Wish you were here

… well, okay then, not really!

I shall be on this beach in Menorca tomorrow; I might send a postcard if I get the chance.

Holiday snaps and postcards here please.

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That’s brave, right in the middle of typhoon season. I also heard they’re worried bout the volcano. Also, strange migratory patterns taking great white sharks, giant squids, and portsmouth fans to those beaches.

Have good time tho!

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And giant wasps Bear, don’t forget them as well!

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Oh yeah watch out for the giant wasps, they’re the size of pigeons. They don’t bother you though, as long as you can speak fluent mandarin.

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Thanks for the heads-up, Bear!

Could you recommend a cheap Brummie B&B that takes last minute bookings please? :slight_frown:

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Have fun Halo! Another four weeks till my holiday :frowning: …but then I’ve got two back to back! :slight_smile:

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Cheers Lou!

Coincidentally, we’re having two holidays this year - we’ve gone a bit extravagant celebrating Mrs Stickman’s early retirement. Actually, I feel a bit guilty about mentioning it because I realise some people are hard pushed to fit in one holiday, let alone two, due to financial, work or other commitments; and having been in this position myself I know it can be a bit irritating listening to others going on about their damn holidays!

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And that, my man, is why you won the badge for Forum Gent. :slight_smile:

Originally posted by @Halo-Stickman

Cheers Lou!

Coincidentally, we’re having two holidays this year - we’ve gone a bit extravagant celebrating Mrs Stickman’s early retirement. Actually, I feel a bit guilty about mentioning it because I realise some people are hard pushed to fit in one holiday, let alone two, due to financial, work or other commitments; and having been in this position myself I know it can be a bit irritating listening to others going on about their damn holidays!

I’d be one of those people. Never really went on family holidays as a kid. Think we’ve been on three or four non-Southampton trips. One of those things; if you’ve never had it, you don’t miss it. The old dear used to make sure I could go on school trips, etc. We do the same with ours, but especially with the self-employment status (no paid holidays), it’s the old double-whammy. Spending lots of money without making it.

The other factor is just disagreement on what we’d do. I am not a fan of beach holidays, sitting about or staying in one place. My ideal holiday would probably involve sleeper trains, a packed itinerary and the achievement of multiple outcomes. The missus inexplicably wants to plonk her ginger arse on a beach and do fuck all for a fortnight. The situation continues in this state of tension.

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Over the last 8 years we have gone on family holidays to euro camp. These involve staying in a caravan and going on day trips from said caravan. I do find these holidays much better than the Turkish beach holidays that we used to go on. After a few days you are thinking, I could do with going home now.

We have this trip to Morroco in 2 weeks, which we are now looking forward to, our hotel is in a spa, but there are day trips planned as well. So it is a little bit relaxing, but seeing plenty, without the kids for a week. I think from now on, we will be looking more at city breaks, this way you get to see interesting places, that you do not see sat around a pool day after day, as that just does not forfil me at all anymore.

Oh god. Family holidays. We only ever had the one - camping in Cornwall. A complete and utter unmitigated disaster. So much so we laugh about it now. It started by overloading the car (6 of us plus camping gear and the kitchen sink) to the point where the suspension was grinding on the road and we had to pull over and dump Dad’s multiple bottles of home brew and a load of other stuff just to get out of Southampton. It went down hill from that point onwards and we never attempted another. I have much happier memories of day trips to Bournemouth.

Our family was completely disfunctional, but then I think most families probably are. Even the middleclasses with their swanky holidays.

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We won’t be having a holiday this year - Mr HR is still out of work :frowning:

But usually we aim for a week in a rented cottage somewhere in England. We love England and can’t be arsed with all the hassle of airports, flying and hot weather. Last year we went back to Ironbridge - so, so interesting.

We also try to get a city break that we can get to by train but that won’t happen this year either - think it’ll be days out

Sorry to hear that Hoofinruth - hope he gets some luck soon.

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I know exactly what you mean, Pap. The only holiday I had with my parents was when my dad managed to rent a sort of beach-hut from his uncle a few miles away from where we lived; and I didn’t actually go abroad until I was into my early 30s. But, like you say, what you haven’t had, you don’t miss; and, in the main, I’ve got very happy memories of my childhood with or, as it turned out, without holidays.

I also know what you mean about beach holidays, but with a snorkel, kayak-hire and half a dozen or so new books on my kindle I can just about ‘suffer’ it for a week or so. :smile:

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Used to love the day trips to Bouremouth with my mum and dad and when a bit older a friend. We used to sit in the parks, when they had candles lighting up the place near the sea front, eat fish and chips, from round the corner, inside this park. Play crazy golf and then go home.

When I got a bit older, school leaving year up to 18/19, big groups of friends used to grab the train across from Southampton to Bouremouth probably a couple of times a week and say on the beach all day, playing football, cricket and just lounging around. Carefree days for sure.

Family holidays abroad we never had. The first time I went abroad was as an 18 year old with my girlfriend at the time. As a family we just used to go on day trips. Bouremouth, sandbanks, London, big old houses, oh and don’t forget Winsor safari park (now Legoland) oh and tucktonia in Dorset, the model village, which is no more! We used to go out pretty much every day in the summer, even if it was just to the new forest for the day. It seemed pretty good at the time… The simple things!

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Two of the best breaks Mrs Stickman and I had were when our parents volunteered to look after our kids and we snatched a weekend away. The first time was at Winchester and the second was at Poole - it’s just a shame I didn’t know BTripz back then!

Edit: having re-read that, perhaps I should make it clear that I wasn’t suggesting a threesome, more that Bob being, I believe, a resident of Poole, he could have bought us a beer. Phew.

Hey Hoofinruth,

we stayed Oswestry in 2009 and went into Ironbridge, got an ice cream from the ice cream place on the corner, then went to Blisshill, to take a walk through old times. Fantastic place.

We tend to do cottage breaks with my sister and my brother-in-law and my nephew. I think they are brilliant, can cook eat and drink together and just chill out. We all stayed in a place for Christmas for my 40th, the whole family. It was fantastic, but, did want to kill each other by day 5!

Hope things look up mate, it is pretty tough out there, but good times are just around the corner.

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When I was little, we used to spend virtually every summer Sunday at Hayling Island. Picnic lunch on the grassy bit near the Amusement Arcade, then the beach, then the Amusement Arcade when I was in my teens (cos that’s where the boys were ;)). Then we’d go home via Portsdown and stop for strawberries and ice-cream from the genuine Italian ice-cream vendor, play near the forts and roll down the hill.

Were summer Sundays always hot back then?

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Really got me thinking about this, but the days did always seem nice, warm/hot sunny, carefree and really long. Never used to appreciate it that much at the time, but my parents put a lot of effort into keeping me and my sister entertained and all we did a lot of the time was moan.

Now my rents did not have much money, but I know how much a day trip can cost these days, so not sure if things were less commercial and a little bit cheaper. Even a trip to the new forest is pretty cheap to get there, but then there is food and drinks and normally something from a shop.

It saddens me that a lot of the places we used to go to have gone, but without going abroad I have a lot of good memories from my childhood.

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Originally posted by @hoofinruth

Were summer Sundays always hot back then?

Careful hoofinruth, I can feel a 100+ page Global Warming Thread coming on :slight_frown: