To think the reason UK holidays can be shit is not the weather but the traffic?

[MrsBede]

....and it's much worse this year?

I went from the Midlands to North Wales a couple of weeks ago and it took twice as long as it should have both there and back. Just got back from London and it took about 90 minutes longer than it should have. For both these trips it wasn't just one delay, but several unrelated ones - for the former every step of the journey pretty much had long delays. For London it's just the M1 - that was slow going there for a long stretch and on the way back my SAtnav recommended a detour and that had delays too.

As well as this, my city is being dug up here there and everywhere - I can think of about 5 different local routes that all have roadworks on them and ensuing delays - one was the bloody slip road when I finally got off the motorway today!

It just spoils everything - we're going to Hampshire for a few days next week and the thought that the 3.5 hour trip is likely to be more like 6 is really putting me off and I half feel like cancelling, which is very unlike me indeed. I certainly expect some delays when going longish distances but AIBU to think this year has been worse than ever, and it's not fair! (Yes, I'm tired and very pissed off...)

I live in a very scenic county on the coast, albeit at the less scenic end. It took me 45 minutes to drive 4 miles to a hospital appointment yesterday as I had to go via the motorway junction. Chaos.

I am not sure. I don't have a car (Londoner) and use rail to holiday in the UK.. have a two together Railcard so that cuts down the cost.

I think the problem with a UK holiday is that I am more of a city break kind of girl and there are far fewer nice cities in the UK as opposed to the continent. I already live in the city where there is the most to see for a start.i did enjoy my Manchester holiday where I stayed in a spa hotel and went to museums and saw the city and had too much bubble tea, but there are the same shops/similar food options to London. The imperial war museum in London is far larger than its equivalent in Manchester. So yes I prefer an overseas holiday.

We are retired and have a caravan and have avoided going away in the school holidays because of this, we are going away in September and October.

It's not one thing, it's the weather and the traffic and the cost of accommodation and the queues. Short breaks outside school holidays booked at the last minute when you know the weather is going to be good can be really lovely. Anything else is a no from me.

In East and West Sussex there are buses to all over the county. Coastal trains are ok too

Pmsl. I live in East Sussex, on the edge of a reasonable sized town. The bus to the station is every 90 minutes on a Saturday, more often on a weekday except for the 2-hour gap in the afternoon, when it becomes a school bus.There are plenty of small places with no bus service at all, or a service so woefully inadequate it might as well not exist. Even where there are rural services, they often stop at 5 or 6 pm. And the cost - £7 fare to a village 5 miles up the road.

When I looked into travelling 45 miles to a town in West Sussex by public transport, the train would have taken 90 minutes and I'd have had to get to the station 90 minutes before it left, because the bus service is so poor. The total cost would have been £18.50, plus £6 minimum for a taxi home from the station.

I drove. It took just over an hour each way and cost around £10 in fuel.

Woe betide anyone coming to East Sussex and thinking they can get a bus from Hadlow Down to Friston, or High Hurstwood to Northiam.

@icedcoffees

for journeys up to 5 miles consider taking the bike instead. if you go at 'dutch speed' there is no need to have a shower either end. campain for safe bike routes.up to one mile is a good walking distance

The Dutch don't have to worry about hills the way we do here in rural Cumbria.

And if I walked a mile from my house in pretty much any direction, I'd end up in the middle of a muddy farmers field or alongside a 60mpg country lane with no pavements

😀 I live in rural Cumbria too and sometimes I ride my bike to work, it takes me a hour to ride 12 miles because of all the bloody hills!

So if, hypothetically speaking, a person was taking a caravan from West Yorkshire to north Wales on Monday and didn’t want to spend the best part of 5 hours on the M62 and A55, when would be the best time to travel, bearing in mind we they can’t get into the caravan site until 12pm?! Thanks!

I think traffic is worse this year because the overwhelming majority of the country did stay home to holiday and they're using them to take their holidays and it shows.

@Lockheart

So you don't want to take the train, you don't want to have to set off early or late, you don't want to get a hotel overnight anywhere, you don't want to stay closer to home, and taking the car is convenient.

Looks like you'll just have to put up with all the other people having the exact same thought process as you.

As another poster said - you're not sitting in traffic, you are the traffic.

People about cars complaining about people in cars 🤷‍♀️

@MsWalterMitty I can imagine

I'm a dog walker - I could train the dogs to pull me everywhere but I think that could be disastrous on the way back down again

Ha yes, try cycling in South Wales. Hilly isn’t the word. It’s ok to talk about the Dutch cycling everywhere but I live half way up a massive hill. Wherever I go from here is up or down then up or down another hill.

Three weeks ago I drove to London and back - should have been 2 hours 30 minutes but was 4 hours there and 3:30 home. On Wednesday we drove from Somerset to Kent - took the usual 3:30. Timing is everything. Travelling back to Somerset on a Saturday afternoon I’m hoping we’ll miss the bulk of the traffic heading to Cornwall. I’m anticipating it taking a while but music on we’ll be fine. We’ve had a lovely holiday (which considering we should be in Florida is quite surprising).

