UK holidays are hard work

[ChocolateRiver]

We’re on holiday on the north Devon/Cornwall border. Staying in a converted barn on a farm. It’s lovely, the kids are having a great time but it’s such bloody hard work. Getting up early to get a parking space at the beach, making up picnics, putting sandy beach clothes/towels in washing machine, sorting out food, cooking etc, driving everywhere, hoovering up after beach days, tidying up - feel like I’m constantly on the go! And it’s so expensive, can’t afford to have all lunches and teas out. Don’t get me wrong, we’re having a nice time, but it’s definitely not a rest - we’re knackered. We usually go abroad but have stayed here due to Covid, we’ll be off abroad again next year if it’s possible.

We've just had a week in Norfolk, got back today, the weather has been glorious, we have loved everything about it.

[quote MrsFin]**@MrsFin no we go all inclusive with beach towels etc provided. Don’t have to do a thing.

Well you could have done that in the U.K. [/quote]
Where?

@Auntycorruption Where

Any of the huge number of seaside guest houses/private hotels that offer them! Loads of smaller places in seaside resorts offer all kinds of things, such as packed lunches, loan of breach umbrellas, beach towels, buckets/spades, li-los and other inflatables. We've a friend with a guest house and they have an entire shed full of "beach equipment" in their back yard, plus a selection of bikes (adult & children). The UK is different, we don't have the huge beach front hotels, but most seaside resorts have smaller guest houses/hotels that provide all kinds of extras.

@RampantIvy

It is because it is self catering which is just the same drudgery somewhere else!

But it doesn't have to be. On a SC holiday I don't do washing, ironing, complicated cooking, hoovering, cleaning the house from top to bottom etc. Obviously I leave a house as clean and tidy as it was when we arrived, but we don't make much of a mess in the first place.

But the OP is comparing apples against pears. She's trying to compare the UK versus abroad, but is missing the fundamental matter that she's actually comparable self catering (which could be anywhere) against an AI resort (which could be anyway). So comparisons are meaningless.

We go on holidays in caravans and small cottages because we're skint and can't afford fancy all inclusive hotel/resort jobs but we don't spend ages cooking/cleaning/washing/changing beds etc. We eat out or get sandwiches, we take enough clothes to last the week and we're not obsessive about cleaning towels and bedding so don't feel we have to change them every day. You're just making your own holiday crap by doing all that shit.

One of the things I actually like best about self catering is that you can do washing and ironing. Whether we are self catering in the UK or abroad I always come home with a suitcase of washed, ironed and folded clothes that can be put straight away. I hate coming back from a hotel holiday and then having a week's worth of 5 people's laundry to do. I suppose I could always go to a laundrette if staying in a hotel but that would be a bit of a pain and take up holiday time. Self catering, it's no issue to stick a load in the washer overnight.
We never stay anywhere that isn't at least as well equipped as our own home though. I remember as a child my Mum trying to create meals in caravans with tiny kitchens with a 2 ringed hob and a grill you couldn't have on at the same time as the rings etc and that really did look like hatd work. Fortunatwwe can affird really nice self catering places now and on the whole I prefer it to a hotel holiday of similar cost.

Jesysmaryandjoseph

If you RTFT properly you would know that my towel washing comments are in direct response to this post - quoted by me upthread. (Not the OP).

Key sentence: ’When we’ve been camping’.

As for washing... why do people do this on holiday? Towels just get used every day as they're full of sand again after 5 mins on the beach. I'm always amazed at the amount of people hanging around the washing machine area when we've been camping. What a waste of a holiday!

That was for JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon

@RampantIvy

Well first wash of the day is usually my 2 year olds bedding as whatever I try he gets his nappy off at night and wees through clothes/sleeping bag/bed sheets.

Then I usually pack light with the intent to wash! I didn’t predict this heat wave so after a day my bra os sweaty and needs a wash! I wear 2 underwear a day and only picked 6 pairs!

