Some people take holidays to the place you want to escape

I guess escape isn’t the right word here as I never wanted to flee the UK. I just wanted to travel elsewhere. The longer I am home the more I wonder what I’m missing. So off I went. As I was waiting at the station today (there was a long delay due to a technical issue on the train further up the line) I saw this advert for a trip to London.


No matter where you are from and how much you are happy or unhappy to be there, people would love to visit that same place, depending on financial or travel restrictions of course. One persons home is someone else’s dream destination, and I think that is pretty cool. I know plenty of you are from places I would love to see for myself!

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54 thoughts on “Some people take holidays to the place you want to escape”

      1. I would love to tour around seeing it all! I was a history major and love architecture so I would love to see every part of England and Scotland.

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      2. Thankfully it is a small country so it is easy to see a lot in a small space of time. Cities like Edinburgh have beautiful natural and architectural beauty, and cities like London have a great mix of old cathedrals and modern skyscrapers. Hopefully you go and I get to read your post 🙂

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    2. It is certainly a country that has a great reputation, so it doesn’t surprise me that I will find many nationalities there. I would love to visit and experience it for myself sooner rather than later.

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  4. I sometimes get this weird sensation in my home town where I am like “If only I were seeing this for the first time”. I think if you’re surrounded by something all the time it just kind of becomes ‘ordinary’ and you stop appreciating it as much as you once did. That being said, living in a city does have this feel of freshness to it – so many people, so many unexpected things that happen daily. It keeps the mundane exciting.

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    1. It is good to try and see your hometown as if you were seeing it as a first time tourist I guess, it helps to appreciate what you have and maybe see things you would have missed before! I also like city living for the reasons you mentioned. Everyday is indeed different and when I go back to the little village I grew up in, I realise how sleepy it is!

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      2. Well it certainly won’t be difficult to travel between the two countries. Two beautiful countries! I went to France as a youngster, my sister visited Milan recently and loved it. Italy has always been on my bucket list.

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  6. There was a funny Twitter meme not long ago – “Me in my state – me everywhere else”. I think it ties in a bit with your post in that we tend to grumble about the boring familiar things when we’re home. Once we gain a bit of distance, the shift in perspective may make us see the merit of the old place. 😉

    Personally I come from a tourist region (Lake Placid, NY) so I’m familiar with people loving it. People who don’t have to live there year round!! (just kidding, it’s pretty awesome).

    As a teen, much as I loved the place, it often felt like a sleepy back end of the woods. Forgotten by time, living on past glory. Even Albany felt like a vibrant metropolis in comparison (for a Brit – that would be akin to Gloucester). And The City, of course, being so tantalizingly near. (That would be London. Only biggerer. With hot dogs instead of fish&chips).

    Now it feels more like a refuge. A haven. That sleepiness is part of its charm. And once you scratch a bit at the surface, it’s hardly a backwards place at all.

    And honestly, how many people can say “Miracle on Ice? Yea, I was there. I was there for all of it!”

    The longer I am home the more I wonder what I’m missing.

    Nothing like poking your nose out into the big wide world to broaden your horizons! And you’re in Australia!! How cool is that! (Still want to pet a wombat…)

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    1. Lake Placid, as soon as you mentioned that I had to google the horror movie. Apparently that Lake Placid is a fictional one? I knew of Lake Placid but wasn’t sure if it was based in the real place 🙂
      I also googled the Miracle on Ice. I knew of the game but hadn’t really researched it. It is a pretty awesome story! Were you actually at the game or just in the area?
      I am pleased to read your reflection on my post and that you have similar feelings of where you are from. I haven’t been, but you paint a nice picture of your home 🙂

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      1. Oh, if I had a dollar for every time someone mentioned that infernal movie … 😉 But you’re right, that one is fictional. Placed in Maine I believe.

        I was at almost every game 🙂 Well, the ones that didn’t start too late in the evening. Sitting on my dad’s shoulders, mostly. A lifelong hockey fan, he had gone and secured tickets as soon as they’d become available – how exactly it worked back then I don’t know, I was a little girl – and scored quite a few, from first round to the finals. But hey, how often do the Olympic Games come to your hometown?

        I also remember some bobsled events we went to with mom (and being utterly fascinated by the Swiss team), a biathlon event (memory of that is fragmentary, people on skis, my red parka, and lots of hot chocolate), and two figure skating events (which were pretty, but I had hoped for more excitement and was deaf to dad’s appreciation of the skill and strength involved).

        That game however is lodged in memory. Even through the betimes foggy lens of preschool childhood. The smells, the sounds, the vibrant energy. And that utterly unexpected win. I was too young to understand any of the larger implications of course. But the game, the atmosphere … those were magical.

        Guess it’s part of why I’ve remained a hockey fan, too.

