To avoid summer holidays in Europe atm

[Meadowland]

A friend is just back from Spain and spent the whole week indoors as it was "unbearably" hot.
We have just cancelled. Weather may be unpredictable here but at least we can go out !

We're going to northern Sicily end of August and I am a bit concerned about the heat but we do have a nice big villa up a hill with a big pool and shade so the worst case scenario is we hang around the villa enjoying a drink, the view and the pool.
It'll probably be a case of have a lazy morning/early aft then head out somewhere mid to late afternoon.

There's hot and there's hot.

I know the Med will be hot. But there is hot that's "fine" and hot that is uncomfortably hot.

I think these temperatures and the daily occurence of them seems to be going into the uncomfortably hot zone.

Blimey, it’s been hot in the Med since time began. We cope, our buildings are built for heat, as are our railways and roads (no warped rails and melting tarmac like in the U.K. last summer). It’s not 48°, I look at the local temps and most are in the high 30s, with the odd 40 in a few cities.

we’ve had a red alert for heat for many summers, only this year it’s been seized upon by the U.K. press and wildly exaggerated. Yes it’s hot, but there are ways to manage the heat without closing yourself in an air conditioned room. If you’re in a resort you have sea/lake/pool/greenery. It’s entirely liveable in this circumstances. Don’t go to cities in July and August, there’s a reason locals abandon the cities in the summer. We go to the beach, wooded hills, mountains. Just drink a lot of water (avoid fizzy drinks and sweet juices), don’t eat rich food and walk in the shade.

about to go to work then come home to a house without aircon. wish i could sit by the pool all day! But it’s your holiday and yours alone, if you wouldn’t enjoy it then of course you were correct to cancel it. Please join me in praying for the temps to fall v soon!

Whether you are being unreasonable or not entirely depends on whether everyone else in your family wanted to cancel too 🙈 if you've decided on your own and they still wanted to then yes yabu. If they were on board with it then no you aren't 🤷‍♀️
It's your holiday! You can choose to go hike across the Sahara or you can go ice climb in sierras. Do what ever you fancy. Agree with the majority here though, Europe isn't unbearably hot - just where ever specifically your friend went at that specific time was either very hot or she was unprepared and didn't plan appropriately. Lots of countries on europe are basking in what most British would call perfect temperatures right now.

i'm in mainland spain at the moment. was 35 yesterday and 33 today. No different to last year. I think you are being ridiculous

We could have done a holiday swap. My wet week in the uk for your warm dry week abroad

YANBU. My Italian in-laws have told us not to visit until the weather cools. We aren't used to it and the kids will be bored and miserable if they can't go out. It's killing MIL's amazing fruit and veg garden. They've even shaved their dog and keep him indoors apart from evening or early morning walks. He's spending most of his time in a tub of water in the garage 😆 Smart lad!.

Wow, why even book the Med in July/Aug if you don’t like hot weather? It is always in the 30’s in Spain, Portugal, Greece at that time of year. This year isn’t a massive difference tbh, just the media talking it up massively. Thirty years ago it was 40 degrees Celsius in Greece in August.

Well presumably people go to hot places because they want to be hot.

I mean people go to Eygpt and Dubai I assume it is even hotter there on average than in Spain.

All that will happen is they may change when they go, or where they go.

Personally I like a bit of sun and there are always ways of dealing with high temperatures. Lazing around in the shade by a cool pool sipping cold drinks and eating ice cream is hardly the same as working.

YANBU. I wouldn’t go abroad in that heat because I wouldn’t enjoy it. That level of heat makes me feel unwell, so it would be a waste of money. I’m happy with our Cornwall holiday.

I’m on day 9 of my holiday to Greece, it’s hot but manageable. I’m not aware of people having to stay indoors, everyone is sitting around the pool as normal, albeit with more dips into the pool. It’s just a case of being sensible, we would never have cancelled

Although it’s obviously hot, the U.K. press do go mad for this sort of thing. We normally live in Aus and when we had fires there in 2019 and it was like “Australia is on fire” and people thinking the whole place was on fire when in fact it was a slightly above normal hot summer that of course led to bush fires (mainly set by arsonists). There were stories like “an area bigger than Belgium is on fire!” and we just went “we have farms here the size of Belgium”.

Is that not the entire point of going abroad ? We normally go to Turkey where it regularly hits 40+ ° we are in and out of the pool under an umbrella etc and you very quickly get used to the heat anyway

Except it's the European press reporting on it as well

On this thread, half of Europe are hiding in cool cellars and shaving their dogs.

In the real world (and on live webcams), people are going about their business and keeping cool by taking shade at the hottest times and, if on holiday, swimming in the pool. Every Sun lounger taken, as per usual

Take Florence at 36 degrees for example.

Right now, plenty of people out and about sightseeing. No need to cancel your holidays

And the usual hoardes at the Rialto bridge. A constant flow of tourists.

St Marks Square looks the same as it did when we visited last and it was the same time of day

I realise it's carrying on the derailing, slightly, but it amazes me how many people are sanctimonious about not taking flights yet will still eat meat, drive a car or own a dog. I have to fly a few times a year due to family (and I don't judge anyone for also having 'just' a holiday) but haven't eaten meat for 25 years and have never owed a car - I either walk or take public transport - and have never owned a dog. Those of us judging people for flying need to look at what we are doing ourselves. Also it's admirable when every day consumers want do something to reduce our footprint of course but really it's in the hands of big business and innovation.

It's +18c and passing it down in europe and wouldn't mind it being a bit warmer 😉

But also, yes it is very hot in several southern European countries. However, July is known for being the hottest month so even with normal hot it's hot

I live in North Italy, it's no different than any other summer, in fact it's less hot than the last two years! None of our newspapers are over reporting it like the UK. Yes it's hot, over 40 in a few places, but that's not usual. I was in Sardinia last year and there was a day or two where we had a Scirocco wind that made it well into 40 degrees. If I leave a thermometer outside in the sun on the ground it will record nearly 50, but that's not the real temperature, it's actually 36 with humidity makes it feel like 40, normal for July.

Me too, we were just saying the other day what with the odd storm it’s even been cool in the evenings. I’ve only needed the aircon in the last couple of days, but we have more storms forecast for later in the week so it will cool down then.

Already in 2003 it was 40° in Milan so it’s hardly new, but that never made the U.K. papers

Exactly, I'm in Milan too and remember the heat of 2003, never heard of outside Italy! It's the humidity that's the issue more, the last couple of days there's been no air at all, plenty of mozzies too. I went to Sicily for August in 2003, one day it hit 46°c!

It's 12 degrees C and lashing rain right now. Wanna come to Norway, no heat here.

I'm in the med now. It's 30c with a breeze. Cooler than it's been on previous visits this time of year going back years, Certainly there's pockets of the med like Sardinia having it much hotter but the majority of southern Europe is not 48c. The media are whipping up a frenzy, wonder what their aim is