He Says She Says 02/09/10

This week: To holiday home or abroad?

He Says:

Finally, the long school summer holidays are behind us. I hope you had a great one, somewhere hotter and sunnier than Essex – perhaps sitting by a pool sipping cocktails?

No? Me neither!

My wife decided she would rather drag (and I mean drag - literally kicking and screaming!) to the Lake District where there she attempted to march me up a mountain like the Grand Duke Of York.  Despite her best attempts – I would have died of exhaustion - we compromised and climbed a hill instead. Or as the locals called it ‘a nipple on the landscape’.

She fervently believes that a holidaying here in the UK can be just as much fun as going abroad to sunnier climes.

It is unfair to say this country doesn’t have its fair share of beauty but only a foreigner would notice it. Familiarity breeds contempt and whilst I did find the Lake District to be truly stunning, it lacks that one holiday essential that sets your brain to truly wind down – sunshine! Unless you’re taking to the piste, having to wear warm clothes on holiday is so very wrong.

I had two kids with me who wondered why we went to see another lake after we had already visited one - I think they did have a point - and just don’t get me started on the pencil museum!

However, this will be logged as another protest I was never going to win and so I returned from this year’s Day family holiday even more knackered than when I left and needing a foreign beach holiday. My 16-year-old daughter has vowed to never go on another British holiday with us. However, she has said that she’s happy to join mum and dad on a trip to an all inclusive resort somewhere sunny. Bless her, she’s all heart…

She Says:

The kids are back at school and another summer holiday is behind us and hopefully you managed to get away for a week or two wherever it may have been. Once again this year I decided to holiday in this country – and I’ll be doing the same next year.

There are a number reasons why, but the main one for staying in dear old Blighty is cost.

I could not believe when I looked on the internet how much it was going to cost to take me my partner and four kids. For a start we have to go in the school holidays and we would need two rooms.

One of the other reasons I chose a holiday here in the UK is I could not stand the amount of time it took us to get to our last foreign destination - and the time it took just to get through passport control on our return. When Lily and I went on our own we arrived home at ten o’clock at night and had to queue to get our passports checked, we were bumped about by hundreds of other people who are all in bad mood because they are coming home, it’s no fun.

When you holiday here you can choose when you travel and on which ever roads you wish. What can be better than loading up the car and being in total control of your travel arrangements, plus being able to stop when we need to and arriving whenever we arrive – brilliant!

There are some amazing places to visit in this country if there wasn’t, why would so many people from other countries spend their holidays here? We just don’t appreciate what we have on our doorstep.

I also think there is nothing better for the kids than to experience our beautiful countryside at first hand - to be out and about in places they have never been to before, to experience the wonderful weather we can have in Britain and to meet people from all parts of our great country.

Being in a sunny place does not always mean that you will have more fun or a better holiday, what makes it good is the fun you have together - wherever that is.

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