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?

You don't have to fly, you could do a cruise. I'm thinking about booking one for next year.

Crikey. It sounds horrendus.

@Soldieringnonosoldiershere I don't think minimising what the OP went through is helpful. I think the flights she endured would probably put me off flying as well.

@YellowphantGrey I would seriously consider going via the Eurotunnel and getting the train to your destination. Trains on the continent are so much faster these days. You have less waiting around in airports so the total journey time to the South of France, for example, would not be significantly greater than flying.

Cruises are the new overtourism plague, mostly anyway. Our island is overwhelmed by them every summer.

What island was it?

Turbulence is horrible, but you know it's rare. Honestly, you have to just get yourself back on a plane and get over it. Have a nice meal in the airport and a bottle of wine, to chill you out. It would be such a shame to let this one incident stop you from flying again. Me and DH are soon flying the exact same route as that plane that was on the news for terrible turbulence (London - Singapore). Eek.

@Werweisswohin so true. Places I used to love are now off the table as the cruise hoards have turned them into unpleasant overcrowded fleshpots.

Just swapping one potential disaster for another though. Plane crash -v- boat sinking. Outcome is the same!

It's the end of school holidays. the university students will return soon and find other things to do beyond being pests.

It was obviously a horrible experience but your son will travel soon with his friends and they will want to fly. Unfortunately sometimes turbulence is going to happen and all you can do is what you have been doing, keep seat belts on whenever possible and try not to panic when the unexpected occurs.

It's entirely your choice whether you fly again or look to trains. You can get treatment for the boat phobia and cruise, although the more distant ones tend to avoid flights too.

Some arnica and epsom salt baths will help with the bruising.

It sounds as if you had a tough time on both of your recent flights, let the dust settle. Emotions will be running really high try to refrain from making any permanent decisions until you have at least got all of your washing done.

not flying in places where there is likely turbulence and not flying at all are different things. You could try and book yourself a short haul flight to spend a weekend visiting some European Christmas markets to settle some nerves.

if you decide it’s no to flying at all there is the channel tunnel and Eurostar that will get you to mainland Europe.

if you decide to stay in the UK try and play the odds on the weather. The East of the country rains less than the West, Kent is the hottest place in the country.

there will be loads of options available to you for amazing holidays you just may have to look a little harder/ have a back up plan on how you can relax if the flop part isn’t going to work out.

To everyone suggesting trains in Europe, it’s a lovely idea (that I’d love to do) but not everyone lives within an accessible distance to the Eurostar. It’s an expensive many hours to St Pancras on crap UK trains from a lot of the UK. London hotels cost a fortune if you want to catch an early one and be in Paris for lunch… So for some it makes sense to fly somewhere first anyway. Or catch a ferry. We go almost everywhere abroad from our nearest port. Foot passengers can board via a shuttle bus and go on from there. We saw some with children on ours. None of these are ‘fly and drop’ solutions to the OP however, I would argue! It’s a different type of holiday.

I think you have to appreciate how lucky you are to be able to go abroad every year, there are lots of people out there who can't, rather than stating your kids will be restricted! That's a ridiculous statement! I had been abroad 4 times up to the age of 25, I've never felt my life was restricted!

I am petrified of flying too, and I fly a lot, I usually take a xanax which really helps, but there are occasions when I have to drive after the flight, so can't take it and then I am white knuckling it for the whole flight, totally on high alert.

Your experience would absolutely put me off for a long time too, I don't blame you for not wanting to fly again. . The worst turbulence I have ever experienced was flying over the Bay of Bengal, flown it several times and it is always turbulent.

If you wanted to satisfy your curiosity, you may be able to find your flight history on Flightradar24, you can do a playback and can probably see how much the plane fluctuated during the turbulence. Sometimes AVHerald will list a flight that has experienced turbulence, especially when there are some injuries, you could see if your flight is listed there. I know I would be really curious if it was me.

If you don’t feel up to flying then don’t but you will be restricted. I quite enjoy a little bit of turbulence (it’s like a rollercoaster ) but it can be painful when it’s really bad. I was on a flight that had to make an emergency landing as a piece dropped off it not long after we took off. This was in Botswana though. Some people did cry but I figured if I’m going to die (which the likelihood is teeny tiny) I’d rather do so living my life to the full having a lovely holiday than being hit by a car in my own village (more likely).

Surely it's not a case of staying in the UK or flying?

As PPs have said, there are ferries and trains. It's pretty simple to start thinking outside the UK/ fly box and acknowledge the other options.

Your son will be 17 next year. Maybe he won't want to go away with you anyway.

Drive to Europe- 2/3 week holiday, stop on the way. You can get to Italy/spain/france easily!

oh strange, my post was hidden, I suggested two airline websites to check out, didn't even add the URL and it still hid my post.

What’s the story of the 1998 flights? 👀

Exactly, by not doing so she is setting her DC up for a lifetime of issues around flying. They need to get back on a plane, and quickly.

Get a campervan. I never want to fly again. Europe and UK without needing a hotel. It is most wonderful.

You're assuming her son is as traumatised by this as she is.
No reason to think that.

She can't run a childcare business of she won't fly abroad on holiday? How does that make sense?

@Blondiebeachbabe

”Me and DH are soon flying the exact same route as that plane that was on the news for terrible turbulence (London - Singapore). Eek.”

Exact flight paths do vary but anyhow I was a regular (as in monthly) on that run for many years - it can be challenging (Monsoon season) but it’s no worse than many other routes when it comes to turbulence….The findings of the inquiry into the Singapore accident have not yet been released but there are thoughts it is possible that patch of turbulence was something that perhaps could and should have been avoided…..

Have a good flight.

If you like a flop kind of holiday, I’d say the Eurostar and then a train to the south of France would be great. Sorry that you had such a terrifying flight and wtf are some of the responses that people have put on here - nasty nasty nasty!

Another thought is that you could reinstate your original holiday for next year and have the attitude that if you die, you will all die together. But that you died doing something you wanted to do. Sorry if that’s inappropriate, I don’t mean it flippantly - I mean it as a way to get the holiday you love.

Currently looking at WizzAir flights for under £10 on a specific date in October. I simply couldn't afford the trains

We've had some lovely holidays in Wales and the Northumbria area as well, UK is generally best weatherwise in early summer and early autumn - we did a lot of holidays early September once we left school and weather was better than it was in August.
Worst turbulence I felt was back in 2010 coming back from LA on a night flight, but that was just feeling like it was on a bumpy road and we had one minor drop, but nobody got lifted out of their seats. A year later we had two lovely flights to and from Florida with no issues.