to get annoyed with people who judge beach holidays?

[3DStanley]

I get really annoyed with the type of people who say 'Oh I could never lie on the beach for two weeks, you must be so bored!' and act like the only valid use of my precious two weeks off a year is trekking barefoot through the Andes teaching orphans English.

I get especially annoyed because 95% of them seem to earn lots of money for jobs with very little stress.

AIBU?

Flying A couple I'm friends with do that every year. They absolutely love it. I think they get the queue jumper tickets to make life a bit easier.

But the logistics are complicated from what I've gathered. One friend had a full A5 binder with everything in with must go on, locations so they don't waste loads of time walking back and forth. That was exhausting but it seemed to make the holiday go well so you'll have a lovely break at the end of it.

Saying that, I do something fairly similar for our adventure holidays with each day planned out. Same idea, different location.

Those of you who go on beach holidays, do you really just lie on the beach all day or do you also do other things like trips to town?
I went on a beach holiday with my mum and yes, it was pretty boring. I then went on holiday with a friend that was supposed to be sight seeing, but hadn't realised she expected me to be up by 8.30 or 9 every morning and be walking around ALL day. I managed to negotiate one afternoon at the beach because I was SHATTERED from walking around in the heat. Surely a mix is better. I'd like to have a lie in and then some sight seeing in the afternoon.

What does annoy me is every magazine assuming everyone goes on a foreign beach holiday every summer.

Completely with the OP. I especially dislike those who think a holiday should be spent in 'finding yourself' in Cambodia or Mayamar. No, I've found myself already and I've found I like to read a book and get a tan. Deal with it.

gwen
With you on that.
A couple of years back DH and I had a holiday... in the U.K.!

It wasn't as hot as Europe but we loved it. We didn't lie and get a tan, nor did we trek the Andes, but we had a lovely holiday.

I once saw a poster on here saying that a family was so poor they didn't have foreign holidays

Couldn't agree more OP
And this thread proves it.

Each to their own but I do think snobbery sometimes blinkers people's opinions. I love a beach holiday but I don't just lie there. I swim, snorkel , scuba, cruise, I do love the sun and the outdoors so the best thing is being outside from morning till late at night when it's still warm. I couldn't imagine enjoying walking about a stuffy unnaturally lit museum but I'm a nature lover and each to their own but it made me think about my dm's friend who hated the idea of a beach hol and they took their ds to a cottage in Cornwall every year. Somehow they ended up on a cheap ai package holiday and said it was amazing , their son made so many friends etc so go where you like but perhaps don't dismiss a holiday on the basis of preconceived ideas which are perhaps not realistic. Many beach holidays don't involve just lying there for me it's about being outside watching the sunset etc and ai means it can cost less than many uk holidays if you book carefully.

Gwen , I learned the joys of beach holidays late in life as I couldn't afford them . And yes I really do lie around all day !

I lie in the sun reading till it's just too hot, jump in the sea or pool to cool down....repeat all day.

Nap late afternoon, shower , go out for dinner. It's awesome !
I don't go on any trips or long walks. I always meet loads of lovely people.

YANBU. Reminds me of the year I spent travelling round Australia. I was judged by some other backpackers not to be a true traveller because I'd flown there instead of coming overland through Asia like them. I remember judging them right back; as dicks.

Well I really would die of boredom lying on a beach for two weeks.

Also, my back would seize up!!

Shopping in local markets buying tat would not interest me either.

My holidays are spent in museums, galleries, archaeological sites in places like Athens, Rome, Naples. Bliss!

I couldn't give a shit what type of holidays other people have, but please don't tell me I like that kind of holiday because I have a "stress free" job!! I work with teenagers FFS!!!!

Yabu. I might do one day (make that maybe one morning) lieing on a beach (if i had a good book) before i died of bordom. If theres rock pools etc it better. By why sit on a beach where theres no towns, sights to see. Everyone is different. 🏝🏖🏜

Holidays are like music everyone has their own taste, I might not like your music you might not like mine but life would be boring if we all liked the same.

Personally my idea of heaven is 2 weeks all inclusive lying by a pool. No cooking or cleaning - at home there is only me to do it so it's nice having 2 weeks off! I can read and listen to my music in peace. I am a sunworshipper so hotter the better. In the past dd has loved the children's clubs - non stop entertainment and friends to play with - she is an only child so doesn't get that at home. Now a teen wifi and pool are her only requests.

I don't do long walks trekking round the country at home so wouldn't do it on my 2 weeks off. I have been lucky enough to see most of Europe in my pre mummy life and when my dd is older maybe the odd city break but the 2 weeks in the sun will always win.

And if everyone went trekking in the Himalayas or wherever they would end up as crowded as Benidorm beach!

oooh i love beach holidays, so relaxing. i could easily lie and read every day for 2 weeks. We normally do some beach based activities as well like diving, snorkelling, boat rodes, trip to another island etc. i also catch up on the stuff i never have time to do at home like knitting, sewing, stuff i need to read for work etc. Even on a lazy day by the pool we'll have aftrrnoon tea with the kids, play some games in the pool etc, can't think of anything better. I even make the kids catch up on their schoolwork for an hour or so! Its a surprisingly productive holiday for us.

I don't like beach holidays or hiking adventure holidays, luckily this doesn't really effect anyone else.

