to want to make england feel like “abroad”

[Pukepukepuke]

For a variety of reasons I can’t go on holiday to Europe but have managed to find a great deal somewhere in England. I’m mournfully sad about missing that amazing feeling when you know you’re on holiday abroad but I can’t put my finger on what it is... hopefully someone will know what I mean.........

I was debating how to make it feel like I’m abroad and all I’ve come up with so far is drinking nesquick because I’m not very imaginative.

Why not enjoy the wonderful holiday you will have instead of spoiling it trying to make it something it isn’t

Depends. Self catering cottages will never feel like abroad, because you end up having to go to a British supermarket like Tesco for supplies and eat the same stuff as usual. It's a little easier in a seafront hotel somewhere like Brighton when it's hot!

Well, abroad isn't actually a place so it depends what it is that makes somewhere feel like you're in this 'abroad' place; cannot begin to think how that would be drinking nesquick, but obviously it works for you.

For me I think the change I feel when I go to another country is governed by the differences: the heat, the architecture, the different smells, the different trees, the way the streets are laid out, the type and look of the traffic and, generally, the fact that they drive on the other side of the road. In short, the strangeness.

Unfortunately, you're not going to find any of that if you holiday in your own country. Maybe the buses will be a different colour, but that's about it really.

But it will be a change of scenery and you'll be staying in a place you don't know. So try to enjoy that and make an adventure of it.

If you were going to a welsh speaking part of wales or Gaelic speaking part of Scotland you could’ve enjoyed other people speaking “foreign”

I agree with pp, a uk holiday isn’t like an overseas holiday, but it is still lovely! So focus on enjoying it for what it is rather than trying to make it something it isn’t

Going to tacky souvenir shops and little cafes always makes me feel on holiday regardless of where I am

Hopefully you’re going in the next few weeks while the weather at least should be like “abroad”

you know sometimes when you’re somewhere hot and it smells different and it reminds you of all the times you’ve been happy on holiday, I’m kind of thinking if I can evoke that abroad holiday feeling in England. Like using a certain suntan lotion is drinking strawberry nequick...

If I sound like I’m being ungrateful or negative or pining for something else I’m not but I’m just adjusting expectations and realised there are probably things we can do to make it seem holidayey...

Not England, but have you looked at Portmerion in Wales? It’s not British looking at all, and it’s in a very welsh part of Wales.

I know exactly what you mean. Eating outside?

For me-

Eating seafood al fresco
Buy naice food from a few independent places or Waitrose/m and a food hall
Drink rose with soda water on lots of nice
New lipstick
New body moisturiser with a new scent. Something coconutty
Beach salt spray for my hair
Good books
Floppy hat
Different jewellery than what I would usually wear at home.

I have some lovely holiday memories from the UK. I think you need to make some, rather than try and make a UK holiday something it's not.

My advice would be to make it as different as possible to "abroad", if holiday to you means lying on the beach the UK will only disappoint, so do a city break or go to the mountains instead.

We went abroad earlier in the year but I am most looking forward to a week in North Wales in the summer. In the spirit of your thread though I suggest:

Find a place to sit outside with your morning coffee with a pleasant view.
Orangina or coca cola from glass bottles with a straw!
Don’t watch news or stuff on tv that you always watch.

Drink a pina colada with an umbrella in it

But it is holidayey. Unless you're going to stay with your next door neighbour you'll be in a different place on holiday.

You'll be able to go to new places that, I'm assuming, you haven't visited before, eat in new places - try to avoid Costa and pizza hut and MacDonalds - and generally have a mooch about enjoying the fact that you don't have to be at work or do the housework or whatever you normally do.

Remember, thousands of people visit this country every year because they want to experience England. Pretend that's what you're doing.

For me, England is a great holiday country but I am not British, only here for 18 years now.

What ticks me off the most are English hotels, very expensive but you only get average or less, a lot seem tho have had the last update in the Eighties. You don’t get that abroad. Well, you can but you pay less, even with the bad exchange rate to Euros now.

Food is an issue a well, I love self catering esp in Southern Europe and miss the choice in their supermarkets and the local markets, also going out for food is obvious more boring and predictable.

But you guys have a stunning country, actually include the rest of the Uk as well. We had great times in various areas and this year we stay and go to the Forest of Dean.

Add half a pint of water to milk and hey presto! You're in the far east

Can you go to Jersey/Guernsey?

Isle of Wight?

If not, I agree with PP, Brighton is fabulous in the sunshine.

Im a huge fan of overseas holidays and dont 'count' my uk trips as holidays (though they are!) BUT if the sun is shining and you're somewhere pretty far from home it's still easy to relax. Being at the seaside does it for me or in a lovely countryside peaceful place, or in lovely tourist towns (keswick, Edinburgh, totnes are the only ones i remember going to, oh and Bath)

I live in East Sussex. When I drive around parts of my county I'm frequently struck at how beautiful it is.

Just driving past the Downs and seeing sky divers in the distance on a sunny day, for instance, gives me lift every time I see it and I've seen that loads of times.

You can have a lovely holiday in the uk if you make it lovely.

If you approach it as a sort of second class, not as good as abroad holiday, of course it's not going to seem special.

Go to local farm shops/ delis etc and buy food you wouldn't usually have (as someone says above if you just go to the supermarket you won't buy anything different). Eat the local delicacies (Cornwall is especially good for this - pasties and cream teas ). Have exotic breakfasts (we sometimes have ''French breakfast' - croissants, different jams, hot chocolate, fresh squeezed orange juice etc). Order the things you don't see at home - in Wales we had faggots and chips from the chippy rather than fish and chips (and custard slices, they're everywhere ). I like to get the local paper, you find out about local stuff for local people - things like car boot sales and open day, and discover the bizarre habits of the locals - I particularly liked a story that was remonstrating with a maverick shed tidy upper - the culprit was breaking into sheds and tidying them up and not taking a thing

You need Fanta lemon
Can you go somewhere near water and lie down and read a book? That would feel abroady for me

Oh yes Brighton, excellent place to feel like youre on holiday (because you are)!

And the New Forest...

Lake district always makes me feel happy and on holiday, even if jyst driving to see friends who live there of a weekend.

Have a drink you don't usually as an aperitif each day.
Eat the local cake/pastry when you go for tea/coffee.

It's the differences which make it a holiday. The escape from the every day.

It should be easy at the moment if your abroad is warm and sunny. You want to eat and drink outside, swim in an outside pool and just go for a walk in a big park or nice square and sit and read in the sun with a drink.

During a previous hot spell I went to a spa with lots of outside hot tubs and pools. I spent all day in and out of the pool and reading on the loungers and had lunch outside. Honestly, it was like having a day in a nice hotel in the med. Was the best £60 I ever spent.

Aperol spritz, oysters, a full kindle, eating outside, In fact eating outside in the U.K. is wonderful as there are fewer bugs and it stays light later.

I always wear a different scented deodorant and perfume on holiday.

And in the UK bring proper nice shower/wash stuff.

Try a different drink than your usual tipple.

Are you self catering or hotel based? I also make a 'holiday' playlist which gets added to each year.