Why do you go on holiday?

To see all those fantasic sites that you've read/seen so much about?
To see family and friends that live too far away for a day visit?
To just get away from everything and lay on a beach and drink cocktails?

I'd be firmly in the friends and family section. When I was younger I wanted to go everywhere and see everything but these days I'm just as happy to spend any holiday time visiting friends and family that I don't get to see otherwise. If they live near a big tourist attraction then I'll go but I wouldn't make a special visit. Probably the only thing I ever really want to see and go out of my way to do it is the Pyramids. Shame I don't know anyone that lives in Egypt.

Having heard my passion for record keeping Jill, I think you can guess one of my answers, yes, "To say I've been there"!

OK, I spent many years going to the same place in Devon actually besides being one of the nicest spots I've been to, had some of the best people I've ever met (it was a music holiday, but that was for my parents' benefit) so I would always say the people.

Shops, beaches and even good weather can be found in England as well as the hotter countries, and when you've seen a few hundred you wonder what the point is. The best location I had for a holiday was a pool surrounded by trees and a tennis court in the summer. It was like a rural idyll and part of one of the best designed hotels in the world. You could spend all day by the pool and be totally unaware of where you were, and it was actually right in the middle of a capital city, a few hundred yards from the president's house on the USA in Washington. It could have been literally anywhere in the world, a decent hotel, weather and pool was only enhanced by the wonderful people I met on some similar holidays elsewhere, the location was almost irrelevant once I'd had the novelty of arriving in a new place wear off.

When I saw some pictures of a road extremely reminiscent of Cricklewood Broadway (which I know you know as well as I do) I was struggling to work out where they were. I saw them after my friend's parents came back from holiday, and after then seeing views of grassland with trees assumed they'd taken them where they lived, in Richmond Park.

I asked my friend where these were actually taken, and it turned out the Edgware Road was in fact taken in the centre of Nairobi and what looked like Richmond Park (so much so I hadn't even thought it was taken anywhere else) was actually in Kenya on safari (no, I don't remember seeing any animals...). I realised they have awful places and boring scenery everywhere, and if I wanted to see it I only had to drive the few miles to Cricklewood rather than traverse the world, get all the shots and probably still catch malaria by going to Kenya. The illusion (what was left) was shattered.

I will admit even on the best holidays after a couple of weeks (days on the worst) missing home and spending more time thinking about the return than the actual places. I was often happier at the local outdoor pool in the holidays with my friends or family and nowadays tend to go up to 300 miles and back in the same day. Always leaves me wanting more. The best of the lot was the Eurostar and if you compare it with our trains it was like flying a biplane rather than a jumbo until I went on it. I do like coach trips though wherever I am, that can fill many otherwise boring days.

I go on holiday for the first reason - to see all those fantasic sites that you've read/seen so much about.

If I can combine it with the second reason - to see family and friends that live too far away for a day visit - that's a bonus.

I would never go on holiday for the third reason - to just get away from everything and lay on a beach and drink cocktails? What's the point? - I can do that right here at home on any weekend. We've got the best beaches in the world. But lazing around gets boring really fast.

My problem is always deciding where to go - there are just so many different places to choose from. Like Satguru said, it's nice to be able to say you've been there.

In October 2002, I took about a week and a half off to see the eastern USA. I now have someone upset with me in northeastern Kansas, as she has not really been out of the central time zone and wants to see the USA. I have stood within about 50 feet (16.5m) of the White House, seen the site where the twin towers once stood, been to Niagara Falls, and Times Square.

If I can get a chance again, I'd like to go back to New York City and Washington, DC.

Most of the time when I go on vacation, it's to see my grandparents in southern Missouri.

Personally, never been on holiday "on my own", not even on a school trip. Where I go, parents follow We usually go away in England, to places we haven't been before. And we probably do exactly the same as what we do on a regular day at home, but it is nice to have a break from normality. With Dad's death, not been on holiday this year, but been on a few day trips which were very nice indeed

I guess I've gone on holidays at some stage for each of the three reasons cited.

