Am I that unusual?

[Greysparkles]

To have never had a passport and never travelled to another country?

Was talking about holidays with friends recently, and got talking about airports etc and i mentioned I'd no idea what they were on about as I've never flown.
Well the looks I got! Like I'd grown an extra head!
Is it that unusual?! Am I the only one?!

It’s very unusual amongst the people I know certainly. In my 40s and none of my friends have never travelled OS.

I don’t see travel as a transformative experience though. In my experience of solo travel across the world over more than 20 years, if you’re a tool when you get on the plane......you’re still a tool after you’ve completed your group tour of Vietnam.....

Last time I went abroad was 1999. There are places I would like to visit but going to them isn't really a priority in my life. It would be nice but if it never happens then no biggie. I can still learn about places and cultures. I don't think it's that unusual not to have gone abroad - or to have but it's just the school day trip to France or a couple of weeks in Spain as a kid. 'Travelling' is different to 'a holiday' and for lots of people it just isn't a do able priority.

The people I know in RL who waffle on about travel broadening the mind are the same people who get their knickers in a twist when a Polish shop opens in their town.

I'm the same. Couldn't afford it when younger, and since have been agoraphobic for decades. I see it as at least I don't have a large carbon footprint!

Most of my dad's extended family have never been abroad. I don't think this is unusual.

Just this week I found out a friend I know in their mid 30s has never had a passport or left the country and I must admit I did think it was unusual

Never had a passport until I was 37 and that was only because I'd nearly been refused entry to an exam because I didn't have one for ID.

Before then, mother never had one, ex didn't want to travel, as France would be full of French people - having never met a French person in his life - and after that, I just didn't have the money.

I've had three holidays in my life. One aged 3 to Camber Sands, one aged 15 to the Cotswolds. One to Devon. All manly caravan parks with uncomfortable collections of wood and what felt like marbles and springs covered with fabric purporting to be beds. I've hated the two I was old enough to remember, always wanted to go to a nice hotel, but keeping a roof over our heads and food on the table was always more important than my longing to travel.

I don't have a passport and have never been abroad. I didn't think it was that unusual.

I don't have a passport and haven't flown since a family holiday as a kid. I enjoyed the flight, but found the airport and car drive so stressful it ruined the holiday.
I like holidays in the UK, and can use the internet to travel virtually.

I wonder how many of the people being derisive or snarky also make virtue signalling comments about going vegan or plastic free to save the planet?

I was without a passport for about 10 years when mine expired and I was broke and couldn’t afford to renew and as odd as it may sound, I felt really “trapped”. This isn’t my home country and I actually felt quite distressed not having a passport! I finally renewed it last year and I feel much better now! I went to a couple of countries with friends and had a great time.

My kids passports have expired too and again, it feels really odd. I have a bit of trouble getting a passport for one of my kids due to custody issues so at the moment it’s in the “too hard basket” and I plan to take her on a trip when she’s 18 and can get a passport herself.

DH has never left the country and has never really had any interest in doing so. So I don’t find it that odd. We have different interests and priorities. He has a hobby that is way more expensive than any trips I go on.

I wouldn’t give it a second thought if someone told me that they didn’t have a passport or had never been abroad.

@Greysparkles

I've been called sad, wierd, strange, insular.... Because I have different interests to you.

This post confused me. not wanting to travel really isn't "an interest", or not from where I stand anyway. Especially as you've admitted that in fact you do like to travel, within the UK, just not outside. Which is very weirdly specific and from your posts you haven't even given any indication of why you feel this way. Especially when it's just as easy to drive to northern France, as it is to drive to other parts of the UK (depending on where you're based of course) - and you state that you find other parts of the UK beautiful and you enjoy visiting. So why not outside the UK? It does seem as though you're oddly proud of the fact you've never travelled outside the UK as it makes you stand out from the crowd. It's almost as though now you're purposefully trying to suggest you aren't interested in travelling outside of the UK just to prove a point? But what point is that?

It doesn't seem impressive to me to be so stubborn that you truly are missing out on seeing what else is out there in the world. If it truly isn't anything to do with money, or time, or ability to travel, then yes you absolutely categorically ABVVVU to not travel as you are missing out on SO MUCH for absolutely no reason.

@haveuheard Without being rude or goading, these are all excuses.

I have travelled extensively and can promise you, have been to very very very few places where I was unable to communicate due to a language barrier (I only speak English). It's not arrogant to assume that people can speak / understand English in a vast majority of foreign countries. The facts speak for themselves, it's the second most widely spoken language in the world (behind Mandarin Chinese, but those stats are tricky as they obv include China which is SO vast). The simple fact is that we are incredibly fortunate to speak a language that is very widely spoken and understood around the world.

I also struggle to understand the comment about vegetarianism. I am a vegetarian also, as was my mother growing up. I have truly (hand on heart) never ever even had the thought enter my mind that I may struggle to find something to eat when abroad that doesn't include meat.