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      2. Wow, certainly an amazing experience even at a young age. I started to get into hockey around 2004 and after buying a video game to help get to know the sport better (the timezone meant that the actual NHL games were shown on UK TV around 2-3am) and I started following the Colorado Avalanche.

        I am sorry for asking the same question everyone seems to, however don’t worry, I always hear the same questions/movie references every time I speak to someone outside of the UK. ‘Where in Ireland are you from?’ and ‘You sound like you’re from London!’ (said in a cockney/Russel Brand accent)…. But I’ve learned to not mention that movie in future conversations to people from your region xD

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      3. No worries mate 😛

        But it ties in rather nicely with your post in a way – pet peeves about the place we’re from. Or rather, about stereotypes and misconceptions.

        That accent thing is fascinating, too. I think I can separate Britons from the Irish about 9 times out of 10, but only by virtue of having been to both places. Recognizing fellow New Yorkers abroad – now that I have down to an art 😉

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  7. Great post! You couldn’t have said it any better. I am guilty of this a lot with living in Norway. I love having the experience and being able to experience a new culture and new place, but sometimes I want to escape and want out!!!! Thanks for this short, but meaningful post!

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    1. Thank you 🙂 yeah Norway is a very pretty place, but I am sure even Norwegians want to get out and explore a little. It’s in our nature as humans!

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    1. Thank you very much! I appreciate the kind words. I have definitely visited places and been asked ‘why the heck are you here?!’ by locals, it’s always pretty funny. I’m sure I would ask if they were in the little village I am from.

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  9. Great post, Sam. United States is so wicked big and I haven’t seen it all. I want to see Miami very much. Even though I lived in Las Vegas for three years and they were both close by is the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam. Before I can even think about going overseas, I want to see United States.

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    1. Yeah the States is a country that has so much to offer, ski resorts, beaches, deserts, amazing cities… you need a lot of time to see it all, if that is possible. Just don’t forget to explore outside of it as well :p

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  10. This is very true! I’m originally from Delaware in the US, which is a popular tourist destination for the Northeast because of its beaches and tax free shopping, but when it’s your home, sometimes you underestimate its appeal. Its wonder and experience can easily be overlooked.

    After doing a bit of traveling though, I’ve come to appreciate many of the things I took for granted in itty bitty Delaware.

    The UK is on my list to travel though! I’ve always wanted to go, as I generally want to travel pretty much everywhere, but I’ve become even more interested since completing a DNA test and learning I have a significant amount of British/Irish heritage. So now I need to go experience my roots 🙃

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    1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, I’m glad you have similar feelings for Delaware.
      I haven’t participated in an ancestry test, however I have family members that have had some interesting results from it so I’m really eager!
      I also noticed whilst in the States that knowing your heritage is a big thing, I’m assuming American citizens have family that travelled from far and wide and had pretty interesting stories along the way 🙂 I was always having conversations with people that said they were Irish or Swedish for example although they were born in the States!

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      3. Will do!! I’m thinking I’ll still need to wear some layers as we might have a different opinion on warm haha 😂 if you have any must -dos I’d love to hear (or read) about them 🙂

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      4. Oh make sure you take warm clothing! I am sure we had snow up north in England around March/April a couple years back… and it really does vary a lot. To be honest I have only spent a very little amount of time in London and did the typical attractions. You can do a lot of the attractions in one walk in fact- London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace… and many of the great museums are free.
        Scotland I only have visited Edinburgh which is a must in my opinion, although footage of Scotland highlands I have seen are breathtaking.

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  13. I loved how you constructed your words. And yes, its true that our home may be someone else’s dream destination. Your home is number on my bucketlist.

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  16. I think anywhere you’ve never been or where you’ve only lived a few months can take on mythical proportions. It’s when you stay in a place long enough to discover what it’s like to work and do the day-to-day routine at that point you’ve inhabited that country and can actually see it for what it is. Even going on holiday it’s like we’re only stoking the fantasy in our heads of the place.

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    1. Yes I agree, that ‘honeymoon’ phase of travel can quickly change for me once I have to find work, commute on busy trains daily, read the local newspapers and the troubles in the area… A quick holiday visit is completely different to living there. It also helps me to appreciate home more. I realise people have similar problems around the world whether it is politics, economy etc…. the grass isn’t always greener on the other side!

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      1. That’s so true! The grass isn’t greener but it’s easy to fantasise about other places in this way I do this all the time it must be some sort of human impulse to idolise places or fantasise about another place. About reading the news in the local area, it does make the new place seem less safe and nice but an alternative is to opt out of the news together, this has made me feel happier. A good book on that is The News by Alain De Botton where he basically advocates everyone not read the news for a happier life 🙂

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      2. Thanks for the recommendation, it is always nice to hear of other books to discover. I also try to opt out of watching or reading the news, especially now… it seems it is either about Trump or North Korea! I am enjoying the break from TV altogether.
        Thanks for commenting and sharing your thoughts 🙂

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