holidays

Yes kittylester there are people all too eager to boast/bore about their holidays no doubt about that, treating it all as a tick list of where they have been, but I generally avoid those kind of people, cant be bothered with them. We too are now enjoying getting away out of school holidays after years of it, and love to get away in June and September and then spend the summer at home in between. I love people watching so being away somewhere and just sittting in the sun with a glass of wine in my hand, waiting for my dinner to be brought to my table after someone else has cooked it, and watching the world go by is my ideal evening. This can be in Europe or on a campsite in the UK ( fish and chips and glass of prosecco).

Ethel must be feeling better. She sounds more like her old self. I have a hair shirt here, if you would like it.

I do one downmanship....how little money can we spend on a holiday. My favourite campsite charges £9 a night including electricity so a long weekend is only £27. Admittedly we have to fetch the water from the tap and empty the toilet cassette but that's all part of the rich tapestry of caravanning .

I don't have a problem with the weather. Sunny is nice but dull, windy, rainy etc doesn't bother me. British scenery is amazing in bright sunshine but then the same view in low cloud is also amazing as the light catches landscape in a different way. Blue sky is nice but cloud formations can be fascinating. We had all sorts of weather at Loch Lomond from brilliant sunshine to clouds chasing across the mountains to torrential rain. Sometimes the mountains glowed. Other times they took on ethereal shapes in the mist.

The British coast has moods that depend on the weather too. Calm sunny days are lovely for sitting on the beach or building sandcastles but wild, stormy days with waves smashing over the seawall are exhilarating.

I admit you have to have the right clothes to enjoy Britain in all it's weather glory but it only means investing in a waterproof, windproof, breathable coat, fleece, trousers and walking shoes for the less sunny days. I admit they're not a cheap investment but they last for years so you really get your money's worth out of them.

I love a holiday of one week. Leave while wanting more.
Just one flight if possible.
No dressing up at night, often don't change.
Love to see new places and always do our homework of what to see.
Just a medium case.

Hearing The Last Post played at The Menin Gate in Ypres and visiting the war graves was so impressive.
Visiting a concentration camp near Prague.
Visiting Niagara Falls in February when it is frozen and deserted.
Dining on ribs eating with fingers in a restaurant in Memphis.
Sitting people watching and having a cold drink in The Silent City in Malta.

Why does a holiday have to be boring surely there are so many other things you can do that you can't at home. Love city holidays cos I am a museum/gallery/site seeing bore. Can spend most of the day wandering around any archaelogical site. But there is also dolphin or whale watching, boat trips to places unreachable any other way. Walking in the countryside or by the sea- don't mind which country. As for expensive I do like somewhere to wash and a decent loo but I can put up with basic. Only tried one cruise I found it didn't suit me at all I don't like to be herded here and there much happier going off on my own and coming back when I want to. Oh and if I do have a lazy day I always have a book I want to read with me (sometimes thanks to Gransnet!!!) Need to book another holiday!

We have been lucky enough to have visited some wonderful places both home and abroad. I don't like going for more than a week and I absolutely hate airports these days with all the queueing and security stuff. I know it has to be done but it really puts me off. I've never been fond of flying but do it because I want to see the world. I love holidaying in this beautiful country too.

I'm very happy with basic so long as it's clean. I see the airport bit as part of the holiday, I guess I've not been enough for it to be tedious

I'm easily pleased, I had a wonderful day wandering around a local NT house near here recently and sat for over two hours under a tree just watching a deer herd ruminating in the sun, an opportunistic chance to switch off.

Equally I love beach walks and mountain treks, the right clothing is the answer.

I don't mind the airport, I like people watching. For the last couple of years we pay an annual fee for a worldwide airport lounge pass. They are quieter, nice loos and complimentary food and drink, very relaxing. x

I've had very few holidays, too many children when I was younger, too many pets now. My choice, of course, to have them every day of the year rather than have a holiday.
In my next life I shall be filthy rich and able to have it all.

Vampirequeen we too delight in how little a holiday can cost if you put your mind to it, a 5 day all inclusive in Majorca is not everyone's ideal, but we tried it last year, in late June, terrific weather, lovely hotel, good food and it cost very little, including the flights. This left us with plenty of time to wander around the lovely town, finding a different place every day to have morning coffee/lunch/an evening drink. Love your attitude to the British weather; it is always different and there is always something to do even if it is tucking up with a good book or a game of cards, things that I would feel guilty about doing at home. I love early morning on a campsite, that first cup of coffee sitting outside, nodding good morning to strangers as they walk past, then the first person starts cooking bacon......ooh that smell in the open air.....It is just being away from the everyday demands of life, those days when the biggest decision you have to make is whether to have red wine or white, no laundry, no shopping, no ironing pile looming in the corner of the room, just a good book and a good view.

