should hopefully do the job!

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/passports-visas-and-api

Well his passport tracker changed to Printing this morning! So should be all good.
Maybe someone in the Passport Office reads gaaboard 

It's an outside possibility, but could the poster known as Our Nail Loney have been offered a job there?  He certainly knew the running of the place after his investigations back in the day.

[trailer]

Flying to London in a few weeks. Still waiting on the 4 year olds passport to come through. Worried it won't come in time. Does anyone know can you bring a child to England without a Passport? Will a birth cert suffice? We are flying British Airways if that makes a difference? I know Ryanair insist on Passports. We all have them bar the 4 year old.

If you are coming from Dublin I can't see how they wouldn't insist on a passport. Hopefully you can get it through in time.

But sure what do I know... Looks like a birth certificate should hopefully do the job!

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/passports-visas-and-api

Well his passport tracker changed to Printing this morning! So should be all good.
Maybe someone in the Passport Office reads gaaboard 

Anytime I have contacted them they have been very good and they do communicate with you. I am not saying it speeds things up but they don't ignore you. There is a huge backlog unfortunately. Hope you get sorted.

[Rois]

Would Annecy have more reliable weather in August generally speaking?
Would love to spend a week there it looks great.

Seafoid would know better but the times I've been there (only stayed once for one night) the summer weather has been glorious. It is my favourite town out of all the places I've ever been.

[galwayman]

Would Annecy have more reliable weather in August generally speaking?
Would love to spend a week there it looks great.

Seafoid would know better but the times I've been there (only stayed once for one night) the summer weather has been glorious. It is my favourite town out of all the places I've ever been.

It does look lovely. Bit of a trek from the Vendee unfortunately. May look into a fly drive instead of doing the ferry.
Supposed to be doing a Vendee campsite for the first week all going to plan (next summer not this).
Not sure my 2 would manage the amount of driving needed between the 2.
Flight from Nantes to Geneva a better option.

[Rois]

There's a few campsites around Lac d'Annecy, although not within walking distance of the town. My colleague stayed at one and said his kids had a ball. A holiday to Annecy is def on my list in a few years. We'll try to do a day trip this year when in Chamonix.

Is the Vendee campsite at the coast?

[galwayman]

There's a few campsites around Lac d'Annecy, although not within walking distance of the town. My colleague stayed at one and said his kids had a ball. A holiday to Annecy is def on my list in a few years. We'll try to do a day trip this year when in Chamonix.

Is the Vendee campsite at the coast?

It's slightly inland - probably 15 min drive from the coast. An hour-ish from Nantes airport I believe. Le Pin Parasol it's called (albeit we have nothing booked yet).
First time camping - all going to plan - so we want to ease into it by choosing somewhere with decent chalet type accommodation, which this seems to have.
Chamonix looks lovely too. Just think maybe Annecy might suit us more. Would definitely visit though if we stayed in Annecy.
Our girls will be 4 and 6 so need to try and keep them entertained that second week somehow after all of the facilities of the campsite the previous week!

[JimStynes]

Would Annecy have more reliable weather in August generally speaking?
Would love to spend a week there it looks great.

As reliable as anywhere at the foot of the alps. I love Annecy. Such a lovely town.

[galwayman]

Flying out from Dublin on Saturday at 10:45am.
With the horror stories from the weekend just gone by re queues etc - I was thinking about arriving at the airport around 7am.
Good idea/bad idea?

[delgany]

Flying out from Dublin on Saturday at 10:45am.
With the horror stories from the weekend just gone by re queues etc - I was thinking about arriving at the airport around 7am.
Good idea/bad idea?

Airport website , showing security waiting times,  varied between 5  to 30 mins this evening.

[gawa316]

Heading to Ner Orleans next week for a work conference...any advice on things/restaurants/pubs to check out?

[Rois]

I thought Bourbon Street was a bit weird, but unmissable, and we stumbled into a bar that had a brilliant band on at 3pm, with someone dressed as Gandalf from LOTR sitting outside.

It was nice to go down to the river and check out the steamboats on the Mississippi, but we didn't do a tour on one, which I regret.

We caught a college football game at Tulane, which was a nice campus, but wouldn't rank it as a top attraction unless cheesy cookie cutter campuses are your thing.

[Jell 0 Biafra]

Check out the area just past the French Quarter, The Fauborg Marigny.  It's got a lot of live music, an outdoor market and some good late restaurants.

Skip Bourbon Street, it's a tourist trap.  If you just walk around the Quarter/Marigny, you'll see plenty of live music (usually excellent quality) from street buskers.

The Carousel Bar is worth a look:

https://hotelmonteleone.com/entertainment/carousel-bar/

Take a graveyard tour.  Your hotel will have info.  The surrounding area is a bit dodgy, so don't be tempted to go on your own.  There's a nighttime haunted new orleans tour which is fun. Again, your hotel will have the info.

If you're there for more than a few days, do take a swamp tour (half day).  There's tons of operators, but here's one: https://www.bayouswamptours.com/

There's a monument to Irish laborers who died clearing the swamp to help build the city. It's not much to look at, just a big Celtic Cross, but might be of interest.

Take the streetcar up to City Park.  There's outdoor art, and a museum up there once you get there. But even riding the streetcar gives you a nice feel for the city.

Check the listings and see if The Rebirth Brass Band or The Soul Rebels are playing.  Jazz infused with hip hop.  Both turn in great shows.

It's a great city, you'll have a blast.