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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Am I that unusual?

420 replies

Greysparkles · 22/02/2020 18:26

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?! Grin

OP posts:
FelicisNox · 23/02/2020 17:59

I would say yes but do what makes you happy.

I would spend my whole life travelling if I could.... it's an amazing diverse planet and I want to see and experience as much of it as possible before I die.

I couldn't think of anything worse than only ever seeing the UK but each to their own.

albertselephants · 23/02/2020 18:02

I went abroad for the first time at 27. I took the kids to Florida and it was amazing.

No plans to go anywhere else in the world though and will likely be another decade before we get back to Florida Smile

Richdebtomdom · 23/02/2020 18:02

I don’t have a passport...

trappedsincesundaymorn · 23/02/2020 18:06

I'm with you OP. Foreign travel doesn't appeal to me one bit. All that planning, cost and stress is something I can well do without.

Sockmonster23 · 23/02/2020 18:14

I have a friend who only does UK holidays. No interest at all. I don't find it weird but maybe a bit unusual these days but some people aren't interested.

Mummadeeze · 23/02/2020 18:20

I live for my holidays, both abroad and in the UK. Looking forward to them makes work feel worth it! Also think it is a shame that you don’t venture outside the UK if you can now afford to.

Bluntness100 · 23/02/2020 18:34

Blah, we have the opposite,my daughter has been all round the world with us, been on some mega holidays, and even now at 22 still jumps at the chance to come

In fact we get the “ well you have to take me too” line. 😂 I like the fact she is well traveled from a young age. She has experienced so many parts of the world, experienced so much, from swimming with a whale shark in the Maldives, to taking a boat trip down the Seine, and everything in between, and is a confident, happy traveller.

bookmum08 · 23/02/2020 18:37

Bluntness of course I know there is more to travel /Spain etc than drinking some wine while watching a juggler. But if someone wanted to suggest Barcelona to me telling me about resturants and street performers it doesn't make me think "wow I really wish I could go there". It just seems an odd choice of what to promote to encourage a reluctant traveller to travel.

Shewhomustgowithoutname · 23/02/2020 18:38

My DSM has never been abroad. Does not have a passport. I believe she is over 60. She spent her time bringing up her C (not really dear C). She cared for elderly relatives. By the time that was all done she was not in good health. She is not in any way economically deprived.

We love our trips in the UK with Ddad and DSM.

mumda · 23/02/2020 19:14

Perfectly acceptable environmentally too.

.

Likefootball · 23/02/2020 19:23

You are not unusual.
I have never been abroad and don't feel strange, some people seem to think that foreign holidays are essential but greysparkles we are all different and you are not alone.

BBOA · 23/02/2020 19:34

Lots of people on MN seem to have wealthy lives/upbringing and are comfortably off and have lots of 'fabulous' holidays . Lots of others aren't in the same bracket. Travel comes with cost. I didn't have gap years or travel in my 20s as had to support myself. My 14 DS only went abroad last year for the first time as we haven't been able to afford it. Haven't been able to afford it since. Its a bummer to be fair!!Hate judgy people who say things like 'You must go to Rome, you'd love it' or 'the kids would love skiing - you must take them'! Are they paying? Nope! 😂

Jeeperscreepers69 · 23/02/2020 19:34

Yes middle class maybe. Most people have to work asap

Wilkie1956mog · 23/02/2020 19:51

I have only ever been abroad on a 2 night New Year coach trip to Paris, about 18 years ago. Things have stopped me since - children, pets, money, family illnesses etc. Been on several short breaks here in the UK though.

lazylinguist · 23/02/2020 20:23

No plans to go anywhere else in the world though and will likely be another decade before we get back to Florida.

That I do find a bit odd tbh. Willing to go abroad, but only to Florida? Confused

Meinmytree · 23/02/2020 20:41

I would say it's quite unusual. I've visited quite a lot of countries, and found it odd when my passport expired and I had a two month period of knowing I couldn't leave the country.

My nanna hadn't been abroad until her late 70s. Then when I was in 6th form my mum asked if I was going on holiday or not with them that year. I ummed and aahed about it as it would have meant taking two weeks off college (but to go to Spain, and one of my A levels was in Spanish), but then mum said if I didn't go they'd take my nanna - that made my decision easy, I didn't go. I still remember, mothers' day that year, we wrapped a passport application form up and handed it to her. She was so confused at first, then the penny dropped, and she burst into tears knowing she was going to get to go on holiday abroad for the first time.

There was no stopping her after that and she managed several other trips with friends and other family members.

