Not quite sure I understand what you are asking for.

Are you asking for people to recommend places for holidays that could be taken after students have finished their exams?

'Stressful' is such a subjective thing. I would be stressed to death if my holiday hotel was next to one of the big discos on Ibiza whereas I know many 20 somethings who would go out of their minds sitting with me for hours on end fishing off the end of a jetty somewhere quiet in the Med!

So are you expecting us to recommend places suitable for young people?

Don't people in Watford go to Vegas? (Vegas was very stressful when I went there, never again)!

Hi,

Yes I'm asking for recommendations for holidays that could be taken after students have taken their exams. And yes the places need to be suitable for young people, around the age of A-level exams, so around 17-19 years of age.

People in Watford do go to Vegas, but for the most part of Watford's college students, Vegas wouldn't be a likely option for an after exams holiday, due to the price.

As I say, I want recommendations for holidays after a very stressful exam period, holidays after a mildly stressful exam period, and after a stress free exam period. I can see it's going to be difficult to find different holiday options for the reasons I've mentioned, I don't know what difference of holidays to look for myself.

So yeah, I probably need to give more details as to what I'm after, but if anyone has any suggestions, or even just general recommendations for after exams, I would be very grateful.

Regards,
Josh.

Hi Summers4 - the trouble is holidays are such are personal thing, whilst people on here could recommend various things, once given a whole bunch of criteria, for example someone might say where would be an ideal place in Turkey go for a couple not wishing to spend over £600 for the both of them where it's quiet and remote, do you see what I mean, there is so much choice.

Not only that, one student may relieve their stress by going on an adventure holiday going biking, hiking and the like which could be awful for the person standing next to her who may just want to lay on the beach and so on - it's no different to any of us really, what is one persons fancy is not going to be for the next!

Ok I will start with the obvious getting plastered type of holiday but not sure if this is really what you are asking for as I have a feeling you are asking for personal experiences . would that be correct...

Laganas in Zante seems to be one of the places becoming more & more popular at the moment with that age .Not as in your face as Magaluf or Malia but a good choice for those that want a few drinks & clubs.

And whilst for some students, the thought of planning a holiday in advance of the exams might be relaxing and give them something to look forward to, for others, trying to decide on and then research and book a holiday whilst at the same time revising for their exams etc might add to the stress of the exams in the first place.

I'm assuming, Josh, that you are a student at college in Watford? In which case the best people to help you with this might be your fellow students (I suspect that the exam-taking days are well and truly over for a lot of us on here!). How about setting up a FaceBook page or a Google group asking students at your college to share their suggestions with you? Lots of colleges now have VLEs (eg BlackBoard or Moodle) where you could set up a blog and invite people to post suggestions/recommendations etc into it, even tell you about any plans that they (or their parents who are perhaps going to be paying for it?) have already made for a post-exam treat or chill-out rest? You could then summarise the material that other students post into it and then construct your article around suggestions made by - and perhaps already test run - by the very sort of people you are hoping to be able to offer helpful suggestions to.

SM

TBH, I think the project you're undertaking is a bit confusing. I would have thought that whether your exam was very stressful, mildly stressful or not even remotely stressful your average a-level student would forget all about the exams when they were finished and opt for whatever type of holiday they enjoy. I don't think the 'stressfulness' of the exam would affect their choice of holiday Then again, I may be totally wrong.

I could give you a list of places my 2 sons went after their various A level, NVQ and degree exams but they were all basically your typical 18-30 resorts e.g. magalluf, kavos, laganas, Marmaris etc.

I've just read your post to my 24 year old son and he does see what you mean. He says for example- if you'd had a stressful exam you wouldn't opt for a city break with lots of rushing around trying to cram things in as you'd just want to go somewhere and chill.

Let me know if I (or my sons) can be of any more help.

Had a brilliant post exam 5 days at one of the cabaret weekends in Butlins Minhead. Opted for half board so the cooking was sorted.

hi Josh.....can I sugest you simplify your task.....how about not how stressful the exams were for holiday choice.....but how much steam students need to let out afterwards..

eg...

chilled no probs.....beach bum holiday......to re=cap and feel smug

on the boil .....need to chill but plenty to do holiday.....let out the nervous energy and re-generate

full on steamin .....somewhere buzzin , theme park with mad rides, dancin on the bar pubs and clubs...to let it all go before it blows.....

Then you can research and find holidays that fit your criteria.....sure we could all give some suggestions if given a type of holiday ......tweetie

Hi Josh,my son is only 16 so not sure if he is really the right age for your study,we paid for him to go to Florida for 3 weeks after his gcse's,he had a really hectic time going to all the theme parks for the first 2 weeks then a week of luxury at a Disney hotel on all-inclusive basis.He went with his girlfriend and her parents and enjoyed every minute of his holiday.

When I finished my A levels I went interrrailing for a month - a choice that was also popular with many of my friends. However - this was several years ago now, so I'm not sure if this is still the done thing. At the time it was possibly less stressful to organise than now (if you're thinking along the lines of the stress of organising a holiday adding to exam stress) as there was only a single ticket covering all of the participating countries, whereas now you have to plan more carefully due to the different zones. On the other hand, once travelling we had to deal with different currencies every couple of days as the Euro wasn't in common use. It was one of the most exhausting holidays I've been on, but also remains one of the best.

So - what others have said on here regarding focussing your research on people who are either planning their post exam holidays, or have taken them in the last year or so, really makes more sense. And, (as has already been pointed out), since the level of exam stress may not affect holiday choice and people choose different things to escape stress, it may be worth including questions on this, in addition to the choice of destination.

Hi,

Thanks very much for all your helpful replies. Okay, I totally agree with focusing more on how much steam the students need to let out as opposed to how stressful the exams were. Some suggestions for that would be great, the categories being:

- Chilled (beach holiday)
- On the boil (again, a relaxing holiday but with plenty to do)
- Full on steaming (Theme parks, bars and clubs etc...)

Thanks so much TWEETIE PIE for the suggestions, they're perfect for what I'm looking to do. Anyway, suggestions for places would be fantastic.

Regards,
Josh.