What kind of traveller are you?

aonk

We have been on a number of sea cruises and have 2 planned for this year. We choose carefully. The excursions are often very expensive and we prefer to explore independently and then enjoy dinner and entertainment in the evening. We all like different things. My nightmare would be a self catering holiday in a remote area.

Funny. We all like different holidays.

Favourite is self catering in a remote area or skiing.

We do enjoy long river cruises. Very small boats, table for two, never staying for entertainment or group drink bits. Off the boat we take ourselves to see what we wish and eat where we want, alone.

After we see our daughter married we're off to explore Patagonia.

Most people work hard to be able to enjoy their holidays (yes, I know many on here are retired now), so what they choose to do is obviously up to them - whether that means backpacking through remote areas or lazing on the beach for the entire time. I know from previous holiday type threads on here that there are a lot of people who love cruises, for instance - whereas I couldn't think of anything worse. On the other hand, many people probably wouldn't enjoy our kind of holidays. As has been said, horses for courses. It'd be a very boring old world if we all liked the same things.

Aveline

I wouldn't say I was a 'traveller'. I've been to many different countries over the course of my life. Sometimes for work sometimes for holidays. I certainly don't look down on those who don't spend their time immersing themselves in different countries. Holidays as holidays are great and don't deserve to be so snobbishly dismissed.

Well said. Completely agree.

Different ones at different times in my life, depending on who I was going with. Organised foreign tours with parents. The British bucket and spade with DD's, fishing holidays with DH upmarket Paris, Gites in France, Italy and other countries. Had the chance of the Far East and the US and never took it DH .
No regrets.

We have been on a number of sea cruises and have 2 planned for this year. We choose carefully. The excursions are often very expensive and we prefer to explore independently and then enjoy dinner and entertainment in the evening. We all like different things. My nightmare would be a self catering holiday in a remote area.

As long as everyone enjoys the type of holiday they have chosen, that's fine.
I'm testing a new adventure at the end of the month, taking the dog to a rental abroad for 3 weeks to do lots of walking. This is a change from my usual cultural sightseeing holidays, so🤞.

Fleurpepper

Aveline 'Holidays as holidays are great and don't deserve to be so snobbishly dismissed.'

what do you mean by this. Who has done this?

I wasn't aware anyone had. Thought we were all just sharing our preferences.

I'm a great believer in travel expanding the mind, We took our children out of school on a couple of occasions and marched them around cultural places, amid loads of moaning and groaning. I was always having to visit castles, battlefields, cathedrals as a child with my parents, being bored to tears, I'd say to mine at the time, "you'll appreciate all this one day", and that has been the case, often it's in retrospect, as it was for me, they have told me as adults, "can't believe I was bored when we were at such and such a place"

I think there is a great example of just how much travel can have an uplifting effect on a young person, anyone who has seen the first "Race Across the World" might remember father and son, son aged 17 in the first leg whining quite a bit and coming out with classics such as "I'm having a breakdown, I'm missing my XBox" by the time they'd reached the final destination having travelled through some truly amazing places, rising to challenges, embracing and admiring cultural differences, he'd turned into, to all intents and purposes a fully fledged adult.

I feel somewhat cheated if I don't see something of the country I'm visiting, I met some tourists in Mexico who just wanted the beach, amazing as the beaches are there, the ancient sites and flora and fauna are far too unique to miss. Having said all that, last summer it was particularly hot when we went to a beach resort on the Spain/Portugal border, I found myself just wanting to lie by the pool, swim and read, having previously done a couple of week long city breaks in Seville and Cordoba, Granada as well as Lisbon on a separate occasions in cooler months. These days I find heat strength sapping so I don't feel like doing a culture trail, but that's not because I'm not interested in the country in question.

I've been on organised holidays abroad but what I used to like was taking my camper van over to France and Spain and just exploring smaller roads, and visiting Art Galleries and Buddhist Centres.. just wandering and exploring. When I was in my 60's I managed to get a year's sabbatical from work, let out my house and just set off..
wouldn't have that confidence or energy now sadly..

Fleurpepper

Aveline 'Holidays as holidays are great and don't deserve to be so snobbishly dismissed.'

what do you mean by this. Who has done this?

Reading between the lines, I think you did.

Horses for courses, of course. Just interesting.

Aveline 'Holidays as holidays are great and don't deserve to be so snobbishly dismissed.'

what do you mean by this. Who has done this?

Horses for courses surely? I would give anything a go quite frankly, just for the experience. I have tried a restful Holiday, but after a day or two I get restless. We’ve had every type of holiday, from doing our own thing at the drop of a hat, to holidays that have an itinerary and lots of touring. All good in their own way.

What I don’t like are huge cruise ships with thousands of people, I’m not good in crowds tbh. Our choice would always be a small ship. Age is also a factor now, so I doubt that we would white water raft, or climb any mountains and we don’t walk so many miles in a day as we used to. - but we’ve done that in our life so not missing out really.

