Rainy Days and Holi-daze - Part One
It seems that many people are dissatisfied with their holidays judging by some of the disgruntled reviews on Trip Advisor. But who knows - perhaps these are the sort of people who moan about everything anyway. Or perhaps they didn't do their homework. Who knows - all I know, is it's getting harder and harder to find the right holiday for "me".
The weather's gone off and it's gone a bit rainy which always makes me think of holidays. i.e. wanting to go on one!
We may all have our own ideas as to what constitutes the perfect holiday. However, as our life moves through it's different stages our holiday needs change, just as our life needs change.
Never underestimate the importance of holidays. They are something that define us, make for long lasting memories, snapshots of our life at key times. Think back to your past, any particular year and I am willing to bet you have just as many memories of your two week holiday that year as the rest of the 50 weeks put together.
A quick potted history of my holidays, to set the context for my current dilemna. Let's start with my childhood - this covers the period up to my mid teens.
Back in the 70s and early 80s holidays never seemed to be that big a priority. Yes we always had one, but it was invariably in the UK, invariably on the cheap, and invariably based around what the parents wanted to do. This frequently involved camping and B&B's - never hotels and certainly never abroad. As for fun things such as Butlins or Disneyworld, this was the stuff of fantasy. Prior to 1985 I set foot out of the country once - on a horrendous day trip to France on a cross channel ferry in 1979.
Now I don't want to sound as if I am being unduly harsh - for all I know it was like this for all families and I certainly don't recall my schoolmates at primary school jetting off to sunnier climes, and certainly no-one ever went on holiday in term time. Perhaps this was just as it was back then.
Eventually as I grew older and my voice became heard I was able to negotiate some input into the holidays, and I did manage to persusade my dad to take me to Blackpool for a few days one summer but even then I had to endure a week of tramping up and down mountains in the lake district first - something I find absolutely dismal. The camping holidays also extended into France by the mid 80s and I even had my own tent. Which came in very handy in the summer of '86 when I met a young mademoiselle who showed me that French girls were a little more forward thinking than their equivalents back home in my church youth group.
What I really wanted to do was get away from my parents, like any teenagers so I could get up to what I wanted, and I achieved this through the discovery of PGL. With them I had two holidays in England and one in France. The one in France was when I was 17, I arrived at the coach station in London alone, not knowing anyone and boarded a bus with a load of other 16-18 year olds for our two week adventure in France. Sounds quite a brave thing to do looking back but exactly what I needed - leaping into an adventure in the unknown. What an amazing two weeks that was - windsurfing, canoeing, not to mention all the stuff that went on at night. I was a changed person when I returned, for the first time feeling full of confidence about my ability to make my way in the world.
From the late 80s to the mid 90s I was in a relationship so priorities changed. Emma & I were teenagers when we met, and we also wanted the opportunity to get away on our own. After a couple of years of little trips in the UK, we finally went on our first package holiday, and I stepped on to an aeroplane for the first time in my life at the age of 20, and we flew to Greece, with lots of drachma in my pocket (about 250 dr to a £1 if I remember rightly).
The island we stayed on was tiny and had very little tourism. People go on about how cheap it was back then but in this place untouched by mass tourism it really was true. We really could have a 3 course meal with wine for a fiver a head. And all of this normally taking place literally in someone's garden with about 3 tables with their grandmother cooking the meal. And there was nothing to do on the island at all really, but we didn't mind, we were a young couple on their first holiday together so it was all we wanted back then.
all you needed for one of these in 1990
I think you would struggle to find a holiday like that now. At some point in the last couple of decades most people in Greece (and other countries) cottoned on that they really could get more than 50p for a beer when we were paying £2 plus back home. Not that it seems to have done their economies any good.
As for the cost of the holiday, well I remember us paying £300 each for the trip, and for many years afterwards it was still quite feasible to get holidays at a similar price, it was only the spending money that increased. As late as the early 2000's I can remember getting holidays out of season for peanuts.
We had a few more holidays as a couple, some in the UK and some abroad, as well as holidays with friends, including my first and last trip to Pontins in the summer of '93 with Darren & Lisa. It rained all week and me and Darren spent a lot of our time on the racing games in the arcade.
Eventually by the autumn of '95 I was newly single and again struck out on my own, flying off to Fuerteventura on a whim on my own. Met up with some people the first night & again had an amazing time. Over the next decade, I was in and out of relationships and my holidays changed accordingly. During single periods I was able to indulge in suitable holidays - such as when Michael and I went to Ibiza with 2wentys (very like Club 18-30). That was probably a candidate for best holiday ever - I could fill a whole blog with what went on during those two weeks! When with girlfriends we tended to do the standard package holiday - always self-catering, and always having nice meals out in tavernas in the evening. Over those years I covered most of the major Greek islands, Balearics, Canaries, Algarve etc. I was earning quite good money by this stage so two holidays a year was the norm. There were a few other odd trips as well, such as week spent in Lillehammer in Norway during the winter of '99 in deep snow. How I ended up there during Cheltenham week of all weeks is a long story I won't go into now.
Then I had the ultimate trip during my 3 month sabbatical from Nielsen in the Autumn of 2004, taking in LA (Hollywood), Hawaiii, New Zealand, Australia and Dubai. This was the crowning pinnacle of my travels and I couldn't see how I could top it after that. Which I was unlikely to anyway with my marketing career drawing to a close and the spectre of unemployment looming.
Fast forward to January 2007 and now I'm with Claire and we're over to Corralejo in Fuerteventura, my favourite destination. First holiday together and we are having a very nice time, doing lots of couple things, lovely evenings out in restaurants, and everything else that a couple in a new relationship enjoy. At the time we were blissfully unaware of the baby growing inside her, which among all the other changes that it would bring to a person's life, was also to have a huge impact on how we would holiday in the future.
