h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Holidays - the idea of spending ages next to a pool lying down not doing anything seems like torture.

I've not had many holidays abroad - Germany in 1985, Boston USA in 1989, Honeymoon (Athens and Rhodes) in 2005, Rome for a weekend in 2007, Turkey for a week in 2008, Cyprus and a day in Egypt in 2010 and Dublin for a weekend in 2011. My inlaws plan a family trip abroad in 2013.

My idea of a holiday is a walking one - grab a map and walk from one side to another. The trouble is, I don't seem to have any like-minded friends. I did manage to persuade a couple of people to walk Hadrian's Wall a few years ag, and although I'd hoped to do the South Downs Way this year, no-one I know was interested in a week's 100 mile hike.

What I do believe in is making the most of the area around where you live. Growing up on the Island, we often went to Carisbrooke Castle, Osborne House, the usual attractions, but that was about it. Never really went to the mainland, as that cost a lot of money, and it was too awkward having to plan when you were going to leave in order to arrive back in time to catch the ferry you were booked on. Now I'm based on the mainland, the whole point of living on the mainland is that you can drive to anywhere, stay as long as you want, and drive back without arriving at least half an hour before sailing! Why not make every weekend a holiday and visit the local places of interest, not only where you live, but all the neighbouring counties too?

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I grew up as a military dependent, so we did all of the moving about and living in foreign countries before I was grown. Apparently it wasn't enough for me, as I enlisted myself and continued doing that for six more years. I can honestly say I've knocked everything off the bucket list before age 35, with one or two exceptions. I made sure I had most of it out of my system before I moved down here to the end of the universe, and sure enough, I've been content for sixteen years to just stay put.

I have two friends who are double income no kids, and they are consumed with ennui at the thought of "boring" vacations, so I'll share a couple of their excursions here.

Two years ago, they mashed up their two favorite movies, Star Wars - Episode IV and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and spent two weeks stalking movie locations in Tunisia, Cairo, Jordan, and Nepal. Nearly the legendary, "Timbuktu to Kathmandu."

Two years previous to that, they explored the history of America in space, with trips to Houston, TX, Cape Canaveral in Florida, and centering on the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

So, maybe pick a theme and put several locations together, like a giant expensive scavenger hunt.

This all looks damn cool and is the cheapest way to book trains etc I think to do all the trans siberian routes..or even the whole shebang from London to Moscow via train before embarking on the eastern route to either China, Japan etc and ferries can be part of it too.

I did Budapest/Moscow when younger. Totally brilliant and relaxing and hypnotic. Can't recommend Russian trains enough.

What it is to dream of such things. I've a few ideas for next year...dunno what'll happen or not.


http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm

that's amazing! what a fabulous site. thanks effers!

"Can't recommend Russian trains enough."

Wish I could say the same for French trains. Got stuck on one for 12 hours going from Lyon to Nice, mainly because it had set on fire.

That said, a lovely French-Algerian family shared their lunch with us, and some Spanish backpackers had a few games of cards going, so the day wasn't a write off.

Just about every holiday with my father was spent camping. He loved camping. As remotely as possible - he refused to use any campsites with caravan access, because they'd be overrun. And then his idea of a good time was to sit around in his chair in front of the tent all day. And we weren't allowed to go off and play with any other children there - this was "family" time - nor were we allowed to bring more than one book each. For two weeks! Those holidays bored me to tears, though I'm sure I'd appreciate the places we went more now, as an adult...

At the moment, I seem to end up just going to visit my family for every holiday. Though we did go to France for a week's horse riding holiday at Easter, which was nice.

Hmmm, I am booked to go to Brussels for a dreamy weekend in a few weeks. Maybe not so good.

I wonder whether some of the expats here sometimes feel, as I do, that we are permanently on holiday.

Yes

Not quite, but I do sometimes wonder what the point of going on holiday is. After several weeks non-stop working, I am glad to just have time off work and be at home all day.

