Have you ever done an extreme day trip?

[Ahfiddlesticks]

Just that really.

I've seen a few things on insta recently and I'm considering making it a new year resolution - 6 extreme day trips next year.

I was particularly inspired by a couple who went on an extreme day trip skiing in Geneva - I love skiing but get put off by the cost for a family and I think a day trip for DH and I would work really well!

If you've done one, would you recommend?

We did Iceland day trip. Flew from Stansted about 6am then on a coach tour to Blue Lagoon, Gulfoss Falls and the the Gyesers and back home again, well a hotel just outside Stansted, by midnight.

We did Lapland with the kids (it was really expensive to stay in those days). Left home at 4am & got back about 1am. We all had a great day but I think we must have been mad to do it with young children!

I’ve done Lapland in a day trip.

added fun that there was snow everywhere on return so instead of landing at Gatwick we were diverted to Glasgow so actually didn’t get home until the day after as left Glasgow at 1am!!!

We live south Hampshire!

Oh I forgot about work. Yes I did day trips to The Netherlands.

Damn I feel like being adventurous

Yes we’ve done a few - the easiest is Paris on the Eurostar and that was a fabulous day out. We’ve also done Amsterdam and as others have mentioned also a Lapland day trip. Both were delayed on the leg back but very easy to do!

We do it to Belfast because our DS lives there, means we can fit in visiting when life is too busy to go for the weekend. We managed to fit in a parkrun on one day trip!

I know it’s not that extreme really!

Yep, took overnight Eurostar on a Friday night (can’t remember stop), taxi to val d’isere for a days skiing, then reverse journey at end of Saturday and was back in London on Sunday morning. Wouldnt do it now though - definitely a younger woman’s game.

We're northern so Eurostar isn't really an option sadly, but we are 15 minutes from an international airport.

36 hour trip to Berlin. Bloody brilliant!

Anywhere 2 hours or less would be the best. That's as far as Rome or Majorca and within that circle. So pretty much all of Spain, Western Europe and The Baltic states. I did Paris one day. First flight out, last back and had a great day. Berlin is approx 90 mins flight time.

Sounds a lovely day out!

Not flying. But back in the olden days before I moved to the UK...
we used to do something similar by taking an overnight bus to major cities.
We'd arrive usually between 8-10am and leave again 6-8pm, so had just shy of 12 hours in said cities. Great fun and quite cheap. I'm not sure if I could cope with all the airport faff of waiting and travelling to & fro.

I've done them on route to somewhere else. Sometimes it's cheaper to get a red eye to Amsterdam then a later flight from Amsterdam to where I'm going (including in the UK) So had a few day trips that way.

Amsterdam is pretty easy you get 1 train from the airport (about 20 mins) and end up in the centre. Easy to get around and a boat tour is a good way to see the sights.

A bit less exotic, but as a teen I once did a 450 mile round trip by train for a university open day. I must have spent about 12 hours travelling for just a couple of hours there. It didn't end up as one of my choices 😅

I do Spain and Denmark annually for work. Usually a 7 something flight out from Gatwick, and a 9 something flight back. It's not fun for me as it's flight, taxi to venue, interviews, flight, and im 2 hours away from the airport, but I could see the appeal for something fun maybe :)

Edit to say honestly I get a bit pissed off because they companies are too important to do media interviews via video call. But it is not my choice...

Ah yes, I used to do it frequently for work. Paris, Munich, Glasgow. Edinburgh, and many others.

Yes, quite a few times. I live only a short bus ride from an airport with a lot of low cost flights so that helped. Also I had caring responsibilities and couldn’t stay overnight. I went to the blue lagoon in Iceland, Amsterdam and Rotterdam (that works great and you get a really long day), Switzerland twice (Zurich and Lucerne/mt Pilatus), Wroclaw, Budapest, Ghent (but that was by Eurostar). And don’t think I’m well off, it was a bit of a crazy time for me and I’m still paying off the debt🙄. Would recommend though.

I’d love to but I don’t think I’d be up to it physically, chronic illness and disabilities means that travel kills me. I have done quite a few 3 day ish trips, Venice, Iceland, Milan, few places in Spain. £99 per person groupon surprise deals- highly recommend if you don’t mind where you go!

I thought it was 2 hours for short haul now? I could be wrong, but as most flights start boarding 40 minutes or so before departure, an hour doesn’t give you much wiggle room.

I assumed you would be taking ski clothing/equipment with you but I guess you’ll be hiring it all.

That’s amazing! I flew to Moscow for 5 days for a first date. 😅 Thank goodness we got along or that would have been one awkward trip. (I had planned to get my own hotel if we didn’t click in person.)

I went to Belgium for the day when I was 14...

Absolutely. Go to Paris for the day on the train if you really need to do this for some reason

DH and I did something similar to this. We live in NE Scotland and took the sleeper train to go on a day trip to London to see Les Mis.

We did have a bit of chaos because the matinee we were meant to be at was cancelled and we didn’t get the email so we ended up switching to evening tickets so we still saw the show and had to change which sleeper we got home so we did have a panic running around for a bit but other than that we had a lovely time.

No I wouldn't do this. I believe it's irresponsible because of the environmental cost.

But also, I once flew somewhere for two nights only (hen do) and even that was too much time at the airport vs actually enjoying the place. I can't imagine I'd enjoy a daytrip at all.

Also, I find that transport is a high % of a holiday's cost. Much more cost effective to stay a while.