Over the years have done the UK holidays, sun and sand in the Med and Caribbean, adventure in Africa and Asia, now mid 60s still enthusiastic but probably time to relax more. Never done cruises maybe that’s next on the list.

Because both ACs live in Australia most holidays nowadays are to see them. However we rent a car so that we can also explore while there and to make the journey different one year we flew to Perth and then took the four day train trip to Sydney. Train journeys are our favourites and we certainly plan to do the Swiss train trips at some time.

We have done a bit of everything except skiing in our time (never wanted to and hate snow). We are off to Crete on Tuesday morning for a week of sun and sand which we haven't done for years as we are both tired and have had a bad winter heath wise. We have booked on the Historical Sites tour for one day as we do love sightseeing. I'm expecting a lot of relaxing and staring out to sea, eating in small tavernas and browsing local shops. Bliss. Happy Holidays everyone.

Aveline

I wouldn't say I was a 'traveller'. I've been to many different countries over the course of my life. Sometimes for work sometimes for holidays. I certainly don't look down on those who don't spend their time immersing themselves in different countries. Holidays as holidays are great and don't deserve to be so snobbishly dismissed.

Totally agree, we all want different things in our holidays and sometimes these alter over our lifetime.

I would never look down on someone for their holiday choice.

I wouldn't say I was a 'traveller'. I've been to many different countries over the course of my life. Sometimes for work sometimes for holidays. I certainly don't look down on those who don't spend their time immersing themselves in different countries. Holidays as holidays are great and don't deserve to be so snobbishly dismissed.

Oh, the Jacobite steam train should be a wonderful trip, M0nica. Hopefully the weather will be kind to you and you will see our amazing Scottish scenery at its best.
I like a variety trips, from city breaks to more conventional holidays - but OH and I like to get out and about and explore the area we're in, usually just by hopping onto public transport and seeing where we end up. We do like the odd beach day in between too. A cruise would be my worst nightmare.

I do different holidays with different people. I was never one to sit by a pool all day, every day but my DD loves this and I have started going with her and I must say the rest does us good. I have just discovered river cruising with a friend, which is the best of all worlds. Time to sunbathe, you unpack but every morning you are somewhere new.

The poblem is that most of us do not have the opportunity to live in other countries and are faced with learning about countries by short trips or never holidaying anywhere at all - and that applies as much to other parts of the UK as well as abroad.

We, also, all take the holidays that we enjoy, and it is clear that what a range of different holidays we all enjoy. I know that the holidays I enjoy would be other people's idea of living hell, and some of the holidays described lovingly above would have me run screaming, and others I would love to take, but are not practical.

We often holiday with DD, and that means a lot of little trains because DD shares this interest with DH. We are off to Scotland in a month for a short holiday wrapped round riding the Jacobite steam train.

DH and I will also go away for a week later in the year, but where or when is not clear because we have yet to see the holiday that sparks that immediate 'Oh, that sounds fun, lets book it.' reaction.

GagaJo

I like living overseas but really dislike holidays. To me, a holiday doesn't offer the opportunity to experience what a place is really like. I love to live in the midst of the locals. Shop and work with them. Celebrate and socialise amongst them. See the seasons with them. Experience daily life and education.

Short term travel, for me, is just rush, stress and anxiety.

I understand and agree, we were fortunate to live in different countries, but there is still a Dora the Explorer in me

I like living overseas but really dislike holidays. To me, a holiday doesn't offer the opportunity to experience what a place is really like. I love to live in the midst of the locals. Shop and work with them. Celebrate and socialise amongst them. See the seasons with them. Experience daily life and education.

Short term travel, for me, is just rush, stress and anxiety.

None of those. I lean towards longer, slowish trips, backpacking and using local transport as far as possible. I rarely plan far ahead. Although I generally have a menu of things I’d be happy to see and do to choose amongst, I like the freedom to stay somewhere for a while if I’m enjoying it, to clear out quickly if I’m not, or to head to somewhere I hadn’t even thought of if I discover something interesting is happening there.

I am an independent traveller; I don’t book package trips, although I will take local tours if I’m somewhere where it isn’t safe to do otherwise. I regularly travel alone and like it; my husband is also a keen traveller but we have some very different interests, so will sometimes go somewhere separately and meet up at various points.

Travel is a priority for me, and I’d rather travel cheaply, often, and/or for longer than in any kind of luxury.

We enjoy a fly and flop holiday once a year. Recharge our batteries and catch up on our reading lists.

We are fortunate that we also enjoy a ski holiday along with an exploration trip.

DH enjoys history I enjoy architecture and gardens. We both enjoy interaction with locals, interested in their culture and food.

We are the awful parents who have taken our children out of school twice for two months for Australian road trips.

We had our first (and probably our last) cruise last year, couldn’t get to grips with the in/out fast tours.