To think there is nothing at all wrong with not going abroad on holiday

[manchestermummy]

That's it really. We love to go abroad but can't afford it every year, so this year we're off to the South West for a week. We're really looking forward to the break and the dc are excited about it too.

I am sick to death of people looking all when I say where we are off too. I am sick of MIL people telling us how awful the journey will be (we've done further before and drove across half of fecking Canada when dd1 was 20 mo). I am sick of my parents banging on and on about their recent 5k cruise (yes I am jealous) before asking if our static caravan has electricity and running water ffs.

I am sick of the media telling me I am going on a staycation. It's a holiday.

Is it just me? I am starting to feel really down about it because people are telling me how awful it's going to be.

Dorset is rather gorgeous :)

Am envious of those with "main holidays" and extra holidays and super cruise holidays/ going away every year AND european trips....

We're off to Cornwall next week to stay in a cottage and we could easily afford to go somewhere else. I love Cornwall and we go every year...the beaches are amazing, our family can spend hours in the rock pools or digging on the beaches, the food can be amazing, really truly fresh fish ad seafood and packing the car up is so much easier than being limited by a few suitcases with a maximum weight.

The weather this year has been great too. I don't even think the journey is that bad, when you add on the time getting to an airport, collecting luggage and the transfer time, 5/6 hours is nothing.

You have an amazing time

My favourite holiday these days is one where we don't go anywhere.

Taken in the UK last week.

I love a UK holiday, there is so much to see and so much to do. My DD can't fly, so we're restricted to places we can go by car. But as we're in NI and it's far too tiny and miserable and wet to holiday here, we tend to go to England. Going on the boat makes it feel like a proper holiday But it would almost certainly be cheaper to have a week in Spain or somewhere than to do what we do. Which is partly why it's so aggravating when people say things like 'oh, so you're not getting away then?' when you tell them where you're going.

If I'm totally honest I would prefer to go abroad but France/Belgium/Netherlands are the only realistic options by car and it's mind bogglingly expensive from where we live. So UK it is.

I remember a colleague once went to Australia on holidays and came home yapping about how she met people in Brisbane who had never been to Sydney and wasn't it shocking? I said 'but you've never been to the Republic of Ireland and it's far closer to us than they are to Sydney' To which she went but why would I go there? You don't even get on a plane to go there!'. She was utterly convinced that unless you flew somewhere it didn't count as travelling or a holiday

Treacle I went to Oz to visit my brother 8 years ago, the flight was awful, I sat on Bondi Beach thinking Whitepark Bay is more beautiful than this :) We have the beach and the coast on our doorstep, I've lived on the coast of Dorset and Wales and nothing beats the North Antrim coastline.

I hate it when other parents say we are only going to dorset for two weeks in a cottage... two flippin weeks are way over budget... we generally go for one week somewhere in the uk. we got an extra four nights as we are taking mum away so sharing the cost of our main holiday to wales.

ungelato White Park Bay is lovely, isn't it? It's lucky our weather is so hit and miss or our beaches would be overrun with holidaymakers

OP a holiday is great no matter where you go .its away from home .my children were not out of britian until eldest 14 .we went caravan holidays twice a year .there favourite place is fort william in the highlands with all the midges.have a good time and just ignore everyone else .

we have even done cheapo holidays with the sun newspaper ..

YANBU, OP. The UK has lots going for it, the main thing being the avoidance of flying and all that goes with it.

We used to go abroad every year to fairly expensive hotels, but often the hotels weren't everything the brochures made them out to be. We once stayed for 2 weeks at a 5 star hotel in Greece where the food was so awful that we got food poisoning and stopped eating there after a few days. We'd paid for a full board package, so hadn't bargained on needing too much spending money for food. By the end of the first week we were sick of the place and running out of money, but had to stick it out for another week as we couldn't afford to pay out for earlier flights home. At least if you holiday in the UK you have the option of returning home a but earlier if you don't like the place. Go for it OP.

We rarely get a proper holiday.

Instead we do something every weekend DH isn't working and we get short breaks and also pay for DD to go away with the school, guides etc.

We've been able to invest because we haven't luved up to our income. People who have a bigger income spend all their money tell us how lucky we are to have our investments!

We love doing things regularly and living all the time rather than wishing our lives away to get our 2 weeks abroad.

wetaugust where is that? It's beautiful!

It's much more sensible with children to take the stress out of travelling abroad. They enjoy it better and are not bothered about the weather. Holidays abroad are more for the adults.

We are currently childless so we are doing a lot of travelling abroad ATM - however that will certainly change when we have kids! We have done some fantastic uk holiday though - canal boat on the broads, cottage in lakes, Edinburgh ect.

I do fancy north Wales and we nearly went last year for my dh's birthday, however it was about £100 cheaper to go to Milan so we chose there instead (price is a factor in most people's holidays).

Love holidays we can take the dog and will now save north Wales for when we have little uns

Wow I've never experienced that attitude and I can only imagine the people who say it to be quite thick.

We're going to Cornwall again. I love it.

Not at all dp and I are off for a child free 4 nights in whitstable soon. We won't do any cooking, cleaning or arguing with stroppy teenagers. Def a holiday.

Reasons to holiday in UK:

beautiful places, which your children can revisit in years to come
usually plenty to do
no flying. no airports.
opportunities to inspire children about history, geography, farming, food etc
good for local economy
no worries about passports, healthcare etc

We've had brilliant holidays in north & south Wales, yorkshire, scotland, cornwall, new forest... and even a city break in Liverpool.

Wetaugust nowhere more gorgeous than St Martins on a sunny day! ( on the Isles of Scilly ).

Iv only ever had holidays abroad in the last two years and before that never in the uk, I would love holiday in the uk atleast a few times.

I didn't go abroad until I was 16. I now mix home and abroad holidays (although other the cruises I prefer home holidays)

We are not having a holiday at all (as is the same for lots of people I am sure) - for us it is for various boring reasons but if I am honest I am not mad on family holidays - unless you can go somewhere really luxurious, guarantee everyone has a good time and the sun shines . We live in an area which many people consider a tourist destination so we have a pleasant time whether we go away or not.

It doesn't worry me at all and DS has various scout camp etc things to go to but people seem to look at us with sympathy and I get sick of saying 'I am very happy not to be going away'. I actually made something up yesterday rather than just saying 'no, we are not going away this year'.

Going on holiday is not compulsory but to the answer the original op - some of our best holidays have been in this country.

I don't have a valid passport and neither do my DCs (oldest is almost 6). Last time I went abroad was for my honeymoon 9 years ago.

I can't say I've ever heard the attitude mentioned in the OP though. Among my friends and acquaintances it's more unusual to go abroad, it's certainly not seen ad necessary for a 'proper' holiday.

Out of all the foreign holidays we have been on, dd stil says her favorite was weymouth one year. Yaddddnb

SW is amazing (I live there)
We're going up to Norton Junction on a canal holiday. Definitely a holiday!