People who can’t do simple holidays

[smerina]

How would you describe someone who only really seems to go on hard to organise holidays? Like we like going to Dubai or Mallorca, nice and easy, one flight and done. Or if we go further afield then we do a package with Tui to Cancun or Dominican, usually AI.

But I have colleagues who seem to go on really whacky or trips that sound like a pain. They’d go to Greece and then get a ferry to some place no one has ever heard of. Or if they went to the Caribbean then they’d pick somewhere that needs two flights and a ferry to get to. Never do AI or something easy and relaxing but self cater and drive around.

I guess that's probably us? Have never done AI, booked a package holiday once, in the 1990s. Don't like resorts. Mostly do SC, unless a very short stay.

Our main holiday last year was 2.5 weeks interrail through france/switzerland/italian lakes, multiple stops, all planned and booked independently. This year our main holiday will be 3 weeks in Colombia, again travelling around, partly planned with help of a local travel agent this time as I was overwhelmed by choice, but booked accommodation myself and will include a fair bit of independent travel/exploraiton too. WIll do one night in Madrid en route followed by direct flight. We also recently did a shorter winter holiday in Finland: flew to Helsinki, couple of nights in an airbnb, then a flight to Lapland, stayed in a small family run inn and did mix of self catering and eating in their restaurant. All booked independently as usual.

Personally I love my holidays and really don't fancy Dubai or an AI package in Cancun one bit!

What word would you use to describe such people OP??

I honestly don't see the point of paying to go all the way to Mexico or the Caribbean and staying in an AI resort. I do understand since I've had kids that sometimes you might need an easy holiday but AI is still a no.

I like getting a feel of somewhere properly. Using a few modes of transport doesn't put me off because I've travelled a lot (before kids) so it doesn't seem that complicated to me.

I am another one that likes complicated holidays. I get bored sitting by a pool and don’t like AI because I like to eat local food. My last holiday but one involved 10 hotel bookings, a lot of driving and walking, 2 helicopter rides, 1 sea plane trip and a ferry trip. I want to leave this world having seen a lot of it.

Also curious, interesting, freespirited?

The thing is, I can sit and relax at home! We've got a lovely house with a lovely garden in a nice village. Weather permitting, I can swim in our pool or in the river, and often do. I can eat out at good restaurants, have a drink and read my book. If that was all I did on holiday, it would feel like a waste. Holidays are for exploration! A little bit of extra logistical hassle is worth it. And I cant get the kind of experience I want in a package. Not without paying a ridiculous amount of money. And even then, I think you tend to lose out on something by having it all planned and organized for you.

I’d call them interesting, adventurous, curious about the world.

im not sure why peoplee keeep posting as I'm fairly sure it was a wind-up. Either way it looks unlikely OP will be back.

I don't understand it either. Such an obvious wind up, the Dubai reference especially.

Just adding - you can stay in an AI resort and still see the cultural stuff?

Did AI in Cancun with kids - they still talk about ChitChen Itza and Tulum and swimming in a cenote and even though my youngest was 7/8, his essay/presentation at school is legendary: it was on the Mayan calendar (18m!) and how it shapes architecture of the temples, and included a gruesome explanation of their gladiatorial games and the way they drank hot chocolate. It is still remembered by staff and pupils at his school 8 years later. We swam with the dolphins and visited water parks, personally got shitfaced on AI cocktails a couple of nights, but we did not miss out on the history and culture.

We regularly get invites to the homes of locals because we are adventurous, curious, interested, respectful and courteous. That’s not the preserve of backpackers and budget travellers!! I’m a guider, so have even been to church in Jamaica and met the brownie pack of a lovely waitress in a Hilton where we stayed.

Our recent trip to Sicilia was similar - world heritage site, Norman cathedral, Byzantine history tours and visits to a greek amphitheatre… and Mt Etna as it was literally erupting so evacuating was interesting. There was also the lightshow/water games/ABBA tribute act and twee crap at the pool bar at night. We didn’t judge. Each to their own and the staff worked their socks off to make it a party night.

We’ll be traveling by rail/bus/metro all over Rome, Naples and the Amalfi coast this year and staying in a plush hotel for the last week, but it doesn’t make our experience any more or less worthy.

There is a strange mix on both snobbery and inverted snobbery here.

I think the point is that AI is usually more expensive than non AI because you’re getting all the food/entertainment/pools etc included in the price. So if you plan to spend most of your time sightseeing/exploring/trying different restaurants there is very little point paying the AI premium. We go self catering because we just use it as a base. That’s not snobbery, it’s just good sense.

