Have you ever decided to come home early from a holiday abroad?

[Newmeagain]

I was just thinking about this because my older teen dd has gone on a solo trip in Europe. She is feeling a bit low and regretting planning to be away for two weeks. Anyway, I was giving her a bit of a “you just have to deal with it” pep talk but later thought - actually, if she is really not enjoying it, she could just book an earlier flight home?

I have personally never done that but have had a few trips over the years where I wished I could have cut them short.

Yes, when the kids were little. Eurocamp in France and the weather was just so awful. We ended up bailing the tent out with the kids buckets. Plus I wasn't well but only realised after we got home that I was pregnant

God yes. My skinflint of an ex husband booked us in at Sunny beach Bulgaria for 2 weeks. This was back in the 90s.
The room was truly horrible and stank of sewage and there was nothing to do. The beach itself was OK but there needs to be something else as well.
After a week I insisted we go home. Went home the next day.

I agree, life is too short to be miserable on holiday, either find and pay for better accommodation, eat out or if it’s really dire, just book a flight and come home.

Glad you all agree!
Dd seemed happier this evening and I can’t help thinking that her knowing it’s ok to just pack up and leave has made her feel better.

I went travelling, the plan was to be gone for about a year. I ended up coming home after 9 months. Called my sister from a tiny island off the coast of Malaysia and chatted to her. She said “just change your flights and come home sooner”.
I decided then and there to spend another week in Singapore and then come home and surprise my parents. Never regretted it!

Yes. Had some bad news and just didn’t want to be on the holiday any longer. Cost me about £300 to swap flights and I only got home 2 days earlier but it felt the right thing to do.

Yep. A home swap in Tuscany. It was a beautiful house in the hills but unbearably hot and humid with no fans or A/C. And the mosquitoes were feeding on us day and night. My DDs were young at the time and it was just miserable. Was happy to leave.

We came home early from a shitty holiday let in Dorset which was not as advertised.

Also stayed only one night on a camping weekend, I refused to do another night as it was so bloody cold and uncomfortable and we came home a day early.

Nearly came home 2 weeks early from visiting family in SE Asia when DS2, aged 8, behaved so badly we were genuinely prepared to cut the trip short and fly home. We reminded him of this the other day now he is much older, and he was absolutely horrified!! He remembered us being cross with him "being a bit naughty" but didn't realise it was so bad we nearly flew home.

I flew home from a two month trip a few days early to attend the funeral of an old school friend.

Decades ago a friend and I went to Italy for a fortnight. No real plans, just making it up as we went along.

The first week was ok but then we caught colds, the weather wasn't great and we got fed up of unwanted attention from men. We just gave up and flew back to the UK.

If its not enjoyable then don't stay.

Yes - Eurocamp in the Jura. Site was lovely. It pissed it down for days. Those in tents were in a swamp. No opportunity to use the facilities. Decided to call it a day. We had been 2 weeks elsewhere previously though. If it had been our only week I might have made more of an effort.

Yes, Paphos Cyprus. The one and only time we've been there. The hotel was awful, dirty & run down. They did offer us another hotel but it was just as bad. We stuck it out for a week and went home. Awful place i would go again if you paid me.

Not abroad, but we bailed out of a family narrowboat holiday in Wales after one night. It was during the pandemic, we’d all spent too much time together, my dh and our elder daughter weren’t getting on very well, the weather was pants, and the canal was full of grumpy people getting cross with us being clueless and getting in their way. I have zero regrets!

Sharjah, known as the " armpit of the middle east "...went to visit a friend out there, I lasted about 3 days, awful place, nothing to do, harrassment etc.... changed flight to Muscat and spent a lovely 10 days travelling around Oman.

No, never. I've always wished for an extension. 😁

I haven't flown home, but I've changed county. I was in SE Asia and hated the place I'd booked for a week, so I booked flights and went to another country then flew back in time to fly straight back out to home.

Life and holidays are too short to be miserable

Yes. DS1 was about 3 and we’d rented an apartment off a colleague in a ski resort in the French alps. First of all, the mountain was shut because of excessive snowfall and we couldn’t access the resort. Had to sleep in the village nursery overnight because we were stranded. Next morning drove up, lovely apartment but DS got a v high temp, clearly a virus, a day or so later. He was generally miserable so decided to fly back 2 days early. A shame as the snow was bucketing down, the apartment was brilliant but only DP got to do any snowboarding..

No. I’ve never been able to justify the change of flight/losing money on the hotel!

I was there for work, but one place I wish I could have left early is Moscow. Dirty, unwelcoming, stray dogs running loose through the Red Square. Guards everywhere. City felt very inaccessible and in parts hostile. (This was pre war with Ukraine)

And corfu because even though it was beautiful, we were young and three weeks in a resort with one bar, a tiny shingle beach and no way out apart from expensive coach excursions was just a bit much and we got bored. stuck it out though because we’d run out of money to do anything else 🤣

I’d probably love it now, it was very quiet!

Yes a few times-mostly from France when the dc’s were younger- due to bad weather or one year very badly behaved kids. That was the end of our Keycamp caravan holidays!

Another time was an early departure from Spain-dgc arrived weeks early & a parent was in hospital & all I wanted to do was go home.

Oh & Corfu-terrible room, terrible beach, awful food & the ‘short walk to local bars & restaurants’ was anything but!

we tried. ended up in an awful place in portugal, we approached the agents, and it would cost us more than the actual holiday to come home. we struggled on and as it was pre-kids we basically drunk ourselves through the holiday and promised never to set foot there again! if you can get home for a reasonable price, do it! life is too short....

No. There are places me and DH have been where we wouldn't necessarily go back to (looking at you Lassi in Kefalonia) but touch wood we've never been anywhere that was so awful that we wanted to come home. Me and my friend even made the best of a holiday to Corfu where our studio was decorated in what could charitably be described as 'early mosquito splattered' and you couldn't lock the door. We just drunk and clubbed our way through two weeks and slept a lot of the time on the beach.

I do always wonder about the advice on here: 'Just change your flight!' Like most people have a spare £500 in the bank to casually do that 🙄

No but I wanted to. Hotel in Salou (Spain) the food was terrible, ‘entertainment’ was grim and right underneath our window, DH accidentally knelt on my Kindle and broke it, and the people in the next room were absolutely horrendous. We asked to move but were told no other rooms available. We complained to the rep about them and she said, ‘You’re not the only ones to be honest, I think there are some issues there.’

They were incredibly noisy, encouraged their child to throw things onto our balcony and laughed, the husband sat on their balcony placing bets over the phone, often asking for his wife’s card. He and his wife argued non-stop (wonder why) and when it came time for them to finally check out security had to come and evict them from the room because they refused to leave!

We couldn’t afford the extra flight so had to stick it out. I didn’t go abroad again for eight years!

Yes, we went away in early 20’s and had to come home early because DH didn’t put sun cream on and got badly burned 🙄