Never been abroad or on a plane at age 35!

[SalemShadow]

There was a woman on dinner date yest. She is 35, never been abroad or on on an aeroplane. She was telling her date he will have to take her on a holiday. Aibu to be completely shocked? I couldn't believe it. Seems a sheltered existence

She was telling her date he will have to take her on a holiday i'd be more judgey about this

Never been abroad or on a plane! She wants to go so I assume a money thing are you shocked there are poor people out there or that they're allowed on shows which aren't about their poverty?

Also, it doesn’t really matter to you does it? You overheard someone else’s conversation. And they have had a different life to you. With different opportunities and experiences. And maybe less money? Is that so hard to fathom?
I used to travel a fair bit, but don’t now for environmental reasons. I certainly wouldn’t judge someone for not having being abroad.

I went abroad for the first time in 2012 to Italy. I was 38. My parents refused to put our dog in kennels so we never went on holiday until it died when I was 13. And as we weren't well off, holiday was Isle of Wight.

Our neighbour died in a plane crash when I was young so I think my fear of flying came from that. I've only been abroad/flown once more. I just couldn't do it on my own.

Quick comment

Kids not having holidays abroad or tbh in UK is entirelty understandable as

Expensive for more people
All from one family pot
Needs to be relatively child friendly esp of young
School holidays only

=

Fucking pricey

OTOH

Only paying for yourself, able to go outside of school hols, wanting to go abroad, for years...

I mean yes it's out of reach geographically or financially for some but, for single working people not to be able to afford to go to France or Spain on ferry, Belgium or Holland on eurostar, or flying to any number of places from across UK,

It's a choice. Ooh look at me never been abroad. Never been on a plane.

MY MIL was lovely but very proud of the fact she had no passport and enjoyed haranguing people in banks etc about Id.

Otoh my granny who was in ww2 stationed overseas never got a holiday abroad after she married, when my grandad died at 90+ she got to go on a hol before she died.

Horses for courses if you want and you can then do. The idea that working women with no kids in UK can't get over to France for a day trip even if they save, is surely not true for the vast majority.

@RosaWaiting not true. You have to show your right to work in the uk which means a passport or your birth certificate.

I would love to go abroad and dream of all the places I would love to go but can’t afford it so am going to haven again this year!! I dream of showing my kids the world but my money tree has stopped growing!!

Kenne "I suppose i find it weirder in a Londoner with a non-white English heritage "

well, as you are speaking bluntly, you won't mind me speaking bluntly.... I find it excessively narrow minded that you find it weirder in a non-white Londoner, you've got bonus points there! I'm not allowed to not fancy going abroad again because of the colour of my skin and the fact that I happen to have been raised in London (and stuck here because of elderly mum). Amazing.

ginga

thanks. I guess I worry if anything happens to birth certificate...so I have a triple armoury of birth certificate, driving licence though I don't have a car, and passport though I don't go abroad!

PS I am glad to see a few posters who aren't horrified and judgey about those of us who don't fancy going abroad.

my grand parents are 87 they have never been out of wales

I live in n London too not too far from Finsbury park...

London is brilliant, and cheaper for kids who are from here with zip cards.museums parks walks it's all fab. It's an amazing city
Then the rest of England Scotland Wales NI all in UK with diverse history landscape etc. I am embarrassed that I've never been to Wales or NI. They're just near in global terms, a walk. And I want to go see them, both are great to visit from what I have heard from family and friends.

I think you need to travel and experience different cultures.

Very few people who go on holiday abroad ever "experience different cultures". Doing a circuit of tourist traps doesn't really constitute experiencing a culture. Many people go abroad just to experience different weather.

I'm 39 next month and I've never been abroad. I grew up in a family of 7 so it was too expensive. My mum was also terrified of flying. She was diagnosed and treated successfully for breast cancer and after that at 58 her and my dad started going on holiday once a year. She said if she cam get through surgery and chemo she can go on am aeroplane.

I would like my kids to experience it (we holiday in the UK) but I'm petrified. It seems like the most unnatural thing in the world, to be 35000 feet up in the air.

I need to try though but haven't really seen anywhere I would want to go except New York which is too expensive for the 5 of us anyway.

YANBU. I find it very strange that some people have no interest in seeing other parts of the world. To me it's a natural curiosity to want to visit new countries, try the food, meet the people.

I've been to a lot of great places in the UK, but some of the foreign travel I've done has blown away anything in the UK. I just don't understand why someone would have no interest in exploring the world out there.

MaintainTheMolehill
You can go to Europe (and further) by car, road, coach, there are other options. You can even take a ferry to Spain. There are options

You could go to New York by boat too.

The sad thing is that it can be much easier to fly and go abroad!

*I meant by car or train

I hadn't flown or gone abroad until I was 44. It was too expensive for our family to afford it growing up. Then I couldn't afford it when I first got married and was running a home on starting wages. And dh dislikes travel due to having to do so much of it as a forces child.

When the dc were little, we camped, caravanned and had cottage holidays every year that they loved and looked forward to when we'd go again the next year.

When I first took them away abroad it was partly because I wanted to travel to some different places, but also in fear of them being judged like you would have judged me, OP.

I want to but I haven't flown for about 13 years (last went to Dublin) and I've only been abroad once (Canary Islands)
I'm scared of flying, and I can't afford holidays, UK or otherwise so it is what it is. I would love to though as enjoy different foods and sightseeing and the beach is my favourite place (I've been up and down the UK extensively!)

Only flown a handful of times. We drive to France lots, been all over. It's completely different having your own transport, compared with a beach/package holiday. It's a matter of what you fancy really.We would happily stay in the UK if the weather was reliable.

As someone has said there are millions of people who have been abroad many many times without experiencing other ‘cultures’. I don’t think staying in one of the big tourist resorts or an all inclusive hotel gives you that even if one of the local tribes pops in do a show dance one evening.

I’ve travelled extensively on gap year and been on numerous more holidays but even backpacking, travelling with the locals doesn’t mean I have a deep understanding of the culture (maybe a bit more but not a huge amount).

You only really get that by living somewhere for an extended period of time, and preferably working but even this doesn't count if it’s just in a British enclave like Benidorm or only hanging out with other ex pats in specific foreigner designated places in the Middle East

Last year at 42 was my first holiday abroad.

Was okay but all a bit meh...

Right.... the entire rest of the world was just "meh".

This ^^ IS ignorance. The assumption that "abroad" is one homogeneous place and experience.

I've been abroad, but never on a plane. I'm nearly 50.

What I'm finding amazing from this thread is how many people don't understand that we are at a unique time and place in history where we can afford to travel abroad in vast numbers. Most people in the world are living in such poverty they will never leave their country. Even 50 years ago flying was so expensive that even those who could afford to travel would have been more likely to take the boat and train. People emigrated assuming they would only see their families rarely if ever. Surely the unusual thing is that so many of us in Britain have flown abroad.

I grew up in the north of Scotland, it's two flights to get to London or ~24 travelling over land and sea. Many people I know there have never left Scotland. It's expensive and takes a long time and most people are on low incomes.

I’m 41 and never been on a plane in my life
Growing up my mother hated water/boats and my dad hated the carbon footprint
4 kids later they couldn’t afford it
I had 6 kids and no money
All mine have been abroad
I just never have