What was a holiday like when you were a child?

[meagaein]

far away for example Cornwall or the top of Scotland meaning a 4am start

Non existent. We only went twice, once to Cornwall once to Devon, but we did set off seemingly in the middle of the night. We lay in the back of the car in our pyjamas, no seatbelts in those days!

My dad built a board thing across the footwell in the back seat and my elder brother slept there. My sister and I were top to tail on the back seat, and my baby brother was in the front on my mum’s knee. No seatbelts, no car seats, hardly any motorways so the journeys were longer too.

Mostly we drove up from ‘down South’ to family by the seaside near Liverpool. We’d set off after dad finished work on Friday afternoon, already in our pyjamas and then get carried into bed asleep once we got there. If we did happen to wake up, my Nan would give us a cup of lukewarm milk before we went to bed.

On the way home, we’d usually do it by day and stop at Lutterworth for toilets. I have absolutely no idea where Lutterworth is but it’s imprinted on my memory as the toilet stop.

Fortnight by the beach, roughly alternative years abroad (S France, Spain, Portugal) or Uk (Wales, Cornwall, also Brittany which rained as much as the uk, obvs)

Always drove and suitcases flying off the roof rack on French motorways are a fond memory. That and the hire Peugeot with a double back seat (do they still make those? So much nicer than a people carrier.).

Trips to somewhere in the UK usually. Cottage rental, once a hotel, once a caravan, once a b&b. Not usually a lot of fun as my parents didn't do fun. We camped a couple of times in France as well.

Two weeks abroad. Usually twice a year.

now we are lucky if we manage one week abroad every two years.

Mainly UK apart from camping in Brittany once. Camping, B&b on a Welsh farm, stayed above a butcher in Porthmadog once. Chalets in holiday camps like pontius, warners

We always set off on a long drive in the night. Generally camping in France or Germany. Mostly self catering with kids doing washing up and fetching water in the aqua roll.

A week at the same beach, every year, in the peak of summer - January in QLD. So stinking hot but km's of glorious beaches and uncrowded. The times we spent Christmas there were wonderfully relaxed & among my favourite memories.

But... they were very repetitive so now I prefer more adventurous holidays!

No car and not much money snd my dad didn’t like staying away so apart from one holiday in a flat in Blackpool it was day trips by coach .

Usually a self catering cottage in Devon or Cornwall. I remember runaway cows I think it was in the garden one year.

Little chefs on the journey.

A couple of years we went to France to stay with my mums old penpal.

Just trying to think though - not sure I remember any when I got to my teens. I am sure I was under 10 in most of them.

Going to Lapland in Finland or Holland by car, on the ferry. Long journey (especially to Finland, it'd take days as we'd stop off to rest with friends and relatives), with 7 of us, me and one of my brothers sat in the boot of our Volvo estate. Loved going on the ferry, eating so many bowls of chocolate mousse at the buffet, and running around the ship with my brother. Or up to Scotland. Always staying with relatives or doing a house swap, we only did hotel holidays twice in my childhood, and once used a friend's timeshare. Occasionally camping holidays in the UK. Once did a house swap to Oxford, was amused to find everything in the house had been labelled with post-it notes, I think they must have thought we were foreign.

Winter holidays were plane to Helsinki, then night train up to Lapland, then playing in the snow for a wonderful two weeks, missing school (once my mum sent me and my brother to the local school for a few days though!)

Didn't have them. Would occasionally visit relatives but no holidays as such, just occasional days at the beach in the summer.

We had a touring caravan. It was sited at the same place as my grandparents about 40 minutes away so we often spent weekends there.

Durinh school holidays we would go to Anglesey and then travel to Devon/Cornwall during the summer holidays. Main holiday meant a big treat of stopping at a little chef breakfast because it was kids eat for 1p!

My dad traveled a lot for his work, often flying between 3 or 4 countries in a week. He mostly traveled by plane for work, but loved driving. Our holidays were generally extensions of dad's business trips. So we might drive to 3 different countries, staying 2-3 nights in each, with dad doing a day's work in each. Usually we stayed in little 'pensions', but occasionally we stayed in grand hotels because dad's work was paying for that night's accommodation.

Dad liked to do a day's work, take a nap at home while mum packed, and then set off late at night. We were old hands at going to sleep in bed and waking up driving through another country.

Most years we'd spend some weeks staying with relatives in mum's home country, while dad continued his normal work pattern. I don't think dad ever took a complete family holiday. He always worked at some point, no matter where we were.

Either Butlins if my parents were feeling flush or a week in a rented caravan somewhere in the UK. Self catering with fish and chips one day. Early start to miss the traffic which was always hideous in the 70s. 60s we didn't have a car so it would be somewhere we could get to by coach.

We didn't have a lot of money, so was usually only every other year or every 3rd year and was usually a caravan in either Wales Devon or Cornwall. Always lots of fun, but always started with the 3 of us squashed up in the back of our small car, arguing most the way and the journey always seemed to take forever. I didn't go abroad until I was 18 and could pay for the holiday myself. My kids have got the best of both worlds and we tend to alternate between holidays in UK and holidays abroad. This year we have done one of each and they loved both equally!

Devon, Somerset or Cornwall in a static caravan

Normally Seasidey places Blackpool or Scarborough usually or My dads friend had a caravan in Arbroath which we went to at Easter, we usually got a coach.

We used to stay in guesthouses at the seaside with formidable land ladies and little glasses of orange juice for a starter at dinner 😄

A week in a cottage in the Isle of Man, or North Wales or Northumberland when I was up to about 12. Then we started going to hotels in the Isle of Man or south Wales. When I was 15 we went abroad for the first time, to Belgium and then also went to Austria. Went to Oban and a short break to Paris.

There was a lot of time on the beach on holiday and seeing the photos it was often quite cold (mum in a coat 😃) but I loved it. Very happy memories.

A week away at my aunts who lived hundreds of miles away or so I was told as it was always a bit adventure. Turns out it was an hour away! We always used to stop off to see another relative on the way back as they were too far to go to fir just a couple of hours, turns out they lived at the opposite side of the town we lived in!

or a week in a caravan or chalet on the coast.

Early 70s a week in a caravan and a beach hut at local seaside. Late 70’s and early 80’s long car journeys to scenic spots in England or Wales setting off before the crack of dawn. Blistering heat, frame tent erected then a terrific thunderstorm and rain for the rest of the holiday! Soggy walks, powdered orange juice, and quality time together.

We booked the same old farmhouse in North Wales every year with a group of friends. We loved it.

We had great - but often very rainy - UK holidays and a few minibreaks before they were called minibreaks (staying in a Premier Inn). My mum kept a folder of leaflets for decent places - this was pre-internet of course - and we would alternate between Cornwall and other places. Cornwall was quite expensive even in the 1990s so we would have a week out of school in June to go there. Would always break the journey at a Little Chef or a big Asda - remember being quite amazed that some Asda had clothes and toys etc. Only remember one bad holiday which was with my grandparents and we stayed in a very dark and spidery farmhouse with really damp, smelly beds, obviously there were no trip advisor reviews back then so we left early and didn't go back.

When I hit teen years dad got a couple of significant promotions and we started going abroad. Initially Majorca, then USA and then parts of Asia when mum and dad felt brave enough. My mum was an early adopter of using the Internet for booking holidays from around 1998 so we got some amazing opportunities.

Small car with massive roof rack youth hostelling around Europe. Very happy memories. Car broke down at least once every holiday. Had to sleep in the car at least once every holiday. Children and dad loved it, I think my mum found it very stressful!