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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a UK holiday IS a proper holiday?

66 replies

LittleMissGerardButlerfan · 16/07/2013 10:28

I love going on holiday in the UK, can't afford to go abroad but even if I could I would still enjoy UK holidays. I absolutely love caravans :o

My OH hadnt been in a caravan before i met him, but im converting him! Sometimes we stay in cottages too.

He has 3 sisters who love going abroad and can afford it, so fair enough it's their choice.

But one has a partner who she has been with for a couple of years now and he hates flying too. So they do UK holidays, they both have children. My Neice and nephew are used to going abroad and don't consider it a proper holiday if its in the UK. She took them abroad for the weekend recently without her OH and put on Facebook and then everyone started commenting how it was a proper holiday!

I wanted to scream YOU CAN HAVE A PROPER HOLIDAY IN THE UK!!

But I just ignored it!

I love my UK holidays thank you very much, plus it means I don't have to sit in a big metal thing that somehow manages to fly even with all that weight in it!

So AIBU to think a UK holiday is a proper holiday?

OP posts:
IneedAyoniNickname · 16/07/2013 11:39

All.our holidays are UK based, mainly camping with 1 caravan holiday. They are different to holidays abroad, and I'm normally shattered when I get home, but we love them.

Damnautocorrect · 16/07/2013 11:40

The uk has such wonderful things to offer of course it's a proper holiday, silly woman.

SummerMyArse · 16/07/2013 11:40

YANBU

We didn't go abroad until I was 12. Not because we couldn't afford it, but because my parents thought that
a) there were so many lovely places to visit in the UK
b) we'd appreciate going abroad more when we were older

I loved our UK holidays. Self-catering cottages all over the country. Sometimes beachy holidays, sometimes walking holidays and once a city holiday (York).

Now I live abroad and when DS is older I will be making sure we go back to the UK for holidays too, not just to visit family.

aldiwhore · 16/07/2013 11:45

Everyone's idea of a proper holiday is different.

Mine is a week or two in my mum's village by the sea, renting a cottage, visiting my brother, going out on his boat, pootling about doing not a lot but never sitting still for long (unless there's a lovely sunset to watch).

We thought about going abroad this year as it's the "done thing" and because we've had a good year so more of a budget. After a bit of thinking, we're going to go to Devon again, twice, in a posher cottage.

Hot climates don't really do it for me, I like a sunny day but like a bit of respite and rain too, so the UK is perfect.

It's a proper holiday for me. Saying that if the budget would allow I'd love to visit my friends and distant family in Canada, but I'm in no rush.

The thought of sitting by a pool in an all inclusive resort fills me with horror, but it's other peoples' idea of heaven. We're all different.

YANBU to think that UK holidays ARE 'proper' holidays to some people, but for others not so, so to them YABU. Smile

Xmasbaby11 · 16/07/2013 11:47

I love holidaying in the UK, but to me it doesn't compare to going abroad purely because it's not different enough.

applepieinthesky · 16/07/2013 11:47

If you are used to holidaying abroad then no a holiday in the UK is not the same. Not to me anyway. Last year we spent a week in Devon and a week at Centre Parcs and at the end of the year I didn't feel like I had had a proper holiday. So this year we went abroad.

Itsnotahoover · 16/07/2013 11:48

YANBU we're off to Pontins in Somerset in a couple of weeks for a week half board, so got no cooking to do, loads of day trips planned, and it seems the weather is going to stay nice, so should be able to find a nice beach and catch some sun! I would prefer to be going abroad, but can't afford it, as I have a possible redundancy looming and don't want to over stretch myself at the minute. It's a week away though and I can't wait :)

BrianButterfield · 16/07/2013 11:48

We're going on holiday 15 minutes up the road! It's in a caravan but I don't intend to cook any evening meals at all and I'm sure we'll have a great time.

Pennyacrossthehall · 16/07/2013 11:49

Holidays in the UK can be fantastic, and we have had many.

However . . . . last year we booked a week away in a caravan in Devon. After four days of solid, unrelenting rain we looked at each other, said "Shall we just go home?" and were packed and on our way within an hour.

VixZenFenchell · 16/07/2013 20:55

It would definitely be a holiday for me, I don't live there! I'm on holiday now - staying at home, hanging out with my boys and DH, going for walks with the dog, getting on top of all those things that seem to slide to the bottom of the to-do list. Food is a combination of normal home cooking and eating out in local places or takeouts. It's heaven and it's far cheaper than actually going anywhere plus a lot less hassle. If I don't have to go to work it's a holiday!

badguider · 16/07/2013 21:04

A uk holiday can definitely be a 'proper' holiday - but if self-catering then it needs to be a holiday for everybody...

