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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To prefer holidays in the UK?

112 replies

Vagaceratops · 07/10/2012 09:17

Met up with a group of friends yesterday (from my NCT group so all with young children). We got to talking about holidays and I said I prefer holidays in the UK. They all looked at me like I suggested I enjoyed skinning kittens.

For me its the cost of going abroad, plus we have been on some fabulous UK holidays which have trumped the couple of foreign holidays we have taken by miles.

AIBU.

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You can find more recommendations, plus discounts on self-catering accommodation, in our round-up of Mumsnetters’ top UK holiday destinations. MNHQ.

OP posts:
Fluffy1234 · 07/10/2012 11:26

Or the olives!

Arabellasmella · 07/10/2012 11:29

We holidayed in the UK when the kids were small and it is lovely, but it is also crap when it rains, which it always does now. This year we went to Greece, it was wonderful. There is nothing like a bit of sun on your back!!!

BegoniaBampot · 07/10/2012 11:34

YANBU to have a preference. but I love both, a caravan in Devon, or a lodge on a Scottish Loch, both have been amazing.

But going overseas offers different things, guaranteed weather, pools and seas you can swim in without needing wet suits, different cultures and countries for your children to experience. Love that you can go strolling out at miht and eating in a warm climate, the UK doesn't real have that equivalent. Scuba Diving in lovely warm azure seas, skiing in beautiful mountains, staying on a beautiful hotel on a tropical beach where you can spend the whole time barefoot, you don't have to pack up a car load of stuff for the day and head out. showing your kids amazing sights and cities the normal only see on TV or books.

both are great but different, it's not a contest. agree the UK can be lovely with young children but we always tend to spend more money just on day to day stuff and days out.

jellybeans · 07/10/2012 12:06

YANBU. I also prefer UK. We have been abroad a few times and never had a better time than here to be honest. Weather is hot usually but it can be to hot, also have had great weather in the UK. HATE flying also!

FreudiansGoldSlipper · 07/10/2012 12:14

I prefer to go abroad I like hot weather the food and that it is different ds enjoys himself too. I stay away from very touristy beach resorts and package holidays

but would not say yabu and we are going to Scotland for 5 days next spring looking forward to it when we have been before not ventured out of Glasgow as not had the time

CaliforniaLeaving · 07/10/2012 16:56

I'm no longer a sun lover so I look forward to having some UK holidays. Dh says he never wants to fly anywhere once we move back to UK.
I would like to see Scotland, Yorkshire, the Lake District, Devon and Cornwall. When we go abroad I think we should have a look around Germany and the Netherlands for a nice holiday.
All the sun lovers can keep anything south of France.

cory · 07/10/2012 16:59

For me, going abroad doesn't usually mean hot, it doesn't have to mean airports and I usually do about the same amount of packing wherever we take our holiday. I suppose it might be my foreign blood but I don't divide the world into the UK and Abroad as if Abroad was all one country offering one type of experience.

To me, there is as much difference between a holiday cottage in the French countryside and a city break in Granada as there is between either and a holiday in Dorset. Spain and Italy are very different countries imho. But some people seem to experience Abroad as one undifferentiated mass.

ENormaSnob · 07/10/2012 17:09

I prefer going abroad.

Each to their own.

nkf · 07/10/2012 17:13

Whispers - I don't like travelling much at all. I find it stressful. I am hugely impressed by people who backpack round South America with a paperback and two pairs of knickers but I know I couldn't do it.

People really do think you are weird if you ever admit to that.

I like short trips.

Sparklingbrook · 07/10/2012 17:17

I like getting home nkf. And my own bed.

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 07/10/2012 17:22

I love holidaying in the UK.

Ds1 is very fair and can't cope with the heat, even in this country on the odd hot day we have!

We all love history and walking and there is so much to see in the UK. We did Anglesey and the England/Wales Border this year, best holiday ever! We did so much walking and saw some stunning castles. The accommodation wasn't cheap but Welsh castles cost peanuts to visit compared to ones nearer home and walking is free apart from the inevitable cake at the end

The sun even shoneShock

mumto2andnomore · 07/10/2012 17:59

We've had so many uk holidays ruined by rain that we only go abroad for anything other than a short break now. This summer we went on a cruise around the Med we saw so much it was wonderful Smile

I wouldn't feel like Id had a proper break without some sunshine and as for camping no thank you I would much rather stay at home !

