I've never been on holiday AMA

[CloseTheDooor]

Feel free to ask me anything about the fact I've never been on holiday.

Ooh actually I do have some questions,

Are there things or places that you'd like to see for yourself, if you could be teleported there and back in a day, so removing the organisation / travel / being away from home element?

If your DP came home one day and said that they'd booked you both 3 nights away (UK or abroad) sorted the travel and arranged a trustworthy house-sitter, do you think you'd go?

Do you go and stay with relatives?

(We have family in Scotland but live in England so any family visits for us are like a mini holiday/road trip).

Do you work? If so, do you struggle to book time off without any fixed plan of what to do with it?

Do you have children?

I'm just going out now but will answer more questions later

Have you tried those VR goggles? You could see the world without leaving home.

I can't really imagine never having travelled more than 90 miles from my home town. Do you drive or go places by bus/train. Have you any curiosity to see other places even just places a bit further than you have travelled up to now?

When you see places on TV, do you not think that you would like to see and experience them in real life?

Like David Attenborough just inspires me to want to paddle in clear blue oceans and feel the warm sun on my skin.
Do you have kids? Do you not want to expose them to the beauty of the world? To experience other cultures, foods, people & breathtaking scenery?

Thanks for starting this AMA, I can relate to a lot of what you’re saying op. Particularly the anxiousness about booking and going somewhere new.

Growing up we had no money for holidays except for a couple of short caravan breaks in Wales and a Pontins holiday with grandparents once.

I have been on UK holidays as an adult, our honeymoon was a 4 day holiday let in Scotland and I have had a some hotel stays in Manchester, York, Liverpool, London and Bath but these were when I was younger and more confident in booking things. We took the kids to Butlins when they were little and we enjoyed it so I was happy to go back there a lot as I felt confident and secure there.

I’m 43 now and even though we could afford a foreign holiday and there are lots of places I like the look of, the actual booking and going makes me quite anxious.

I really want to go to experience different places but it’s so scary. I’m totally envious of people who just take off to wonderful places with no fear!

Is there anywhere in the world you’d go if you could click your fingers and just arrive there?

I met a lady recently in her 60s who had never travelled further than 5 miles from her home town. She had adult children and I wondered if they ever travel.

Did your parents ever travel when their kids had left home?

You could go via Eurostar to Paris as your first trip as that's fairly quick and easy to organise and navigate

My dad once dated someone who lived on the Isle of Wight and was in her 40s and had never left the island (he met her while on holiday there). I can understand never having left the UK, I had grandparents who had never been abroad, but to never have left such a small island as the Isle of Wight blew my mind.

I hope you can travel if that’s what you want to do OP - it’s not for everyone but you may find you love it.

As an aside, I am a Social Worker and I have met loads of families who have never travelled. Two families spring to mind - one who lived on an estate in a city suburb 3 miles from the city centre - they’d never been to the centre (or to anywhere off the estate). Another one, when asked if her family were local answered ‘no’ - turned out they lived 5 miles away in the next village.

I know everyone is different but this just baffles me. I hope you're not unhappy about it @CloseTheDooor

@TulipTuesday Answering you specifically as you say you do want to experience different places (where I'm not sure yet if the OP does) - are you able to put into words what exactly makes you anxious about it, in case there are any misconceptions there we could put to bed for you?

Is there any particular sight you would like to see or any activity you would like to do abroad if you could just be there with no hassle? ie Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon, snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef etc

My FIL has never been abroad. Never wanted to. Has lovely interests but doesn't want to travel far. Not sure if he's even been to London - not in the last few decades anyway! He goes to stay with his family occasionally though.

Do you feel you are missing out?

Interesting thread OP, thanks.

I find it very hard to relate, the world is a huge and fascinating place. Do you read? Watch documentaries about other countries?

I think a great first step would be a group trip somewhere, everything planned and organised for you. Holidays for me are such a great opportunity to learn about other cultures, food. And of course the weather.

Do you have kids?

Booking a hotel is as simple as buying a dress online tbh.

Do you not want to go anywhere? Are you not desperately curious? Do you never feel trapped?

Have any of your family had holidays since? If you did go somewhere in the UK where would you go? What do your friends think?

Fascinated by this. I grew up in Greater Manchester (less than 20 miles from the centre) and remember a family at school who had never been into Manchester - this would have been late 90s/early 00s when bus fare was about 65p into town. The estate they lived on was off a main road and there were two buses an hour that went from the main road across from the estate directly to Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester City centre, and there was a train station too.

It was such a strange thing to me at the time to have so little interest in the world but I wonder if their parents were anxious.

Thank you for replying to me.

To be fair it’s lots of things that I worry about.

Not knowing what we’ll enjoy from a holiday and worrying that we’ll spend loads of money and we won’t enjoy it.

Germs on the aeroplane is a sillier fear but still there 🙈
What if I’m scared of flying? I might want to get off as soon as the plane’s in the air! And aeroplane toilets?!

I know we could go by train/boat but we’re miles from any port so the cost of getting to those places makes it impossible.

I suppose for people who’ve travelled from a young age these things are just normal, but when the furthest place you went to as a kid was Aberystwyth, the thought of actually leaving the country feels so daunting and a big deal.

It's funny because this reminded me of Kaleb from Clarkson's Farm, went to London for the first time and it was the farthest he'd ever travelled. I thought at the time he was unique but this thread is eye opening!

What's the furthest you've ever been from your home town? Have you ever stayed overnight away from your home eg with a friend?

I can speak for loads of people who grew up where I did in less well off homes that wouldn’t have travelled further than the odd trip to the Welsh coast. If you have no money and your family/school/work are all local why would you go anywhere.

Despite never going anywhere my mum always encouraged us to learn about the world and we read loads. I poured over atlases and watched travel shows but the people who went to these places just weren’t like us.

Its a dreadful hangover from my childhood that I still feel like I’m not one of those people.