I love my holidays, never want to come home. But now we`ve had to sell the touring caravan, due to ill health, we can`t believe how much a holiday is going to cost us now. As Vampire says, there`s a great joy in finding a cheap, but scenic, campsite to stay on, and just doing your own thing, as and whenever you want to. We haven`t had a holiday for 3 years, but are having difficulty findng something that we can afford now that we can holiday again.

By the way Vampirequeen, your description of your holiday at Loch Lomond maks me wonder if you were at the Luss site?

As children we went to Northern Ireland every year to my mother's family home at the seaside. Dad worked on the railway so got a free family pass which meant the holiday cost virtually nothing. I loved it and never wanted to come home. Since then I have not been able to afford many holidays. One camping trip to Northern Italy travelling by coach across Europe. I never saved enough spending money to reach the £50 pound limit at the time. Can you remember that folks? In August we had violent thunderstorms and only two sunny days in ten!

My ex and two sons had a week in Torquay which was great except I later found he had spent redundancy money on it and was then out of work for nearly 2 years!

The next was a week at Butlins with 3 sons and MIL which we enjoyed a lot. My little Morris Minor was packed with bedding, clothes, food and children and we broke down on the way back!

Last year I had two weeks in Rhodes with one DS, his partner and 2GDs. True to form it was cold and wet for most of the first week but I loved it nevertheless. I never knew about all inclusive before that - absolutely brilliant. I never felt so well and rested in my life and definitely did not want it to end!

Having then got into holiday mode I had a special offer bank holiday weekend at Pontins with youngest DS and 3 DGCs. Again we took everything with us including food! It was close enough for other son and GDs to spend a day with us and it was fabulous though basic.

I would love more holidays now, having had some experience of them, even though coming home is depressing but will need to win the lottery. Keeping fingers crossed!!

I'm lucky in that DH is a born tour leader who spends weeks researching any place we go to. The downside is his energetic enthusiasm to see anything and everything he has read about! I have to fight to get to sit down with a book. When we used to have all the children with us I threatened to buy him a flag so we didn't lose him as he forged a path to the next sight!

My DS pointed out not long ago that, since we're retired, we don't have holidays - we just go away. Quite a lot really. Love it.

We have a touring caravan which we use in the UK. Norfolk is a bit time consuming to get out of so the caravan is our home from home, great for short breaks. There's a good camp site at Greenwich for occasional London jaunts and we're birders so it's good for those early morning starts at Minsmere. Being already there gives me an extra hour or so lay in!

Then there's the long distance stuff. Yes, the hastle of getting to the airport is a pain, and I hate sitting for hours crammed into a sardine can, but seeing a tiger in the wild or, as we recently did, actually stroking a grey whale calf is mind blowingly wonderful!

I love where we live and part of the joy of going away is coming home and that moment of walking in the door after a spell and savouring my home.

As has been said it's horses for courses. For me it's the difference between listening to good music on a CD player or actually being at the performance. As long as we can afford it there's no contest.

If you like bird watching you should bring your caravan up to Spurn. There are some lovely campsites and Spurn is amazing.

This year I don't have a choice of holidays due to health reasons but I can sit in my back garden (jungle) and have a coffee and just relax, maybe read or knit. Costs nothing.

I enjoy holidays when I actually get there, but must admit the ironing and packing, all the lugging of luggage and bags, waiting around, the queues to check cases in, checking documents, going through customs and delays/killing time....is a complete pain in the bum. I loathe all the preparation, like getting the house clean for return, food shopping for cat-sitter, making cat-sitting arrangements, worrying about things going wrong when I am away etc. The build-up to a holiday is stressful!

I am not one for crowds either....and it may just be me, but being thrown together with people I hardly know for meals/travelling and making forced and jolly small-talk is also something I dread. This is a new thing. I used to be very gregarious but I think ageing has me looking at it through a different lens. Oh I still do it. I like people but find I have little need for forced interaction these days.

There is lots about holidays I really don't like! However, being in the sunshine and exploring new places makes it all worthwhile. We've recently spent time in the south of France and I have lots of happy memories and photos of a lovely week away.

