Anybody else here never been abroad?

[SteCenturion]

I don't fear flying or very much at all really (although this may lead to my premature demise) but I kinda fear the pain that accompanies flying.

I get terrible headaches and can't clear the pressure in my ears.

On the way to the Falklands - we landed to re fuel at Ascension Island & I couldn't hear the Captains announcement or the stewardesses or even those next to me.

My ears were bleeding inside & I had to have a month (working) on Ascension before continuing for my Falklands tour.

Still to this day it affects me, especially if the take off or descent is rapid in metres gained/lossed over short distance.

Feel very silly when tears role down my face & I near bite my own teeth out yet kiddies are happy as Larry.

Done all the boiled sweetie things & some stupid ear venting plugs that don't work.

Oh well - the pleasure & the pain.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Been abroad once , had a bad experience on flight home and sorry to say it put me right off and never did it again.

??

You seem to have got the wrong end of the stick here.... It should be FLYING that you have been put off of, not travelling!!

When I happen to mention it though people look at me with a sort of pity as if I've been deprived.

We used to have alternating holidays so we'd go abroad one year, holiday here the next.

Much as I love this country, to me never being abroad just smacks of a complete lack of imagination, sorry.

 

[simon the viking]

I've not got a passport, and never felt the need to go abroad.
Strangely the biggest problem I face by not having a passport, is proving who I am to the government every three years when my license is renewed.

Mrs V has trouble..... her last passport is well out of date and in her maiden name and she only has a provisional licence.... when we tried to get a joint home improvement loan with my bank they wouldn't accept anything she had as I.D........ She was fuming

 

[gbb]

Salford flats on mainland Espana' to me that place.

Never been - never will.

Not posh - not stuck up - does anyone else find scenes of Benidorm kind of (lossed for the description) - oh yes - Oppressive ?

TBF, Benidorm Is clean, well maintained, busy, its not run down, lovely but busy sandy beach, clean sea, nice old town, brilliant aquapark..I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. What its like after say 11pm, I dont know, but day and evening...lovely place...and I am quite fussy.
We booked, then the TV series started and I wondered what the hell we'd done...but no regrets whatsoever.
Salou, another resort somewhere near..now that was a dive.

 

[Brains]

Weird, very weird.
Two out of four parents born outside the UK (India, as was and Czechoslovakia, as was)
Other two parents (too young for WWII) travelled across Europe in the late 40's and across the world in the 50's and 60's
Therefore as little kids we though nothing of France for the weekend, Switzerland for Easter and outside Europe for the Summer school holidays

I've still not been to Antarctica ..... yet.....

 

[F70100]

I've been travelling abroad (Europe) every week for work for the last 20 years and have truly had a bellyfull of airports. Consequently, we haven't been abroad on holiday for the last 5 years. I think I might be able to face it again when I've retired.

 

[ColinJ]

I don't fear flying or very much at all really (although this may lead to my premature demise) but I kinda fear the pain that accompanies flying.

I get terrible headaches and can't clear the pressure in my ears.

On the way to the Falklands - we landed to re fuel at Ascension Island & I couldn't hear the Captains announcement or the stewardesses or even those next to me.

My ears were bleeding inside & I had to have a month (working) on Ascension before continuing for my Falklands tour.

Still to this day it affects me, especially if the take off or descent is rapid in metres gained/lossed over short distance.

Feel very silly when tears role down my face & I near bite my own teeth out yet kiddies are happy as Larry.

Done all the boiled sweetie things & some stupid ear venting plugs that don't work.

Oh well - the pleasure & the pain.

I had exactly the same problem until I started using Earplanes - they really do work for me. I put them in about 20 minutes before take-off, leave them in for the entire flight, and don't take them out until about 30 minutes after landing. Make sure you get the right size and fit them securely.

I got a vivid illustration of the pressure changes during flights after I drank a cycling bottle dry mid-air (in the days when they still let you take drinks on planes). I closed the valve and watched the bottle get crushed flat by increasing air pressure as we came in to land! A young couple next to me were whimpering in pain and the young woman burst into tears.

 

[vernon]

I have met old men in Yorkshire who have barely travelled 10 miles from home - examples!

My ex's mum used to be a social worker in Bradford and she was shocked to find that some of the teenage mums that she was working with had never been out of Bradford, never seen a cow, sheep or horse in real life, despite only living about 5 miles from glorious countryside! She organised a trip to the Yorkshire coast for them to show them what the sea looked like ...

Nothing has changed on that front. There's still a small number of kids that I come across who have never been to Bradford City centre never mind getting out of Bradford.

I was surprised once when I did an impromptu cover lesson and got kids to map their sphere of activity/influence on google map. For some it was a four hundred metre radius circle containing all of their friends, relatives and retail/food shops.

 

[Accy cyclist]

My late dad's only experience of foreign travel was to Hong Kong in the early 1950's for his National Service. My mum has been to Spain once on holiday with my brother and his family. My in-laws haven't left this isle,well my father in law came here from Canada during the war as a 4 year old and has always talked of going back to see family but he's scared of flying. I've been on the usual package holidays and coach trips to France but never ventured out of Europe.I've never cycled abroad as i couldn't fathom out the right hand highway code!

 

[jefmcg]

I'm a little shocked by this: abroad is 23 miles from the Kent coast. There really is no excuse.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I'm a little shocked by this: abroad is 23 miles from the Kent coast. There really is no excuse.

In my case 316 miles and 5 and a half hours travelling! It'd be like going abroad just getting to Dover!

 

[Archie_tect]

Despite living only 40 miles away, in Leeds [until 1977], I've only been to Manchester twice.

 

[marzjennings]

I find it weird not to want to travel and see new things. I started traveling in school with exchanges, school trips and sports tours. Through Uni and as soon as I got my own cash (parents never traveled, never had the spare cash) carried on visiting some of Europe. Starting working and found a job that allowed me to visit, work and play across all of Europe. Travel was so crazy for a while I had two passports, one to travel and the other in for visa's for the next trip. Lived and moved to 6 countries for work. Ridden tours across Scotland, Morocco, The Canadian Rockies and the Alps. And every year the wife and I drag the atlas out to see what's new to go see. Just got back from Bermuda and thinking maybe Rio next year. Had a man-cation with the mates kayaking in Seattle last year, thinking of a 4x4 trip to Iceland this year.

I keep toying with the idea of moving to Australia or New Zealand. Plenty of work and contacts down there, just trying to time it right with my daughters school life.

When we retire in 20 years that'll be when the travel will really go nuts, visiting everything we missed and revisiting places that need revisiting.

 

[Pale Rider]

I'm a little shocked by this: abroad is 23 miles from the Kent coast. There really is no excuse.

Staying in this country is not an offence which need be excused.

Quite the reverse, widespread access to international travel has been a very mixed blessing.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I've never been a broad.