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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think its pointless going abroad if you're just going to stay around the hotel for 2 weeks?

53 replies

SourCreamnChive · 04/03/2009 10:13

My sister has just got back from Egypt. I asked "did you have a nice time?" and she said "Oh yes, it was lovely!"

I asked "what's it like over there? I've always wanted to see Egypt"

She looked a bit lost for words and then said "well, you couldn't really go out of the hotel complex ... but the weather was lovely!"

What's the point in going so far abroad if you can't even leave the hotel? isn't the whole point of going abroad to see a different country?

Its like in brochures when it says "The hotel complex has everything you need so you'll never have to off-site!"

why??

OP posts:
flowerybeanbag · 04/03/2009 10:16

Depends what the reason for the holiday is. If it's to relax, sunbathe and swim, all things you can't do in this country, at least at the moment, then maybe nothing wrong with staying on hotel complex.

Perhaps she just needed to relax and chill out this time rather than charge about sight-seeing.

fryalot · 04/03/2009 10:17

we-ell...

Back in the days when I was self employed I would work 80+ hours a week and the only time I could realistically take a holiday was October or February.

So I would book a holiday somewhere warm and sit outside in the sun and read a book.

Bliss!

But I wouldn't go somewhere so culturally packed as Egypt, I'd go to Tenerife or somewhere.

When I went to Egypt, I spent the whole time looking at pyramids and museums which was also bliss

Original poster
SourCreamnChive · 04/03/2009 10:18

That's what I mean, if all you want to do is sunbathe, swim and relax, why not just go somewhere nearer with sun? like Majorca etc ...

Why go to a country so far away, that offers so much more just to do what you could do in Spain?

OP posts:
francagoestohollywood · 04/03/2009 10:20

YANBU.
I love relaxing on a beach with a good book (an activity I'm pretty good at ), but couldn't do just that for the whole day. And 2 weeks certainly give you enough time to both relax and explore your surroundings.

mrsgboring · 04/03/2009 10:21

My parents do this - they go all over the world on organised cruises / tour parties, but then refuse to go on the excursions to sites of interest. My mum likes to go to the markets and the local shops instead, which arguably gives you local colour I suppose. But she went to Chiang Mai and spent nearly every day going round the Tesco Lotus

She doesn't even like heat or sun. I think they go for the toadying flunkeys in the hotel and to make disparaging remarks about the other holidaymakers.

Original poster
SourCreamnChive · 04/03/2009 10:22

I like to relax too, when we went to Gran Canaria recently there were many times I sat on a sunbed with a book just relaxing ... but only for an hour or so! after that I started getting bored!

No way could I do it for 2 weeks with nothing else inbetween.

OP posts:
Tamarto · 04/03/2009 10:23

YABU Her holiday her choice, it may not make much sense to you but unless you paid for it it's none of your business.

fryalot · 04/03/2009 10:23

Places with guaranteed sunshine are quite few and far between at this time of the year though, and perhaps the particular hotel complex sounded good to her, regardless of where it was. Had she been able to get exactly what she wanted from the holiday in Spain, she probably would have gone there.

Perhaps she just wanted to be able to say she has been to Egypt. My mum's a bit like that, she'll wax lyrical about the time that she went to Singapore. In truth, she never got out of the airport complex as it was a stop over to somewhere else.

nomoreamover · 04/03/2009 10:23

YABU - she's the one that went so its up to her how she spends her holls.

I suspect Eygypt if a bit dicey at the mo anyway isn't it? Extremists etc....

LucyEllensmummy · 04/03/2009 10:23

I used to feel like this, but we went on holiday to a greek island (pre dd2) and actually, all we ended up doing was lazing on the beach, lazing by the pool - we tried to look around but it was so hot, and we actually enjoyed just chilling out. Why go abroad to do that - cos its to fecking cold here!! .

We don't holiday abroad now - a, we cant afford it and b, i am terrified of flying. We do like to explore with DD now.

But like you say, how could you go to somewhere like Egypt and not leave the complex. A friend of mine did this in Cuba!! never left the all inclusive complex - i mean?? WTF - isn't cuba a long haul flight? WHY would you do that - why not just go to spain, or greece.

nomoreamover · 04/03/2009 10:24

sorry tomarto x posted

belgo · 04/03/2009 10:24

There's actually far more to do in Spain and Majorca and Tenerife then just sunbathing.

