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...my oldest friends parents who are in there 70s have never been abroad, never had the desire to leave Blighty or planning on going. They went to the Isle of Wight once !
They have plenty of £££ they just prefer to holiday in the UK,
Still makes me laugh (I've had 27 years of taking the p!ss out if her dad)
Anyone on here not left the shores of Blighty ?? or know of anyone ?
My mum and dad haven't - neither have the wife's mum and dad.
I've only been abroad 6 times in my 50yrs!
I live on the Isle of Wight and have come across loads of elderly who haven't even been to the Mainland!!!!! Lol
My Dad has never held a passport or been on a plane.
I've never left Yorkshire.
'Cos if it's outside Yorkshire, it's not worth bloody visiting.
Nope, nothing wrong with holidaying in the UK though, there's loads to see & do. Anyone who thinks they have to go abroad to get a "proper" holiday is a mug!
Huh. My wife just HAS to have a holiday sitting in the sun - Spain, Portugal etc.
I just f---ing hate it. Bores me to tears.
As zilog6128 says,
Holidays in the UK, bring it on. Loads to see/do. Much more satisfying to my inner self.
My grandmother hasn't but I'm struggling to think of many more.
Anyone who thinks they have to go abroad to get a “proper” holiday is a mug!
No but there is so much to see and so many different cultures to experience it would be a shame not to
Anyone who thinks they have to go abroad to get a “proper” holiday is a mug!
Very much depends on the definition of "proper". If that means not having to huddle under a golf umbrella as wind and rain lash at bare ankles along the street of a suddenly deserted seaside town, then I would say 'abroad' is a better bet.
Admittedly, Cornwall or the like during the recent heatwave would have been gorgeous, but you can't guarantee it in advance.
Still makes me laugh
why?
Listening to BBC World Service last night, tragic Windrush stories. One woman was born in the UK, 30 years later went to Jamaica for a family funeral on her British passport and was prevented from boarding the flight home, had her passport confiscated and was effectively dumped in a country she'd never been to before.
Bet she'd never left the UK 🙁
My cousins husband.
‘I'm not giving my money to any foreigners’ etc
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Still makes me laugh
why?
Just does, suppose in this day and age when travel is cheap and easy to do why would you not go and see diiferent cultures etc
I'm not mocking them or anyone for their choice of leisure time, I guess or assume that most people have been abroad
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My grandparents, worked well into their 70s being farmers they didn't have time for a UK holiday let go abroad.
I don't laugh at them though.
My legs and arms are peeling massively from just one day in Barmouth, Wales a couple of weeks ago...
There must be plenty of the older generations who never left the UK, before the 1970's it really wasn't done much at all. Even leaving Anglesey to go the Bangor was an adventure for my great aunt.
Still makes me laugh (I’ve had 27 years of taking the p!ss out if her dad)
There are 7.5 billion people in the World, not everyone can go abroad for their holidays. Some people obviously don’t seem to have the desire or opportunity.
It seems to me that whilst it’s easy to take the piss out of someone, it isn’t always them that is the joke.
Holidays in the UK, bring it on. Loads to see/do. Much more satisfying to my inner self.
Much like holidays abroad it's what you make of it.
Anyone who thinks they have to go abroad to get a “proper” holiday is a mug!
what a strange thing to say!
Anyone who thinks they have to go abroad to get a “proper” holiday is a mug!
Unless they want a good skiing holiday with 100km+ of pistes with reliable snow cover. And a whole bunch of other reasons tbh.
Some great holidays to be had in the UK, but the rest of the world beats the UK in almost all options as far as destinations go. Although I think the west coast of Scotland is a genuine world leader as a sea kayak location.
I’ve only been abroad 6 times in my 50yrs!
Jeebus! I've been to 6 different countries in the last 3 weeks. I'd go mad if I didn't get to travel!
I’m not mocking them or anyone for their choice of leisure time, I guess or assume that most people have been abroad
But you've been taking the p!ss out of them for 27 years? Perhaps you are mocking them, then.
