Does anyone else dislike long haul holidays?

[einaonik]

In my head 'long haul' was always more exciting and better. But having been on quite a few, I've come to the firm realisation that I don't want to leave Europe for my future holidays. I've spent huge amounts of money to travel to far away places, and whilst rewarding, I've never really felt relaxed. I suppose the only exception would be Thailand where my money got a nice hotel and good service.

But I've been to three countries in the Caribbean, a South American country, Pacific Island Countries, and one in East Africa. So I'm decently well travelled. Even when I've flown business class, because of the jet lag, I feel even more knackered after the trip than when I set off.

Flying accounts for around 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, but you keep telling yourself that by not flying to Thailand you're saving the world.

It's not the holiday, it's the flight. The older I get, the more I loathe flying - not afraid of it, but can't stand the cramped discomfort, the fuzzyhead feeling, waiting in airports etc.

It’s an age thing with me. I loved long haul when younger and now I have hit 60 I am done with it and decided to explore more of Europe.
A work colleague has said they are done with going on holiday to Europe as there is so much they haven’t seen in the UK.

Im not with them on that one though due to our weather but understand their sentiment.

I love it when I'm there, but the flying wrecks me. My feet and ankles swell up so badly I cannot walk when we arrive and DH had to find a wheelchair for me when we arrived back from Dom Rep in 2019.

Even Madeira was too far last month and I was in agony for the first day there and barely able to walk.

I just had to google to find out the definition of long haul because I live in Australia and we don’t really have ‘long haul’ flights we just call it going overseas (not abroad as there is always an ocean or many to cross!)

So if it’s greater than 6 hrs that means Sydney- Perth is technically long haul but I would say maybe 8 hrs plus would be more realistic? So for us North America, Europe, most of Asia is long haul. Depending on where you are in Australia we can access NZ, Pacific countries like Fiji and Vanuatu, Singapore, Southern Asia in <8 hrs. It leaves a lot of the world out of reach if you refuse to fly ‘long haul’ which I think it isn’t really a common thing here until people get older.

I went to Thailand, Aus and Fiji when I was 18/19. Not been able to afford it since. I would love to go to many places and explore, there is so much world to see! I wish I could do it with my dc but it just isn't affordable. One day.

I wouldn't bother with long haul just to sit in a resort, I know people who have been to Mexico, Bali and so on and just sat by the pool at the AI hotel, what's the point?

We have had lots of holidays in Europe, US, Middle East with our DC when they were younger. Covid made us realise that actually we now prefer being at home and really don’t want to take holidays anymore.

I backpacked around Australia, Asia, India and Nepal . Spent 6 weeks in Samoa, Tonga and NZ all late 20s and 30s. Do I want to do it now I'm 56. No way. I like a short plane journey and no jet lag. The weather, well that can often be worse in far flung destinations. It would take me too long to recover from the flight now that I would need another holiday. Plus we are all more conscious of the effect on the planet of long haul holidays now.

This is true but it's a very BIG part of an individual's footprint. For example to take my family of 4 doing a round trip to Tokyo would be more than my carbon footprint from all other sources combined (heating, power, motoring and food) for the rest of the year.

It's a bit like saying the water in this swimming pool is only 2.5 percent piss so it doesn't matter if I piss in it.

I love long haul in winter when it's freezing here. I wouldn't want to miss out on places like USA, Canada, central America, Africa, the far east, Indian ocean islands.
DH has decided he's only going to continue going long haul for the next 10 years unless it's on a cruise that starts and ends in the UK. Then it'll be Europe every year. His main issue is legroom on flights.

I absolutely love it, feeling a bit knackered is so worth it to see another part of the world.

We only like short haul. There's so many lovely places to see in Europe.We love Croatia which is only 2.5 hours . Obviously if you need a bit of winter Sun you do have to fly longer.

No, I love them. Being in a completely different time zone (lunchtime while it’s the middle of the night back home) makes me feel so much more disconnected from work, and relaxed

I like both. We always do one long-haul trip per year, but it's usually to see DH's family. Every few years though we go somewhere special and I really love it. I don't understand doing it several times a year though - it's just so expensive, exhausting and I worry about the emissions - particularly when there are so many absolutely amazing places to visit closer to home.

Love both but long haul for culture/experience. Short haul is for relaxing. Went to Kenya on Safari last year, this year doing Canadian rockies in a motorhome. Then when we get home we plan to buy a mini teardrop caravan for some closer to home adventures. The UK is actually amazing for a holiday, weather is obviously the limiting factor!

The further the better for me. I absolutely love it!

It has to be a long trip to be worth it for me because I spend the first few days uncomfortable with constipation after flying. I prefer shorter flights because that goes away much quicker!

Even going to Ireland from the UK for the weekend can cause problems.

I've cut down a lot on flying because of the Climate Emergency but am too selfish to cut it out completely.

My favourite destinations are all long haul. I'm sitting in Heathrow as I type. I'm going to spend a month in Costa Rica and can't wait.

I've travelled a lot in my life but as I get older I hate the journey. I find it really stressful. But that's true on any plane journey. Part of it is I have kids so all the responsibility is on me. So I guess for me it doesn't matter how far I go it's the actual logistics of it all I hate.

I couldn't think of anything worse.
Being herded like cattle through the incredibly stressful and long winded process at the airport and then being squashed for hours in the middle of an overcrowded noisy plane is not my ideal of fun. The whole experience is a complete nightmare. Airport staff are rude and obnoxious, your hanging around hours waiting for luggage, flights are often delayed, and the best of it is your charges through the roof for it.
I much prefer watching the walk around hours of different countries on YouTube in the comfort of my own home, and I'm not at risk of being pick pocketed or assaulted.

I agree that the hanging around at airports is a pain and the seats are a bit of a squash but I've nearly always found airport staff to be polite and friendly.

For most long haul destinations, you are at no greater risk of being assaulted or pickpocketed than you are in most places in the UK.

I've been to dozens of countries over the last few decades and have never been a victim of crime.

Agree on airport staff. The times I’ve found myself being spoken to very bluntly they were just fronting their airlines’ shit policy of overbooking and having to bump off people. Taught me a thing or two about going for the cheapest tickets. Airport staff at CDG are so lovely it’s like they’re single handedly trying to upright the French reputation for rudeness ;)

Can anyone recommend a fun/safe/reasonable long haul destination other than Florida to take older child?

My DC/teens enjoyed Cuba, LA,Mexico, Dubai,Argentina,St Lucia,Brazil,Cape Town, Jamaica as well as Florida.

Oh wow! I need to open my mind, I would feel half are those are so dangerous so wouldn’t take my child! Been I my European holiday bubble all my life