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?

i wish i hadnt read this

I understand it was a frightening experience but your later posts have shown that your first post was a massive exaggeration of the situation and cancelling your next your next holiday was somewhat of an overreaction.

That level of turbulence is unlikely to be a regular occurrence and the risk of injuries is much reduced by staying in your seat with the belt fastened. If you go to the toilet before you board, you're unlikely to need to go again or at least will be able to wait until any turbulence has passed.

my dd is just a bout to take a flight to Philippines so am really worried now

I don't need anything else OP. I was stating, to another grumpy poster, that it didn't make people "jobsworths".

Oh gosh OP we fly in October to Greece with a four year old and this has put the fear of god into me - I’m a nervous flyer anyway.
I’m surprised it wasn’t reported on the news - unless I missed it - as that sounds truly horrific! I‘M not surprised you’re having a wobble but give yourself a bit of time to recover and then see how you feel. I don’t blame you for feeling that way at all

Oh my God. Get some perspective

will hide stupid thread

Why would OP need to exaggerate though?? Why would she need to lie about this experience which has clearly upset her and caused her to want to avoid flying again which she admits will be a negative for her? Of what benefit is lying?

She came here to ask for ideas for alternatives which aren't necessarily the Lakes/Cornwall in the UK. She didn't go on AIBU to dramatically proclaim, AIBU TO NEVER FLY AGAIN AFTER THIS AWFUL EXPERIENCE????

Some of the replies have been ridiculous and unnecessarily bitchy.

i do find turbulence has become more frequent and worse in recent years - we had a few bad spells on our way back from Taiwan recently.

In terms of holiday ideas - we've taken the train to the Austrian Alps for a few years now. We usually go May half term when it's cooler but there are some gorgeous lakes with reliably hot weather in summer in that part of the world.

In the past we've also done the train to the south of France and it was super easy. I don't think the direct Eurostar to Avignon runs any more but changes in Paris or Lille are pretty easy and then onwards to wherever you need to go. We used to pick up a rental car at the Avignon TGV station which was super easy.

Hello another massive fan of trains here! We just got back from a train holiday to San Sebastián in northern Spain which can be reached in a day.

Yes train travel takes longer and the Eurostar is expensive, but if you time things right you can leave UK in the morning, lunch in Paris, and dine in another country that evening. Also lovely to watch the world go by and much much more relaxing as well as better for the planet.

You can also buy discount cards for travel such as the SNCF card advantage for adults.

To make up for the additional train cost we often also use Home Exchange to swap out house with another family abroad which means zero accommodation costs. Also more socially conscious as you’re not feeding the AirBnB beast.

Very sorry you didn’t have a nice flight but not flying doesn’t mean fewer adventures abroad, just different ones. Also check out specialist sites like Byway and the Man In Seat 61.

The Netherlands by ferry - check out Duinrell if you have young kids

I flew to New York for a girls trip once.

The turbulence was so bad, as you described, emergency lights on, plane felt like it was going to snap or just drop out of the sky.

People crying and being sick.

It was the year of the "beast from the east" and we were flying through it over the Atlantic, pilot was trying to get permission to fly above it or under it but too many planes already flying at a different altitude because of it.

He basically came over the speaker and apologised but said it was unavoidable, he reassured us and told us to remain seated with seatbelts on.

It was bad, really bad and I'm not a keen flyer anyway (I do it because I love an abroad holiday).

I've got on a plane multiple times since, I have no choice as I really don't want to restrict myself in where I go and I also now have a 15 month old daughter, we've flown twice with her.

I absolutely hate hate hate take off but I'm yet to experience turbulence again like it despite flying many times since.

I think the best thing you can do is get back on the saddle, so to speak.

You can very easily get to the south of France, Italy or Spain by train!

Don't rule it out.

Or even by coach. Now that may be even more hideous than flying. But possibly not. Just lengthy.

It wasn't a massive exaggeration. I love how you're so confident about a situation you wasn't in though.

The fact your telling me stuff that I've covered shows you've not actually read the thread.

Your post is the equivalent of talking over someone and not listening.

Trains , eurotunnel, ferries?

I've flown dozens of times and not had an experience like that. I can see why it might put you off but the chances are it wouldn't happen to you again.

That said, there are alternatives - trains in Europe are generally cleaner, cheaper and more efficient than in the UK. We have booked a trip through Germany on the train and first class tickets between cities were way cheaper than normal tickets over here between Manchester and London for example.

Have an overnight night in London and catch the Eurostar. You could do a multi centre trip.

This is a grim and largely unfair generalisation.

I'm with you on UK holidays OP. Even if the weather is okay it will be eye wateringly expensive for something that feels cheap.

We didn't go particularly far south this year we were only 90 minutes south of Paris and the weather was lovely. Honestly I'd look at Eurostar and TGV and go to France.

@YellowphantGrey I was going to add that me and my DH took the Eurostar this year and travelled to Vienna via Hamburg on trains. Fantastic experience and it was 32 in Vienna the whole week!

I will definitely go by train again. I hadn't been abroad for around 5 years prior to that for various reasons.

Some weirdly unpleasant responses here. Sounds like a really horrible flight here OP, I hate even the mildest of turbulence so I would have hated this. For what it's worth though I do think you should fly again - air travel is still very safe statistically and you will do yourself out of a lot of the world if you don't fly ever again. But take some time to recover from this for sure, and see how you feel in a few months.

@Flipsock agree with you here re UK holidays. One of our best hols was in south Wales - staying in a large cottage next to a river. Sunshine all week, and a boat trip at sea where we saw dolphins and seals. DD had a days horse riding that she loved.

A couple of castles and coastal walks thrown in - lovely.

It's interesting how people's 'wants' vary.

We never had a holiday overseas with our children. We ve flown to Scotland with them.

Mainly because of all the hassle of airports, strikes, delays etc.

And we don't really like the heat.

My H was travelling all over by air with work anyway - long haul and Europe ever few weeks - so wasn't fussed.

We've had fantastic UK holidays but it depends what you want.

I agree with other posters that if you want heat then you need to go south but you can do train or ferry/ train.

Our idea of hell is lying somewhere hot for 2 weeks- we'd be bored silly.

We like walking in he countryside, and quiet beaches , and had great holidays enjoying the best bits of the UK in very nice self catering.

.If the weather turns there are museums and places of interest ( eg we had great times in the Peak District, York and the NE coast.)

We have simple tastes!

@YellowphantGrey

I flew around for several decades and don’t remember anything so bad that the emergency briefing was performed, so it will be interesting to see if there are reports on this elsewhere…

For info:

The Pilot announced last night that the turbulence wasn't even expected,

It can happen anywhere - weather forecasts aren’t perfect, hence the advice to keep seatbelts on whenever you can.

yet it went on for hours, big drops,

Probably drops of a small handful of metres, but can feel like a lot more.

and it felt like the plane stalled at one point as it went quiet then started again.

Stalling in the context flying isn’t the engines cutting out, it’s an aerodynamic phenomenon to do with the wings..it is however possible if the aircraft speed was varying rapidly (happens is some turbulence) engine power was reduced to control any speed increase, so the engines may have got quieter.

If you have a shedload of money and time to spare...

We go to the South of France (usually down by the Spanish border) every year by train and it is really easy - train to Paris or Lille and then TGV south. If you get the early morning Eurostar from London you can arrive directly in to the city centre by early afternoon. Admittedly it helps we live in London so St Pancras is only a bus ride away.

The summer weather in the deep south of France is pretty good all summer.