Travel, for the masses at least, is a pretty recent phenomenon. I think my parents went abroad just once each in their lives. I grew up on the edge of a small village in South Cumbria and of my parents' generation very few had travelled far even within the UK.
Two brothers ran the neighbouring farm and one had never been to the top of a local hill just two miles from where he lived all of his life. At a guess the furthest he'd have travelled would have been to the local market towns.
I don’t think my parents have been abroad much, twice that I can think of.
Grandparents, not including military service never I think.
Jeebus! I’ve been to 6 different countries in the last 3 weeks. I’d go mad if I didn’t get to travel!
I’m not mocking them or anyone for their choice of leisure time, I guess or assume that most people have been abroad
But you’ve been taking the p!ss out of them for 27 years? Perhaps you are mocking them, then.
Calm down dear !!!
its a mutual taking the piss thing - I guess youd have to be there to see the humour, but seen as your a sourpuss I shant invite you !
I wonder why the OP thinks this is unusual. I know quite a few people in this boat. None that I can think of are Xenophobic or as far as I know even Brexit voters! They all have their own reasons for not travelling further but are usually a mix of some of these:
- don’t like flying (or have at least never tried it and find it off putting)
- don’t want to spend hours of stressful travel to get somewhere
- don’t like hot weather (obviously that itself is not a reason but given it’s why a lot of people travel it does explain why some don’t!)
- don’t have the money, or can’t justify the expense (just for a couple to get passports, is actually quite a lot)
- quite like what they currently do; if you have enjoyed the west coast of Scotland for the last 50 years why is that any different to those who have enjoyed the east coast of Spain?
- have pets which it is far easier to bring with them in the uk
- enjoy peace and quiet and believe (rightly or wrongly) that most tourism leads you towards the opposite
- have eco values that make travelling for pointless pleasure seem rather selfish
- are rather embarrassed about how “brits abroad” are perceived and don’t want to be tarnished with that
- have a medical condition that makes travel more complex, adds anxiety about being abroad and needing help, or introduces extra cost
- don’t even enjoy uk travel - preferring to sleep in their own bed, have the comforts of home
- have a caravan or camper van and don’t want to drive on the “wrong” side
- they have never tried travelling abroad and find the thought of everything being in an foreign language intimidating
Actually when you distill a typical British family holiday abroad down it’s far harder to explain why you think it should be “normal” to want to spend money getting permission to travel, insuring against problems, sitting in a tin box breathing everyone else’s germs, whilst you car and dog rack up huge “storage” costs for being left behind, polluting the environment in the process, to arrive at a mediocre hotel, swim in a pool full of other brits, getting sunburn (and potential cancer), spending more money drinking your liver into a bad way whilst getting a hangover that means you don’t enjoy the following morning, perhaps to spend the next day crammed into an over priced “tour” full of loud annoying daily mail readers, etc. And for a family of four that probably adds up to a month’s wages if you are honest about the true cost...
I certainly do travel, but find the normal “British” idea of a holiday far more bizarre than people who have considered the options and decided not to follow the crowd.
I used to work with a chap who had never been abroad. I think it had been 30+ yrs since he'd seen the sea. He used to use his summer hols to paint his fence/shed.
All my family have been abroad, but then the UK is abroad for half of them.
Actually when you distill a typical British family holiday abroad down it’s far harder to explain why you think it should be “normal” to want
With that you prove you can make anything sound shit...
Could write the same about a holiday in the UK really if you tried to.
My Nan has never flown - but I believe has been to France.
My Mum, off the back of her Mum not flying only went abroad when she met my Dad - My Dad has been all over the world for work in the late 70s/80s/90s when enterprise computing was just taking off worldwide (and 'mainframes' etc were still a thing.) I'd like to say he's well travelled, but i'm not sure he actually enjoyed any of it.
My girlfriends step-Dad is similar, he didn't go abroad until he met her Mum at 30-odd. They travel fairly regularly now, though.
