to think that staying in the UK is NOT a holiday

[BurntToastSmell]

I'm sick of people patronising me. Next week I'm going to Peppa Pig World (and a car museum and assorted rubbishy British crappy places) for my daughters 2nd birthday and my 30th. Friends who have returned from hot countries have said things like, "Oh you must be really looking forward to it" and "Your jollies are soon!" (jollies = holidays).

FFS! Peppa Pig World is NOT a holiday!! What's worse is that my husband really believes that this is a fucking holiday. My idea of a holiday is:

Different culture.
Different country.
Nice weather is a bonus.

Whereas we'll be pushing a pram around in the rain for a week. I see it more as a 'trip' and no it's not semantics. And yes I'm PMSing.

The weather is a problem everywhere... I've had a friend who spent a honeymoon with her husband locked up in a bungalow in Bora Bora for one week, it never stopped to pour rain. She said her husband wanted to destroy the bungalow after 4 days of being inside all time. Plus add flies and mosquitos.
There's no refund either if the weather is awful, so she and her husband had spent a huge amount of money for a cr@ppy honeymoon.

Another friend of mine came to UK for one week and she spent 3 days in London without a cloud.

After so many years of living in UK I still wonder why people think that weather is better everywhere else. I live in Scotland, my mum always lived in Tuscany, Italy. She's looking forward to moving to Scotland when my brother settles down, weather is much more awful there than here: In the summer you've to battle all the time with 40 degrees temp, air-conditioning sickess, a 3-hour drive if you want to go the nearest beach (3 hours to get through 50 miles!!!!!) and much more. Honestly, I wouldn't think of a trip to Tuscany as being a better holiday than a trip to Scotland.

A holiday is a holiday, it's break from the work routine, wherever you're going.

YANBU

It all depends on what you like. For me a big part of the appeal of a holiday is the differentness of the place. I dont like holidaying in the UK because it isnt different enough for me. Walk down a high street in Britain and all you can do is wonder what order the the same old shops will be in.

Oooohhh look, their Smiths is next to their Boots. I wonder what they have done with their old Woolworths?

Even food shopping is an adventure when abroad.

It is very difficult when two halves of a partnership have different ideas of what constitutes a holiday.

I think the only solution is to take turns in choosing the holiday. However, the one who chooses should work hard to try to make it enjoyable for the other person. Also, the person who is not choosing should make full effort to enjoy the holiday.

If only there was a word for this, oh yes, there is:

compromise

HomeEco - funnily enough I wasn't being a complete knob.

Having only been abroad twice in my 38 years and not having encountered the rain either times it was a comical idea that the rain or the heat for that matter were of a different kind.

"It all depends on what you like. For me a big part of the appeal of a holiday is the differentness of the place. I dont like holidaying in the UK because it isnt different enough for me. Walk down a high street in Britain and all you can do is wonder what order the the same old shops will be in."

You are obviously choosing the wrong destinations. I don't recall Much Wenlock having a similar high street, or Padstow, or Boscastle, or Warkworth or Alnmouth. There is loads of variety out there. We just stay away from major towns and cities and touristy seaside resorts.

YABU a holiday is anything where you are not at home, going to work and doing the usual household chores. By home in this context I mean your own house not home country.

YANBU to enjoy exploring other cultures but that doesn't mean that being in the UK can't be a holiday too. There is lots of the variety in the UK you just have to know where to look.

Not everywhere in the UK has a Smiths and Boots etc. We don't, don't have a Tesco either.

Is everyone who holidays abroad doing off the beaten track style holidays? Because when I hear about holidays abroad there is a certain pattern and familiarity. The questions a previous poster was suggesting "where will the tesco etc be?" could be replaced by "I wonder what the pool will be like, wonder what's on the buffet at night, wonder what the kids club is like?". I think lots of people like a certain familiarity to their breaks-the things that make it feel like a holiday. We holiday in the uk and love it, our questions are "I wonder what the cottage will be like, what the local beach is like?" it really is each to their own, assuming you've had a choice. At this stage in our lives, uk is our choice. So we love it. I would be grumbling about heat, keeping kids amused on the plane and crowds and the like if we were going on a foreign jaunt.

I think there is a huge variation in places in the UK, but when I'm holidaying in the UK I'm not usually visiting high streets but am at Outer Hebrides, Mull, north york moors etc. These aren't small child friendly holidays though and we did do more seaside holidays here or abroad when the kids were small.
II would never drag the kids round shops when on holiday though. If shopping is necessary one of you shops whilst the other does something with the kids.

More than a few posters have said they come to Cornwall so I have to admit I'm rather torn on this one OP...

On the one hand we are very grateful for income from the emmetts because the county is one of the poorest in the UK (even with it) and - especially this year - I have to admire their fortitude in suffering our foul summer weather however June to October are awful as regards crowding in places like Penzance or St Ives.

I must say the peppa pig place doesn't tempt me though...

If staying in the UK isn't a holiday, I suppose most people in the UK didn't have 'holidays' until, ooh, about 1974.

I'll let you off then Foofy

This is a touchy subject for me this year so I might just step away from this thread...

And will update you all on any holiday location that turns out to rain sangria or maltesers

I would quite like it if it rained Blue Lagoon or Sex on the Beach.

Ooh, and if it snowed Milkybar Buttons :o

People come on holiday for a reason.

Because we live in a beautiful, wonderful cultured country with an enormous amount of history, sport and things to do.

YABVU and a total snob, who doesn't appreciate what we have here.

You can have a holiday in this country as much as abroad. We might have shite weather, but thats not a big deal.

IMO two weeks lying on a beach trying to get skin cancer is not the only definition of holiday...