The only comment I can actually get on board with is the lazy one! Because I'm absolutely with you on that one. I'm lazy too!!!! And I'm absolutely crap at languages. Everyone else in my family seems to just "get it" - but I suck. That's a good a reason as any to not want to go abroad, but at least own it without suggesting the other flimsy excuses that make it seem as though abroad travel is hard to navigate unless you are a linguist with no kids and zero dietary requirements.

OP I don’t find it weird, (In fact my husband has only ever travelled outside the UK once) but what you will get on here is the The Bandwagon effect.

Go for it and enjoy ! Get it out of your bucket list. It's worth it. Italy, France comes to mind. Big hugs.

Yes I would say you are very unusual (to me).
I dont know anyone like you at all.

Fear of flying is a poor excuse. You can travel alot of the the world by train from the uk

I have never had a passport, flown or been abroad. My fiance wants me to get a passport so we can go abroad. The reason being when we were growing up, despite my father having a well paid job we never went abroad, we had many holidays in the UK but my father didn't like the idea of flying plus if the weather was really hot he hated it. The fear of flying has passed to me and I need to try and get past it.

Get the euro star

It’s true that quite a lot of people fly abroad just to sit by a pool and get drunk. Which is in no way life enhancing.

But it’s a non sequitur to suggest that’s the only reason why people go abroad. There are as many reasons to travel as there are trips. Not all travel does broaden the mind. But not to want to go outside your home country at all does suggest either a narrowness of the mind or a weird stubbornness. Particularly with this oddly dogmatic approach to it as if you are almost trying to prove other people wrong.

Clearly you would have to be an arse to think that going abroad multiple times a year is essential. But to be so open to travelling extensively within the political unit of your own country and never step over the line anywhere else? It does seem like you are trying to make some weird point.

Hi OP,

I suppose since there are a lot of wonderful, diverse reasons FOR traveling (as outlined in some of the posts), the feeling must be that you have a strong reason to NOT want to in order to counteract those....

So, people are searching around for that reason, as you haven't really stated one. (Everything from bigot (which I agree is not indicated by anything you have said) to lack of curiosity etc)...

I suppose if you said you object to the environmental impact, couldn't afford it, or had health issues that made traveling difficult, or were so fascinated by the UK so wanted to travel as thoroughly there before traveling elsewhere, or you had a hobby at home you were so passionate about that you reserved all your time for etc etc then it would be easier to understand.

But at the moment it feels like you are saying "I don't bother doing this thing that could be amazing, just because...." and that feels a bit baffling. And maybe a big lost opportunity for you.

I would think you have a tiny carbon footprint and good for you.

We love travel but now got the guilt dh and dd2 Greta followers. Planning interrailing this summer 😁

What are your interests though, @Greysparkles? Genuine question. You evidently like travelling within the UK so why would you not be interested in travelling beyond?

I find it really interesting that so many posters have talked about travel within the UK as if it's that instead of travelling abroad! Both are interesting and one doesn't trump another in any way.

I don't think travel abroad has anything to do with finances but everything to do with upbringing and curiosity about the world being encouraged by parents .

I was bought up by a mother who struggled to look after us 4 kids and a dying husband on something called 'supplementary benefit' (forerunner of income support) but HER parents had travelled with her when she was young .. and she filled our heads with fabulous stories of Venice, Paris , The Swiss Alps etc .. so that as soon as I could earn money in school holidays I started stashing for my travels. First went inter railing at 16 with my boyfriend... that just sparked my very itchy feet and curiosity of life and cultures beyond out shores..

I chose employment that would help my wanderlust and became a TEFL teacher which allowed me to not just see new countries as a tourist but as a resident. I was lucky enough to spend years in Europe, North America and S.E Asia. I returned in my 30s to have my babies , who have grown up to have the exact same desire to see the world - and also work hard in p/t jobs while at school and Uni in order to finance this.
Travel is educational. It broadens horizons and teaches tolerance and understanding of other ways of life. Something that is sadly missing in these post Brexit times.

These days I am enjoying the exploration of the UK. an amazing, stunningly beautiful and diverse place that I am luck enough to call home. I have also developed a slight plane phobia , coupled with a desire to do my bit to cut my carbon footprint .. all abroad trips are now by train (which is fabulous as you can actually see the stuff you normally fly over .. so still exploring , just closer to home .

I'm not a lie by the pool type.

I haven't travelled loads but I've been to some nice places. Some of the more memorable experiences are:

• A day walking around the Louvre. There really is quite an unbelievable amount of art in a spectacular building -snorkeling in the red sea. Its like being in a huge tropical fish tank -sightseeing in Croatia. The land of Game of Thrones! -attending the weekly fish fry in Barbados. A street party with fresh seafood, what's not to love?

There are some beautiful places in the UK, we had our summer holiday here last year and may again this year, but there must be things you'd like to see in other places too?