Holidays... not for me I'm happy at home

We have had a holiday home in France for over 25 years. It is in Normandy so easily accessed by ferry, so most of our 'holidays' are there. The six hour ferry journey (we loathe the fast ferries) is wonderfully relaxing at the start and finish, especially if we treat ourselves to a meal in the serviced restaurant.

DH's work has always involved lots of air travel and as airports and air travel have gradually become such deeply unpleasant experiences, guaranteed to ruin any holiday before it starts and/or as it finishes, we have taken to train-based holidays.

We have had two such holidays in recent years, one to northern Spain and the other to Switzerland. At lunch time today we were reading an advert for a train holiday to Vienna and Prague and considering it for next year.

paddyann why do u care what other people think or say, ignore them and continue doing wat makes U n DH happy

I go to France with children and grandchildren twice a year. Ferry crossing and short drive other side and no airports. I have been abroad flying, I like planes just not queuing to get on one. I've had several holidays with a best friend in this country and enjoy it just as much ,we usually go by coach which is less stressful than driving ourselves. We also go and stay with each other. She lives in Wales I live in the SE. I love spending time alone in my flat and doing as I like but I do enjoy a holiday as well. Going self catering in a cottage as we do means taking lots of magazines and books to read and my knitting so I can relax in peace with the grandchildren.

It also depends on your definition of a holiday. In my impecunious youth, unable to afford a holiday away from home. I planned a home based holiday.

I lived in a bedsit in Chalk Farm so I got a good London Guide book and planned a holiday sight-seeing around London, avoiding visiting any of the big famous attractions. I spent a day in Hampstead, within walking distance of my bedsit and visited the poet, Keats, house, Fenton House (NT) and Kenwood. Another day I went to south London and Dulwich Art Gallery and the Horniman Museum, and so the week progressed. I also went to the prom concert every evening as I had bought a season ticket.

I really got to know London and its suburbs and visited so many small less well known sites. It was one of the most enjoyable holidays I have ever had.

There's a whole world that I want to visit but I don't want to leave the dog, I haven't got the money, and, quite frankly, I'm now scared. Was only talking to DD tonight and we both said we're no longer scared of flying but scared of something dreadful happening when we're there. It's lovely where we are now in Northumberland, but I miss the mental stimulation of travelling to other countries; seeing new places. My achey bones also want to lie on a beach and soak up some sun.

You said it Tegan! I think I am still nervous of flying what with suicidal pilots, malfunctions AND terrorists but now I'm nervous about being in tourist sites. I know that's what the terrorists want but these attacks on the street are virtually unstoppable once they happen hence we're being warned to think of escape routes wherever we are. I even found myself pondering in Paddington station recently and thinking that a bomb would bring the glass roof down. I also find everywhere so crowded these days I have begun to think travel is such a hassle why would anyone bother. Each to their own indeed. I just wish we had better weather!

We once had a holiday at home, going out after breakfast, visiting local places we enjoyed and then going home late afternoon, getting changed and going out to eat at nice pubs and restaurants.
It was such a change and so relaxing and we slept in our own bed.
House work kept to minimum so it was like being away.
However I still would like a holiday in the sun, sitting on a balcony somewhere after a good meal with a bottle of wine and putting the world to rights until the early hours.
A pipe dream now of course, I am always in bed by 9:30pm.

It's like Jane Austen said - 'One half of the world can never understand the pleasures of the other.' I think she was talking men and women, though!

The sort of people who are always off somewhere, and planning the next trip in between, will often, I'm afraid, think people who are happy at home, or frankly CBA with all the faff of packing/airports, are a bit weird or boring. But as another poster said, some people are over fond of telling others what they ought to enjoy. There should be no 'ought' in enjoyment!

We have done a lot of travelling in the past, and I'm just not bothered now, but will still go sometimes because Dh is still keen, and I do still like warm sea now and then! However I have not felt at all bad for saying I don't want to go on certain trips with him - e.g. to see far flung relatives I don't, or barely, know, or to visit WW1 battlefields. He was quite happy to go on his own, though.

We used to like to visit different places each year, but nowadays prefer either to holiday in this country for a few days or occasionally in Winter, a week or two at a favourite/familiar place abroad where it's a little warmer. Favourite and familiar places because then we don't feel the need to dash around sightseeing. We can relax. We find going away makes us appreciate it all the more when we get home.