Cancelled next years holiday abroad

[YellowphantGrey]

And feel awful about it.

Trying to convince myself a UK holiday will be ok bur I know it won't.

We've just returned from disaster holiday after two horrific flights. Holiday itself was fine but the flights were absolutely horrific. People in tears, screaming, crying, my kindle screen broken, DH hurt his back, people throwing up, all from 2 hours worth of severe turbulence on a 4 hour flight and Pilot had to speak several times. It was a night flight and all lights went out and emergency floor strip lights came on. He ended up having to fly lower to try and avoid and was prepared to divert when it started becoming clearer.

On the way over, it was an hours worth of turbulence and not as bad but still took some quite big drops, everyone lifted out of their seats on each drop. Couldn't land and had to retry which was successful second time round.

We decided today after we are all bruised and shaken that we don't really want to fly again but I'm also worried my DS will now be restricted in life and we should be forcing ourselves back on a plane.

Any ideas what to do? I don't think any sort of scared of flying course would help as even the cabin crew were crying yesterday! Apparently turbulence is set to become more frequent, common and extreme.

Cruises are a definitive no as well.

I suppose we could train or drive?

Trains in Europe are brilliant!

Eurostar to Paris then onto the TGV south - lots of gorgeous places to explore.

Ok. Just take some time to process it all. Just park next years holiday for a while and see how you feel in a couple of months. There's nothing wrong with a uk holiday but there are also Eurostar options, car or foot on a ferry.

Much better for the environment not to fly. Lots of cultural stuff for your son in the UK and Europe

I had 2 wild incidents on 2 planes in 1998 and it's been tough for me to fly again, although I have a couple of times.

But, I hear travel by plane right now is just grim even in the best conditions. I wonder if it's the post pandemic collective brain fog impacting everyone from pilots, to air traffic control, to aircraft maintenance, to .... other passengers who are insane, plus climate changes make the air different. It just all seems too common now.

We go for the weather. We've never had a UK holiday where it has been warm for a decent amount of time. Plus it's my only two weeks off for the year and I like to fly and flop, we all do as we are so full on.

We've cancelled it now. DS has bruises over the backs of his legs and DH can barely walk this morning, I'm aching but not majorly.

I've never had a flight like it and we only went to the Canaries!

How scary. Happened to me on a flight to kos, so bad I thought the plane was going to break apart.

Next flight I got some diazepam, just a low dose. I was like oh there's turbulence but I just... didn't care! There might be something like that for DC too, you just have to get thru the flight for a lovely holiday.

OP the chances of having that ordeal again on a flight is so low…just go on holiday to anywhere that you want to go .X

A quick Google seems to confirm it's not going to get any better because of environmental factors causing more tropical storms and thunder storms.

The Pilot announced last night that the turbulence wasn't even expected, yet it went on for hours, big drops, and it felt like the plane stalled at one point as it went quiet then started again.

I thought that on the way out and it was twice as bad on the return. 😂

I don't think it being night time helped as all the lights went out except the emergency floor strip lights and they went through the emergency landing procedures again twice which definitely didn't help!

Sounds awful, so sorry you went through that!
We’ve had some lovely holidays in the south of France, weather pretty reliable, either spend a couple of days driving down or TGV is fantastic, just as quick as flying. Villa with a pool, stock up on lovely food and wine.. Man in seat 61 (google it) has everything you could possibly need to know about European rail travel.

Totally with you on UK holidays and cruises.

Gosh this sounds awful

Agh I can't even read your post without feeling the fear! I don't blame you at all. I'd really struggle to fly again. Give it a few months and then think about what to do. You could get the train down to the south of france if you want sun.

Oh god.

This sounds horrendous.

Ive been looking into Tenerife for next Oct but I’m not a fan at flying really, and it’s expensive, and it’s bad for the environment.

I think I’ll just stay in the UK after reading this (we did lakes last year and Scottish Highlands this year - both fab!)

Trains would be great for me and DH but … small kids ? 😬

Re your DS

i haven’t had an experience like yours and hate flying

I might never do it again

so I don’t think you should worry about that, it’s completely individual

The cabin crew were crying? Really. Were they actually crying? Because of some turbulence?

night flights always turn the lights off due to light pollution.

have you always been a nervous flyer?

Well, you’ve been unlucky. I was cabin crew for 15 years and don’t remember any flights that turned out like yours. I rarely go abroad now as spend my holidays in the Uk as have a dog, but will possibly be venturing to France with him next year via the Eurotunnel.

Just drive or train to the continent!

I don't think it being night time helped as all the lights went out except the emergency floor strip lights and they went through the emergency landing procedures again twice which definitely didn't help

but why? Planes don’t crash because of turbulence? If they had to land somewhere that’s different and wouldn’t be an emergency landing. I’m afraid this doesn’t make sense

Please don't try and dismiss what happened and no, not a nervous flyer at all, far from it but this was truly horrendous.

I'm not even going to explain what happened any further as you clearly don't believe me.

Thanks for the comment though!

Good lord. You’ve put me off now too.

that sounds awful.

what about ferries? Netherlands is great for family holidays, add in eftiling.
france. Irelland.

or newquay for beach or a forest llodge park and activity holiday like darwin forest. Tour Scotland. Sleeper train up. Swansea bAy. Abersoch.

You again?

I've already replied once.

Or is your Sunday evening that boring?

@YellowphantGrey

I'm sorry you had such an awful experience.

Turbulence is going to get worse due to climate changes. But some routes far worse than others, more quickly

I read a really interesting article on it, but sorry. Due to god awful brain fog, I can't remember where. I'm sure you'd find loads of stuff if you googled though.

i loved living in Valencia & knowing it was going to be blue skies & warm/hit. Never needing to take a cardi or raincoat. Fabulous. I LOVE Britain, but not for the summer weather.

I find train journeys easier than plane journeys with small kids. No need to try to get them to wear a seat belt, lots to see out the window, they can walk about more easily, loos tend to be bigger, seats tend to have more space. No hanging around at the airport. You've got easy access to all your baggage throughout.

I've been flying since I was 11, 43 now and never had flights like it. Flown to America, Mexico, Canaries, Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland etc multiple times.

Definitely unlucky but it definitely happened.