Have you ever left a holiday early?

[LudoBear]

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).

@mermaidsariel

But you are wasting a night you’ve paid for if you leave the night before..

Wow! That's a strange way of looking at it. What benefit is there of staying the final night and then having a runaround morning to meet the check out time? What exciting things are you going to do on the final night that makes the stress of an early morning runaround worthwhile? It's a sunk cost, it doesn't matter, the money is spent.

After years of camping we're pretty seasoned to it. That means taking twice the amount of clothing you think you will need, our own pillows and good four season sleeping bags even in August. The key is to not get cold and wet, and if you do, have something dry to change into. And don't expect to sleep well for the first week!
We go to the same place each year, not too far. It's part of a hobby holiday, and it includes all meals. If it's nice the day before you leave and the forecast isn't great, pack up early!

We're also seasoned holiday cottage users, and learnt the hard way. Only go where electric, bills, fire fuel, towels and bedding are included, (and no breakages deposit) and don't go to a listed property unless it has proper central heating!

Worst holiday was Norfolk, April, with a 1 and 2 year old, rained every day, damp, water running down the walls, snails in the kitchen, a back boiler for heat and hot water and only two rads in the house. I could have cried. And would have happily come home.

Best holidays, Norfolk camping from 16- now, with tiny babies upwards. It was hard work with tots, but I expected it to be.

I’ve camped in snow, frost, midges, mosquitoes, Scottish damp and showery weather and desert thunderstorms but the Lake District broke me. The rain was just relentless. The only times it wasn’t raining heavily we’re when it was torrential. There’s only so many times you can go to the pencil museum to get dry.

What exciting things are you going to do on the final night that makes the stress of an early morning runaround worthwhile? It's a sunk cost, it doesn't matter, the money is spent

Totally agree @Badbadbunny, nothing is worth that dashing about trying to find everything at 9.59am. So much better to leave the night before at your leisure. I always tell the owner/agency that we're leaving too in case they want to send the cleaners in before 10am.

I have thought about leaving the night before on many occasions but we often go out for a meal on the last night and tidy up before hand to make it easier to leave the next day. We stayed somewhere we had stayed before last year and they were asking us to leave at 9 am and not arrive till 5pm for all the cleaning they had to do. I fail to see why it takes a full day to clean a house.

Not gone home from, but changed accommodation twice.

Once we just took the hit and paid extra for the remaining 5 nights elsewhere without getting a refund on the original booking (which was horrifically dirty and run down).

The other time we complained and got moved to marginally better accommodation, which was still nothing like advertised. After the holiday we left a negative review with photos and they refunded 50% of the cost of the accommodation.

Yes, drove 300 miles to a holiday apartment in the Peak District, spring time so it was dark when we arrived. There was no power - couldn't even make a cup of tea or see where to unpack. The owner (who apparently lived in the next cottage was wasn't answering the door) wasn't picking up his phone - so nothing for it but to drive home again. He had the cheek to ring us the next day to ask where we were - on being told the problem he said the solar panels on the roof were tripping out the electrics! He did apologise and refunded us a couple of days money, and also paid for the diesel we had used - so we went back the following day, and had quite a good holiday!

@mermaidsariel

I have thought about leaving the night before on many occasions but we often go out for a meal on the last night and tidy up before hand to make it easier to leave the next day. We stayed somewhere we had stayed before last year and they were asking us to leave at 9 am and not arrive till 5pm for all the cleaning they had to do. I fail to see why it takes a full day to clean a house.

I like the sound of this place

We booked a caravan on a Parkdean site (Pendine Sands). It was bitterly cold (May), and the heating consisted of a gas fire and electric ceiling panels that generated as much heat as a lightbulb. Two windows were broken and wouldn't shut..... we cracked and went out to buy 2 fan heaters from Argos but they tripped the electric at 1am and we were so cold that we ended up spending the night in the car with 3 kids and a large labrador. We went home after 36 hours. It was an absolute dump of a place. Even the dog was miserable. Never got a penny back off them either, their customer service was a joke. That was our last ever caravan holiday!