My souvenier of the third option, mind you, is of an almighty dose of sunstroke, so never-to-be-repeated. A work-colleague and myself had decided on a Thursday to go to Teneriffe the following day for a week in the sun. We spent a couple of hours at a water park on the Sunday, and I spent most of the remainder of the holiday in agony with sunburn, not to mention two days groggily in bed wondering what on earth had happened to me when the sunstroke struck. I hasten to add that we had spent approximately three hours lying in the shady part of the park near the bar and the pool, sipping Coca-Cola in between more exciting drinks, and dipped in and out of the pool frequently to cool off.

Nowadays, as I live quite far away from both my family and my in-laws, mostly I visit friends and family on vacation. As the young'uns are growing up they are beginning to request a 'proper' holiday somewhere where we've never been before, so next year we'll do something more exciting. I'd love to visit Alaska, Scandinavia, Austria, New York, lots of places in the USA and Canada, Australia, China....choosing where to go will be difficult.

In between the disaster and the mundane I have managed to visit Sri-Lanka, Uganda (twice), Zambia, Riga (Latvia), Dallas & Fortworth (Texas), lots of places in Scotland, France and Ireland, Germany, Zurich, London, a little bit of Wales, ... where I did the usual touristy stuff. I suppose I should mention that I spent several years living in Belgium, so managed to visit quite a bit of that country too, as well as passing through Luxembourg, making occasional forays into The Netherlands and generally making the most of the opportunity to see as much as possible of what was interesting nearby.

Travel certainly does broaden the mind, but living in a country is not at all the same thing as visiting it as a tourist. Both are enriching, though not necessarily in the same way. Difficult as it has been to move home and country twice I am thoroughly glad I did.

Hopefully you came through Dallas and Fort Worth when it wasn't 100°F or more, Santana.

Oh dear, Dave - still too hot there? I feel for you as I am only too glad that temps here have dropped considerably at last.

As it happened my visit to Texas was during the month of March for the St Patrick's Day celebrations in 1991. I remember having a fantastic time and being welcomed like royalty wherever we went. Participating in a concert put on in Carnegie Hall was amazing, as was the BBQ we attended at one of the organiser's ranches, not to mention performing with the youngsters of the Texas girl's choir at one of the schools. (I still am in contact with one young girl who was 8 or 10 at the time and is now grown up and living part-time in France). It certainly seemed to me to be true that 'everything's bigger in Texas' We had an amazing trip.

(The fact my then-to-become future-husband and myself got together there probably played some part in our appreciation of the visit, but even if that hadn't happened I would still have wonderful memories of the warmth and generosity of the Texans I met)

I have been to most places in Asia , and I am really all templed out. Hong Kong is a great place to travel from. It is very expensive for me to go further afield, like Europe, much as I love to. I find myself craving to lie on a beach, especially after a hectic Summer School session. I am going to look for a beach that has not a single child on it, and preferably no people either, find a mat and a pile of books and thats it. It is very hard to lie out in Hong Kong, as it is humid and crowded . I have done all the Shopping till dropping. I just need to lie down.

"I find myself craving to lie on a beach".

Come to Perth, Ren - there's a good chance I can find you a beach with no kids!

OOOHH!!! Now there's a thought!

People will flock to see the beached whale.

Why do you go on holiday?

In no particular order.

To get away from the wretched internet for a while. Not that I don`t like reading posts here in Funtriv but I spend far too much time on the net in general.

To simply "do it rough" for a while. Camping is my favorite type of holiday.

To live how others live in other areas be it in Australia or any other country.

Just to get as far away from where I live, and work.

To visit places that I`ve read about.

To spend more time with my wife and children.

I`m really over just lazing on a beach these days and prefer my holidays to be full of movement and different activities.

