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?!

Littlebluetruck the holiday you have suggested sounds boring to me. Beach and sea - yeah probably nice but I can get that in Weymouth. I am not a foodie (food is fuel) so don't have an interest in trying 'different' foods. And I have zero interest in wine.
My point is why do people think the OP is missing out on an experience like that just because that experience is abroad. Experiences are everywhere. I like going to comic con type events. Many people sniff at these as 'childish' or 'nerdy'. Have they ever been? No? Why not? They might enjoy it.
People like different things in life. Travel (as in abroad) just isn't on everyones must do list. And there is nothing wrong with that.

What I suggested would fill a couple of hours. There is much more to Barcelona, for any taste - art, architecture, music, football, food etc. Barcelona is just one place amongst thousands. It was a very basic suggestion - it’s cheap and not too far away.

Beach and sea - yeah probably nice but I can get that in Weymouth

Doubtful. They are not even remotely the same. Swimming in the Andaman Sea is entirely different from swimming in the Atlantic. The beaches are different. It really isn’t comparable.

It’s not about the experience of going”abroad”. It’s about having the opportunity, but never taking it, of leaving the small part of the world you were born into. It is sad, and such a waste.

Swimming in the Andaman Sea is entirely different from swimming in the Atlantic

Just to clarify, these were a random choice of seas for comparison purposes. I do know that Barcelona is on the Mediterranean Sea and Weymouth is on the Channel.

Ha ha I have swim in the Andaman (havelock and Neil islands) and the Atlantic. Got to say the beach I swim off in Cornwall has never been surpassed for wild beauty anywhere in The world for me. Andaman was good mainly for swimming with elephants walking through jungle by the beach. The Maldives recently came close and was warmer so could watch marine life at leisure never anywhere as staggering as here interestingly.

Weymouth was my local beach as a child, and I still go back and swim sometimes. I've had warmer swims at Weymouth and Bournemouth than I did in Ceuta (Spanish bit of north Africa) a couple of summers ago. The Med at Barcelona was bloody cold, too, but to be fair, it was March then. I found swimming off Zanzibar really odd - like going into a bath. Wasn't that keen on it.

Obviously travel isn't all about swimming, but I do like a good bit of sea. And it's not always as you'd expect.

The Med was still cold when I visited Barcelona in April, but to be fair, I’m from Scotland so if you can swim here, you can swim anywhere!

Point taken Littlebluetruck about the difference between Weymouth and Barcelona. However that suggestion of what to do on a trip abroad to 'persuade' me to go abroad is a terrible one. No offence.
Maybe I am not that bothered about travelling abroad in a subconscious way because it's completely out of my reach financially (I can't afford much of a UK holiday either). If I won the lottery and had unlimited funds maybe I would be different. Who knows?
I just seem to understand what the OP means when she says she isn't that fussed. As long as someone is having a safe and happy and fulfilled life does it matter if that life only takes place in a radius of a couple of hundred miles?

DB & SIL went abroad for the first time for their honeymoon. Never went abroad again. They got a caravan and were happy with UK holidays. DB's been widowed but he's no more interested in going abroad than he ever was. Always happy to hear about our experiences however.

My 70-year old neighbour and her retired, professional DH had never had passports or any desire to go abroad. Rarely went away on holidays at all, in fact. Then their DD emigrated to Australia. They've now been twice and loved the whole experience, and are looking forward to another trip.

No need to be snooty, folks. It's horses for courses.

My goal is to drink local beer in every country in the world.

I live in a large town on the south coast of England where I've met immigrants from all over the world & I think it's this that's helped fuel my desire to see the world... learning about other cultures & their histories really interests me.
For various reasons I haven't yet been further than Europe but I plan to hopefully..

I also love my local beach but when I'm on annual leave in June / July the sea feels cold to me & the weather is never guaranteed to be hot.
So I like to travel somewhere for one /two weeks a year where it's about 30c & the sea is like a warm bath... ie Crete or somewhere like it.

Regarding Weymouth I remember the sea always being especially freezing cold there as it comes in from the depths off Chesil.
Weymouth is lovely & on the Jurassic coast which is an interesting area there's no denying that, but the sea is not warm.

International travel should not be the default

Why not? It’s fabulous.

And I’d second Barcelona, it’s my fave city for a long weekend. I’ve also been to Weymouth and it really is not the same. I’m fairly stunned anyone would compare them. Don’t get me wrong, Weymouth is fine, but it isn’t Barcelona.

The architecture, the food, the atmosphere, the restaurants,,

Sitting Outside in a restaurants terrace off las ramblas, drinking Prosecco with your friends or family, eating tapas in the sun whilst the world bustles round you and you watch the very accomplished street entertainers, is fab. Acrobats, singers, bands, jugglers, the lot.

