Many people prioritise/ live for holidays above all else

[Elizo]

Recently went on a wonderful/ expensive group holiday with DC having saved up/ extended mortgage. We aren’t wealthy/ don’t go abroad often but from the chat with others think holidays are huge priority and what they really look forward to all year above all else. Saving/ working hard all year for ski-ing/ trips to US etc - clearly that sort of travel out of reach for most of us. Loved our holiday and wondering if we are odd ones out in this!

Iv’e never been that fussed until this April, when I absolutely had to get some sun after a long and miserable winter, and having lost our summer holiday last year because elderly parent because. unwell.

I would have sold a kidney, I think, but fortunately didn’t need to.

I’d never been on holiday in winter in my life before I retired. Now we always book a sunny holiday in the New Year. Not for sunbathing, I just enjoy being in warm climes when it’s winter at home.

Not all of us who love a holiday are doing it to escape miserable lives! You can have both

I lived for travelling when I was young. I saved all year and drove a crap car while all my friends were spending their cash on clothes, cars and going out (in those days you could buy a flat easily on an average income so our mortgages weren’t a big deal). I had holidays planned years ahead.

Nowadays I find long haul journeys too uncomfortable and tiring. I miss my animals, and worry about my plants. I’m sick of Airbnbs misleading me with sneaky photography, and I can’t cope with heat any more. When hotel/apartment rooms turn out to be less pleasant than my own home, I wonder why I’m spending good money to be there!

Holidays are no longer the be all and end all that they once were, to me. That and the environmental cost means that we are scaling back.

We book holidays based on what we have in the bank a few months ahead of time. I never get the people who live for holidays, and who are planning and waiting for the next one when they get home (I'm autistic and very aware that I have rigid thinking and can't understand why people may think differently). We love our work, love our home, have days out etc, I get the feeling people don't enjoy their home/work life so much if they're desperate to get away?

Stating that people who love to travel must hate their home life is like saying that only people who can't cook go to restaurants. It's a different experience.

We do this, Canaries every winter. No sunbathing but that injection of warm sunshine in January is so nourishing.

The key point isn't travel. It's prioritising holidays above everything else.
Living like a pauper for most of the year when not on holiday. As PP said having nothing else to look forward too.
People claiming they'll be 'depressed' if they can't go away. It was especially jarring during COVID when many had more pressing concerns like not dying of the disease or keeping financially afloat. so many threads with people moaning about holidays.
Also ... You said you 'needed' a holiday because you 'want' to experience different cultures, cuisines etc. Well obviously the second part of the sentence indicates that travelling is a want, not a need.

People can choose how they want to live, of course. But travel beyond a certain point is a consumerist obsession. Just like, I don't know, new furniture, designer bags, eating out, whatever. Nothing superior about it compared to people who spend on the latter.

Fair enough - when I for example say I 'need' to exercise, I also mean that I 'want' to have a heathy body and sound mind. But yes that's also a want really, I indeed probably wouldn't die if I didn't travel.
But I don't think (and i don't think other posters who like to travel have claimed) that we superior to people who decide to spend their money on bigger house or new kitchen? Just different priorities.

No, you're not the odd ones out at all. Just the occassional trip is fine if that suits you. And it all depends on what your priorities are and if travel/holidays are a passion or just a nice to have every now and then. It is perfectly fine to do what suits you.

I love to travel and often, but that is me and what is my priority. On the flip side I rarely spend money on clothes, don't care about cars and I'm fortunate enough to not have a mortgage.

You do you!