We go on holidays mostly to see new places and things, or even revisit some that were particularly pleasing. I am proud to say that we have been in all 10 Canadian provices (my kids ahve been in 9), and a goodly numer of the American States as well. This year we added Alaska to the list of places we've been.
Sometimes we are able to combine the sightseeing with visiting relatives and friends, as we did when we toured England, Wales, Ireland and Scotlad a couple of years ago, and that makes it really nice.
If I am looking for a relaxing, get-away-from-it-all type vacation, I would never lie on a beach anywhere. I hate being hot (sorry Dave, no Texas in the summer for me) and cannot lie in the sun due to skin cancer. I am much more likely to take the tent-trailer to a campground (preferably one less traveled!) and sit among the trees reading. For years we went tent camping (it was all that we could afford) but encroaching arthritis makes sleeping on the ground far too uncomfortable anymore!

I've been to about thirty countries now and it's something that brought us together and we continued doing it over the years.

Right now, I think I could deal with the type of holiday that involved sitting on a deck in the mountains and doing nothing. It's been a long time since I've done that.

When you do have a family composed of several nationalities or even in several places, you invariably end up spending your time traveling to see them.

I don't get to go on holiday. No really... the last two years I've taken one of my two weeks of "vacation" time in pay without time off, and the other week a day here or there as needed for doctor visits and other appointments. In fact, in the last "work year" (from hiring anniversary to hiring anniversary, which is how my paid time off is portioned) I took exactly one "day off" that was just a day off, not a half-day with an appt in the afternoon, or a "kid's sick, gotta stay home" day.

However, in the past, I've mostly taken visit-family holidays, although that is sometimes combined with "what to see" holidays, too. For instance, the last two actual vacations my hubby and I have taken were a week each in Indianapolis where his mom and step-dad live. Having never been to Indianapolis, both trips were really a combination of seeing new things and visiting family. I really like Indianapolis, as it turns out, so it's on my list of visit-again-soons. I've also visited Pensacola, FL, for my sis's 21st birthday back when she lived down there, and so of course THAT was a lot of fun, and I got to see a lot of new things there as well.

I've gotten to take a few trips back to the family stomping grounds in Montana and Wyoming, just a few days, or in one case, A day, not even an overnight... I love that area and can't wait until Kit's old enough to go up in the mountains for a hike, so that we can go up there as a family and really get to see the sights.

Sadly, aside from school trips way back in high school, the only other real vacation I've ever taken was my "honeymoon" to Cancun, Mexico from my first marriage. And for the record, I didn't spend a single day on the beach, despite the fact that is where our hotel was... We went to visit ruins, went shopping in markets, hung out in the pool drinking pina coladas, and I got sick for the last two days! (Woohoo!)

Double post

I love to camp and we did it every summer for 3 months as I was growing up.I adore waking up and smelling the pine trees or drifting off to sleep with the sound of a Loon out on the lake.Or smelling bacon and eggs and toast over the open fire in the morning.

I also like to visit with family and friends and I would love to travel overseas to vist a few really close friends but Hubby hates to fly and there is no way unless I drugged him he would go that long on a airplane without a smoke.

I have only ever travelled alone back home to visit family so going somewhere strange alone is not a option.

I would love to take a train across Canada and to Alaska if they had train service.

Skunkee I am dying to hear about your Alaska Trip. Was it fabulous? Did you get eaten by bugs? Did you see alot of Wildlife and the Northern lights although it was probably too warm for them yet.

We have been to California and Las Vegas and I would like to go to the Grand Canyon.

I also love to lie under a shady pine tree and listen to the birds and read.
That to me is a Holiday no money an buy.
PF

I don't like camping - doing the same things I do at home (cooking, washing up, laundry etc), but doing them under primitive conditions, and sleeping in a claustrophobic sleeping bag, on hard ground - no thanks!

