Holidays - familiar or new places?

Thanks everyone. We go to a friend’s second home in Norfolk every year, sometimes more than once, and it’s a very relaxed
and comforting feeling to be there for a few days. The familiarity of the place is lovely and is a very soothing feeling to be somewhere we can be more laidback and not feel as if we have to be nipping off here there and everywhere to see new places round about. I hate to miss anything, so there’s often a list of places I want to visit when in a new resort. The Norfolk accommodation is like a little home from home, even though it doesn’t belong to us. It’s just DH and me there. We do like a holiday in a new place as well, each year - sometimes abroad - as there is so much of the world to explore and certain countries really appeal to me. DH is not particularly adventurous though, so nowhere too exotic (which would involve a long flight!) for him. I would love to travel to the Far East and Australia/New Zealand, but he doesn’t want the discomfort of long flights in economy class and we couldn’t necessarily stretch to paying for business class.

I do both; I have two happy places (both in Greece) and travel to at least one of them every year.
I have friends there, know the roads etc etc and can just relax without having to “do” the sights.
I also try and go somewhere on my bucket list every year.. last year was Uzbekistan and it’s India next year.
This year I’ve done my Greek trip and am off to Majorca to see the total solar eclipse.

exciting
invigorating

I do want to see more new places - specific ones though - and of course old places were really new places once... Then we fell in love with them.

New people can be wild, exciting and exciting - but old lovers bring a joy and quiet contentment.

We tried Borth a few years ago and since then there has been no other choice for us.
I used to laugh at Mum and Dad I never knew them to go to anywhere else but Weston Super Mare but I understand it now. Often you read about somewhere and think that it was really good idea to book a Holiday there. You go and somehow it does not feel right to us. To me its better to go and enjoy a familiar place rather than a disappointment at a new place.
We often stay at Clarach Bay which is my number one for swimming. A nice time at Ynnslas beach sat enjoying coffee and the fresh air finally a walk on Borth beach with a great place.

TBH we’ve gone to new places and been disenchanted with them. On the whole we gravitate to places that we love and have been to before as it’s more relaxing.

New places - but no holiday last year. May have one this year if I can find someone to join me

DH hated holidays and thought them a waste of money (for himself) but had no objection to the DDs and me going off somewhere without him. Since he died, I’ve been aiming for 3 or 4 jaunts a year, but to familiar places, Paphos, Malaga or Barcelona, but 🤞, I’ll be going to New York in September with DD2 - her 42nd visit there (complete with wheelchair!). She knows Manhattan like the back of her hand, so we never get lost.

We've not travelled too extensively - we have dogs which I'm reluctant to leave, and we have a narrowboat which we spend about 12 weeks a year on (with the dogs). We have had two big holidays overseas in the last 10 years - one to Australia and Tasmania, and the other to India and Sri Lanka. I would love to revisit, Australia particularly, but once the dogs have gone we know we will only have so much time left so will probably explore new long haul places. NZ is top of the list. Not interested in Spain/ Europe. Saw enough of that in our younger days.

I do like the familiar. As a family we have been going on holiday at a small coastal town in France at least once most years . The last 4 years we have gone to the same resort in Turkey but are not going this year as it has gone up each time and is now really expensive .

I’m recovering from an operation at the moment and can’t fly so rest of family are going to Barcelona for a week (new for them ) and I am staying home with my best friend visiting for the week which I am looking forward to just as much. The following week we are all going to the little French place again via the tunnel ( can’t do all the ferry steps just now)

When I’ve fully recovered ( the op has improved my mobility substantially) I’m hoping to go to some new European destinations next year

We try and do a long haul in the winter months Mexico, Caribbean or Far East. However if we can't fit in, we go in September.
We used to take the Children when they were at home, they had interesting experience around the world with us.
Now we tend to do a European one May - June time, in September we are off to Mexico again.
I know we are fortunate we have already been to Prague and France twice so far this year, and I'm doing a long weekend with my chums to Amsterdam end of Nov.

We never considered the UK for a holiday, but we might do a long weekend somewhere in the UK in December, to do a bit of Christmas shopping.

We were dreadful parents, Australia travels two months at a time, with children out of school over Christmas period.

Dragged round ski resorts, Caribbean beaches, European cities along with their Grandparents home a two minute walk from the Mediterranean Sea…

FriedGreenTomatoes2

A bit of both would suit me best. I’m looking at perhaps a couple of city breaks next year with a friend, so maybe 5 nights to get a flavour of places. So far, apart from Florida and Spain, I’ve only done Belfast, Dublin, Paris and Berlin with my late husband. I’ve never been to Portugal so Lisbon (or wherever) might be might be our first booking.

Portugal is lovely but make sure you see the coastal side too as it's so beautiful.

We alternated 'dragging the children round Europe' type camping holidays with bucket and spade holidays in Woolacombe.

On our own, we have travelled a fair bit but also had a favourite place for downtime. We have just got home from that hotel having been sadly disappointed by it's downhill slide. It's a weird feeling that our happy place at various times over the last 50 years is not what it was.

When DDs were a lot younger we did return for many years running to a beach resort we loved, where we’d got to know many of the locals and where the assorted watersports (essential then) were both freely available and run by safety-conscious owners. And the sea was both warm and safe!

Nowadays I will admit to not being bothered about discovering new places - dh and I are very widely travelled anyway - but I’m certainly looking forward to a forthcoming week on the Northumberland coast - new for us! - where at least it’ll be cooler than it’s been here lately!

As a child, I loved going back to the same place every summer, seeing the same families year after year. And our DC felt the same in their turn.
Later, we used to return to a favourite spot in France but also visit new places.
Nowadays, having learned a decent amount of Spanish via Duolingo and Adult Education, I go to different places in Spain. Holá!

NotSpaghetti

Same places are fantastic as you "learn" them over many years.
People recognise you and many ard happy to see uou.

We have had one holiday a year in the same whilst our children were growing up. People recognise us and say hello and make conversation. My children were spirited though, so hopefully they remember us for all the right reasons 🙈😂

It depends on your circumstances.

Holidays are a luxury and you always need a good one iykwim

But also if you need a break sometimes going somewhere where you know you’ll have exactly what you want is most probably what you need

I’m a bit of a home bird though.

I believe in always trying a new country each year Honeyrose. My problem this year is the EES, wildfires, drones, ground staff strikes, and jet fuel, or lack of it! So where to go to avoid all that!

Madgran77

Monica Norfolk coast is lovely. Which part of Norfolk are you going to?

Holme-next-the -sea

Marmin

We do both. One familiar and one new. We are currently planning a week in Zadar (Croatia), particularly drawn by the sea organ installation.

We love zadar....we've been 6 times now ......we fly into pula or split then stop over on a couple of different islands each time...before having 4 nights in zadar to finish the trip......northern Croatia is very reasonable....the islands are stunning....hope you enjoy!

We have made a conscious effort to reduce our carbon footprint so UK only.

Same places are fantastic as you "learn" them over many years.
People recognise you and many ard happy to see uou.

Marmin

We do both. One familiar and one new. We are currently planning a week in Zadar (Croatia), particularly drawn by the sea organ installation.

We went to Zadar earlier this year. It's a truly beautiful place and the sea organ is certainly worth seeing (and hearing).
We have already made plans to return for another.
I hope you enjoy it.

We like to do both!