Too many holidays?

[HuntyGirl]

I love to holiday. DH does too but thinks we do too many abroad and staycations. I like to go abroad about 4 times a year and the same amount of staycations if not more.

AIBU to want to holiday so much?

I think 80% of air travel pollution is created by the 20% who fly most frequently. Time for a 'frequent flyer' tax? If you need to fly for work, then this would be passed on to the employer, of course, but I think very frequent 'leisure' flyers should be asked to pay more towards the environmental cost which will actually impact some of the poorest people on the planet.

Travel - yes (go by train if you can)
Fly - only a bit where it's unavoidable. Anything else is just selfish, isn't it?

Why don't you care more about the world around you?

Flying that much is excessive and selfish. If you were a friend of mine, I'd be telling you that. You seem entitled and thick. Sorry.

Who cares? Not me! I don’t give a flying fuck about your sanctimonious Virtue signalling!

@CulturePigeon I’ll pay more for my flights. A frequent flyer tax wouldn’t stop me flying frequently.

@Louise0701

I'm no environmentalist but are you not even slightly worried about the looming climate crisis?

@Topgub whilst I know it’s a huge issue, my priority is my own children and I want them to see and experience as much of the world as possible while they can.
Just me and my family flying less won’t stop it happening so I want us to experience as much as we can, while we can.

Lol. Let's hope your children's children are happy with that.

'The world is fucked but at least grandma got to go to Marbella four times a year'.

@Louise0701

Even if it means their futures will be worse?

I was reading an article yesterday about the huge civil unrest and destabilising of peace thats coming.

Not boring, thats for sure.

If you can afford them it is up to you. What you call a 'staycation' is actually just a holiday in the country you live in. A 'staycation' is where you stay at home but treat it like a holiday, doing day trips/going out to eat.

I'd say if you can afford them, it's none of anyone's business really.

Although I do know a couple who literally go away ALL the time - they hate their jobs that much, they live for their holidays. I find that incredibly sad.

This is the purist's description (and the one I use). But staycation genuinely does mean both staying at home and holidaying in your own country.

Because lots of people don't believe it's a holiday unless you go abroad. So the meaning has expanded to cater for these ignoramuses.

@orwellwasright why did it make you laugh out loud? Are you always so easily amused? I doubt the costa del sol, if that’s where you choose to holiday, will be going anywhere in the next 20 years so do try not to worry.

@Topgub civil unrest because of holidays?
for reasons I won’t go into online, I don’t need to worry about any hypothetical grandchildren and knowing my children have had an amazing childhood and they experienced as much as possible will make me very happy, yes.

if it’s not going to be here in 50 years, better to see it while they can! Whether they go now or not won’t change anything. We’re 1 family.

I always considered a staycation to be a holiday in the country that you live in.
To me ‘holidaying’ in your own home is a contradiction in terms, and a bit bonkers!

Absolutely! I wish there was a like button.

Maybe your husband wants to save money. Maybe he wants more down time at home. Holidays can be tiring. Go away with friends 1/2 a year instead.

This.

And a staycation is where you stay at home and do trips out.

A holiday in the UK is still a holiday! Although I might refer to a trip somewhere else in England as a "break" - it doesn't feel like a holiday unless it's eg to Scotland or the Channel Islands (yes I know they are not technically part of the UK).

This thread is a perfect illustration of how the twin scourges of unwavering individualism and stupidity have basically fucked the planet.

Sounds fine if you enjoy it and afford it. Not sure why you needy to ask anyone else's opinion?
I like the destination but hate the stress of travelling (I'm a single parent so have all the responsibility), and quite like my own home, so even if I could afford it not sure I'd want to go away that often (plus I have cats and dogs).

@Louise0701

Not just because of holidays, no but because of our collective fuck it attitudes

1 family x 1 million has a big impact.

I know I'm complicit but I don't laugh about it or try to pretend that nothing I do could make a difference

Attitudes like yours are precisely why things will be beyond hope in 50 years instead of maybe salvageable

@Topgub i don’t laugh about it either. I just continue on giving my children the best life I can.

I spend all my spare cash on holidays. It's my thing. I've been away once a month for the past year, long weekends and weeks abroad. It is fabulous, enjoy your life while you are here and while you are young.

@Louise0701

You replied to the pp asking about your carbon footprint
Boring!

Seems pretty jokey to me.

But I suppose caring and doing nothing as the same outcome as not caring and doing nothing

I think anything which has a serious environmental impact is other people's business. Otherwise it's just 'I'm all right, Jack, and everyone else can take the consequences'. Apart from the terrible things happening to people in some parts of the world, it's going to impact on our luxurious Western lifestyles in the form of mass migration on a scale we've not yet seen as people flee areas which will become uninhabitable. Reports from the Indian subcontinent recently that a temp of 51 degrees was recorded last week. I don't think this is OK.

How many holidays people take is their business, sure, but the science is telling us to stop flying all over the shop - that's the issue. I would say to frequent flyers - why not make the journey part of the experience and really feel the distance you are travelling and make it a positive part of the holiday? Eg. train through Europe, not a 2 hour whizz in a metal box.

For me the terrifying aspect of this is that people in the West don't realise how unsustainably spoiled we all are and, while many are happy to pay lip service to environmental concern, when it comes to making sacrifices - we are just too selfish. Listen to David Attenborough - he's the voice of God, in opinion.

But Hellsbe - does it really not bother you that we in the developed world get all the benefits while some of the world's poorest suffer the consequences of that? I can't believe you are honestly OK with this.

I know that it's tempting to think - what difference can I make when loads of other people are doing it - but we've got to start somewhere, and air travel is one of the real culprits according to the science. Yes, I feel 'what is the point in me turning off my lights/heating etc religiously' when town centre offices/shops are lit up like Las Vegas all night, but as individuals we just have to do what we can.

I'm asking because we all have our nightmares - some people fret about nuclear disaster, others about pandemics, but the real one that's definitely going to happen is irreversible climate change.