There was a period of my life where I didn't leave the UK for about 6 years, whilst I was at college and Uni - I'm not sure why exactly - I just never booked a holiday and was at that age that I didn't want to go with my parents. It easily happens! Life shoots by...
I know several people my age who have never managed to get off the island.
Travel, for the masses at least, is a pretty recent phenomenon.
my Dad grew up in Peacehaven a small village about 6 miles east of Brighton along the coast road. His neighbour, and elderly chap had never even been to Brighton, let alone abroad (which was a ferry ride away in Newhaven another 2 or 3 miles up the road again)
My dad then joined the RAF and we travelled all over the place; Germany, Cyprus, Hong Kong - all the usual Forces bases, but without that experience I doubt I would have managed it until my 20s.
Got a mate who’s never been abroad, just doesn’t like planes, boats or tunnels. So kinda limiting.
My wife's parents hardly ever travelled anywhere, except around where they lived in South Wales. Visited us twice in England in the 30yrs I knew them when they were alive. My wife also hardly ever went on holiday when she was a child....only to Tenby..... MrsG has more than made up for it with global travel and holidays since we met in 1988!
Calm down dear !!!
its a mutual taking the piss thing – I guess youd have to be there to see the humour, but seen as your a sourpuss I shant invite you !
I'm deeply hurt!
All perfectly calm here, thanks. It was just a minor point. Chill dude 🙂
Blimey.
If you like going abroad for a holiday you must hate Britain and if you stay in Britain for your hols you must be an insular redneck?
”Only a Sith deals in absolutes”.
There is also a place in life for good-natured piss taking amongst friends and family. I love it when someone leaps to the ‘defence’ of people of whom they know nothing and into a situation of which they know nothing!
I know the perpetually offended always find something to be offended by, but a thread essentially on the subject of where one goes on holiday is a heck of a place to start a ruck.
I like holidaying in the UK and abroad. I must be one of those ‘bi’ holidaymaker types, typical hedonist, wants the best of all worlds......
My mam and dad have never left the UK, they've never had the desire to holiday aboard. Their choice innit.
It's over two years since we had our last foreign holiday, daughter is coming up two and we're not comfortable with subjecting her and other passengers to flying just jet!
Bores me to tears.
Agreed. Same here. But you do know that most of foreignland is stuff other than beaches, yes?
I know plenty people who have never been abroad, including a couple of younger guys in their 30's who have never left Scotland. For some people everything they like to do leisure wise is right on their doorstep so don't feel the need to travel far. Others hate the idea of flying so don't and live far enough away that the prospect of driving to get a ferry or tunnel to Europe is off putting. Some are just so poor they simply can't afford to, and for some of them joining the armed forces would be the only way. Others have too much responsibilities either for loved ones in their care or who are struggling to make a living off the land. Not sure why any of those reasons would be funny.
Harold Wilson used to go on holiday to the Isles of Scilly. While this looks nice it is just as long to travel as south of Spain for me...
most of the older people I know were taken abroad during National Service or via the military. My mum backpacked around Europe at 18 and one of my uncles went to India in the early 70s. Other than that I am from the south east so booze cruises all round..
we were told at school in the 80s if you wanted to make enough money to own a house to go work in the former colonies (basically Africa) so I know many people who did this.
then there was an explosion in cheap flights and everywhere became accessible for less.
there are plenty of places to go to and have a good holiday in the UK but I want to also see Egypt, Moscow, Rome and all he other stuff I see on the TV or learnt about at school. Or I want to guarantee the weather....
hmm... 3x this year for me so far and 8x for herself. One more time for me and about 3x more for herself before the end of the year.
My parents have always spent a lot of time in Europe - in 1948 after finishing his school certificate my dad spent a year living in Aachen returning to Wolverhampton to complete his Highers before going on to University after doing his National Service. When I was small he spent probably 3 years away teaching in Granville and a couple of other towns in France. He also used to organise school trips from the mid/ late 50s onwards for his students going all across Europe including places like the Costa Brava where they had to split a party of 60 across 3 different hotels because none were big enough to take them all, and into the Dolomites before the big roads were built and meeting locals who hadn't met "outsiders"...