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 07/10/2012 18:08

We've been lucky with our weather in the UK, had one or two wet ones in Scotland but we have a week away in England somewhere every summer and have always had great weather (even this year). We love camping and hate hotels, self catering is fine but pushes the cost up. It's just so easy to stay in the UK I suppose is what it boils down to for me.

bureni · 07/10/2012 18:08

I must prefer taking my breaks in the U.K, The Mourne mountains are only 2 hours away as is the Antrim coast, Donegal is a 4 hour drive with views to kill for. I often take myself of to the Fermanagh loughs for a bit of skiing , diving and canoeing or just do a bit of diving of the coasts looking for ship wrecks etc then its home to watch the sun setting over the lough from my front porch. I could not do half that if I went abroad plus it costs practically nothing.

IvantaOuiOui · 07/10/2012 18:58

I just want to go to Paignton in Devon every year. And I have been over ruled by my family after we went to Bruges this year and they have realised there are other holiday destinations.

3monkeys3 · 07/10/2012 19:02

YANBU - I much prefer UK holidays at the moment! We have very young dc and the thought of getting on a plane with them to do the same thing somewhere else leaves me cold. When they are old enough to appreciate it properly we will probably do more trips abroad, but not bothered in the slightest at the moment - all they want to do is play on the beach and, frankly, I'd rather they did that in our moderate climate than in searing heat and I say that as the mother of olive skinned children who do not burn!

throckenholt · 08/10/2012 07:22

bureni - you are so lucky to live in such a beautiful area.

It is so far from Norfolk, we intend to visit the north and west of Ireland every year, but every year we end up going to Scotland or the north of England because it is that much closer. Maybe next year.

marieanna · 14/06/2013 06:16

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Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

chrome100 · 14/06/2013 07:24

I love UK Holidays too. In fact, in the summer, we usually jump on a train with a tent most fine weekends and go somewhere new as we live in Yorkshire so lots of nice places within a couple of hours.

However, this year I'm going on my first holiday abroad for years - cycling round Belgium. Yeah, it's just a ferry ride away but I'm looking forward to experiencing new food and languages, unfamiliar shops and funny towns, getting lost and exploring which is something you can't really get in the UK

Branleuse · 14/06/2013 07:48

i love holidays. I like UK holidays, but find them expensive and unpredictable weather. I dont mind it not being boiling hot, but i really dont like rain.
Its also easier and cheaper for us to hop over the channel and drive through france, than it is to drive to cornwall or scotland, as much as I love those two places.

I do think its a shame to limit your entire world experience to one tiny tiny island, if you dont have to

treaclesoda · 14/06/2013 08:27

I like UK holidays. I like holidays abroad too. I can't tolerate too much heat, so whilst I would love to visit Greece etc, I'd be worried that I would be miserable from the heat.

But I tell you what does really really piss me off. People who think that just because you haven't travelled extensively you are some sort of uneducated inbreed who has never been outside their own back garden.

I once had a colleague and former friend until I saw through her self centredness declare loudly in the office 'of course, treacle has no interest in travel and just doesn't understand what its like for those of us who have a passion for it'. Actually, treacle was struggling to keep a roof over her head and didn't have money for groceries, never mind foreign travel. Colleague in question said that she thought having a holiday was a basic right, and arranged month long holidays to US and Australia, despite the fact that she too was struggling to pay her bills. Then on her return, came to me crying and wanting to borrow money because she couldn't afford to buy food. Yet, I was apparently the uneducated one for not going on holidays Angry

Triumphoveradversity · 14/06/2013 08:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hullygully · 14/06/2013 08:43

I don't think you can be unreasonable for having a preference, unless it is a preference for killing and eating people for eg.

However, you may well be insane for preferring to holiday in the rain.

FreudiansSlipper · 14/06/2013 08:46

YANBU if that is what you prefer

Personally I prefer to go abroad, good weather, good service and good food of course depending on where you go.

The biggest thing for me here is the lack of good food unless you pay or you are in the bigger cities where you have lots of choice

wordfactory · 14/06/2013 08:50

Holidays in the UK can be great.
We have had some lovely ones.

But if want to experience different cultures, you really do need to go abroad.

If this doesn't matter or appeal to you, then fair enough.