Yes but not through choice. I went to Greece with a uni friend. Was supposed to be a cheap and cheerful break. I spent one evening holding the coats while she got off with someone in a club but then next day was pining so much for her boyfriend that she announced she needed to go home. I tried to persuade her but she was adamant and told the tour rep that a family member had died suddenly and therefore we had to fly home. It was mortifying . Other people who’d asked to be moved at the resort (which was a bit shit) accused us of lying and my (ex) friend got really shitty with them.
We flew home and didn’t really see each other much after that!

What exciting things are you going to do on the final night that makes the stress of an early morning runaround worthwhile? It's a sunk cost, it doesn't matter, the money is spent

Very much personal preference, of course, but just to say you can have a pleasant final night with meal out and (alcoholic) drinks, and it is possible to make a day or half day of your leaving day - you don't have to drive straight home after you've loaded the car up and checked out.

I agree it's a sunk cost but personally I feel I have got better value for the money I've spent if I don't leave a day early.

Went as a single woman to a Lake District B&B. It started pouring with rain, the landlord was perving over the women staying there, and his wife openly expressing resentment and anger about it. Horrible atmosphere, so I left and went home.

Camping in the UK. Didn't even last 24 hours.

Not for me thanks.

Almost as expensive as a B and B with no comfort, warmth or hygiene.

We're another family that routinely leaves a U.K. holiday cottage on the last night rather than getting up and dealing with a hectic cleanup. I'd much rather have a lovely last day, eat up all the leftovers and tidy up, get the kids into their pyjamas and packed into the car then set off into the sunset. A couple of times we've got back at 1am or later after a 300 mile drive and I don't regret it one bit.

The money for the last night isn't "wasted" if you think about it as paying for the full days, not the nights,

Waking up in your own bed still on holiday but at home is lovely - and it feels like a real gift having an unexpected turnaround day at home to do washing and get a takeaway rather than sitting on the motorway.

Waking up in your own bed still on holiday but at home is lovely - and it feels like a real gift having an unexpected turnaround day at home to do washing and get a takeaway rather than sitting on the motorway

Totally agree. Worth it for the lack of traffic more than anything. It's not leaving a day early, just a matter of hours at night.

@Fifteenerife

We're another family that routinely leaves a U.K. holiday cottage on the last night rather than getting up and dealing with a hectic cleanup. I'd much rather have a lovely last day, eat up all the leftovers and tidy up, get the kids into their pyjamas and packed into the car then set off into the sunset. A couple of times we've got back at 1am or later after a 300 mile drive and I don't regret it one bit.

The money for the last night isn't "wasted" if you think about it as paying for the full days, not the nights,

Waking up in your own bed still on holiday but at home is lovely - and it feels like a real gift having an unexpected turnaround day at home to do washing and get a takeaway rather than sitting on the motorway.

Opposite here. I’m a single parent and I whenever I have holidays in the UK, I like to have a nice evening dinner with the children and then whilst they shower, get in to pjs and then settle in front of some TV - I put on an audio book, pack and load up the car. I never have a big clean up operation because in pretty uptight about cleaning constantly and I’d never stay anywhere where you have to strip your own sheets for example!

Next morning we wake, have nothing to do as all packed, the children have a light breakfast whilst I do a last sweep to ensure everything packed, then we head off and stop on the way for brunch.

Just thought.. it sort of fits the criteria. We booked a house in Cornwall years ago through the owner. The pictures were lovely and we were so excited. When we got there having driven from Scotland with three young children, we found the house already let to someone else. The owner offered us his own very small squalid house next door. His boots were on the table and it was a mess. He had clearly double booked. No apologies . He didn’t give a shit. We managed to find somewhere else at very short notice and went there instead. I tried to get my money back by writing threatening letters but it was never refunded. I couldn’t face the stress of the small claims court and thought it wouldn’t be believed anyway. I was SO angry. It was a lot of money to us at the time. It’s out me off booking direct ever again.