(DH and I go on holiday to eat, relax and spend time together, we live in the countryside so we do enjoy a city break)

Me and OH don't like beach holidays. Neither of us like water sports. In fact I am terrified of water so don't even swim. He just goes bright red in the sun.

Neither of us care what other people do on holiday but we have had a few friends telling us our holidays (museums, art galleries, historical sites etc) are boring. One couple tried to get us to agree to go on holiday with them to a Caribbean island and got really annoyed when we said we would not enjoy it. They kept on about how beautiful it was with the white sand, palm trees, blue sea etc and I am sure it is but after the initial "how beautiful" we would both be bored stiff.

We have spent a few holidays in Belgium and Holland (not Amsterdam) and people tell us that is weird!

Also we go self catering and I am happy to cook even though I do most of the cooking at home. I don't see the point of spending lots of money on eating out when I can cook nice meals and don't see it as hard work

Bloody hell, I'd love it. A beach, an endless supply of reading material, no demands on my time... That would be bliss.

to be fair we are all good swimmers and tan easily, i do think it would make a massive difference to your enjoyment of a beach holiday if you didnt like swimking and or had fair skin/burnt easily. Can totally see why a beach holiday is not great for these people.

I'm very judgy about people who are judgy about other people's choice of holiday.

How can anyone be short-sighted enough to assume so much about a person just because they happen to mention they have booked a package holiday?!

I think most people choose a holiday to suit their circumstances at the time. So when I was a teenager, we went variously to a caravan park by the sea doing lots of coastal walks, to a hotel in Cornwall, driving to the South of France and staying self-catering in an apartment. When I was in my early 20s and skint I liked short breaks with DH - driving hol to Devon staying in a pub and doing lots of walks, week on a boat on the Norfolk Broads, city breaks to Paris, Seville, a year or two of no holiday at all etc

Later on but Pre kids we went to Italy and the like and did cultural stuff - Pompeii etc, honeymoon in Caribbean which was AI, when pregnant with DS went on package to Spain as was knackered and did just want to relax.

Post kids as a family we have done cottage in cornwall, shorr breaks in Lake District in cottage with no tv reception or wifi and LOTS of walking, short break in Lakes in nice hotel with pool and just mooching about the Lakes and villages, week in Majorca in villa with own pool, short breaks constant sightseeing in London, gite in France both relaxing by pool AND sightseeing and canoeing.

I quite fancy an AI in Cyprus next holiday after years of self-catering. There are no rules about holidays. You do what's right for you and your family at the time.

curley
There's a massive different between somebody not liking a type of holiday and being some kind of judgey snob though.

I think quite a few people seem to think 'person expresses a dislike for beach holiday therefore they're a judgey snob'.

I find some of the assumptions on here that people who don't like beach holidays must have stress free jobs, must be snobby, must be judgey far more irritating than anybody voicing an opinion on any type of holiday.

People can dislike any type of holiday they like. It's one step too far in my eyes to start making value judgements about the reasons for this dislike.

It is not for me, though each to his own. As long as you are polite to others whilst on holiday, and are not taking children out of school for such a break.

Totally agree with the idea that you take different kinds of holidays at different times of your life. At the moment that involves toddler wrangling for us, so that dictates a lot of our activities.

I'd find it weird if someone judged me based on hearing about a destination. In the past year I've stayed at a caravan in Wales and been on city breaks in Asia (we live in Asia). I enjoyed them all the same.

Even 10 pages later, loads of people are just posting to explain why they don't like beach holidays- that wasn't OP's aibu. She's just sick of being judged on her holiday choice!

What a good holiday is, is purely subjective, surely?! No one should judge. We have 2 young DC and go back to the same UK destination every Summer. They, and we, love it. Mix of days out/beach/pool/chilling etc. Even if the weather is rubbish there's always something to do. We have also taken them on 2 holidays abroad, and both children said they preferred where we go in the UK! DH likes 'culture' on holiday, I do too, a bit, but if we were to go away with no DC with us, I'd love to spend a week or two by the pool/beach, reading/listening to music etc! I also love city breaks and when DC are older we plan on doing those too. We also go camping (glamping really!) every year at some point which we all love but some people would hate. Each to their own!

Nobody really cares where other people holiday, it's the fact that it is somehow acceptable to sneer at a certain type of holiday that is so irritating.

It's not acceptable to say 'oh dear, I couldn't possibly live in a semi detached house, it's fine for you of course, but I need more space and a larger garden and can't bear to hear the neighbours'.

It's not acceptable to say 'oh dear I couldn't possibly listen to that genre of music, I only listen to opera you know, it's fine for people like you, but I need something more soothing and refined'.

Ditto where people buy their clothes or do their food shopping.

But holidays, for some reason, are fair game. Telling someone that you disapprove of their choice, followed by an explanation of what you consider to be a superior choice, is bad manners.

And the people who do this know what they're doing. I've never heard anyone say 'I'm not keen on beach holidays but I bloody love a towing caravan' or 'I'm not keen on beach holidays but you can't beat blackpool'. No. The thing they prefer is kayaking the amazon or antique fairs in Florence. Bugger off. I've already done the things you consider superior and I still like lazing on a beach.

YABU. A 2-week beach holiday is my idea of hell. And people are not judging you, they are just stating that they wouldn't like that. Do people who like trekking and teaching English in the Andes make you feel inferior?