To feel so sorry for anyone on a British holiday right now

[itsaugust]

It’s been raining for about a week where I live. I’ve just woken up to yet more heavy rain this morning. It must be utterly miserable for anyone holidaying in the UK right now. You have my sympathies! Hope you’re managing to have a decent time despite the grim weather.

Why does everyone assume uk holidays are all about camping and cottages and caravans too?

There are some fabulous hotels in the UK but on MN it feels like it's either a caravan or a tent.

Lol - as someone who endured many rainy seaside holidays as a child, this certainly wasn't the case for me

Me neither. My parents are very reluctant travellers and I didn’t go abroad until I was 15. My main memories of our childhood UK holidays are being damp, cold, bored and generally miserable, often in overpriced ‘Fawlty Towers’ style hotels that we’d paid over the odds for. Lots of model villages, twee tea rooms and National Trust properties where my parents were in their element and we were bored witless.

I think these experiences are a major part of what drives my love of foreign travel now, to the extent that I chose to do a Modern Languages degree in part because I could live abroad for a bit and make up for lost travel time!

Can’t wait for my holiday and I don’t care if it does rain!

We went to Croatia in August once. Spent way more time sheltering from the blistering heat during the middle of the day than I’ve ever needed to stay in out of the rain on a UK holiday. Still had a great time.

@nonono1

Most kids will be happy for a few hours playing on the beach in the rain.

Lol - as someone who endured many rainy seaside holidays as a child, this certainly wasn't the case for me.

Same here. My childhood holidays were spent either miserably under canvas in Scotland or visiting relatives. There’s just only so much togetherness you can stand under those circumstances.

I’m on holiday in Scotland right now... we’ve had amazing weather for the past week! So hot!

@MoggyP

People want to enjoy their holidays not dry their clothes out

With the right clothes, there's very little drying, and nearly everything you would want to do can still be done. Not sunbathing, obviously

what bollocks

Not everyone can afford accommodation where everything dries out easily, in terms of air/space/hanging places/driers. Plus mud becomes an issue.

It's not pleasant to be out in the wet all.the.time. It just isn't. Plus everyone feels colder.

Most kids will be happy for a few hours playing on the beach in the rain. You just need to plan for getting warm and dry too.

Dd has never enjoyed a rainy day and definitely not on a beach. Not as a toddler, a child, a teen or as a young adult.

This holiday it's just me and Dh. We definitely don't want to spend a few hours in a beach in the rain!

@uktrippin

Why does everyone assume uk holidays are all about camping and cottages and caravans too?

There are some fabulous hotels in the UK but on MN it feels like it's either a caravan or a tent.

I don't really fancy being locked up in a hotel either, however nice it might be, and even the nicest hotel is less appealing when you look at the rain outside instead of a nice sunny day.

And a UK hotel feels like work, it never feels like a proper holiday. Nice enough for a weekend, but it's not the same.

You could stay at the Savoy for example, no one can say it's grim, but.. it's London, it's my work place. Couldn't be further than a holiday feel.

"I don't really fancy being locked up in a hotel either, however nice it might be, and even the nicest hotel is less appealing when you look at the rain outside instead of a nice sunny day."

Did you miss the bit where it didn't rain and currently is glorious in many parts of the UK? It's not all London you know.

Who is "locking you up"? bit dramatic.

uktrippin

I am not sure why you feel the need to post such patronising and smug drivel, when the thread was the opposite of a smug and unpleasant one to start with?
I feel like a nerve as been touched with you, protesting a bit too hard on here.

And yes.. everything you do is opened at the weekend you know, it's not exclusive for your own use and your own little holiday. Some of us don't stay home watching tv and actually do things, you should try

Did you miss the bit where it didn't rain and currently is glorious in many parts of the UK? It's not all London you know.

yes dear, you had a luxury holiday in a glorious and full of sun part of the UK and you are superior to the rest of us pleb who has to go abroad to enjoy ourselves. You win uktrippin, give yourself a pat on the back, you got the medal on a thread. Better now?

"And a UK hotel feels like work, it never feels like a proper holiday. Nice enough for a weekend, but it's not the same."

In what way does it feel like work? It doesn't to me.

What is a "proper holiday"? I'm getting the impression you do the same holiday once a year, every year. In which case we're very different people. As I said, I've travelled extensively to a wide variety of destinations.