@MrsWooster

So if, hypothetically speaking, a person was taking a caravan from West Yorkshire to north Wales on Monday and didn’t want to spend the best part of 5 hours on the M62 and A55, when would be the best time to travel, bearing in mind we they can’t get into the caravan site until 12pm?! Thanks!

Leave at 7pm. You’ll be there for 10 and will have missed rush hour

I agree the traffic is much worse than usual. I’m looking forward to next year when people who normally holiday abroad are able to go with confidence. That will mean that those who usually holiday in the uk will be able to do so in peace and hopefully at a reasonable price! This year has been tricky for everyone.

[quote icedcoffees]@MsWalterMitty I can imagine

I'm a dog walker - I could train the dogs to pull me everywhere but I think that could be disastrous on the way back down again [/quote]
My sis is involved in a Canicross club were they do just that!!

@MsWalterMitty Cani-cross is great fun! But maybe not so practical on a 60mph road with wagons though

I don't have to hide my opinions because some people don't understand them. Nothing would ever change if we did that!

You could express them better and with less of the superiority.

If public transport was good, reliable and not stupidly expensive it would be used. London is a great example of this.

If the most direct journey usually takes 3 hours but now will take 6 hours, plan a route via lots of out of the way stops that would have taken 6 hours anyway but now you get to stop and see some castles, forests, pretty villages, adventure playgrounds as well and treat it as part of the holiday. Chances are the less regular routes won’t be as busy anyway so will only take similar time as normal.
We often holiday in the Uk and would do this anyway. No need to join the rush to be in a queue.

Tbh I’ve always found it really odd that Brits go abroad in the summer, surely you go find somewhere warmer in the other school holidays and then enjoy the UK at its warmest?

[quote icedcoffees]@MsWalterMitty Cani-cross is great fun! But maybe not so practical on a 60mph road with wagons though [/quote]
Nope! And with More than one dog 🙈

I think it's always been much the same, lockdown has made us forget.
We moved in 2017 and the the drive from East Sussex to my mums in Somerset never took less than 6 hours. The record was 8 hours. Poor roads our end, poor roads her end and the m25, m4 and m5 in-between.
We are in whitby at the moment on hols but managed to book a Tuesday to Tuesday break. Makes such a difference.

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii

See this is what worries me though especially living with her majesty queen Nicola as minister will she enforce cutting car journeys to point I can no longer work? Take my children to school/doctors/days out etc. I’m sorry but I also hate the idea of sharing a car with others as well and how would that even work? Especially in my line of work I can’t guarantee I’d be finished and home in time for the next person wanting to use it

She's what?

She can fuck off with that bullshit. Considering she apparently spends £2000 more per head up here than England or Wales do, and we STILL don't have a reliable bus service up here, she can go fuck herself. Stupid woman.

But then there are inquiries into hundreds of thousands of pounds that have gone missing in our council, so it's not like they are the most honest people ever.

Now I am going to be smugger than a smug thing being smug... DH, DS and I were on holiday in Hampshire for a few days a few weeks ago. No car. Had a great time.

Many holiday bits of Hampshire are quite well connected. We stayed in a pretty village lodgings 2 mins walk from the rail station, loads of pubs cafes shops in 5 minutes walk (posh hotels in easy 10 minutes walk), also loads of lovely walks and cycle hire in 5 minutes. We walked on paths between villages and bussed back. (Walking on the roads is not nice) One day we got the circular bus along the coast, stopped off in a couple of places for walks and snacks and admire the view. It's expensive but the ride is an attraction in itself. If we'd had more time I would have done a different circle bus and a train trip to Bournemouth. If I could ride a bike (I can't balance but DH loves cycling) we'd have hired bikes in the village.

Of couse carless isn't practical for most people most of the time. We flew 300 miles to Southampton airport before getting a (direct) train to the village. A very easy ride but not cheap and bad for the environment. If DS had been a younger child the inflexibility of hourly bus travel could have been a problem. And if the weather hadn't been mostly good (lovely sunshine with just the odd shower) carless would probably have been grim. We were going for a family event and stayed on, I probably wouldn't have thought of New Forest area for a holiday otherwise.

Enjoy your holiday MrsBede. If you're fed up of driving and staying anywhere near a bus stop or station and it's a nice-ish day then you could try a few short trips without the car for a change. The open-top bus rides are a treat, not cheap but hey you're on holiday.

Honestlynthe sooner we can go on foreign holidays the better. The UK holidays just don't measure up to holidays abroad.

I live near a major city and the public transport is expensive and the earlier and later services have been axed as non profitable. An 8 mile journey can also take 2 hours due to buses going on a meandering route. Our nearest train station is a good 50 minute walk away, but only 1 train an hour stops, the others are through trains. If there is an accident on the motorway the bus service is massively disrupted, and then after waiting hours, they go out of service.

The cost of taxis has shot up, the cost of a 3 mile journey had doubled.

I'm very surprised that no one has mentioned the anti social behaviour that often happens on public transports a reason for taking the car instead. Or walking home on your own in the dark if you get a late bus back.

We are planning on going to a neighbouring town tonight and are struggling to manage the journey using public transport.

I compromise by using a park and ride for work instead.