Holidays into the unknown ;)

Grammaretto

Where’s your sense of adventure? The best holiday I had was an outward ticket to New Delhi and the return from Tokyo.
We used the internet to help us explore.
I have a friend who, like you, plans to the nth degree and will drive directly from A to B with no deviation even for the most enticing signs and sights.

Do you holiday alone, usually?

Barbadosbelle

Grammaretto

Like those people who go to the likes of Sandals and other AI (all-inclusive) places and never step foot outside the resort.

They never learn anything about where they are or contribute to the local economy. Although, I have to admit that all those I've known/met who go on those kind of holidays have been, without exception, rather shallow and boring people!!!
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My niece and nephew were taken to Mexico by their dad. When they came back, my niece told me they'd stayed in one of those all-inclusive resorts and never set foot outside it. She was very disappointed at travelling all that way and not seeing anything of Mexico itself. She said for all they saw, they could have been anywhere.

Grammaretto A lizard and some hens and 2 dachsunds.

We wanted to go to France one year but had just moved house and finances were limited.
As we'd promised the DC a ferry journey we went to the Isle of Wight instead. They had a wonderful time (we did tell them it wasn't France!)

I know this is hard to believe but gods honest truth, it is.
In the 70s we were taking a holiday on the Isle of White.
My Aunty Ivy asked me to get her some duty free fags. 😂

I have spent many years both travelling for holidays and living abroad, and am old enough to have done all my own checking out before there were even Rough Guides to follow. My holiday is quite precious to me as would only be having one so think it is worth the effort to find out all about places to ensure I go to somewhere that interests me. Another point is that I have always learnt the basic common courtesies and questions in whatever language is used. I find it rude and arrogant to assume everyone will speak english, and that people do not even know how to say please and thankyou,

I used to find out about different places, how to travel on local buses to various places - cheaper and more interesting than travelling with a group of british people. The other thing I do is to find out about local food and what is their speciality as again it is usually cheaper and well cooked and very enjoyable. It never ceases to amaze me when people seem to have no sense of distance or in some cases which country they are going to, and there are plenty of people who do not seem to know lots of places in Britian. Each to their own but personally I feel I have a better time with a little knowledge and the opportunity to find unusual places.

anniebygaslight

The number of people who end up in Austria when they were aiming for Australia is mind boggling. They have a special desk to deal with these eejits.

It's an urban myth, totally untrue but keeps doing the rounds on social media.

😂😂😂

anniebygaslight

The number of people who end up in Austria when they were aiming for Australia is mind boggling. They have a special desk to deal with these eejits.

Can't be true, surely? 😂😂😂

Well, I suppose they both have ski resorts!!

The number of people who end up in Austria when they were aiming for Australia is mind boggling. They have a special desk to deal with these eejits.

Not just holidays. A young woman was asked to tell the little ones bout the countries of the UK; she could not point to Wales on the map.
I looked at holidays in North Wales, and set up the notification, but all I get is Pembrokeshire, so whoever programmed it had no idea either.

Totally foreign idea to me that someone not know where they were going and what they might expect to find there.
It all adds to the excitement!!

Having had a surprise cruise paid for once too, we visited places I might never have heard of or chosen and they were fascinating.

I think half the fun of going somewhere new is checking out whatever you can before going.

We are off to Menorca at the weekend. No idea what to expect out of season but looking forward to finding out! We normally visit in the summer months but just fancied seeing it empty(ish) of other tourists.

Grammaretto

Like those people who go to the likes of Sandals and other AI (all-inclusive) places and never step foot outside the resort.

They never learn anything about where they are or contribute to the local economy. Although, I have to admit that all those I've known/met who go on those kind of holidays have been, without exception, rather shallow and boring people!!!
.

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t known where they’re going. Everyone I know reads up on the countries they holiday in and sometimes go back for a few days to see things and places they’ve missed. Like OldFrill says others just want to relax and why not.

So apropos for me today. We fly to Vietnam tomorrow for a two week boat/bike tour. Very excited. I find about half the fun of the trip is the planning and the anticipation before hand. Totally foreign idea to me that someone not know where they were going and what they might expect to find there. I like a good plan--all the the more fun to spontaneously deviate from it

We did once (pre children) go on a very last minute holiday - this was in the days when you could just walk into a travel agency and they'd sort something out for you there and then. We knew we were going to Majorca, but not which resort - but as it happens we were very lucky and had a lovely (and very cheap) week in the sun. I do prefer to research it all for myself beforehand now though.

sixandahalf

I very much doubt I will ever be able to afford a holiday.

We have come up with various ingenious schemes to at least be looking at a different 4 walls.

What are the ingenious schemes. sixandahalf?.

I have never been on a package holiday or a cruise or an organised trip or stayed in hotels although I wouldn't rule it out especially now I'm older. 😉 We just never considered it. Partly the cost but more because we enjoyed exploring by map the places we wanted to visit.

When our 4 children were young we camped in tents either in this country - Scottish islands were a favourite - or in Europe.

We also did a few house exchanges. This was really cheap and fun especially with very young children who could swap toys.

Nowadays I go on interest holidays. Learning Gaelic on the Isle of Sky and pottery on the Isle of Cumbrae.

I would love to visit my DS in NZ once more and my cousin in Boston- I've never been to the USA. We can always dream.

Someone once asked me why Tenerife was so warm in the winter months when the rest of Spain wasn't.
Not the first person I've come across who thought Tenerife and other Canaries were part of mainland Spain. Seems unbelievable to me.

I had a very good teacher in my dad. We used to look at maps and the atlas a lot and he showed me where everything was before I got to secondary modern school . Oh how I miss him so much and loved those nights together looking through maps etc. I can’t understand anyone going to countries when they don’t know where the hell they are in the world.

"Anyway, my geography's not that shaky" Well I thought mine wasn't either, until apropos of the what's going on in the Middle East and maps cropping up all over the place, it did occur to me, good grief! I didn't realise Dubai's proximity to Iran was so close a bit too close to feel safe, even before it all kicked off

TerriBull

I saw a woman being interviewed once about this very thing, the interviewer asked her whether she knew where her destination was situated geographically and what she knew about the place. She said something along the lines of "I've no idea where it is, that's the pilot's job" Flying into the great unknown, a veritable magical, mystery tour. Hilarious!

I've never done that even if we've gone at the last minute to a destination!
Anyway, my geography's not that shaky 🌏

I remember a neighbour of dd1 who was about to go on holiday to Rhodes.

She was telling dh how she was looking forward to it, and added, ‘Is it in Spain?’

I saw a woman being interviewed once about this very thing, the interviewer asked her whether she knew where her destination was situated geographically and what she knew about the place. She said something along the lines of "I've no idea where it is, that's the pilot's job" Flying into the great unknown, a veritable magical, mystery tour. Hilarious!

NotSpaghetti

I'd just like to add a holiday tip if you park in a labyrinthine town and need to find your hire car later.

Take a photo of something nearby. A shop, a monument, a pile of unusual rubble on a street corner.... some local will be able to point you back to it sooner or later.

This saved us one holiday after losing a car in a back street the day before and wandering about aimlessly for 90 minutes longer than we wanted!

I do that in large new to me car parks.

We also used to hang something small from the rear view mirror.