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Original poster

Have you ever left a holiday early?

323 replies

LudoBear · 04/05/2021 12:02

We were booked into a caravan in Cornwall for 7 nights but came home after 3 nights as the caravan was dreadful at the site owners (independent place, not a company like Parkdean) wouldn't move us as they disagreed anything was wrong. The mattresses were about 1 inch thick and you could feel the frame underneath, the window in the lounge didn't shut properly and let the cold air in (it was October), the shower didn't get hot and at best was tepid, toilet didn't flush properly, the carpets were absolutely filthy.

Came home on day 5 of a 2 week holiday in Orlando due to my uncle being in a serious car accident and we didn't think he'd survive (he did).

OP posts:
EL8888 · 04/05/2021 12:07

Yep. Weather was shocking and we were all sick of being cold. It was a cottage in the Isle of Wright, in August

DeltaFlyer · 04/05/2021 12:08

We came home 3 days early from a 5 day break.
It was a holiday let with a septic tank, the previous people bunged up the downstairs loo. The bathroom stunk. We were asked by the letters not to use that bathroom at all for anything, including shower as it would create further issues.
The property had an upstairs loo so we were fine in that respect but the only bath/shower was in the downstairs bathroom. So we had to use their house (nextdoor) for a shower. It was awkward as heck.
We did get a refund though thankfully

Blueeyedgirl21 · 04/05/2021 12:12

No never luckily. I’ll stick most things out, especially bad weather!!
Was your uncle with you on holiday? If not Did your family insist you came home? Must have been scary.

CadburyCake · 04/05/2021 12:17

Yes, we quite often jettison the last night in a self catering cottage, especially if the weather forecast is poor the next day, as I prefer to drive in the evening/night with the kids and being out by 9am is a pain. So if we were just going home the next morning anyway I’d rather leave at 8pm instead.

I came home a few days early from a holiday when DC1 was just being completely impossible as a baby. The weather was awful, we’d run out of fun indoors stuff to do and the prospect of several days with a very unhappy, non sleeping, crawling child in a holiday cottage, without the usual toys etc, just seemed miserable. We weren’t far from home and it was an otherwise empty property we’d borrowed from a friend, so no big loss. Turned out within 24h DC1 was fairly ill with hand foot and mouth for several days and then we were, so I was glad to be dealing with that at home.

niceupthedance · 04/05/2021 12:18

Yes centre parcs, the cabin was damp and the bedroom had mould in.

And also an Airbnb in devon - lovely place but it rained solid for 3 days and we thought we might as well watch tv at home instead

Onedropbeat · 04/05/2021 12:19

Yes a few times

Once was the first time I went to centre parks and I hated it.

Once when in Devon abs the weather was miserable and the bed so uncomfortable I couldn’t sleep well

Once on my first honeymoon because I had major food poisoning

Then on my second honeymoon because the heating / hot water wasn’t working properly so I couldn’t have a bath (middle of winter on a waking holiday)

I don’t have much luck

Arbadacarba · 04/05/2021 12:21

Yes. Camping in UK - weather was terrible plus my mum was in hospital and there was no phone signal. I called her from a call box and it was in the days of that rip-off patient line service - had to put £7 in call box before I even got through to her. Then our tent partially blew apart so we went home after 3 days.

corlan · 04/05/2021 12:21

Came home the second day of a caravan holiday on the Isle of Sheppey. We'd had a meal in the clubhouse when we arrived and all got food poisoning. That was a fun night!

SingingSands · 04/05/2021 12:23

Yes, sometimes it was better to leave the night before rather than scrabble about leaving early on a morning when the kids were young.

We did abandon one holiday due to absolutely foul weather (caravan holiday in the UK - decamped to PILs house instead!).

Oh, and there was one memorable holiday where poor DH ended up in hospital with post-surgical complications, resulting in an emergency doctors appointment and admission to the local hospital! That still makes me shudder and it was 12 years ago!

Genehuntsfanclub · 04/05/2021 12:25

Yes, went to a cottage in Yorkshire one Easter and it was so cold the fridge was warmer inside than the kitchen. We spent one night there sat in our coats with the 2 youngest children crying. The heating was on a meter and we worked out that to have it on for the week would have cost at least £200. We left early in the morning after one night. The cottage owners were really unpleasant on the phone afterwards as we think they were worried about a negative review. We were delighted to be home and warm

Original poster
LudoBear · 04/05/2021 12:28

@Blueeyedgirl21

No never luckily. I’ll stick most things out, especially bad weather!! Was your uncle with you on holiday? If not Did your family insist you came home? Must have been scary.
Uncle was at home but my mum, his sister, with me. Uncle had nobody left in UK with him as he had no children and wasn't married. We'd actually asked him to come with us but he couldn't get the time off work! As it happens he was then off work for 6 months.
OP posts:
WithLoveFromMyselfToYourself · 04/05/2021 12:33

Camping in a tent. More than once.
We weren’t the only ones; one time, the site looked like a bomb site after a rough night on a cliff top site, with the bins full of mangled tents.
We had the DC with us including very disabled DD2 and my bulldog.
I spent most of the night bracing against the bowing tent poles; the apex of thereby was inches from the groundsheet at times.