On the last evening the chore of travelling back hits me too. This is when I need a time machine to transport me instantaneously back to my living room!

Oh, this post makes me sound like a miserable so-and-so, but I am not! I am grateful I can afford holidays every now and then. I've just become a realist as I've aged.

It's so much easier to stay at home!

We just love holidays. Never have expensive holidays- but we love contrasts and experiencing different things, flowers, architecture, scenery, culture, food, wine, Museums, vistas, and simple walks. J52 love airports too, and people watching- which is why we do not subscribe to VIP lounges- because people watching is not half as interesting there ;).

I am the tour operator in our family- and OH is happy to come along and to trust my judgement- and knows I shall ensure he has great opportunities to indulge his hobby, photography. he is even happy to tag along to all the botanical gardens I drag him into- not his cup of tea- but great places to take photos. I look at the plants and the birds, butterflies, etc- and he takes the photos. It works, somehow.

Some of the best holidays we've shared with family, including grandchildren and friends or sils and bils. But we also love the 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' - exchanging hosting and guiding with people who live in nice but very different places. I just love to host here, simply, and show all my favourite sights- and then go back to theirs. With locals, you see things so much better, behind the scenes, secret places and meet other friendly locals in a way you wouldn't otherwise.

2 weeks for us usually- we have a few days to read, lie by the pool or the beach and read, and explore the rest of the time.

And then one of the best bit- is coming home ;) as we love it here.

day6 I so agree with you. Also being alone I just don't have anyone who would go with me, not that Im not capable of going alone. The only people I know would want a booze filled holiday in the med, which is not my cup of tea.

Unfortunately my late husband grumbled when we went anywhere I liked and I would grumble when we went where he wanted, it was the same for my subsequent partner. How do you get someone to disquise their boredom and jog along so you can enjoy a holiday I don't think its possible to find a holiday to suit two people. It always seemed that It was 'give and take' which I hate. We would go perhaps sightseeing and I would be fuming, saying I wanted to go home but the next day late DH would take me somewhere to please me and he would be sulky.

I would have loved a relationship where I had a partner who would just want what I wanted but I never found one.

I think a holiday really is "what you make it". I would love to take more holidays but family responsibilities and financial constraints make even short breaks quite difficult.

I have friends who holiday so often they are almost never at home. They have probably had more holidays in a year than I have or will have in my lifetime. It makes me wonder whether they appreciate how lucky they are or does someone who can only get away occasionally appreciate it more?

The anticipation of a holiday is never good for me as quite often things go wrong at the last minute which prevents me from going. I have lost count of the times we have been packed ready to go and something has happened meaning we couldn't travel.

In the years when I was widowed with DD still very small, I went on holiday with my mother and it was a nightmare, I would try to plan something for her and for DD and it never worked out, we went to butlins once and DD just cried to be on the beach, mother had a long face as she doesn't like sand. In the clubhouse DD made a lot of noise and was disruptive and mother had a long face as she doesn't like clubs, they remind her of pubs which she hates. the best part was going to bed with my book.

At blackpool it was similar, DD was disruptive in the dining room, mother hated the long walk to the beach or the shops and I hated all of it, I would go to bed at 8pm after Id put DD to bed and no one could understand why I didn't want to go to the bar and booze (nightmare).

Oh ethelbags I think your problem is that you do not choose the right type of holiday for you. There must be something that you want to do or see or take part in. Maybe there is not in which case you are better off staying at home and keeping to you own routine and surroundings. But, you really are missing out on so much with your 'glass half empty' attitude.

I love going on holiday and take as many as I can - not that many by some standards but I love looking forward to them. As I live alone, one of the great things for me is to have company - someone to hang out with and share things. A few years ago, I plucked up the courage to go on a singles holiday to China and I made some great friends. We have had quite a few trips together since then and I am off to the States in September with one of them. I love seeing new places and meeting new people. I feel that holidays have enriched my life in so many ways.

I enjoy going to different places and worked until I was 64, saving as hard as I could. My ambition was to become a 'professional holidaymaker'. I was shocked to discover that I was a bit bored while sitting by a pool on a Greek island. I realised that, now that I am not working, I am not stressed so don't need the wind down time.

We still go away in the winter, partly because I have a bad chest and getting away into some clean, warm air in February is good for me. Also we have an allotment and we do not want to leave it in the summer.

This winter we are going to Turkey at the beginning of October and then maybe Cuba in February. Any advice on Cuba would be very much appreciated as we have not been there before.