As is wandering round the cathedral and marvelling at it, or strolling through the enormous food market, seeing and tasting all the many local specialities, so many things to do and learn about.

That you simply don’t get in Weymouth.

OK I really shouldn't have used Weymouth as am example . It's a seaside place I have enjoyed holidays in but I have also enjoyed lots of other places! Thing is I can get the street performers/hussle and bussle of people/interesting museums and buildings/restaurants etc in central London - I live in London zone 3. But I always feel that the London 'lifestyle' is completely a world away from average English town in the Shires lifestyle (where I am from). It's a very different mindset and way of life there. So sitting drinking wine outside a restaurant watching some guy juggling is hardly learning about the culture of Spain really.

Unusual but I'm not well travelled either and I'm 34. I've been to Cyprus, school trips to France and Germany, Majorca and Disneyland Paris. That's it. I would like to go on more holidays abroad but we have a tight budget and I'm a very, VERY nervous flyer, which massively puts me off

And I had some absolutely delicious fish and chips in Weymouth!

I'm with you @Greysparkles never been abroad, did have a passport but never used it, so never bothered getting it renewed. To give you an idea of my age some of my school friends will be celebrating their 50th this year!

Whilst there are places in the world I would like to visit, life has conspired against me and I am unlikely to get to some of them even if I do decided. A person who has mobility and balance issues at Machu Picchu yeah that's going to work NOT!

But I've seen most corners of the British Isles and been to places a lot of globe trotters haven't been. So how many of you have been to somewhere like Shetland?

Some people like to travel around the world, some of us don't. shrugs

And as for limiting my son, he wanted to visit abroad, so has been on schools trips abroad. I couldn't offer to take him to some of the places he has visited with them, and I don't force him to be limited by me.

Probably going to become a lot more normal once we've entered the blissful isolation these clowns have voted for...

Very very unusual in my circle. Doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it though!

I personally would go crazy if I couldn’t jet off at least once a year somewhere amazing. But, I would never judge anyone for not doing the same. I love the flying and exploring, but can appreciate a lot don’t. I personally know many people who have never been outside of the uk.
We love travelling to the USA and seeing all the sights, whizzing around theme parks and chilling on beautiful coasts. But, of course, others can do that in the uk too. Each to their own. Nobody is weird or unusual for how they like to take a break and unwind . Xx

It IS fabulous @Bluntness100 - no denying that! - but it's extremely damaging in many ways. This has been known about for many years, not just in light of the recent environmental awareness. This from the guardian in 2013, for example www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/six-reasons-mass-tourism-unsustainable

Just like having new clothes every month, or indeed having more clothes than we can wear, or eating meat every day, or throwing out and buying new rather than repairing old furniture or clothes; these are all luxuries which we've come to expect as the standard. And we've overreached and only now are we realising we're going to have to heavily pare back our consumption as a species in order to avoid irreparable damage to the planet, and to ourselves and other species.

I was 44 before I got my first passport, didnt use it at all for 2 years, then I went to Dubai and I've travelled abroad 2/3 times a year since and the majority solo. Travelling is amazing to experience different cultures and ways of life.

Probably become more commonplace if we want to save the planet.

I like to travel but also love uk holidays. It astounds me how many people have been to USA or Dubai but not been to a Scotland or Ireland, Cornwall etc

Not unusual at all, I suppose I’m unusual because I can’t drive & I’m nearly 40!

So sitting drinking wine outside a restaurant watching some guy juggling is hardly learning about the culture of Spain really

Well clearly not, but that’s not all I said to do was it? So it’s a bit Odd to suggest I’d said go to Barcelona and drink wine and you’re going to learn the culture of spain. When neither I or anyone else suggested it.

And we go on holiday for many things, not just to experience different cultures, or to relax, or even to learn.

Weymouth, London, no they are not comparable to Barcelona, or Rome, or Kenya, or Japan or the Maldives, they aren’t comparable to Paris or Barbados, to Prague or Croatia, or the myriad of other places to visit , explore and enjoy.

There is a big wide world out there and spending it going to Weymouth London or Wales is not going to get you to experience that world any more than going abroad and doing nothing but drinking wine.

However each to their own, but to say well I can go to the beach in the uk or drink wine in the uk or see street performers in the uk shows a total lack of understanding of what travelling abroad offers.

I think that you are very unusual/ eccentric in never having travelled abroad- but it’s something that makes you different from the herd and therefore pretty cool. We go on holiday abroad a lot- maybe 5 times a year- to the extent that our 3 young kids are a bit jaded. They have been to India, Africa, the US and the Middle East, plus all around Europe. My eldest (13) says when she grows up she will have a nice house and never go ANYWHERE except maybe to Cornwall (which she loves). DH and I wanted to go to Thailand this year but the kids protested so much we are going to France instead.