Alaska was fantastic PF. We took a Princess ship out of Vancouver, and had port days in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, where we had some terrific excursions. We saw Bald Eagles, Stellar Sea Lions, Harbour Seals, Sea Otters, Dahl's Porpoises and Humpback Whales bubble-net feeding (incredible to watch); we went into an old gold mine and took a bus ride into northern B.C. where we were in a sub-arctic zone with permafrost underneath our feet.
We watched (and heard) glaciers calve in Glacier Bay and College Fijord.
Just sitting on the balcony, reading a book and wayching the mountains pass made the trip worthwhile, without all the rest, which was just icing on the cake.
We got off the ship in Whittier, took a bus to Anchorage airport where we rented a car and headed for Denali national Park (4 1/2 hour drive from the airport). We did an 8 hour bus tour through the park where we saw a Grizzly bear and her cub, Caribou and Dahl's sheep. On the drive back to the airport we saw a Black bear at the side of the road, which was also very cool. Oh, and we did see Mount McKinley.
No Northern Lights though - there is so little darkness at the time of year that we were there (July) that I wasn't waiting up to see if there were any(which there probably weren't)!

When I was in university (many years ago) a friend and I took a train from Toronto to Vancouver. That was a fantastic trip too.

I haven't been on a vacation since 1995 when I flew out to Los Angeles to see a good friend. All the other trips I make are short, to places I've been a million times, to check on an elderly loved relative or help somebody move. How I would love to take in some new scenery...that's probably why I had the inane dream mentioned in my blog.

Never mix headache meds with chocolate milk. Nobody needs to dream about being trapped in a closet full of victorian bric a brac - making you late for lunch in England.

Dave Niagara Falls is about an hour and a quarter from where I live. How long ago were you there?

1. Staying a good hotel and having someone clear up after me, making my bed, cleaning my bathroom.

2. Not having to decide what to eat until the mealtime, having it cooked for me and better still, having someone else washing up the dishes and pots.

3. New places to visit.

4. Shopping.

My ex parents-in-law used to go 'on holiday' for a few days every few weeks, I think for my first couple of reasons. Distance didn't phase them even thought they were elderly, sometimes they went less than two miles from home, sometimes as far as ten miles (by road)! In fairness, when they lived in the UK they travelled much further, they were restricted here by the sheer size of the island, just 9 by 5 miles.

Sue, I like the way you think!

I have some friends who go on holiday twice a year. I've known them for over 20 years. Every winter, they go to Shark Bay for two weeks and every summer, they go to Busselton for two weeks. Both are coastal towns in Western Australia - Shark Bay to the north of Perth, Busselton to the south. Both are lovely places but I can't understand why someone would want to go to there, year in and year out, never seeing any new places. They are very well off and could afford to go anywhere they like.

I have another set of friends that I have known for over 20 years as well. Every year or so, they go to Bali. Bali is a cheap holiday destination for people who live in Perth - much cheaper to fly to Bali than to fly to a destination within Australia, or even within Western Australia.

One day I was telling them about my trip to Singapore and the wife said she would love to go to Singapore but they could only afford Bali. Well, Singapore is not much more expensive than Bali, so I suggested that if they skipped Bali one year and saved up, they could afford to go to Singapore. She couldn't see it!

As I said above, I can't understand why people would want to go to the same place, year after year - unless, of course, you have family there.

No matter how great the destination might be, I want to see new places the next time I go on holiday.

Unfortunately, due to Perth's geographical isolation, travelling is pretty expensive, no matter where you choose to go. Otherwise, I would have travelled a lot more than I have. And when I was younger, I couldn't afford travel as most of my money was spent on medical treatment and the mortgage.

However, I have managed to travel to America (west coast), Mexico, Singapore, Brunei, Holland, Germany and a number of destinations within Australia.

The things that interest me are the natural wonders of the world. When I was a child, I wanted to see the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef - and I have achieved both those goals.

My future travel plans are Ayres Rock (Uluru) next year and more of America in 2008.