Pierre et Vacances - great holidays in France

Advantages: holiday apartments, ideal for families, a lot of activities
Disadvantages: expensive extras

...This year, we spent two weeks of our summer vacation in France, in a club village of Pierre et Vacances. Pierre et Vacances is the largest company offering holiday apartments and holiday homes in France (if not in the whole of Europe) with more than 60 locations (residences, hotels and club villages). Most of the locations can be found at the French south coast (Provence, Côte d'Azur, Languedoc-Roussillon), but there is a large choice available at the Atlantic coast, in Normandy and Brittany, as well as a few locations in Paris and in the French Alps. There are studios for two, apartments for four, six or eight, and houses for 10 persons, all built in the regional style, furnished appropriately and quite cosy. There are two-, three- and four-star locations (the stars are called suns at Pierre et Vacances). Depending...

Michael-S 28.08.2001 · Read review
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Review of General: France

Air France, A Non Relaxing Start to Your Holiday

Advantages: Actual flight was smooth and trouble free
Disadvantages: Cabin Service was tres horrible

...I tried Air France recently on a trip to Cuba and have vowed never to fly with them again. In my mind, the trip would be perfect, fly from the UK to France then on to Havana. It was a long trip, which I was prepared for and as normal, I was looking forward to the flight as part of the overall holiday. Sit back, relax, watch a couple of movies, enjoy a magazine or two then snooze away and before you know it, you wake up in the beautiful sunshine. Well that was the plan anyway ! The ground handling arrangements were absolutely fine, but from the moment we got on the plane there were issues. We were seated by a large and extended noisy family and there was no opportunity to move, which certainly wasn't the fault of anyone but wasn't handled in the best way possible. The screens were not on the heads...

Jenniferb73 16.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Air France - AFR

Holiday !

Advantages: Nice sweet film, romantic comedy
Disadvantages: Not the best romantic comedy I have seen, some may find it too sickly sweet!

...where she discovers Amanda. They decide to take a break from their troubles and get away from the men in their lives so house swap for a couple of weeks over the Christmas period. Amanda swaps her luxurious modern house in California for Iris?s quaint little cottage in the English countryside. Iris soon makes friends with Arthur a retired screen writer and sets about trying to help him. Her love interest comes in the form of Miles (Jack Black) a film composer who works with Amanda?s ex. Amanda meanwhile meets Graham (Jude Law) who is Iris handsome brother and has an eye for the ladies. Will it be a holiday romance or will both these women find love when they least expect or want it? ***** My Thoughts ***** Having missed this at the cinema I was very keen to rent it to watch, certainly keener than my husband who did agree...

AJ26 14.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Holiday (DVD)

  "Lille De France" - Geddit?

Advantages: Near London by train, cosmopolitan feel, excellent transport connections, eating out, plenty to see
Disadvantages: Dog poo

...I?ve now been to Lille three times in the past year or so, each previous time, merely for the day. Only over the last weekend did we stay overnight. Why Lille? Well, rather like the reason dogs lick their naughty bits, it?s because we can. Lille is the first main stop in France on the Eurostar/TGV route from the Channel Tunnel ? yes, I know you could get a train that stops at Calais (Fréthun), but that?s like getting out at Bristol Parkway and expecting to be in Bristol! Gare Lille-Europe arrives outside your train window 1 hour and 40 minutes after London Waterloo International disappears. Stage 1 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), means that we now get to hurtle through Kent at 186 M.P.H. before slowing to a mere 100 M.P.H. to shrug off the 32 miles of tunnel in a mere 20 minutes. Doing 'a ton' MORE than even the over...

BNibbles 07.12.2004 (09.12.2004) · Read review
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Review of Lille (France)

Hossegor, France

Advantages: Beats any British beach holiday hands down
Disadvantages: Strong currents on some days

...My family and I started going to Hossegor, (which is situated in the Bay Of Biscay, SW France), when I was about 5, way back in the mid 80's. Well, up he coast a tiny bit from there actually). We always stay at the same place when we're there. Its a 4star campsite called Le Vieux Port. The campsite has everything that you'd need. Even as young children we always had something to do. The entance consists of a long kind of driveway, along which runs a football pitch, crazy golf and a mini go-kart thing for the kiddies. It all looks very classy, with flags from different countries running down both sides. Then you approach the reception and main bar areas of the site. The campsite has one very very nice bar which is never too crowded, but always is full of atmosphere. There are often live bands playing here (most...

