To wonder why people go on holiday to exotic places

[Cockwomble]

When they are the types who go all inclusive and never leave the resort.

Why not just go to whatever cheap place is sunny to eat pizza by the pool for ten days?

You haven't really been to cuba/mexico/egypt if you stayed inside a hotel complex and ate english food by the pool from the buffet have you?

ta!

This is a bit of a cheeky one - where does everyone find the cash for holidays? Or is it a case of you just have the money and don't need to think of it as something luxury?

I totally agree with your OP cockwomble, I've travelled quite a bit, I'm fortunate to have friends and family in some great places so we get to see the real country. I've been to some amazing off the beaten track estancias in Argentina, and eaten street food in Baja Mexico from the street .

Our last holiday was in January to St Lucia, but my parents have a house there, and we saved and ebayed for a year to pay for the flights. We're not going away this summer, but will probably go and see my FiL over the winter who just happens to live near some fantastic ski resorts to eat our body weight in cheese fondue :o Apart from the ferry/petrol costs it is ostensibly a free holiday. Looks like for the foreseeable we'll have to stay in Europe though.

I agree - all you need for the holiday you described is sun and a beach - both of which can be found in southern Spain in abundance so don't see why people who want that want that type of hol bother with Mexico/Egypt/India. My ILs do this type of holiday but they are very fearful, nervous people. They voluntarily go on coach trips . They went to Mexico and never left the resort. I went with as as student and travelled round the whole country with a friend on public transport having adventures. Actually maybe the ILs have the right idea it was pretty scary...

That said I found Cairo to be the most horrible place in the world just vile. Went in my twenties with female friend the sexual abuse was constant wouldn't judge anyone for hiding away from that "culture". My friend and I were pushed into hiring donkeys to walk round the pyramids my friends donkey died halfway round .

Cockwomble - we do house swaps now. We live in a nice place in England and swap houses with Spanish/French/Italian families. It is marvellous you basically get a big holiday paying only your air fare/ferry. Doesn't work if you are precious about your house though.

Q - AIBU To wonder why people go on holiday to exotic places...

Well, no, you're not being unreasonable, but I have travelled a lot when I was younger, seen the sights, experienced local culture and spent as much time as I could in cheap hostelly type places. I was 21.

Now I'm twice that age and we work damned hard and don't see much of eachother, DH is asleep by 9 a lot of the time and we just seem to pass like ships. We're going to a luxury, exotic, AI hotel with ds and plan to do little other than sit around. 'Get to know my family again'. Have lovely moonlit walks and a few drinks on the beach. Fabulous meals with family and friends. When they drop me off from the airport I will not leave the grounds 'til it's time to come home. 'Cos that's what I want to do at 41 years old.

I can think of nothing worse than 'somewhere cheap and sunny to sit and eat pizza by the pool' as that's normally coupled with loud drunks, football shirts, kids running around full of Pepsi and ice cream, litter and fag butts everywhere and pissed off, surly staff.

I travelled in the past to exotic places and only once did AI. as it was a last minute bargain. We were lucky as the beach was long and we could easily escape from the fashion shows round the pool and we were never bothered with the 'happy ' staff.
We hired a car , went off and explored , did one boat tour with 8 people as it was cheaper than going local. We ate in the evening in the buffet or the 'proper' restaurant and went for a beer in a local shack down the road. It was fine . DOn't think I ate Pizza once !
Now with the dc we tend to stay within Europe go S/C or HB but I wouldn't not go AI again as long as I did my homework as to where .

I haven't read all the messages, but I so agree with you OP.

We usually travel on our own and have explored a whole bunch of countries across the globe. The only time we went AI, was to a 5* resort in Jamaica. We were bored after two days and moved to a charming very small hotel with a private beach. Got bored with that too, and decided to out and see the real Jamaica. It was quite an experience, and I remember that part of the trip the most fondly, not the £700 a night rooms we stayed in!

I actually feel a secret snobbishness at the people who lie around the pool, drinking. It seems a bit uncouth and like they are trying to ape a 1970s Hollywood movie depiction of a 'good life'. It is all a bit icky, although I am fully aware that I am being judgey and unreasonable here

As someone said up thread, I love to explore the local food markets, the street side stalls, the cafes and just sitting and soaking the local atmosphere. I engage with the beggars, the shoe shine boys, the people selling trinkets. I go on the local buses, if I can. Go to untouristy spots and have been rewarded with some heart stopping moments, but also some absolutely amazing experiences.