I know quite a few people who haven't travelled abroad, some not more than 20 or 30 miles from where they've lived their lives. I don;t think any less of them for it.
My wife and I were discussing this the other day, she never used to understand my brother's attitude to holidays and being happy where he was so didn't feel the need to travel (he has got a nice mostly self sufficient life in France, so it's not like he hasn't ever travelled). To me it would be the ideal to live in a spot you love to be & holidays would mean more time to enjoy that space rather than jetting off to other lands. Hmm maybe retiring to Corsica wouldn't be such a bad plan after all....
Got a mate that's never left Cornwall. Intelligent chap with a BSc and MSc.
Always joke that he needs to get a passport to leave Kernow..
Always joke that he needs to get a passport to leave Kernow..
You do don't you? Isn't what those there people on boxes are for on the Tamar Bridge?
A 19yo lad I work with hasn't left Kent other than a school trip once. He rarely makes it out of Thanet tbh. Has never been abroad. Heavily into gaming .
My Dad went to Amsterdam once. He didn't come on holiday with us last the age of five. He doesn't do holidays. Retired so no work issues to get away from.
My wife’s parents hardly ever travelled anywhere, except around where they lived in South Wales.
My Mums from Pontypridd, one of her aunties only went to Cardiff once.
My next door neighbour has never been abroad, nor does he go on holiday. He can easily afford to just doesn't see the point 🤔
Three of my work colleauges have never left UK, even for holiday, for at least 40 years. They are all nearly in their mid 60s now. I am on permanent "holiday" in the UK from the far east and only going home to take real holiday to relax.
Know far too many people that haven't.
It's a sad state of affairs.
I travel all the time for work. Spend a lot of time away from home and in a lot of different Countries.
All I want to when I get home is enjoy where I live.
Although I was thinking of taking a winter break in January or February and having a week on a warm package holiday somewhere or a cruise. It will probably remind why I haven't bothered with those sorts of holidays for years.
I de some work in Milwaukee in the early 90s. I worked with some folk there who had never seen the sea (or ocean as they called it). That was a bit strange for me.
Bloke I know lives in Bridgnorth. Smart, decent chap, but for some reason never learnt to drive. Went to Wolverhampton once, got mugged, has hardly ever left Bridgnorth since. Some people are just homebodies, and happy for it. Each to their own.
It also slightly depends on outlook. I still remember tv shows like wish you were here (geez 1974-2003) and seeing places that were attainable. I know a few people who have no desire to visit a city or leave their small town so they never get to see their favourite bands or get exposed to anything new.
Mind you they don’t try and stop me doing anything so I cant complain. Each to their own
Grew up in south Devon by the sea. Every day was a holiday. So as a kid we seldom went away. The best reason for travel is weather and/or culture. If we had great weather all summer, people would holiday in the south west. The French tend to stay at home. And it’s the most popular UK destination too.
My folks used to caravan a lot, from the late 60’s onward, and continued well into their late 70’s or so, but they did travel further as well, they did several European coach trips, and a Rhine boat trip, although my mum always swore that the only way she’d go in an aeroplane would be if it was Concorde! She did fly in the end, in her early 80’s and did a fly/coach trip to America and Canada. While I’ve been to the States - LA and Vail, for the ‘94 Worlds, and France - Chamonix and the Parc du Volcans, and a day trip to Bruges, they saw a lot more of the world than I have.
2nd time this year for me, 4 times last year, but I can see how some people just aren’t bothered
my Dad grew up in Peacehaven
Isn't that where they stand the dead up in bus shelters?
most of the older people I know were taken abroad during National Service or via the military.
Yep. My dad visited Egypt, Jordan, Greece, Austria (where he stayed for 4 years behind barbed wire), Italy, Germany (where he found a wife).
Traveling around the UK is well worth it. I am always supprised the number of people who haven't seen much of he UK, but traveling abroad is very important to help open your mind. So many things are very tough to understand unless you have some experience. I don't fully understand the us, but I understand it better having been there.