BJEEE 20.12.2000 (21.12.2000) · Read review
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Review of Lille (France)

The Holiday - a good chick flick

Advantages: Lighthearted, good cast
Disadvantages: Predictable

...The Holiday is a chick flick type film although it is not quite your normal chick flick. It is based around the story of two girls , Amanda, played by Cameron Diaz and Iris played by Kate Winslet. Amanda is a film trailer producer who has just broke up with her boyfriend, she lives in LA. Iris lives in Surrey in a little cottage and is a writer for a paper. She is still in love with her ex boyfriend who she works with and has just found out he is getting engaged. Amanda starts searching on the Internet for some sort of holiday to get away and try and forget what has happened. She stumbles across Iris's cottage on a website and contacts her about coming over to stay. Iris jumps at the chance after all the pain she has been put through. So the two girls decide to swap homes for the holidays. Once swapped Amanda meets Iris's brother...

wendz86 19.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Holiday (DVD)

the holiday

Advantages: good film for over christmas
Disadvantages: chick flick

...The Holiday- I tried to get to see his at the cinema but i unfortunately missed out. Although after reading the reviews it was a mixed opinion, so as soon as it came out i purchased it so that i could judge for myself and its a great film. With Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Jude Law and Cameron Diaz it was an all star cast and a hopeless romantic film a definate chich flick. Its about Iris(Kate Winslet) who is in love with a man who is about to marry another woman and then thee is Amanda (cameron Diaz) who realizes the man she lives with has been unfaithful. The two women meet online at a home swap website and switch homes for the holiday. Iris moves into Amanda's L.A. house in sunny California as Amanda arrives in the snow covered English countryside. Shortly after arriving at their destinations, both women find the last thing...

jo_field26 21.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Holiday (DVD)

The Holiday

Advantages: Nice Christmas Film
Disadvantages: Nothing

...with her boyfriend but finds out he has been cheating on her, she is also heart broken and decides she needs to get away from it all and looks into booking a holiday. While trawling through the internet Amanda finds Iris' house being advertised on a house swap website and they both agree to swap houses over the Christmas period. Their houses could not be more different as Iris lives in a little cottage and Amanda lives in a mansion in Hollywood. This film shows Iris and Amanda on a journey of self discovery, travelling across the Atlantic to unfamiliar places they are able to learn more about them selves without them realising it. Both characters meet new and interesting friends while house swapping and this is where the story really begins. While Amanda feels totally out of her depth being in England living in a cottage and driving...

bagpuss1980 21.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Holiday (DVD)

We're all going on a .......................summer holiday

Advantages: Interesting to see the human interactions, good entertainment and fun to watch
Disadvantages: Boring narrator, some families are permitted to 'bail out' and not participate to the full

...Holiday showdown is a program that is currently being aired on ITV2 (so it is a repeat of a series that was aired on ITV1 a while ago) on Saturday lunchtimes from 12.05 ? 13.05. This is a show whereby the producers select two different families, with different tastes that have never met before. They are thrown together and have to go on holiday with each other. The types of holiday are really varied and include things like cruises, adventure holidays, camping holidays, sun and sea holidays, ski-ing holidays, missionary holidays and everything else in between. Each family will go their ?normal? holiday for a week, during which they will go where they usually go, do exactly what they usually do and just treat it like another normal holiday. The following week they will swap over and go on the other family?s holiday. During...

yackers1 27.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Holiday Showdown

Ferris Holidays Review

Advantages: Cheap. Affordable.
Disadvantages: Journey - but you get what you pay for.

...of the service stop toilets and only use toilets on board the coach in emergency. But it's no worry as I've travelled with Ferris 7 times and I see people using the toilets all the time. I have travelled with Ferris Holidays 7 times and each holiday has had it's strengths. Travelling times doesn't really bother me. If someone has told you "you're on the coach for 24 hours" they're lying to you. Averagely, the journey takes just over 1100 miles/1700 kilometres. Now the coaches are said to be limited to 62MPH/100KMH. So you can work it out for yourself. If you're doing 100KMH and the journey takes 1700KMH, coach travelling times (without stopping) is 16/17 hours. But obviously, when you pass London and other mainland parts of France, travelling times could be extended unfortunately. But you get what you pay for. All Ferris coaches have been made non...

Greeny1980G 13.09.2008 (20.09.2009) · Read review
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Review of Ferris holidays