Christmas in April

Now that we’ve planned our summer home leave, it only seems right that we start to look into our next big destination holiday: Christmas. I know that some people may think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves but you wouldn’t believe how many hotels are already booked for the holidays. Not to mention (although I obviously am) that the flights to our destinations of choice are already filling up – some are even sold out!

Which brings us to our conundrum. We have our plans narrowed down to three destinations: Victoria Falls, Bali, and the Maldives. Not to get too Amazing Race on you but each choice has its own pros and cons. While Vic Falls is relatively close by and therefore hopefully less expensive, the allegedly “good” side of the falls is in Zimbabwe. Given the political situation there, I’d rather put this one off for a year or so. My vote is that we’re definitely going before we leave the area but maybe not this year.

The next place we both agreed would be cool is Bali, which offers the bonus of our flying through and staying in Malaysia and/or Singapore on the way there depending upon the availability of flights. While getting to Bali isn’t quite free (and is definitely circuitous) the hotels and life there isn’t too pricey – or so Hubby believes. The potentially budget busting part of this trip would be the Singapore portion where we would inevitably do some shopping (Borders) and “Real World” eating (CPK!). My favourite part of this option is that it keeps with our new beach vacation tradition that we started in Mauritius two years ago.

Of course, if beaches were our thing (which, oddly, they’re not really) then the Maldives would also work. The semi-direct Emirates flights to this series of islands are less expensive than going to Bali. The downside is that once you’re there, the Maldives become really expensive since all the resorts are self-contained and there isn’t exactly a lot of non-water things to do once you’re there. We’ve seen some really nice hotels/resorts online here but by the time you add food and (for Hubby, not me since I, as you know, always try to be rather temperate) drinks, your weeklong holiday can easily go through the roof.

So what do you guys think? Where should we head for Christmas ’07? If any of you wonderful Devoted Readers have been to any of the above please give us some advice (or other ideas) because we quite simply can’t make up our minds. Help!