And I like a freshly washed towel

@Maggiesfarm you are 100% right there... it’s all horses for courses! In the grand scheme of things, we are indeed very lucky to be able to spend our leisure time somewhere new. This is a luxury the majority of the world’s population cannot afford #realitycheck (still agree with OP though... same shit, different place )

We normally holiday in Spain, Greece, Turkey and love big all inclusive hotels. But we nearly always eat out in the evenings, so that we get to see the resort we’re staying in.

Obviously COVID has put a stop to this, but we’ve had some great uk breaks over the last 16 months. But you need to manage your expectations, a week self catering in Cornwall, no matter how lovely, is not the same as a Spanish beach holiday!

@doorornottodoor

Breakfast buffet- best thing EVER

You see, that idea just makes me shudder.

We're all different. I'd rather do the work involved in a self catering holiday than share it with hundreds of strangers.

@Chicchicchicchiclanayou maybe you haven’t been to a really amazing one though!

In the Far East there was sushi plus all sorts of amazingly exotic (to us!) creations. Fresh fruit, yoghurts, croissants, pastries. Cheese ham etc… Also an omelette chef who would make your omelette to order. Then the fabled pancake machines. Wonderful juices…. So not just eggs and bacon etc…

There are breakfast buffets and there are breakfast buffets

Currently "holidaying" in Norfolk and it seems like such poor value for money. Grey skies and rain forecast for our entire stay, tired looking sea fronts with the same arcades

Gosh where are you in Norfolk , currently really missing Greece but live Norfolk and spend lots of time there , don’t recognise that description, unless it’s Great Yarmouth. Happy to give tips

L

Well first wash of the day is usually my 2 year olds bedding as whatever I try he gets his nappy off at night and wees through clothes/sleeping bag/bed sheets.

We had this , the thing that worked was to use a all in ones , like a giant baby grow. Mine were in them until about 3 years old .

Couldn't agree more... we've just got back from Cornwall and it wasn't the best. We always go all inclusive, somewhere with kids club, on the beach, cleaners who come daily... I find holidays in the UK are ridiculously expensive and are not a break if you're kids are under 8.

UK holidays have the risk of shit weather, definite housework & definite very high expenditure on food & drink. They just don't compare in anyway to holidays abroad.

@Miseryl

UK holidays have the risk of shit weather, definite housework & definite very high expenditure on food & drink. They just don't compare in anyway to holidays abroad.

We went to Italy in August one year and it rained for five days.

I agree op. I'd rather not holiday at all than holiday in UK. Its harder work than staying home

Okay I should say all inclusive beach holidays in places like Spain, obviously not every single type of holiday experience in the hundreds of different foreign countries.

@Miseryl

UK holidays have the risk of shit weather, definite housework & definite very high expenditure on food & drink. They just don't compare in anyway to holidays abroad.

Not definite housework at all. Only if you go self catering but then would be the same abroad. Yes you can't rely on the weather but there are plenty of indoor things to do here unlike when we went to Cyprus and it rained the whole time so we had no hot water due to solar heated tanks and no heating or duvets in the apartment.

I never go on AI holidays. Holidays in the UK are expensive in comparison to what one would get in other parts of Europe, and they don't offer much that is new or different everyday life.

Gosh, didn’t realise this would lead to such debate. Like I said, we’ve had a nice time and kids have loved it (they’re 5 and 8) but I’ve personally found it hard work and don’t feel like I’ve had a rest. Dh said exactly the same today. If you prefer this type of holiday then great, but this wouldn’t be my usual choice and I’m looking forward to my all inclusive next year🤞

When people say “lie by the pool” etc, do they actually go in the pool or just lie there? You might as well lie on the sofa! It’s been a while since I holidayed like this, but I didn’t like having to be right next to other people’s near naked bodies and watching them pick at the buffet.
I find UK holidays easy. Get a supermarket delivery with nice, easy to prepare food. Go to some nice pubs, have some cream teas. Perhaps a good curry one night. I do like going abroad too but find the airport stressful and the cost of flights/length of time spent flying doesn’t seem worth it. I would find it hard to do all that just to sit around all day when I could sit around at home. So if I go abroad I tend to be busy, and then get even more exhausted.

In all fairnes, it took us less time to fly to Croatia one year (including travel at either end) than it took us to drive to Padstow from South Yorkshire one Saturday in August.