That's shocking, mermaids

Then-DP and I once booked a couple of nights at a B&B in a city and when we got there it was grim. Tatty, dirty room and a hideous old broken-down bed with appalling mattress. Home-owner wasn't welcoming and the whole house was like the room - every sign of not having been cleaned for a very long time, and reeking of pet smells. It just filled us with such horror we couldn't bring ourselves to stay.

I seem to remember we made up some sort of unconvincing sudden family emergency that meant we had to rush home immediately, it was that bad. Landlady clearly didn't buy it but we just fronted it out and fled, then found somewhere much nicer to stay.

Happy days

Another thing I also do is in places like Prague where hotels are cheap if I have a late night flight home so I always pay for an additional hotel day I only use it till about 6ish or whenever nice shower uber to airport and arrive cool and relaxed rather than lumping bags all day.

We panic booked last minute in a popular sea side town in August. The Airbnb was a recently requisitioned old people’s home complete with saggy beds dreadful decor and a pervading smell of wee and mould. The owner was very strange and launched into a tirade about her adult dds bankruptcy I think she had mental health issues.

Both kids were in tears at having to stay in such a horrible place - good lesson for them so they appreciate our house and the lovely places we usually go ! We declined breakfast! Fortunately we only booked one night to see family who were camping nearby. We didn’t wish we had camped though there was a massive storm that night and they were on a cliff side so got no sleep and were terrified. A memorable trip!

@WithLoveFromMyselfToYourself

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!

Sounds like our camping holiday at Coombe Martin in Devon-clifftop campsite; we'd been there a week and had the most almighty overnight storm. All the tents were flattened-we were in our trailer tent, and couldn't sleep for it rocking. We tried to get a caravan on-site for the second week, but they were fully booked, so we came home.

A few years ago we were staying on a campsite on the French Riviera. On our last night we could see the smoke from a huge forest fire. Campsite staff said if the wind changed direction we would be evacuated during the night. Nope. I wouldn't have slept a wink. Decided to drive home and got back at 3am instead.

Just remembered another one-we didn't leave early though Took a self-catering trip to Crete with our work's social club; we'd booked all the apartments in a small block just outside Malia; we didn't get there until 5am, so it was still dark, and the rep just handed over a huge bunch of keys and buggered off. We couldn't find 3 of the apartments, and had visions of sleeping on sunbeds round the pool. Luckily we all managed to squash in, and a different rep came the next day and showed us where the other apartments were (different entrance, round the back of the block) It had been the first rep's last day, and she obviously couldn't be bothered. The rest of the holiday was fine though.

Why does everyone leave the packing to the morning you leave and have to dash about trying to find everything and then rather chose to leave the evening before?
I pack the evening before, have a chilled relaxing night and get up with kids in tow having a nice leisurely breakfast, pack a picnic and plan stuff to do en route home. We make the most of every second we are on holiday.
I live for my holidays.
Not UK though. Devon and Cornwall have such shitty weather I don't know why so many people traipse down, the roads are full of tourists and often minor roads so very narrow.
In nice weather its great but its such a gamble. Ditto Lake District, Wales, Scotland Ireland. In fact much of the UK , we even had snow in Jersey!

@mermaidsariel

I have thought about leaving the night before on many occasions but we often go out for a meal on the last night and tidy up before hand to make it easier to leave the next day. We stayed somewhere we had stayed before last year and they were asking us to leave at 9 am and not arrive till 5pm for all the cleaning they had to do. I fail to see why it takes a full day to clean a house.

It doesnt take a full day but if you have only a couple of cleaners and several houses it takes its time. I have worked in many tourist places for caravan/lodge/house cleans and some want it spotless and even the inside of the oven to look brand new , others (big chain caravan parks) use the same cloth /mop for EVERY caravan and it is disgusting. I refused to work at those. I was a top notch cleaner Some places had the brochure photos printed out and you had to replace every item as it was in the brochure photos. Every picture, ornament, nick nack, (mind you it was gorgeous and worth every penny) the bigger the resort the worse the effort of cleaning was. and the pay was crap.