It depends what you want from a holiday, you can't force culture on people.

saralou · 04/03/2009 10:26

my friend went to egypt and said the same thing, she gave some reason about needing escorts because of problems or something ( i can't really remember)

i just kept saying to her you went to egypt and didn't see a single pyramid??

i would love to go to egypt, but we can't afford holidays like that

yanbu

lottiebunny · 04/03/2009 10:28

Parts of Egypt (Sinai) aren't anywhere near the interesting stuff though. When I went to Taba in December there was really nothing else to do except in the hotel complex. There wasn't anyone who was prepared to spend 6 hours in a coach to spend an hour looking at pyramids. I did know this before I went and only booked it because it was cheaper and warmer than going to the Canaries.

Usually I would be the first on all the trips but the lack of holiday since summer 07 made it all the more important to just lounge around and properly recharge my batteries.

fryalot · 04/03/2009 10:29

saralou - after the Luxor massacre, the Egyptian government said that every tourist excursion needs an armed guard.

Twas very unsettling when we stopped for a "comfort break" and I got off the bus to have a cigarette and the bloke at the front with an AK47 stood there and watched me.

He was actually being very kind and wanted me to get the full enjoyment from my nicotine fix; but when someone points a machine gun at you and says "smoke!" you light another one pretty damn quick, I can tell you

ThePregnantHedgeWitch · 04/03/2009 10:30

This reply has been deleted

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muppetgirl · 04/03/2009 10:32

dh and I did a nile cruise and saw temples, valley of the ing, the big dam etc etc. Was fab and £600 each all inclusive. This was pre children and 5 years ago.

We've just come back from barbados and did a couple of day trips but spent a lot of the time around the hotel purely as dh works long hours and I am prgt with ds 3 so we needed a of a relax holiday ( other 2 ds's were at grandma's) I am happy with what we did.

belgo · 04/03/2009 10:33

lottiebunny - even if you are not near the egyptian ruins, the Red Sea has amazing sea life - snorkeling and scube diving and sailing there is fantastic.

You can do Egypt relatively cheaply. I did a 'backpacker's tour' a few years ago, after the Luxor massacre but we didn't have an armed guard. We camped through the desert and stayed in many dodgy hostels. But we did see loads of interesting places.

Gorionine · 04/03/2009 10:34

Sourcream, I was thinking exactly like you, before I had children and we had to wait for 8 years for a "real" family holiday! We went to Tunisia it was absolute bliss: no cooking, no washing up, swimmingpool in the morning and beach in the afteroon THE SUN all day! a nice stroll on the sea front in the evening....

PlumpRumpSoggyBaps · 04/03/2009 10:35

We went to Egypt a couple of years ago, in Feb half-term, just for some sun. But we did end up going to Luxor which was a looong coach trip away.

It was quite bizarre really. All the coach trips, from all the operators, met up at a coach station, then we went in convoy across the desert. Each coach had an armed escort on board.

But, with regards to the question- each to their own, I say. For me, one of those hols in the Maldives or the Seychelles would be hell on earth. (Don't swim very well, not keen on the sea, don't like watersports. Would be bored stiff in under 24 hours)

BonsoirAnna · 04/03/2009 10:35

I don't like holidays where all there is to do is relax in the sunshine by the pool/on the beach. I like a good mix of high and popular culture, a bit of low-key glamour and sophistication, not too many other tourists, guaranteed sunshine and a beautiful pool and beach.

Simplysally · 04/03/2009 10:37

It's their holiday - granted it seems odd to go so far to sit about but each to their own. I had a mad holiday last October which took in Istanbul, Athens and Corfu in one week. By the time we'd got to Corfu, we were quite happy to take it a bit easier as we'd walked our feet off previously.

ABetaDad · 04/03/2009 10:40

I feel I am agreeing with a lot of people on here that going a long way to just sit on the beach or round a hotel pool is a questionable use of money.

My wife loves extortionately expensive luxury hotels but all she does is lay on a sun lounger. Seems a waste to me. We work at home so we can sit out any day we like in the sun in the UK and yes it does shine sometimes.

I am not an action adventure holiday type but I do like to go and see stuff as well as sit around.

nametaken · 04/03/2009 10:41

Don't you lot know that it isn't warm in Spain in February.

If you want sunshine in February you have to travel a minimum of 6 hours to Egypt or Dubai.

If she wants to spend her holiday sun-bathing that's up to her, personally I think it's a real shame she didn't do the pyramids.

Oblomov · 04/03/2009 10:41

Agree with squonk. Egypt offers almost guaranteed sunshine. We go to sit by the pool. We could be in any country. We do go to spain or the like. its what we want. is that not o.k. ?