To think a UK holiday IS a proper holiday?

[LittleMissGerardButlerfan]

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?

I love cottage holidays in the UK. We eat out every night, buy 'easy' no-cook breakfast stuff so there's minimal washing up and can always find something enjoyable to do regardless of the weather.

It drove me mad when people started talking about UK holidays as 'staycations'. To me, a staycation is when you stay at home instead of going away - you have some time off work, go on some nice day trips, eat out etc, but sleep in your own bed. A holiday in the UK is still a holiday! Good for the economy too.

A UK holiday isn't a holiday for me, but that might be partly because I wouldn't consider any trip where there is self catering is involved to be a holiday unless it was in another country.

I like UK trips, but they are be likely to be in a caravan if they last more than one or two nights.

I think it depends on people's definition of holiday.

For some people the lack of decent weather alters things. Let's face it, if you're under canvas, on a limited budget, have two under 3 and have to cook every day, it takes a particularly steely determination to have fun. I can see why people wouldn't call that a holiday.

Likewise, if you're self catering and married to a chauvinist, you may find yourself working harder than ever - albeit in nice surroundings in the sun.

Some people have got to travel lots and do a lot of sight-seeing but don't consider those holidays because they are there on business.

Me - I can have a holiday in my own back garden if the sun is shining, have a perverse enjoyment of wet camping trips and have worked abroad on many an occasion. I've loved it all and consider them all holidays.

I think UK trips can definitely be holidays but for me it does depend a bit on where you are staying, for how long and what you are doing. A short trip or a trip to visit friends does not count as a holiday IMO, but something like a week in a cottage in the lakes or Cornwall is definitely a holiday!

Personally I have no problem with self catering, going to France on Friday and will be staying self catering there in an apartment by the sea. If that is a holiday, then I dont see why wouldn't a similar self catering place by the coast in the UK also be a holiday?

I'm on holiday next week with my dcs. I don't plan to go too far. Beach (I live close to several) Maybe a trip to the zoo. My kids don't sleep well in strange places so far more relaxing to be at home. The most imporatant thing is NO WORK!!!
Trust me i've travelled loads and had many amazing holidays abroad, but with small kids, on my own, nothing really appeals to going away with them when they won't eat, won't sleep and will moan that they can't watch tv!

It's all a bit individual really. For me, a proper holiday is no cooking or clearing up & lasts at least a week.

For that reason my 4 days in Prague a few years back was not a 'proper holiday' not was my (very lovely, decadent) spa weekend in the Lake District for my 30th. That doesn't mean they weren't fab, just that I also wanted my 1 week 'get away from it all' in the summer in those years as well. Anything with obligations (e.g. Visiting relatives ) also not a proper holiday for me

The only issue for me is weather. We camp in the Lake District often. We could of course, take our summer hols budget and book a week or more in a posh hotel. The reason I don't do that is the weather. A rainy weekend in a spa hotel - okay. An abandoned camping trip - okay. A week or more in whatever hotel with awful weather - tedious.

We didn't have a foreign holiday from the year before DD was born until she was 10. Not because we couldn't afford it but because flying with a small child didn't seem like fun; too much heat with a small child didn't seem like fun; and theres so much to do in the UK. We had some wonderful real holidays... cornwall of course (some hotel, some self-catering cottage); Wales (coast and Snowdonia, castles...), Northumberland/hadrians wall; Lake District; London..

We do a mix now - DD likes watersports and while she's happy in a cold reservoir, we prefer warm water; then oct or feb 'cultural' could be Rome or Paris - but equally London or Stratford; May sometimes boating (broads, great glen); this year wildlife watching on Mull - fabulous!

UK or abroad - all you need is the right clothes and attitude and it's a proper holiday.

We did once abandon a holiday (pre DD) because of incessant rain. It was when we lived in the US, went to florida .... not even any tin mines or stately homes to seek refuge in! 'Abroad' doesn't ensure good weather

Grimma Very true (and as a fan of hillwalking I've spent many a rainy day in various alpine regions) but you can stack the deck in your favour with your choice of location.

My worst day of torrential rain in the Tyrol is still a world away from my worst midsummer walk in Glencoe

And I do find rain that much more tolerable when it doesn't feel like icicles piercing my skin. Someone remind me why I live in Scotland...?

Oh it drives me mad. People who say "We aren't going on holiday this year, just two weeks in Devon and a week in Scotland later on".

a holiday is fantastic and anyone having one anywhere is bloody lucky.

some of our best ones have been in Wales. heart stoppingly beautiful Gower coast line. Barrafundal bay in Pembrokeshire.

people can be daft really op. agree.

I would just like to add that I don't think people are unreasonable to like going abroad, I just think my in laws look down on us a bit because we don't go abroad, and make snidy comments, and because I don't like flying blame me for us not going abroad. I've learnt to not care what they think but this really pissed me off!

It is still a holiday to me and we have a great time, and having looked at prices of going abroad I would rather have one holiday a year (which I think is lucky and more than some get) than have to save for years to go somewhere just to sit in the shade cos I am crap in the heat! :o

Guilty.

We've had some fantastic holidays in UK recently - Cornwall, Norfolk Broads, Wales, Scotland but even though they are gorgeous, I never feel it was a proper holiday unless we've been abroad. In fact I think of us as having one holiday a year when actually we usually have two. That's pretty spoiled. again.

I just love how everything is slightly different abroad - the voices and food and smells and money and supermarkets etc, whereas in the UK you're still surrounded by Sainsburys and the Odeon and UK accents. Don't know why that should make a difference, but it does.

Yanbu!! I'm going to my old university town (in UK) for a week in self-catering apartments with my boyfriend and old uni friends. I absolutely cannot wait.

Personally for me, I wouldn't see it as a 'holiday' it would be a 'break' from work. My DH's family have only ever holidayed in the UK and prefer it that way.

To me a caravan isn't a holiday, I couldn't think of anything worse! But, it's a very personal choice. I like 5* all inclusive luxury, to me that's a holiday. Whilst I'm sure some people couldn't think of anything worse than an 11hr flight etc. No one is right or wrong.

The only ones that are wrong are those who try to impose their holiday types on you! Such as my DH's family!