Am I being unreasonable to think extreme day trips are excessive?

[SonnyHoney]

For instance, London Luton to Venice.
How can anyone enjoy leaving their house at 2 a.m. to fly out ridiculously early, spend a few hours somewhere walking around exhausted, and then fly back the same day?
It feels like people are just trying to collect places these days, rather than visiting somewhere because it's somewhere they've aways wanted to go.

I remember when people used to joke about Americans when they came to visit the UK. Spent a couple of hours in a place and they had " done" it and moved on to the next.
What you describe sounds like an extreme version of that OP. Absolutely meaningless apart from adding to the list of places they can boast about having been to.

I once took all of Year 7 to Calais for a day. We had an absolute blast, although I swear we could have taken them to a shipping container with the same effect. They enjoyed the journey, the chocolate factory (no longer in existence), the return journey, the Eurotunnel.

Can’t say I’d want a start at the crack of dawn journey anywhere, but I can’t do more than 2 days anywhere so maybe I’d love it. I’d love to do Vienna, for example, but only to stare at the Opera and go to one of the famous cafes and eat cake.

I've done a fair amount of them for work and I like them!

Fly in super early, drop off what I need to drop off, visit a museum, castle, monument or 2, grab some local food, bit of a walk and get the last flight back!
Its surprising how much you can normally see if you're organised.

For such people the point of travel is content for insta, they can get all the shots with minimal time and money.

Its terrible imo but people are free to do as they choose.

I completely agree. I can’t see the value or fun in it and it’s also terrible for the environment.

Just pick a place relatively local to you and explore that for a day. There’s plenty to do in the UK.

Not for me, I'd be so tired the next day. I'd much rather go for at least a couple of nights. Plus we live over 2 hours from an airport.

Day trips to Lapland seem popular. But I'm really glad we spent 3 nights there.

I do extreme day trips. It's not about 'collecting' places, and I don't post about it on social media. It's an accessible way of seeing different places without having to get someone to feed the cats, and clean and tidy the house so they don't judge me. It's often cheaper than visiting other parts of the UK, and as well as visiting certain attractions, and using them as a recce for a proper holiday, I can do things you can't do in the UK such as swim in bathwater temperature sea.

It's never involved getting up at 2 am or being 'exhausted' as I'll sleep on the plane, or read my book if I don't fall asleep. I'm generally out 5 am to 10 pm so barely longer than a working day and a lot more fun. Arrive and get the bus/train from the airport to the centre, wander around, maybe get a map from the tourist info centre, have lunch, visit any planned attractions,snooze on the beach, sea swim, clean up, wander around some more, maybe have an ice cream or drink, back to the airport, look in duty free and fly back home.

If it's not something you're interested in, that's fine. But many people do enjoy doing them, so why not?

So dont do them? Why would it be excessive for people who choose to do it? Why does it matter to you?

If you can get a flight mid morning, you can visit Vienna for the day without a crack of dawn start.

The Extreme Day Trips website or Facebook group will help you search for flights. People who can fly from London have the best choice and there's lots of options from Manchester too. Smaller airports less so, but still a few places.

I did it once. Out 3.30am - 11pm so was knackering.

it was fun as a one off - bit of Spanish sunshine on a grey February.

Probably wouldn’t do it again - or certainly not regularly anyway.

Let’s just pump
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere just for a few thrills

its just crazy that some people don’t like what you like, isn’t it?
maybe they’re visiting where they always wanted to go with a budget or only a short time to do it. Enough people do it for it to be nothing to do with you and what you like. I assume you’re a grown up and this isn’t a foreign concept? If it is, I suggest you get out more. Maybe even try an extreme day trip.

I did an extreme day trip to Paris last year from London and loved it! Meant we could spend money freely on wine cheese and croissants as we were only there the one day + no hotel costs. Early eurostar out, late one back had about 12 hours there.

I did one with my friend, she had to fit it into the 24 hours her ex has their child. We went hiking in Spain and TBH I think we saw and did as much as the average weekend mini break, we were just better organised about it. .

There's an American person know who day trips from NYC to all over the world. Tokyo London. If they enjoy it, it's up to them!

It's not different to visiting a town for a day trip, just with a v early start. My friend did them a lot & would catch a couple of extra hour's sleep on the plane

For some people it’s the only way they get to experience these places. I’ve never done one myself but I’ve spent far too long now both time and money poor so I can definitely see the appeal especially if there’s a chance you’d never get to see some of these things

Why not? Have you noticed the climate literally at all?

OP, YANBU, it's a hideous thing to do.

There is nothing extreme about going to Spain, Venice or Paris on a day trip. It’s a few hours away on a flight.
Now if someone can come back and tell me they had been to Moscow or Chisinau on a day trip, I might be a tad more impressed.

I did eurostar Paris for a day once. Was really fun. Knackering though. I couldnt do it often but I can see the appeal if you can cope.with the tiredness. I find air travel exhausting, even short journeys, but i can nonetheless see the appeal for a specific reason- a meal at a special restaurant or a particular activity/event.

We did that from
the East Midlands to Boulougne. In the ferry. I remember we had a blast, but actually all that expense when a few days would have been better.

That sounds like good fun and Calais for a day trip is not far atall. I could be tempted by that especially with the promise of chocolate factory.

I want to go to Moscow

A few flights a year within Europe has so little impact on the climate it's not worth counting.

Save your outrage for people who travel long haul multiple times a year, drive gas guzzlers, overconsume or those who have children, especially more than 2, because their carbon footprint is way higher than mine.

I agree OP it sounds absolutely grim