We usually end the holiday with just a night or two of luxury. But that has never been the highlight of any of our holidays.

I think many people have gotten confused on this thread and think I am against the idea of luxury AI hotels.

I think it may have somehting to do with price.

If I want a lovely beach holiday with perfect weather, golden sands and great swimming/water sports, I can go to say, the carribean and have spacious rooms, geart staff, spa facilities etc etc

For the same price on the med I can get overcrowded beaches (even the private ones you pay for in, say St Trop, are revolting), polluted waters, tiny hotel room and sneery staff.

That said, wherever I go, I like to get out and about.

VonHerr, ditto, especially plan to do little other than sit around. Get to know my family again

Cockwomble, I earn a good wage. I save around £400 per month that goes into a holiday pot. I try not to spentd it all, but would if I had to. We go without a lot of things other people may buy to be able to do so because to me (us) a holiday is pretty essential. When I am not able to save that amount we will go on holiday every other year, because I don't want to go on a 'cheaper' holiday and not have as good a time.

2 weeks in Majorca was our worst ever holiday. We decided then and there to spend more money and since then have only had great ones. Sometimes we have done some exploring, taken in some culture and enjoyed it. Other times we haven't left the complex and enjoyed that.

Swings and roundabouts.

flatbread,

how did your kids cope with that kind of holiday, it sounds great but a bit tiring with young children?

To the people being snobby arses about hoildays to spain and the like-please try and remember that for some of us even a holiday to such a low class place is out of reach. Honestly ffs-its another world on mn sometimes...,

I'm terrified of AI holidays, I think I'd need a crane to lift me off the sunlounger at the end of the holiday because I'm tight fisted and a greedy pig, a dangerous combination as I would eat my bodyweight every day to make it value for money :o

I think it's more the way you worded it, OP. Your question suggested why travel a long way and pay more when a cheap, pizza and chips gaff is the same.

The reasons I gave, along with others, as to why a 5* Indian Ocean hotel is favourable to Lloret de Mar or Magaluf - or wherever, is my answer to your question.

The types who go all inclusive and never leave the resort was also a bit patronising, if I'm honest.

We have done one exotic AI holiday with our kids when they were 3yo and 6mo. It was to Grenada. We ate every meal in the hotel and just sat on the beach for 10 days (well one day out around the island aside). It was the best holiday I've ever had. And I am the sort of person who spent my honeymoon on a boat on the Mekong, motorbiked around Vietnam, been on 30 hour train journeys in India etc. There was just something so restful about being in one place without having to think or do anything - and it was small and locally owned and fabulously flexible with the kids which helped. Perfect with a young family. And it was at a time of year when it would have been pissing down in the Med but was perfect in the Caribbean, hence why we went there.

We'd do it again, but would pick carefully again. But as the kids get older we will probably start to broaden our horizons again. I personally don't understand why people only ever do AI - in the same way that I don't understand why people go on cruises or go skiing or go camping - but it was a fabulous experience and shouldn't be sneered at as inferior or pointless in some way.

YANBU.

I know someone who thinks she is a seasoned traveller. She has been to 6 or 7 exotic destinations and hasn't left the hotel once. I don't get why you would do that.

I tend to eat less on holidays headfairy. The places we choose are always very hot, so my meals are almost always salad based. although have ebeen known to eat my bodyweight in icecream to make up for it

banyan that's exactly what I think.

If I want rest, and beach, I would much rather go longhaul.
And if you go AI, the price is similar.

In fact a villa holiday somewhere on the med can be extortionately expensive if one eats out constantly. And there's the driving to the beach and the fact that the beach is like a graveyard for handbags...

YANBU - I used to work with someone who, every year, without fail, would go to exactly the same resort in the Caribbean for two weeks. In literally years of going there, she never visited anywhere outside of the resort.

I didn't get it for a number of reasons:

• why just go to the same place, and not see any of the country you're visiting
• why pay thousands and thousands of pounds, to have a holiday you could have at half the price somewhere closer to the UK.

Still confuses me.

Well said VonHerrBurton.

The types who go all inclusive and never leave the resort was also a bit patronising, if I'm honest.

Why? It's a simple description!

Designed to try and be a specific as possible to avoid confusion which hasn't worked, obviously, as people seem to think:

I am against AI luxury hotels in general
And I have a problem with people spending money to enjoy the holiday they want and am sneering at everyone who doesn't do what I want them to do

All it was was a musing

Well said Ishoes