Sez she who has just this minute got in from this year's holiday.

I thought I hadn't missed much by not going away when all the hassle of packing and Who's going to feed the started beforehand

Had a great time exploring Jersey but equally looking forward to my staycation in a few weeks.

This is the sort of travelling I dream of - around the planet - at will - no foward planning. This chap left Germany when the wall came down and has been going ever since.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18910560

My favourite holiday was when I went Inter-Railing for a month between school and starting university. I spent months planning it all out in minute detail and then, one week in, the hottest summer in recorded European history meant I had to abandon my plans and start making it up as I went along. It was awesome.

I'd planned a route that took me through France, into the Alps and Switzerland, back into France to meet my foster dad/rugby mates then head south through the Pyrenees, French Riviera, Italy and then back through the Balkans, central Europe and Belgium. The heat however was lethal: I can't handle heat very well and there were day time temperatures in the low 40s when I'd previously never experienced anything hotter than the high 20s. When I met my friends/family in central France I developed a severe case of heatstroke and realised continuing south would end my holiday.

Got to Bordeaux and spent a couple of days recovering and decided I'd have to go north. Got to the train station, looked at the departures board for trains heading north and my choices were St Malo or Brussels. Brussels train left first so I got on that. From then on it was literally a case of getting to train stations, picking a train essentially at random and getting on it. If I liked where I ended up, I hung around, if not I moved on. I didn't see a lot of what I wanted to see (Rome and the Balkans in particular) but I got to see a lot of places I otherwise wouldn't have. Luxembourg City stands out as a particular unexpected gem.

I had what I still count as perhaps the best night of my life in Venice: whilst waiting for the youth hostel to open I got chatting to these Mancunian girls and an lone American lad. We spent the day as a group exploring Venice, having pizza on the banks of the Grand Canal and pistachio gelato from a stall on this tiny little alleyway. We caught the last water bus across to Giudecca and me and this American lad ended up sitting up all night outside, cuddling and chatting. I watched the sunrise over Venice in his arms.

I also remember getting to Dover and using an ATM and being so happy to get out British money and being shocked by how big the 20 quid note was: I'd gotten used to the tiny euro notes. I also remember walking around to my mates house in London and him laughing because a) I'd lost about a stone in weight and was very tanned and toned (it didn't last) and b) when he'd last seen me, I couldn't lift the rucksack which I then had draped around one shoulder.

Sounds great!

Just came back from a weekend in Brussels. It was great. Also, as nobody knows which local language to use to a stranger (there are two and they are treated pretty much as mutually exclusive of each other), everybody talks to you in English until they work out whether you speak French of Flemmish!

By that time you have ordered lunch and are settled into your second beer.

I was 22 when I did my 'Grand Tour' through some of Europe. The money for it was provided by a part of my inheritance from my deceased father. It wasn't a lot but I managed to get some money using the 'Education' clause of the will that otherwise wouldn't give me anything until I was 25. Good thing that, since I was married with a child on the way by then. The educational part of the trip was tours of various television related places, like the Angenieux factory outside of Paris, the redistribution centre in Lyon, a tour of the BBC in London and the Vinten assembly plant in Bury St. Edmonds. But mostly I stayed in great student hostels in the South of England and Wales and wondered through France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Brussels, Holland and then back to England, Wales and Ireland, meeting people from all over and making some good friends. Plus I got to meet relatives that I had only seen in Christmas photos, which was perhaps the biggest pleasure (Yorkshire, Winchester, Isle of Wight and Cardiff). All in all very possibly the best two months of my life (so far).

Any holiday involving the Isle of Wight is inevitably going to be one the best times of your life

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I've been having a holiday thought which is probably far too late for this topic, but I've decided that the only way to have a really relaxing and enjoyable holiday is to make damn sure you have everything tied up before you go.

If you spend your holiday worrying about everything you have still to do when you get back (be it housework, office work, work work..) you're never going to get any peace.