Holiday my arse!

Have you ever left a holiday early?
Original poster
LudoBear · 04/05/2021 12:33

@Genehuntsfanclub

Yes, went to a cottage in Yorkshire one Easter and it was so cold the fridge was warmer inside than the kitchen. We spent one night there sat in our coats with the 2 youngest children crying. The heating was on a meter and we worked out that to have it on for the week would have cost at least £200. We left early in the morning after one night. The cottage owners were really unpleasant on the phone afterwards as we think they were worried about a negative review. We were delighted to be home and warm
You'd think idd they were worried about negative feedback they'd have done anything to either make you stay (paid for your heating) or at least been pleasant about you leaving.
OP posts:
MelissaVonStressel · 04/05/2021 12:35

Yep.

Bluestone when we ran out of dry clothes - it was non stop pouring rain with howling wind and no where to dry anything.

Some horrible damp smelly place on Dartmoor which didn't have keys for all of the doors so but did have a massive unfenced pond. I didn't want to spend another evening freezing in a damp smelly room with a TV the size of a postage stamp, no 3G signal or WiFi or DVD player and then worrying if the kids would wander out of the unlocked door to drown or whether we'd get burgled, only to get up and shower in the green mouldy shower.l and eat from the 4 plates and 4 bowls with the 4 spoons and 4 knives in the smelly damp kitchen.

And last year we arrived to a filthy house - food on the floor, spittle in the sink unclean - and were expected to be out by 9am having given it a 5* gleaming clean, all bedding removed and bagged up and a whole load of other petty jobs considering we'd already had to do it all before at 6pm when we'd checked in.

Luckingfovely · 04/05/2021 12:47

Yup, left a 'winter sun' break in the Canaries as the weather was terrible and freezing cold (hadn't packed for that, foolish possibly). Nothing to do and nowhere to go (unless you wanted to join the hordes of tourists paralytic by 11am in all the bars) Grin

FrangipaniBlue · 04/05/2021 12:48

Yes, our honeymoon in Rome!

It was too hot, too busy and the traffic fumes were playing havoc with my asthma so we came home 3 days early.

Crabwoman · 04/05/2021 12:49

Yes, both kids had upset stomachs. Both ends. They had laundry facilities but at least at home I had a 10kilo washing machine and enough to distract them with.

LoveSleeping · 04/05/2021 12:50

Yes- left on day 3 of a 5 day holiday to Anglesey one spring.

We were staying in a nice converted stables but we had torrential rain and high winds for 3 days running, couldn't go for a walk or to the beach without getting soaked and suffering sand or wind burn. Kids were only 2 & 5, the little one kept getting blown over and was terrified. There was nothing much 'indoors' to do instead so we left on day 3.

It's put me off UK holidays for life!

ItsCokeFFS · 04/05/2021 12:52

Left a lovely apartment in Italy a couple of years ago as the owner had failed to mention in the advert that the entrance to the flat was in the middle of a flight of 200 very steep stairs. Whichever way you went it would involve a steep climb and I had dodgy knees.

If we had had elderly relatives or small children with us it would have been impossible.

Sloth66 · 04/05/2021 12:53

Booked a holiday in a cottage in Norfolk joined to the owners house.
When we arrived it was really cold, everything old and worn. Bath just didn’t look clean, but probably impossible to get clean. Meters for electricity, although the key wasn’t cheap.
And little rhymes posted on cupboard doors, basically warning us to pay for breakages, not make noise etc.
A horrible, tense place to stay, we left early.

minniemomo · 04/05/2021 12:55

From camping after a wash out

UCOinanOCG · 04/05/2021 12:55

My honeymoon. We rented a cottage in the Lake District which was cold and damp and the weather was miserable. I had a cold which turned into a chest infection. I just wanted to be home in the flat we had bought but never stayed in, tucked up in the bed we had bought but never slept in. It was bliss once we got home. In retrospect we should have just gone straight there after our wedding and hunkered down in our new home.

Floralnomad · 04/05/2021 12:59

We’ve cut short holidays lots of times , we’ve also got places , not liked what we’ve booked and checked into somewhere different . I never stay somewhere just because I’ve already paid if I’m not happy I either move or come home .

GenuineViolet · 04/05/2021 13:00

Yes, we quite often jettison the last night in a self catering cottage, especially if the weather forecast is poor the next day, as I prefer to drive in the evening/night with the kids and being out by 9am is a pain

Yes. This is us as well. You have to be all ready to go the night before, so you might as well just go.

squashyhat · 04/05/2021 13:00

Only a short break but it was horrific. Went to Gloucester for a friend's wedding. Instead of choosing to stay in the hotel where the wedding took place (which was lovely) we stayed independently in a B&B, which was horrible. Uncomfortable bed, mouldy shower, rattly windows, freezing cold and a really creepy owner. After the wedding reception we decided to cut our losses and drive straight home. It was well after midnight when we went back to get our things, I was writing a cheque for the cost (long time ago) in the hope we could just slip away when the owner appeared and demanded to know what we were doing. I just flung the cheque at him, made up some family emergency and we ran Grin