How essential are holidays?

lostinrates

chucknorris wrote: »

Totally agree, I much prefer holidays in the UK, well worth the extra money IMO. No flights with all the delays, waiting for transfers etc you can just drive right there at a time and speed to suit yourself, you can take most things with you that you want including the most precious thing, the dog.

You can drive in to EU with dog too..much easier than UK in many cases. Highl recommen the train over the ferry though, even if driving down south: you stay in the car with the pet rather than having to leave them alone. And its quick, quick.

We're thinking about teaching dog-dog french for holidays.

PasturesNew

wageslave wrote: »

Full on? What does that mean?

...Honestly, define full on.

I can't remember, I just looked and can't find what I meant. I'm sure I remember some thread where you had 2-3 of the guys panting after you, some talk of some lane somewhere that you were familiar with and where one of them probably lived.

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

You can drive in to EU with dog too..much easier than UK in many cases. Highl recommen the train over the ferry though, even if driving down south: you stay in the car with the pet rather than having to leave them alone. And its quick, quick.

We're thinking about teaching dog-dog french for holidays.

You can, but don't forget that for most people it's an extra 200 miles each way and many hours and much £££ to get to the point of departure.

It all adds up - and there's the potential for delay with all that kerfuffle.

Harry_Powell

We usually have 2 or 3 foreign holidays a year, but because we don't have kids we go at cheaper times (outside the school holidays) and we use airmiles and special offers, lastminute.com type websites and even teletext. We rarely do the beach type holidays as we both prefer city breaks, these are often better value due to a dearth of accomodation in cities that you can arrange when you get there.

We've just (literally!) moved into our new home and so finances will be a bit tight over the next couple of years as we renovate and decorate our house, but I can't imagine us not having at least one foreign trip per year. The UK is a bit of a drab and grey place, so it's nice to get away to somewhere a bit brighter.

Harry_Powell

PasturesNew wrote: »

Holidays are a luxury, not an essential.

I'd love one, but I've never known anybody to go away with and I'd rather poke my eyes with hot needles than travel alone and mingle with annoying strangers. It's also horrendously expensive to travel alone, so another reason not to.

Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet. At one point all of my friends were strangers, if you view people you don't know with such distrust and ill feeling, then how on earth will you make any friends to accompany you on holiday (and other fun things that friends are useful for)?

chucknorris

lostinrates wrote: »

You can drive in to EU with dog too..much easier than UK in many cases. Highl recommen the train over the ferry though, even if driving down south: you stay in the car with the pet rather than having to leave them alone. And its quick, quick.

We're thinking about teaching dog-dog french for holidays.

Well despite what I said above next year we are going to give Spain a chance, we are trying it out because we are hoping to eventually spend our winters there. We plan to get the ferry to Santander (from Portsmouth) and drive down to Southern Spain from late October until mid November.

We are getting our dog's pet passport sorted out early next year.

nearlynew

chucknorris wrote: »

Well despite what I said above next year we are going to give Spain a chance, we are trying it out because we are hoping to eventually spend our winters there. We plan to get the ferry to Santander (from Portsmouth) and drive down to Southern Spain from late October until mid November.

We are getting our dog's pet passport sorted out early next year.

I think the Santander ferry goes from Plymouth.

The Portsmouth one goes to Bilbao.

Both are good and you get to see loads of dolphins and whales.

wolvoman

PasturesNew wrote: »

Holidays are a luxury, not an essential.

I'd love one, but I've never known anybody to go away with and I'd rather poke my eyes with hot needles than travel alone and mingle with annoying strangers. It's also horrendously expensive to travel alone, so another reason not to.

Cause and effect?

chucknorris

nearlynew wrote: »

I think the Santander ferry goes from Plymouth.

The Portsmouth one goes to Bilbao.

Both are good and you get to see loads of dolphins and whales.

It used to only operate from Plymouth but now operates from BOTH Plymouth and Portsmouth.

Unfortunately the Bilbao ferry is run by P&O who do not allow dogs (on that particular run). Brittany Ferries run the Santander ferry.

EDIT: Brittany Ferries seems to have started a run from Poole to Santander too!

dopester

wageslave wrote: »

I have never pulled a man in my puff.

What does that mean? "my puff" ?

I'm torn with this question. Holidays aren't a big deal for me and we don't go on them often.. but when we do, on returning home, I want to go holiday somewhere again asap... then that desire dampens down with a bit of time.

A similar question was asked elsewhere, and I accepted the logic from the people who spent big on regular holidays... "You only live once, so enjoy it."* Equally I admire those who plan budget holidays carefully which can still be lots of fun and memorable to look back on.

(*Providing you can afford it without exposing yourself to dangerous levels of debt. Preferably you can afford it from value-creating work, not something like buying 900 houses with borrowed money a HPI boom, or buying ABN Amro at top money when other banks have already begun to implode.)