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?

We always drive. Not frightened, just don't enjoy the experience (especially hanging around airports).

Driving feels more like an adventure. We also like having our own car when we get to our destination.

Last holiday was eurocamp at St Avit Loisirs in the Dordogne. We were there at the end of June which was probably slightly too early in the season.

Holiday before was a villa in Provence. Our own pool. Plenty of space for everyone. We were walking distance to a decent supermarket and a small town. Absolute heaven. Again, end of June but being further south the weather was near perfect.

There are some seriously odd posters on here today. 😂Who wants to spend their time desperately squirrelling through the OP's posts to try and trip her up? So weird.

OP, I know you're not keen on holidaying in the UK - neither was I until we went to Orkney. Probably not for you right now as it does involve flying (in a small plane) but there are loads of places to visit that you probably haven't been yet. Where about in Scotland did you holiday? The west coast is beautiful (as is the East coast) and the very far north is stunning too. Incidentally, I had a flight about 5 years ago when I thought my time had come and two of our cabin crew were visibly tearful by the time we landed. I didn't tell many people about it because I knew they would think I was exaggerating. Some people are so self absorbed that they think that if they haven't experienced something themselves, it just hasn't happened.

Sorry for your experience OP. I was coming back from the States in the early 2000s and hit some awful turbulence - we dropped 15,000ft. People were injured, lights went out, masks dropped - food and bags flying about. It was horrific.

I stayed strapped in so was relatively okay. I was strangely calm as we plummeted but when we stabilised I was a gibbering mess. I didn’t fly again for 8 years 😞

I’ve flown a lot this year in Europe and it has been fine so maybe it was just unlucky weather event? I’d go by train or ferry - driving is such a chore, it’s not really a break for the driver (which would be me in this household 😱)

We put the car on the ferry and drive. Simples!

How scary that must have been for you OP. The last but one flight we did was scary enough with the pilot having to make three attempts to land at Gatwick in stormy weather, and we have experienced bad turbulence but nothing like what you describe. I read an article in the Sunday Times about turbulence which stated it is set to get worse because of changes in the jetstream, which has almost put me off flying again.

Definitely consider the train. Once you are on the other side of the channel some of the trains heading south can cover the journey in just a few hours, and you can relax and enjoy the passing scene outside.

It's not just the chance of it happening, it's having had the experience of it actually happening twice in one holiday. Until we've experienced what OP has, I don't really know how it would affect our future decisions. Her son is bruised, and her DH is having difficulty walking. There are physical outcomes as well as emotional responses. Also, I wish other PP's would stop dismissing OP's experience - you weren't there.

People go on and on about flying being the safest form of transport (even safer than walking according to pp?!) - that tends to escape your mind when you're 30,000 feet in the air bouncing around like a ball in a bingo machine surrounded by hordes of vomiting, sobbing passengers.

You walk (and probably drive) countless times a year without event, whereas you might only do a round trip on a plane once a year for your annual holiday so obviously the bad flight is going to stick in your mind more and make it feel more unsafe, whether that's technically incorrect or not.

We don't find the driving a chore but we share it which makes a huge difference.

Having a car means that we can access all the delights that France has to offer: markets, castles, Roman ruins plus lots more.

I'd be unnerved too if that had happened to me. Before you said Canaries I suspected it was there as they are renowned for having windy weather. There's plenty of good advice for getting to Northern Europe if you don't fancy UK, maybe after a bit of time the memories will fade and flying to other places in Europe will feel less daunting - I've had no issues that I can recall with Portugal, Mallorca, France, Croatia.

Oh my days, my worst nightmare. I am feeling depressed about maybe not going abroad next year due to costs, maybe that's a good thing!

To put it plainly Op, you don’t have many options left. This is what I’ve picked up from your posts and have summarised:-
Don’t want to fly anymore from one nasty experience
Don’t want to holiday in the UK as don’t like the weather
Don’t like boats as you feel sick and have a fear of them.

The only option is Eurostar and then train to a destination in Europe- most probably South Europe as that’s the only place to guarantee this weather you desire.

Ypu have to decide if that’s what you’re going to do going forward or wether you’re going to try to conquer your fears.

Or take your car and drive south

Could you tell me how you book passenger places on cargo ships?

No OP can put the car on the Eurostar and then drive anywhere. She could easily take a holiday in northern France.

Eurostar is the high speed passenger service to Paris and Brussels.

Cars are carried on Le Shuttle from Folkestone to Calais.

As regards not liking ships, that might rule out a cruise but would a sub two hour crossing from Dover be tolerable?

Climate change means we should expect more turbulence. We had a fairly horrific flight recently too.

I’ll still fly but only because I refuse to spend my one holiday a year in Europe.

Xanax is your friend. It has become mine for flights.

Have you always been a twat or is it just the internet that brings it out of you?

Prescribed or over the counter?

Pedantry. It was perfectly obvious what I meant.

If she doesn’t like ships she doesn’t need to go on a ship, they’re very slow anyway. She can put the car on the train through the tunnel and drive anywhere in Europe. She can put their car on the Motorail in Calais if she wants to go to S. France for the sun but not drive.

I did then say she could drive in my next post, but I did forget to say by Le Shuttle.
Northern France is lovely but Op said she wants good weather. The weather in Northern France is similar to our weather in the south

The weather is similar but it would be a very easy holiday. Alternatively they put the car on the train at Calais or drive and do an overnight stop down to the south.

Yes she could. These are all viable options
Thank you for responding to me 😂

Op doesn’t like the UK weather for holidays remember

You have to be patient, flexible and determined but several websites such as www.cargoshipvoyages.com

@notimagain Ha! That is so true. We flew American Airlines to Boston earlier this year and they cancelled the second service due to "serious turbulance" as we flew over the Atlantic coast towards the Eastern Seaboard. The pilot then warned of a "very bumpy landing" at Boston.

I am not a particularly experienced or confident flier, but I have seen worse turbulence over the Irish sea on Aer Lingus where they don't even bother to do an announcement or sometimes even put the seatbelt sign on for turbulence of that level.