Holiday for hubbys 40th with 3 month old and 8 year old Asia or Islands?

[lilmisspositive]

Looking for help on narrowing down a holiday for aprx 10 days.
Leaving from Brisbane. Thinking somewhere with crystal blue waters and white sand.

We love Thailand but are thinking of somewhere different this time. Just seen couples retreat and fell in love with Bora Bora but a little out of our budget at $1000 a night!!

What do you suggest that will please everyone? Fantastic food a must. ; )

We are not fused on the flight and if things do not look like we can find something, might head back to Thailand, just skipping patong. : )

So if you can suggest anywhere you have been that is in Asia or Tahiti or Cook Islands that would be fantastic. Looking at July and not spending HEAPS. I usually do all my travel booking myself and therefore save thousands. Never paid more then $600 return for Thailand. ; )

There was also some discussion about Vietnam. Still thinking about that but not totally decided.
; )

[krysalyss]

What about somewhere in Bali? If you avoid the main tourist areas there are some nice places to go. I really love Indonesia but most of my time there was spent in Kalimantan and it can be hard to travel around. But Bali is very accessible as is the Malaysian part of Borneo (Sarawak etc). I have never been but my mum and dad are hooked and go almost every year. Easy to go cheaply as well.

[angelaartsstudent]

Considered Hong Kong? VERY child friendly.

[lilmisspositive]

Bali keeps coming up guess I should do some research. ; ) So Kalimantan is the place to research?

Hong Kong. Never thought about it...But love Asia. I heard Hong Kong is more shoppers though. Did you find this the case? I am more into the local scene and love little night markets. Will check it out and see. ; )

Thanks guys, doing research now. ; )

[angelaartsstudent]

Want markets? Hong Kong is market city. The people are awesome with kids...while I havent been with my kids yet, have been with friends who had toddler and babies and the people, markets, eating places are just great.

Public Transport is a breeze (and dirt cheap) and not that crazy always-packed thing you get with other Asian cities. Outside of business peak hour, it's easy as.

We're currently planning our next trip there - and to take both kids (so will be toddler and very young baby) - will rent a place in Discovery Bay (a self contained appartment so we can cook and launder if we want) and commute on the Ferry (becuase the bus takes longer...but to get to DB from the Airport, you can take the bus). From Discovery Bay you can also see the Disney fireworks every night :-P

Only reason for going Discovery Bay is that there will be a bit more room inside the flat for the kids than in central...and commuting to central is so easy.

When we travel with DD our base is only a place to sleep and wash clothes...we eat out most of the time and spend most of our days exploring.

Not sure about central (because haven't stayed there), but in Discovery Bay, if you need a qualified babysitter/nanny at short notice with excellent references, it's very easy to get...lots of expat families in Discovery Bay with kids.

Can't say enough good things about HK...DH and I would move there in a second and not bat an eyelid at raising our kids there if he got a job there.

[angelaartsstudent]

PS - you can actually rent a holiday house, fully self contained, in HK if you like, but we just go with the larger type flats/appartments becuase we're outside so often.

[lilmisspositive]

Wow so much info. Thanks so much. We are only looking at 10 days tops so we would probably stay in a resort... but you got me thinking. Disneyland is in Hong Kong ya?

I am going to have a look now. We usually go with Air Asia so researching flights now but really hanging out as they usually have a massive sale in January. Fingers crossed.

Thanks so much for your info. ; )

[angelaartsstudent]

Air Asia is what we usually do too :-D

Yep - Hong Kong Disney. Not far from the Airport...but you can still get to central without trouble, if you want.

Don't get me wrong, Bali is great too, I spent heaps of holidays in Bali as a kid and only have good memories. For ease of transport/public transpot though, still prefer HK.

[lilmisspositive]

Sounds fabulous. I am not so sure about Bali but open to anything really. Asia usually wins hands down though for price and what you get. We thought we would holiday in Aus but it is triple the price of what we want to spend for the 10 days... so jetsetting we go. ; ) I am just excited to be going away. We shall see when Air Asia has their sale what we do, until then.... Off to do research.
Thanks for all your help. ; ) Would LOVE to go to India but dh is firm on no with that one. ; ( If anything will also check out the prices for Maldives, that place looks amazing. xx