Holidays into the unknown ;)

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 know it happens, because I have met people like that. But, personally, I like to choose my destination with care,and then research it. Except, it is usuallky the other way round we want to see something in particular so we go there.

We went to Uzbekistan about 30 years ago because we wanted to go to Samarkand and Bukhara. We went to Jordan because we wanted to visit Petra and Norway because we wanted to know what a luxury cruise was like and Norway and back was the shortest cruise available.

Cressy

The only times I didn’t know exactly where I was happened on skiing trips. I seemed to lose all sense of direction then although I did of course know what country we were in. I had the same problem with piste maps! For every other holiday I like to know exactly where I am going, what’s there and will have studied street maps beforehand. Always using a book. Once a librarian…😏

I am with you on the piste map having skied for over 40 years, for some unknown reason I cannot read one.

It’s a standing joke with friends and family, the children as soon as they could read and ski took over the map from mum 😹😹😹⛷️⛷️⛷️

The only times I didn’t know exactly where I was happened on skiing trips. I seemed to lose all sense of direction then although I did of course know what country we were in. I had the same problem with piste maps! For every other holiday I like to know exactly where I am going, what’s there and will have studied street maps beforehand. Always using a book. Once a librarian…😏

Exactly NotSpaghetti we all choose the holiday which suits us at the time we are away.

I like different types of holiday depending on how I feel at the time, what country we are visiting and who we are going with.

I think it depends on how we like to holiday.

My son's in-laws like a "hot place with a pool" holiday. They want good on-site facilities and don't want to be responsible for their meals. They do occasionally go away from the hotel/complex but not often.

I like a rural villa in a warm place with a pool and interesting architecture, a splash of ancient civilisation(s). I like it best if there's not many tourists or tourist facilities as I like to meet and (try to) chat with locals and find out about the people and customs there.

Both essentially are a holiday.
I wouldn't like theirs and they wouldn't like mine. I think it's odd to be so insulated from a culture in a complex - they can't see how mine is at all relaxing!

Back in the early 1970s we backpacked around Israel, using public transport. We got talking to a couple who were there on a package tour. They had seen some sights as part of the package, but they asked us "How do you know where to go?" I really didn't know what to say!

These days, it's so much easier to look things up on the internet there really is no excuse.

Also back in the day, there were many American servicemen and their dependants (probably other nationalities too) who were flown to places all over the world, stayed in their barracks and on their bases and never had any contact with the outside world. I met many others, though, who were really interested and took their families to fun places every weekend. I live near several big American bases* and had some really good times with some of them.

YouTube is full of clips about (usually) American tourists who are"shocked" by even the slightest differences to what they are used to. They dont seem to get that the whole point of travelling is to see how others live, what they eat, and how they do things. And to learn from thjs. This is apparently a mindset that is not exclusively American.

* Gone now of course.

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.

CanadaGran
I often use if it’s Tuesday it must be Belgium
I changed Belgium to China when visiting the Terracotta Army.
The car park was was rammed with coaches.
I don’t know why but that film title came into my head and I said out loud if it’s Tuesday it must be the Terracotta Army 😂

Grannybags

I know people who are happy not to leave the resort at all during their stay. They just sit by the pool all day and tuck into all inclusive food (as long as it’s not ‘foreign’!)and drink. They couldn’t find the country on a map

Not my idea of fun.

Mind you when the children were younger, we usually tried to have at least one fly and flop holiday each year, where they could play in the pool and/or beach, grab an ice cream or drink when they wanted.

The trade off was that we would go out of the hotel/resort every other evening for a meal of our choosing and a wander round the local town etc.

If there was a place of historical significance nearby we would go and visit, and 9 times out of ten the children enjoyed the experience.

There was a thread on Mumsnet by an OP who did not realise Dubai was close to Iran. Duh!

I enjoy booking holidays and appear to have a comparatively good knowledge of geography so I always know where in the world it is. However, I don't research bus timetables and tiny details. It's nice to explore and discover rather than research the guts out of a place.

Some folk just want to go somewhere with good weather, good facilities, good food and relax. If the weather, food etc is bad then they'll likely be disappointed and grumble. Others enjoy exploring and supposedly integrating with the locals, come back and bore you to death about their cultural experiences. I don't judge either. Makes a change from the usual grumbles here, the local weather and the ferries.

Grammaretto

I only said some people Allira.
It applies to some people. I do think it's rude to visit places, knowing nothing about them or the native people, and to grumble about it afterwards.
Maybe you haven't come across anyone who does this. I have.

Well you did say
Each to their own but not my kind of trip to turn up somewhere you know nothing about and expect it to be a good holiday.
It's rude and shows a sense of entitlement all too common these days.

Not in my experience.
It can be exciting.

I only said some people Allira.
It applies to some people. I do think it's rude to visit places, knowing nothing about them or the native people, and to grumble about it afterwards.
Maybe you haven't come across anyone who does this. I have.

😁

I'm reminded of a story my father likes to tell about a colleague of his. She is Spanish (from Spain) and her English is very good, but she does retain her Spanish accent. Someone once told her she had an interesting accent and asked about her origins. She replied that she is from Spain. The man then replied that he thought she was from Europe.

She said she was completely nonplussed and had no idea how to respond.

Grannybags

I know people who are happy not to leave the resort at all during their stay. They just sit by the pool all day and tuck into all inclusive food (as long as it’s not ‘foreign’!)and drink. They couldn’t find the country on a map

We like to explore.

Grammaretto

Each to their own but not my kind of trip to turn up somewhere you know nothing about and expect it to be a good holiday.

It's rude and shows a sense of entitlement all too common these days.

When some people return from these holidays all they seem to do is grumble.

It's rude and shows a sense of entitlement all too common these days.

Why on earth is it rude?
Or showing a sense of entitlement?

We had two lovely and very interesting holidays booked at the last minute - we knew the island but not the destination or accommodation.
Both really interesting holidays. Nor did we grumble.

I don't understand.

I know people who are happy not to leave the resort at all during their stay. They just sit by the pool all day and tuck into all inclusive food (as long as it’s not ‘foreign’!)and drink. They couldn’t find the country on a map

@Grammaretto it was a film, released in 1969 called If it’s Tuesday, it must be Belgium.

m.imdb.com/title/tt0064471/

Each to their own but not my kind of trip to turn up somewhere you know nothing about and expect it to be a good holiday.

It's rude and shows a sense of entitlement all too common these days.

When some people return from these holidays all they seem to do is grumble.

It’s also lazy.

It can be exciting 😁

I also love to do my research on holidays. I wouldn’t dream of not checking out things to see and do, local events taking place, restaurants,shopping etc.

We do have one place that is a firm favourite and I am on a couple of Facebook groups for this country. It amazes me the posts I see saying they’ve booked such and such a resorts and looking for what there is to do. One today had even booked a hotel asking if there is much to do there. It really beggars belief IMO. It’s also lazy.

I do like to research where we're going but a couple of times we booked last-minute holidays and only knew which island we were heading for.