When we self-cater we're usually in our campervan so 'cooking' involves the bbq most nights and if the weather is bad we go to a pub for food.

We have lovely picky picnicy food for lunches and we find speciality local produce, go to pick your own farms, visit cheese shops and smokeries and local butchers/bakers....

AmazingBouncingFerret · 16/07/2013 21:13

I love holidays in Britain.

Admittedly I've never experienced a holiday abroad with small children. I'm sure it's great. When my two are old enough to appreciate it then we'll go but in the meantime I'll carry on having my proper holidays in this country.

CatsRule · 16/07/2013 21:13

Yanbu

I love holidays in the uk too and caravan holidays. I find it stressful going abroad and you never know what you'll get until you're a very long way away from home!

Each to their own I guess but there are so many beautiful places in the Uk that get overlooked for sunbathing on a beach. And I find a lot of tourist places abroad have little culture...just my experiencw maybe.

Remotecontrolduck · 16/07/2013 21:14

Yes it is a real holiday! I don't like camping/caravaning in the slightest though, that's definitely not my idea of a holiday so it's hotel/self catering apartment/cottage for me.

Every holiday is a holiday as long as you enjoy it and have a good time! I like being able to catch the train and stay in a new city or by the beach for 3 or 4 days.

Kat101 · 16/07/2013 21:15

Well it is a holiday, but we find the uk weather can be so challenging if you pick the wrong week and get unlucky. Last year we spent a rainy week in Cornwall spending a fortune on inside attractions, feeling soggy and cold. It was still a holiday but neither enjoyable or relaxing.

Kat101 · 16/07/2013 21:16

I wonder what replies this thread would have had this time last year, when the uk had had 2 months of solid rain in June and July....

Musicaltheatremum · 16/07/2013 21:17

A change is as good as a rest. We had lots of cottage holidays when the kids were young. I still have very fond memories. Lots of ready meals and as they got older we would go out for meals. Now we do go abroad but I do miss our UK holidays.

Remotecontrolduck · 16/07/2013 21:17

I tend to do these things last minute, so I know the weather is likely to be ok. I don't usually go away for a full week in this country so book a few nights in the premier inn or wherever and go.

ageofgrandillusion · 16/07/2013 21:23

Is there anything - and i mean anything - more depressing that trailing round a uk coastal resort when its piss cold, raining, windy etc?
I always go abroad for guaranteed decent weather. As for the cost, there really isnt much in it as you end up spending loads when you holiday in this country as you are so bored and depressed, you have no choice. Although, tbf, this summer might be different.

KobayashiMaru · 16/07/2013 21:25

Depends on your point of view entirely. For you it can of course be a proper holiday, for me it would not be. This is not at all me saying that my way is any better than yours, only that for me a holiday has a differt meaning. For me, holiday conjures up planes and sun cream and a different language and odd food.
Different strokes and all that, nobody is wrong or right.

Keztrel · 16/07/2013 21:30

YANBU at all! I love holidaying in the UK, so many stunning places to see - lake district, Cornwall, Yorkshire dales, Northumberland, Scotland, Norfolk...and so many others.

WorrySighWorrySigh · 16/07/2013 21:38

Sorry for me YABU, I grew up with holidays in Britain. Canal boat holidays were a particularly exquisite torture. A caravan holiday where you arent allowed to get out of the caravan!

whois · 16/07/2013 21:46

A UK holiday is totally a proper holiday, if you get away from things and do holiday type stuff (whatever that is for your family).

The UK has some spectacular places to visit.

I don't get the 'abroad' holiday reverse snobbery either, pretty sure the week we had in a cottage in Devon was way more expensive than the week in an apartment in Portugal when we added up all the meals out.

GalaxyDefender · 16/07/2013 21:56

YANBU! A lot of people, however, have this mentality that if you're not going somewhere blisteringly hot then it's not a holiday Confused

Me and my mum (plus anyone else who feels like it!) take a week to go down and stay in Glastonbury every year we can afford it. Even though it's not far away, the culture, atmosphere and people are so different it can feel like another world.
That, to me, is what a holiday is all about!

KobayashiMaru · 16/07/2013 21:57

And thats fine for them to have that mentality, for them. Why do you think everyone should have the same opinion? Confused

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