Keeping in touch with friends made on holiday

No I’ve never kept in touch with those met on holidays. Sad really but I look on it like a short brief holiday romance.

We met a lovely couple on a river cruise some years ago and we kept in touch occasionally by email. They owned a holiday cottage near where they lived and kept offering it to us. Eventually we decided to take them up on it, they refused any payment. We met up for dinner and continued to email and exchange Christmas cards for a while but they suddenly stopped. They were quite a bit older than us so we have assumed that they are now in poor health or are no longer with us. Sadly we have no way of finding out.

We have close friends we met on a holiday over 30 years ago. Geographically distant we still have holidays, long or short, together, visit each other’s homes and make sure we meet when our journeys take us close to each other. I’d not be without them.

On my first holiday away with my then boyfriend ( we later married) camping in Cornwall, we met a lovely Dutch couple, Pete and Vicky , got on so well , and exchanged numbers .
We kept in touch , visited them in Friesland, they came to see us in Manchester, they were so lovely. We married, they came to the wedding with their children . Our 2 boys got on so well with their 3 boys and have become firm friends. Sadly , Pete died , we travelled to see him before he passed, and Vicky and the boys have been over a few times , in fact they have just been over for my eldest son’s wedding and had a fantastic time . We love them dearly and plan to have a 2 big family holiday in Cornwall next year , in the place where we met Vicky and Pete , all those years ago . So happy for that chance meeting ❤️

What a lovely post Debbie. Sad about Pete though. We also have lovely friends we met on holiday years ago. And people say it won’t last!

We met a German couple on our honeymoon in Spain 56 years ago. We are still friends we keep in touch and sometimes visit. Though that happens less often now as we are getting on in years.

Actually this reminds me of a creepy event. I always chat and listen to people when on holiday, on returning one time I was being phoned at work in a stalker ish way by the male from this particular couple. Particularly galling as working in a hospital setting does not make life easy for working out who could possibly be ringing and then saying politely stop calling!

After the war my ex’s parents read a book about camping abroad ( I think it was called Camping Everyman).They bought a frame tent and started taking themselves and then their family to Europe on camping trips. On one such holiday they got talking to a German family and said how sad it was that they had been at war in the past. The two families remained close for years and my ex’s family have always loved to travel. I remember meeting them when they came to stay in Birmingham in their camper van. I think the two families still keep in touch.

dogsmother following on from your 'creepy' experience, here's mine.
One day, soon after my husband's death, I was kneeling at his grave, weeping. A man who had been tending a nearby grave came over and was kind and comforting to me.
I then left the cemetery and drove home.
Several days later my front door bell rang. When I opened the door there stood the man from the cemetery!!
He could only have known where I lived by following me in his car after our meeting at the grave.
It shocked me to see him at my home. But as it happened, I was due to meet someone off a train, so I said I was in a hurry to get out and he left.
But as I drove out of my road I saw him sitting in his car watching to see if I really was going out.
I wondered if he lurked until my return. If he did he would have seen my relative enter the house with me, thankfully. I never saw the man again.

I avoid people on holiday and never want to make friends……my husband is far nicer than me and chats to everyone!

However, we met a couple in Spain 3 years ago, they were staying at the same B&B as us and we met in a nearby restaurant, we have become firm friends despite a huge distance between us.

On holiday in Greece, my ex husband got chatting to a young man in the swimming pool, I was happily sunbathing and reading my book but, before we knew it, he had called his girlfriend over and they pulled up sunbeds next to ours. This probably sounds awful but they were quite a bit younger than us and, quite frankly, we had little in common. However, despite this , they insisted on saving us sunbeds, joined us for meals and followed us around when we went on trips, with her complaining that ancient sites were boring and just a lot of old stones. They asked to exchange addresses and we somehow managed to avoid it, can’t remember how. Otherwise I fear they may have haunted us forever (or until my ex ran off with another woman)!

In 1969 mu fiance and I met s couple on their honeymoon, we had such fun 2gether so we stayed in touch. Despite divorce (mine) a very sad death (the couples man) in the past few years we have always kept in touch and visited each other. Due to age and illness it is becoming more difficult to visit as its a long journey, but the special friendship we shared has meant a lot to all of us and hopefully will continue.

We both love to chat to others on holiday but less keen on getting too close.
We don’t drink and this can be a barrier to spending time with others as we’re not keen on sitting in bars for too long.

Aldom

dogsmother following on from your 'creepy' experience, here's mine.
One day, soon after my husband's death, I was kneeling at his grave, weeping. A man who had been tending a nearby grave came over and was kind and comforting to me.
I then left the cemetery and drove home.
Several days later my front door bell rang. When I opened the door there stood the man from the cemetery!!
He could only have known where I lived by following me in his car after our meeting at the grave.
It shocked me to see him at my home. But as it happened, I was due to meet someone off a train, so I said I was in a hurry to get out and he left.
But as I drove out of my road I saw him sitting in his car watching to see if I really was going out.
I wondered if he lurked until my return. If he did he would have seen my relative enter the house with me, thankfully. I never saw the man again.

It’s really quite unnerving isn’t it, it may have been that yours was a chap trying to be kind but No, just NO!

A rather gregarious long time friend of ours is always arranging meetings and trips with people she and her husband have met on holiday.
Last week when I asked her husband if they had enjoyed their latest holiday , he replied grumpily “hmmm another lot of bl***y people to visit!”.