And all of that will be covered in Part Two...coming soon.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason x x
The weather's gone off and it's gone a bit rainy which always makes me think of holidays. i.e. wanting to go on one!
We may all have our own ideas as to what constitutes the perfect holiday. However, as our life moves through it's different stages our holiday needs change, just as our life needs change.
Never underestimate the importance of holidays. They are something that define us, make for long lasting memories, snapshots of our life at key times. Think back to your past, any particular year and I am willing to bet you have just as many memories of your two week holiday that year as the rest of the 50 weeks put together.
A quick potted history of my holidays, to set the context for my current dilemna. Let's start with my childhood - this covers the period up to my mid teens.
Back in the 70s and early 80s holidays never seemed to be that big a priority. Yes we always had one, but it was invariably in the UK, invariably on the cheap, and invariably based around what the parents wanted to do. This frequently involved camping and B&B's - never hotels and certainly never abroad. As for fun things such as Butlins or Disneyworld, this was the stuff of fantasy. Prior to 1985 I set foot out of the country once - on a horrendous day trip to France on a cross channel ferry in 1979.
Now I don't want to sound as if I am being unduly harsh - for all I know it was like this for all families and I certainly don't recall my schoolmates at primary school jetting off to sunnier climes, and certainly no-one ever went on holiday in term time. Perhaps this was just as it was back then.
Eventually as I grew older and my voice became heard I was able to negotiate some input into the holidays, and I did manage to persusade my dad to take me to Blackpool for a few days one summer but even then I had to endure a week of tramping up and down mountains in the lake district first - something I find absolutely dismal. The camping holidays also extended into France by the mid 80s and I even had my own tent. Which came in very handy in the summer of '86 when I met a young mademoiselle who showed me that French girls were a little more forward thinking than their equivalents back home in my church youth group.
What I really wanted to do was get away from my parents, like any teenagers so I could get up to what I wanted, and I achieved this through the discovery of PGL. With them I had two holidays in England and one in France. The one in France was when I was 17, I arrived at the coach station in London alone, not knowing anyone and boarded a bus with a load of other 16-18 year olds for our two week adventure in France. Sounds quite a brave thing to do looking back but exactly what I needed - leaping into an adventure in the unknown. What an amazing two weeks that was - windsurfing, canoeing, not to mention all the stuff that went on at night. I was a changed person when I returned, for the first time feeling full of confidence about my ability to make my way in the world.
From the late 80s to the mid 90s I was in a relationship so priorities changed. Emma & I were teenagers when we met, and we also wanted the opportunity to get away on our own. After a couple of years of little trips in the UK, we finally went on our first package holiday, and I stepped on to an aeroplane for the first time in my life at the age of 20, and we flew to Greece, with lots of drachma in my pocket (about 250 dr to a £1 if I remember rightly).
The island we stayed on was tiny and had very little tourism. People go on about how cheap it was back then but in this place untouched by mass tourism it really was true. We really could have a 3 course meal with wine for a fiver a head. And all of this normally taking place literally in someone's garden with about 3 tables with their grandmother cooking the meal. And there was nothing to do on the island at all really, but we didn't mind, we were a young couple on their first holiday together so it was all we wanted back then.
all you needed for one of these in 1990I think you would struggle to find a holiday like that now. At some point in the last couple of decades most people in Greece (and other countries) cottoned on that they really could get more than 50p for a beer when we were paying £2 plus back home. Not that it seems to have done their economies any good.
As for the cost of the holiday, well I remember us paying £300 each for the trip, and for many years afterwards it was still quite feasible to get holidays at a similar price, it was only the spending money that increased. As late as the early 2000's I can remember getting holidays out of season for peanuts.
We had a few more holidays as a couple, some in the UK and some abroad, as well as holidays with friends, including my first and last trip to Pontins in the summer of '93 with Darren & Lisa. It rained all week and me and Darren spent a lot of our time on the racing games in the arcade.
Eventually by the autumn of '95 I was newly single and again struck out on my own, flying off to Fuerteventura on a whim on my own. Met up with some people the first night & again had an amazing time. Over the next decade, I was in and out of relationships and my holidays changed accordingly. During single periods I was able to indulge in suitable holidays - such as when Michael and I went to Ibiza with 2wentys (very like Club 18-30). That was probably a candidate for best holiday ever - I could fill a whole blog with what went on during those two weeks! When with girlfriends we tended to do the standard package holiday - always self-catering, and always having nice meals out in tavernas in the evening. Over those years I covered most of the major Greek islands, Balearics, Canaries, Algarve etc. I was earning quite good money by this stage so two holidays a year was the norm. There were a few other odd trips as well, such as week spent in Lillehammer in Norway during the winter of '99 in deep snow. How I ended up there during Cheltenham week of all weeks is a long story I won't go into now.
Then I had the ultimate trip during my 3 month sabbatical from Nielsen in the Autumn of 2004, taking in LA (Hollywood), Hawaiii, New Zealand, Australia and Dubai. This was the crowning pinnacle of my travels and I couldn't see how I could top it after that. Which I was unlikely to anyway with my marketing career drawing to a close and the spectre of unemployment looming.
Fast forward to January 2007 and now I'm with Claire and we're over to Corralejo in Fuerteventura, my favourite destination. First holiday together and we are having a very nice time, doing lots of couple things, lovely evenings out in restaurants, and everything else that a couple in a new relationship enjoy. At the time we were blissfully unaware of the baby growing inside her, which among all the other changes that it would bring to a person's life, was also to have a huge impact on how we would holiday in the future.
And all of that will be covered in Part Two...coming soon.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason x x
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