To think a UK holiday is still a proper holiday?

[Driedpotatochip]

I’m going to Argentina next week and a friend commented that it’s been ages since I had a proper holiday post covid.

I’ve managed to do long weekends away and a week away twice in the UK and also went to Spain for a long weekend from 2020 to now.

True I haven’t been to a destination that’s really far away since 2019 but I feel like i still had proper holidays. Aibu or does what I did not count as a holiday?

I agree with your friend. I only consider holidays as outside the uk. Anything in the uk, whilst as nice as it may be, i dont consider a holiday, only a break

A holiday is what you make of it. I count our camping trips as proper holidays.

Of course it's a proper holiday. A holiday is about a break from work. You can even do that at home, if it pleases you.

Not to me! But people are different. I class a holiday as different country, different food and guaranteed sunshine. Preferably with a lovely warm outdoor pool.
But what everyone defines as proper is different?

It’s all about your individual perspective. You may well feel like you’ve had a proper holiday from doing trips in this country. Lucky you! Personally I don’t feel like I’ve had a proper holiday unless I’ve left the British Isles.

One of my pet hates is calling a UK holiday a 'staycation'. A staycation is staying at home and doing day trips. A week in Bournemouth when you live elsewhere is a holiday, the same as if you went to benidorm for a week.

If it's a week or longer it's a proper holiday, no matter your destination.
If it's less than a week, it's a break.
Not everyone wants to fly long haul or even travel abroad. Give me a fortnight on a Hebridean island over a fortnight in Argentina any day.

Holidays in the UK are just a break to me.
Holidays abroad are proper holidays, except for weekend city breaks.

Not to me! UK a breaks can be nice, but they are breaks not holidays imo.

A holiday is leaving your house and going somewhere. The notion that a UK holiday is not a real holiday is a privileged view from people that can afford trips abroad. My kid views caravan/camping holidays in the UK as a real
holiday as much as going on a plane somewhere.

Well there are holidays and then there are Holidays!

My friend doesn’t leave the uk and considers a week in Cornwall in November to be a proper holiday.

I need to be somewhere outside of the uk, preferably sunny, to really feel like I’ve actually had a holiday. Probably because I’m having a break from laundry cleaning rain and food planning.

I call every break/trip away overnight a holiday as I don't like the house we currently live in 😆

For me a holiday is being away from my own home, whether it's in the UK or abroad. If we are taking time off work but not going anywhere then it's just annual leave, not a holiday .

To visit BIL in Scotland (he lives in the hebrides) involves a 12 hour road trip and 2 ferry crossings (no airport where he lives). so considering that it takes longer to get to him than it does to fly to Spain we consider it a holiday.

Of course it's a holiday! I've taken a lot of British holidays recently, mostly because I can't face the upheaval of flying. I don't drive, so I go anywhere within reach of a bus or train station. And it's been great!

A holiday to me involves a different culture and different food. In the UK, differences are minimal so in ths is respect UK holidays don't feel like holidays.
If I were after a change of scenery however, normally lived in a city and went camping/hiking in the lake District then I guess it would feel like a holiday.

I consider anything when I'm not working and I'm away from home a holiday

I think it has to be a full week to be a holiday, and often UK breaks are 5 days. However, I consider our (12 day) summer UK holiday to have been our "main" holiday this year, and the week in Spain was a bonus break.

Of course it’s still a holiday in the uk. I think the difference is that I tend to have a different, less relaxing, type of holiday in the uk which involves me driving, me cooking and making drinks, me washing up- you get the picture!

My holidays have (over my 47 years) been caravan/chalet parks by the seaside in places like Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Wales etc. Camping in typical UK camping places like the New Forest. I've explored the UK countryside, UK cities. UK villages. Visited numerous UK musuems and historical places. I've been to beautiful UK beaches, beautiful UK countryside. Walked beautiful UK walks. Visited beautiful UK buildings. Beautiful UK country parks....
I've been abroad 3 times (Spain, Turkey, Lanzarote).
The abroad holidays were ok I suppose. Spain was nice, Turkey I didn't enjoy much, Lanzarote was mostly forgettable.
Were they more 'proper' holidays than the UK ones?
No. Definitely not.

I've never been outside the UK, so I don't suppose I'm qualified to comment!

I think it's another symptom of our consumerist culture - you haven't done something "properly" unless you've done it to the max and in the most resource-heavy way.

You haven't had a proper holiday unless you go abroad, buying second hand presents is grotty and doing handmade ones is tight, you need to buy a new outfit for a date or a social occasion... In other words, buy buy buy and consume consume consume.

Yes it’s a proper holiday. To suggest otherwise is odd and very insulting to those who cannot do holidays outside of the UK for various reasons. There are many beautiful, fun or relaxing places in the UK to holiday, just as there are overseas.

If you want Mediterranean weather and boiling hot beaches, then it probably won’t feel like a ‘proper’ holiday. Plus, it is nice to experience new cultures in other countries but that doesn’t mean that UK holidays aren’t valid, especially if they are being compared to a week in a euro AI where there is zero local culture and it’s full of Brits abroad anyway!

Agree with this, but realise that comes from a place of privilege.

@mamabear715 I didn't go abroad until I was 29. I'm 38 now. Pre kids before 35 we did spend a lot on trips abroad and got married in New Zealand. Haven't been away abroad since 2019 though! I started with a weekend in Paris. That would be easy on the Eurostar. I'm quite happy with uk holidays at the moment though. Not that we have the spare cash for that really either. I would definitely class them as proper holidays too.

It is quite sad to think going away in the UK isn't a holiday. Definitely a privileged view.