"It's not the same" as what? My holidays are all different, why would I want them all the same?

So far this summer, we took the kids to Edinburgh for a long weekend, it rained.
We went for a long weekend in Cornwall, it rained.
We went camping near Oxford, it rained.
We went to a wedding in Wales, it rained.
We went on a few day trips to London, it rained.

I can't wait to board my flight to Spain

@Mantlemoose

If the weather determines whether you enjoy your holiday or not you've got the wrong outlook in life. Of course we all want the sunshine but this year it's different. It's a chance not to be held hostage to the alarm clock, to explore different places even if you need to put wellies on and a hood up to do so. Being away from home means there's no reason to just disappear to your room, it forces you to be a family. We're just heading up north of Scotland for a week of rain. We're going with close friends to a small cottage and shock and horror we will all have to share the one bathroom! Can't wait to relax, not have 20 million kids chapping on the door. Life's what you make it!

This.

With bells on.

What is a "proper holiday"? I'm getting the impression you do the same holiday once a year, every year. In which case we're very different people. As I said, I've travelled extensively to a wide variety of destinations.

Yes, I do the same holiday once a year, every year.
You've travelled extensively, and you are amazing.

I told you, you win!

What on earth are you going on about?

You sound really upset simply because I suggested you shouldn't "feel sorry" for me.

Still chuckling at "did it all at the weekend" though so thanks for that gem 😂

I think being upbeat about the situation is the best way. I always tell myself there is no such thing as a bad holiday. Years ago camped in the lakes with friends . It rained heavily most days. I cheered everyone up by singing ' The sun will come out tomorrow' at regular intervals. Luckily my friends did not kill me and I lived to enjoy many more rain filled holidays.

@Porcupineintherough

You dont have to do the same as you do at home just because it's raining *@lynsey91*

Well if it is pouring with rain every day what are you going to do? I don't like walking in the rain and can't walk far anyway because of health problems. I don't want to go to the beach in the pouring rain.

Posters are talking about reading, playing games etc. Great except we can do that at home not paying a ridiculous price for somewhere to stay and knowing we have everything we need - comfy bed, comfy sofas, good shower, good oven etc.

Why would anyone pay to spend a week doing what they can do at home?

Still chuckling at "did it all at the weekend" though so thanks for that gem

you're welcome!
Maybe try to do things at the weekend too?

Where did you get that I do nothing at the weekends? Bizarre.

Obviously I've touched a nerve by saying we had a great time whilst you've been chasing the rain. Enjoy Spain 🇪🇸 let's hope it stays mainly on the plane for you

@Farevalah

Agree. Can't imagine being cooped up in a cottage or caravan in this weather. Feel sorry for those who've paid 2k plus for a week away.

Exactly! Imagine paying all that money to cook in someone else's ill equipped kitchen, watch someone else's tv in the evening. That's without the difficulties of entertaining children, shopping in shoddy, overpriced, poorly stocked Spar shops in villages in an effort to avoid the supermarket, eating shit food at 'family pubs'. Christ.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Me and DH agree we have a nice house, nice garden, comfy bed, powerful shower so why on earth would we pay to stay somewhere else where the bed is likely not as comfy and the shower will probably be pretty awful (never seem to get decent showers).

Good for you. You do realise not everyone is as lucky as you? DH and I live in a one bedroom flat with a small garden so a holiday in a nice cottage with a lovely view makes a nice change.

A lot of it is luck anyway. We went to Florida a few years ago and the weather was shit, it was over 100 degrees and pissed with rain every day. We went to Cornwall the same year and were lucky and had beautiful weather.

Of course I realise not everyone lives somewhere nice but many do and my idea of a nice holiday is not looking through a cottage window at a lovely view through torrential rain

uktrippin

I do love that even on a thread about rain it's somehow possible to offend someone who is trying to start a bun fight.

Maybe you need another holiday to cheer up?

I’ve had two U.K. holidays this year. Both in lovely hotels.
And I enjoyed them both but even with good weather, I’d still have preferred to be abroad.
The thing is I live in an area of outstanding natural beauty and I walk with my dogs and my foster kids every day. X 1000 in lockdown.
I generally spend plenty of time reading/watching movies and I eat out several times a week.

I suppose what I was missing was the difference. Doing something exciting and definitely different.