FizzyIce · 23/02/2020 20:42

I think in this day and age it’s unusual .
We’ve always gone abroad though ,since I was young so i couldn’t imagine not doing it but what you don’t know you can’t miss I suppose

Lincolnfield · 23/02/2020 20:45

As a child we never got anything more than a week in a caravan at Bridlington or similar place. When our three boys were small we had a touring caravan and went to exotic places like Norfolk. Once they’d grown up, we started to travel and we’ve had, and still have a ball visiting beautiful countries all over the world.

We’ve travelled extensively in Europe. We love Italy and Austria in particular. You’ve never had a pizza until you’ve eaten on the back streets of Naples! We’ve scuba dived in Indonesia, the Caribbean, fell in love with beautiful Jamaica and Aruba and shark dived in the Bahamas. We’ve visited the Middle East, Dubai, Oman and Qatar.

I talk to lots of old people in care homes, many, sadly with dementia, and Many who have lost their beloved partner and the thing they nearly always remember and love to talk about is their holidays even if it was only ever a week at Skegness every year, so I always say I’m building my memory store for when I’m too old to travel anymore. Life is too short to not experience the best the world has to offer.

Lincolnfield · 23/02/2020 20:55

@BBOA I’m definitely not a ‘judgey’ person and have been on both sides of the fence. When our boys were small, any ‘new’ clothes I had were bought at jumble sales because money was so tight and we must have looked like the Beverly hillbillies when we scraped up enough to buy our clapped out old Volvo and equally elderly touring caravan, turning up with our three kids and two dogs in tow!

We’ve been very blessed as older people with good health and decent pensions, I was a nurse, husband a police officer, and travel is now very important to us, but we’re not massively wealthy and we never forget what it was like to be young and skint.

Bluntness100 · 23/02/2020 20:56

But if someone wanted to suggest Barcelona to me telling me about resturants and street performers it doesn't make me think "wow I really wish I could go there

Eh?😂 I also mentioned the architecture, gaudi has some very famous stunning buildings for example , the fabulous and extensive market, someone else mentioned the beach, las ramblas etc,

No one just mentioned drinking wine in a restaurant, i think you need to read again. But yes the tapas is fab there.

If you don’t want to go abroad don’t, no one here has to sell it to you, no one cares, it’s just a discussion thread. Enjoy Weymouth. We all like different things. You like Weymouth, others like travelling abroad to different countries, and that’s ok,

Lovely13 · 23/02/2020 21:13

You are being good to our planet by not flying. So congratulate yourself on being green. I travelled a lot when younger, now not so much. I like getting on a train. Hate airports. Also motorways, or the mad people that drive on them. Love buses and exploring my city. There’s a lot you can learn about without actually going too far.

SisterAgatha · 23/02/2020 21:18

My SIL goes to Butlins or Turkey, there is no inbetween. If you suggest anything else, she says she doesn’t know where it is and it must be shit, then forgets where you said you were going.

Until I post photos of it online and suddenly she’s asking where I went because it looked amazing, was it abroad? Camber Sands. It’s fucking Camber Sands. I find it weird that people don’t want to look around them, but to each their own.

emilybrontescorsett · 23/02/2020 21:21

It is unusual to me.
I was the first person in my class to go on a foreign holiday.
I love travelling.
Each to their own though.

StateofConfusion · 23/02/2020 21:26

I went to France with school but that is it.

I'm 31. I'd love to travel but finances don't allow (mainly paying for 6 passports for me DH and 4 dc) so I just make the most of what the uk has to offer for now.

ShadowOnTheSun · 23/02/2020 21:34

It IS unusual. Not saying it's bad, but unusual. However, it's up to you, if you don't want to travel - don't - it's not compulsory. And nothing to be ashamed of.

However, what really really baffles me (and I mean genuinely!) is that OP and some other posters don't have a passport! OK, I'm an EU citizen living here, so I probably don't know/understand some things. But how do you go about your life without a passport? Do Brits have some other acceptable form of ID? Driver's licence? But in order to get a driver's licence, you need a passport first, no?

Just from the top of my head in the last few years I needed my passport to:

Rent a house (to show the landlord, he made copies)
Register with a GP
Open a bank account
Get a business loan (I'm sure it would be needed for any type of loan)
Buy alcohol (I'm 32 and look pretty much 32, not 15, but I still get asked sometimes)
Fly abroad (ok, this one doesn't count in OPs case)
Apply for a single occupant council tax discount
I work for myself, but I think a passport would be needed when seeking employment?
Apply for uni

It's all I can remember now, but I could think of more, if needed. So what could you use in these cases instead of passport? Birth certificate? I'm not trying to be snarky here, I'm genuinely surprised.