I have to agree after a horrid time in devon/cornwall when we were told about 5 times by stoney faced wicker man locals " FAMILY ROOM FOR YOU" as though we were criminals. The family room of course the room unloved with no fire that looks totally different to rest of pub.

The rain was a big issue for us - wet coats all had colds, wet tissues...trying to juggle, wet dog, child....

The cost of everything was also an issue! And the quality!

Bring on spain, where they expect children to be children, you can eat out with them till late, eat where you want etc, not pay through the nose for wonderful tasty food and a glass of wine!

or moroco - very child friendly and fun place to go.

Pendeen

On the one hand we are very grateful for income from the emmetts because the county is one of the poorest in the UK (even with it) and - especially this year - I have to admire their fortitude in suffering our foul summer weather however June to October are awful as regards crowding in places like Penzance or St Ives.

I must say the peppa pig place doesn't tempt me though...

I was horrified by devon/cornwall - embarrased. Yes some places WERE fabulous and with it and accomodating but sadly in a short trip too many werent for a place thats supposed to be a holiday destination.

I loved PP World - took my DD for her 3rd birthday. The weather was rubbish but that meant no queues.
I agree that a true holiday for me involves sun, alcohol, a good book, some culture and exotic food. But that and toddlers don't mix so for now holidays are about making memories for them - and frankly they don't much car if those memories are of jumping in puddles in the Yorkshire Dales, climbing cliffs in Dorset or what. I'd sooner save my money for when they can really enjoy and appreciate a holiday and leave me the Hell alone for an hour to read a trashy novel

Peppa Pig World is bloody brilliant, what's wrong with you people? Also Paulton's Park itself had loads of other things for my 3 and 6 year olds to go on, and also bigger rides for the adults to go on. I thought it was the most thoughtfully planned theme park I'd ever been to.

We'll be having a day there again soon before spending a week with my parents on the Isle of Wight - which I do consider to be a holiday, thanks very much, as is the few days we will spend in Hastings and as was the week we had abroad earlier in the year. I hate the word "Staycation" - how ridiculous.

What a wanky thread.

this country has such a wide array of fantastic places to go and things to see, its quite sad to see so many people talking about it negatively.

This year we are heading to the Languedoc/Provence border. We will be looking at Roman ruins by the bucket load, medieval castles, half ruined villages.

We went to Wroxeter and Ludlow last year. Okay but we are looking forward to enjoying our history in baking sunshine this year. I dont want to do my sightseeing wearing a waterproof jacket!

We are in the midlands so can reach a lot of places for day trips but I agree with OP that day trips dont make a holiday.

On the plus side for those of you who like holidays in Britain, I am doing you a favour by not being there and getting in your way!

You know, I'm looking through old family photos, and guess what every single one has done since the 1900s when the photos start.

Take their toddlers to a British beach. And they are dressed up in everything from in coats and long sleeved tops, and old fashioned bathsuits and modern bikinis to being naked hiding behind a very large hat.

And they are having fun. Cos a holiday is about what you make it, and the attitude you have. Not the weather.

One of my first memories is a holiday in Margate with my family. I don't remember the weather. I remember my grandfather, playing with my half uncle with a battery powered dog and eating yellow rice.

Somehow I think foreign culture would have been lost on me. But I know I loved that holiday... Buckets and spades don't cost much.

I agree hmm

I didn't leave this country until I was 16, I had some fantastic holidays as a child and you know something I only remember it raining once in all of those holidays (and that was because it flooded our tent so was pretty memorable!) I know it did rain but it certainly didn't do anything to ruin my enjoyment of it.

I know that my British holiday experience was spoilt by the weather. It didnt help that my parents were a bit crap at holidays and so would get heavily stressed. Bad weather meant being trapped in the accomodation with seething parents. When that accomodation is a canal boat you do get to understand just what a punishment imprisonment is. A canal boat has all the internal play space of a small caravan.

its not JUST the weather! This is RIP OFF BRITAIN! food/drink horrendously expensive, sit by lake garda, AMAZING SERVICE in a normal cafe/bistro place, huge glass of delicous wine, beautiful plate of tapas, amazing hams....sit as long as you want for pennies...no rules and regulations....better nightlife - always usually a nice bar open with good music...

attitudes - freedoms....tasty lovely food for MUCH cheaper. I have had great times in the uk, love lakes - peak district etc but always find somewhere a rule or regulaiton or silly something to piss me off. Just havant had that abroad.

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but..get a grip you entitled caah.
I would KILL to be able to afford 3 days in Filey. I would absolutely class going away in the UK as a holiday.
It's not your back garden (if you are lucky enough to have one) your local park, or your nearest indoor play centre.
If I had the cash I would take ds to Legoland. It would be ACE.

@elizaregina - Yeah sit by lake Garda when you're paying double price for everything while the locals are lolling behind your back....
It's typical in Italy to consider tourists as "chickens to exploit" (the translation could sound like this, if you like it in Italian is 'polli da spennare'). You're free to eat in the touristic places where you think you eat quality food (you think so, but it's not), you pay twice the price an Italian pays for the same stuff (he just knows where to eat and to buy stuff) and surely you don't drink good wine because that would cost you 50 euro a bottle, you need to know the farms to actually get the good wine.
And...tapas?? I never found tapas in Italy .... (I'm born and bred in Italy, so take that as an advice for your next holiday.......)

In UK, you know what you eat and you know if the price you're paying for it is the right one or not. Abroad, especially in Spain and Italy, are waiting for tourists from the northern countries to exploit them. I had a room in Tuscany, near the beach, for half the price than the foreigners. Southern countries are very protective of their economy and if you go there without knowing anyone.. you might go to eat to 'Bella Italia' in Edinburgh for that matter and food will taste the same. Take my Italian-born-word for it.