Weird question. Why do you need a word to describe them? Surely it's not hard to understand that different people enjoy different types of holidays.

But not Dubai. YABVVU to go to Dubai.

You know you are not obliged to only eat in a resort just because you have an AI package? You can, but it means you can leave the sulky teens behind and fuck off to the local bars and restaurants without worrying about them so the freedom is great, but at all the AI resorts I’ve been to, we’ve all been happy to head out and support local bars and restaurants.

As I said, you pay a premium to stay at an AI resort because the food is included. So yes, of course you can eat elsewhere. I don’t think anyone thinks you can’t. Just seems pointless paying the AI premium to have your food included, and then not eat it. Self catering makes more sense if you plan to have all your meals in local restaurants.

Unless of course you can find an AI resort cheaper than a self catering/half board option, in which case it may make sense to use the AI resort as your base.

We're going to.Belize in May. We booked through Naturally Belize because work/elderly mum were taking up too much time to book ourselves. 4 locations with a mix of activities. Can't wait.

Oh look, you did it again. Shocker.

It’s about the ease of admin (kids can eat whenever/however much they like, no end of holiday bill to settle), the fact that if you drink/have a 6ft plus teen who eats his body weight in food at breakfast, you will more than break even at the bar/restaurants vis a vis the cost of purchasing a meal on a PAYG basis. EVEN if you leave the resort and buy meals from local restaurants, you still spend less than if you PAYG both in and outside the resort.

Yes, you could decide to never eat outside and, financially, you’d be quids in, so that ‘makes sense’ - but in the real world at every AI resort I’ve been to (and I confess, they were all 4-5*) people do NOT sit there with a calculator and decide they are not going into the local village/town to eat because they will lose the benefit of a ‘free’/already paid for meal at the resort. This is a misconception of people who don’t use them. AI business model succeeds precisely because people do not go on an ‘eat as much as you can from dawn to dusk’ bender. The AI model simply takes the stress of reserving tables, managing stock and administering every meal for every guest and then bickering over it on the final day.

I don’t have a teen who eats loads, so irrelevant to me.
Self catering makes far more sense for us as a family than AI, or indeed any resort type holiday. That’s not snobbery, it’s just doing what suits us.

I think your travel/holiday needs change according to your age, lifestyle etc.

I love a nice 5 star AI luxury hotel but I wouldn't do AI if I was going to Goa or Thailand.

When you have kids they just want a pool, beach, slides but as you get older and the kids leave home your interests change.

Great. But there’s no need to join the anti AI sneering chorus then, is there? As many people have stated - choosing to go to an AI resort is just as valid and is in no way an indicator that you are missing out on the culture, gastronomy or history of a location, which is what you/others have implied by the ‘makes no sense to go all inclusive and then [do all those things]’ comments that proliferate this thread.

Inherent within your, and others’, argument is that people go to AI resorts almost intentionally to avoid the cultural aspect of a region … ie, people are sneering at AI users out of a misplaced cultural snobbery whereby you can only truly experience a place if you go SC. I am stating that this is absolutely NOT the case.

And my point was simply that if you’re using your accommodation as a base to explore the local area and eat at different restaurants, there is no point in paying the AI premium. Not sure what is controversial about that. I never once said (or even implied) that I think people are using AI resorts to avoid culture, maybe you should reread my posts.

I certainly think that's why some people go to them. I also think it's why people holiday in Dubai where there's no local culture to be experienced, at least in any way that's accessible to a foreigner on holiday.

Because some people are physically knackered from work and want a rest on holiday and others don't?

I am the person who books the inconvenient pain in the ass to get to destinations and doesn't want to just sit by the pool. This is because I have a WFH desk job, so I want a holiday where I get out and about!

I expect if I was on my feet, or driving around all day, for week I'd want to chill out more on holiday!

OP- come out from behind the sofa, it’s safe now there are plenty of sensible people who aren’t sneering at you. I wouldn’t contemplate AI, partly because I am a self confessed snob. I think it’s unkind to look down on people who do AI. I remember a few AI holidays our parents took us to in Tunisia when we were kids, and we had a ball- other kids to play with , large heated swimming swimming pools , lovely grounds, room service etc. However also went on a crappy AI in Tenerife as a teenager so when DH suggested Tenerife AI when kids were small it was a no from me. In the intervening time I’d learnt Spanish, felt confident enough to travel independently to Spain, tastes changed etc.

Fantastic, envious!