[Closed] Travelling around GB and Ireland

Another question I have is: anyone else get antsy when they haven’t been off this rock for a while?

Nope

I have only ever gone abroad every year or two and I have plenty to do and see in Scotland.  sometimes i could do with some sunshine tho.  there is so much to do here that I can never see it all in my lifetime

Another question I have is: anyone else get antsy when they haven’t been off this rock for a while? 

Yes it's a soggy little dump and trying to travel around is like being squeezed through a tube. Plus the people are all puffed up, angry little curtain twitchers.

I have only ever gone abroad every year or two and I have plenty to do and see in Scotland.  sometimes i could do with some sunshine tho.  there is so much to do here that I can never see it all in my lifetime

Really? But really though? It's Scotland. It's a bunch of hills and puddles all the same shade of dark modge. You don't have to see all of it when it's all the same.

 there is so much to do here that I can never see it all in my lifetime

Ha. My bucket list is longer than it's ever been.

+1 on so much to do and explore - and revisit.

I do enjoy a foreign trip, but I don't have to.

I also would go totally on public transport and a bike tour these days, but rest of the family enjoy other things.

You’ve not really explored Scotland much if you’re still able to go shopping in Tesco and if you’re mixing with Brexiteers and Tory voters - it does go a bit further up than Edinburgh you know 😉 Here the excitement is finding whether there’s some types of food at all in the shops but you can be assured there’s an amply stocked booze aisle that takes up a lot of the shop including varieties of Cornish cider that tastes like wee (well, what I imagine wee tastes like 😂)

^ indeed. If the shop doesn't stock a selection of Barr's, burnt topped morning rolls and a random alcohol selection of brands you've not heard of, you aren't far enough north or West.

With all holidays,sometimes you have to put in a big effort to get the returns.
That's just the way it is.There is no such thing as over planning, and for some that's part of the fun. Look how many people on here are asking about where to go,what to see,best places to eat and all of that. The UK is an amazing wee island,you just have to try a bit harder and now with Covid ,have a back up plan..HTH

I miss living in other languages when I don’t go abroad

You were in (north) Wales. Plenty of opportunity to live in a different language.

I don’t miss the tedium of airports and flying.

Yes it’s a soggy little dump and trying to travel around is like being squeezed through a tube. Plus the people are all puffed up, angry little curtain twitchers.

I reckon you're going to the wrong places. Like Devon & Cornwall in the school holidays.
We've been all over the place since lockdown was eased. Durness, Harlech, Trossachs, Devon, (never again) New Forest, Norfolk coast, Lakes, Northumberland.
Yeah we'd love a change of shops & food but It's been what It's been.

Yeah we’d love a change of shops & food but It’s been what It’s been.

To me that change of food  etc going to Europe is much much less than it used to be

As a kid in the 70s we went abroad every second year.  Getting orangina in france was something exotic.  Now you can buy it in tesco!  globalisation has led to those differences being reduced hugely.  Real coffee over the channel as well - now even in the western isles you get good coffee etc etc

Haven’t been abroad for 3 years. I’ll get to Cordoba when all this dies down in a year or so.

So much to do and see in the UK. Huge variety of foods, drinks, accents, landscapes.

To me that change of food etc going to Europe is much much less than it used to be

Yes, very true TJ, the wee Spar in Durness for instance had a good range of different stuff. Fresh dates was one! Never seen/noticed them anywhere else.
However, I'm missing things like the curries in Goa & Chipirones in Spain.

So one question I have is: how does Ireland shape up for representing a real break from GB? I spent time in Dublin for a few days a few years back, but that’s it, and I really don’t know how it would compare to, say, visiting Scotland – or even just being in Wales compared to England.

Unofficial London rep for the Iveragh Peninsula tourism board here. We always find Ireland a complete break from UK living but are going from urban south west London to a relatively isolated farm house, in a forest, in Dromid.
We deliberately don’t use big shops or head to the bright lights of Killarney and only shop in the two local villages. Where we are we have mountains, lakes, castles, ring forts, ancient standing stones and Luke skywalker’s home place all near by.

The pace of life is different and social behaviour are too (largely). Whether Ireland will be sufficiently different for you kis a hard one as I’ve never lived in rural wales or Belgium If you do go, avoid the big cities and head as far west or south west as possible would be my advice.

Firstly I love southern Ireland based on 3 trips. It felt really different to England

Within England IMHO The Isles of Scilly are the most different to being at home.The car stays in Cornwall. Travel is either walk or boat. St Agnes has one cafe, one pub, one small shop. The big island has a co op but that's the only chain of any kind. It's possible to source loads of food locally all of high quality. The scenery is stunning. The islands really do have a life beyond tourism. Wednesday is ladies gig racing night. Having seen the crew returning from a post race pint or 2 by rowing through big waves in total darkness I can say for sure things are really different

Here are a few photos

https://www.flickr.com/gp/john_clinch/62m2H1

Now, as much I love my adopted home country (Wales), the fact is that holidaying pretty much anywhere in the UK doesn’t feel like I am actually holidaying. I mean, it’s still a matter of having to buy the groceries at Tesco (or wherever), sharing the same airspace with Brexiters and Tory voters, and hearing the Today Programme even if only accidentally.

There's a certain irony that you've turned into a classic "little Englander" who thinks going on holiday in the UK = Cornwall and N. Wales; seem to have political discourse with people whilst on holiday and have gone out your way to turn on radio 4 whilst on holiday...

WFIW my better half says it feels much more like going on holiday if there's a ferry (or flight) involved - so perhaps Ireland will deliver what you crave; it will depend a lot on what you do though. Dublin is definitely different from Cardiff but then so is York, or Dundee!

To me, for example, the Galway coast would definitely feel like "being on holiday" but I may be looking for different things... and if your reason for reduced travel is a Covid one there may be plenty of other places that will be logistically simpler depending how things evolve...

The UK is an amazing wee island

Lols.

But back to the OP, if you want different shopping experience then get yourself down to any of the local Spars / Co-ops in the Western Isles on a Sunday morning and marvel at the fact that you're the only person in the whole queue that doesn't have a bottle of spirits in one hand and a 2 litre bottle of mixer in the other 😪

Over the last 24 months I've had just five days away from home and that was a trip to Cornwall (outside of school hols but still busy). I'm planning on making up for it next year but when it's closer to drive from my door to Chamonix than to the north of Scotland, I don't think I'll be heading up the M1.

WFIW my better half says it feels much more like going on holiday if there’s a ferry (or flight) involved

this is very true to me - hence my love for mull, ardgour etc where you get a ferry

summer before last we did a tour around kintyre area.  We took 5 ferries.