Be Excellent To Each Other

Not really the point. The point is about warped perspectives. The IRA were blowing stuff up all over the place, even firebombing round here, I never thought twice about going to Manchester, Warrington or London or anywhere else attacks were being carried out, meanwhile I'm sure many foreigners were avoiding the UK entirely. The unfamiliarity means it's easier to write off a whole country as dangerous and violent because of something you saw on the news but if it was the country you lived in then you would naturally tend to view the risks very differently.

Man on the news just now said the government have not advised against travelling to Tunisa as essentially these attacks can pretty much happen anywhere, you just have to look at Paris earlier this year. Someone with an automatic weapon can cause an awful lot of damage and is relatively easy to get in to almost any location.

My time in Muslim countries was nothing but delightful hospitality and friendliness. Even when we had gotten lost, ended up on top of a mountain in Oman and were invited into the guard post. We had coffee and dates and talked in football team and player names.

These are isolated attacks, I've an ex girlfriend who has spent substantial time in The Yemen and she has never had a problem until Saudi Arabia started bombing the city she was in.

There is two thirds of four fifths of fuck all danger to the tourist areas and it is Deffo not a refectory of the ideology of a country or religion and trying to tie the attacks to either is wrong.

Do you not think you are missing out? I mean this in the nicest way possible.

A walk along the Promenade d'Anglais in Nice is wonderful, seeing the canals of Amsterdam, the flat expanses of the American Midwest, a drink on the terrace of Raffles, watching the sun sink over the carribean?

The Star Wars set in Tunisi... oh, wait

Ugh.

Today I went out alone again (yay, wrong thread sorry) and bought some new clothes. Airwalk shorts, that sort of thing. Any way, I saw these trainers made by Karrimor and fell in love with them, and they were only £40 so I got them.

Came home and grabbed my 3 month old Nike Huarache Light (mango green and white..) and thought "Sod it they look dirty I'll throw them in the washing machine !". However, I had this really clever idea that I was also going to wash my black Adidas Stan Smith Star Wars (Darth Vader) and Luke Skywalker Adidas (both were dirty).

And my poor Huaraches the ink from the black Adidas ran, turning them a putrid grey colour and then I realised I hadn't turned the water to cold so it fucking melted the heel supports and made them bend in, completely writing them off.

Gutted.....

So I had to go and order a new pair

I would much rather stay at home then do any of those things. And I've done four of them (never been to the Midwest).

I'd like to visit Tokyo, but only if staying at home wasn't an option.

Yeah I must say I agree with Grim...

I've been to France, Spain, Italy, Belgium.. I've lived out in the states for all of those years but I tell you what nothing beats the UK. As much as I have my complaints about this country fuck me, I wouldn't even know where to begin with the USA.

My wife's father lives in Wiltshire.. So if we want green we have green. I live by the sea, so if I want beach I have beach. Mum lives slightly inland in a tiny little picturesque village, so if I want quaint I got quaint. I really could not ask for more. Britain is absolutely gorgeous.

And of course there's the place in Hampshire we go to.

The thing is though, a holiday destination doesn't have to 'beat' the UK because comparing them directly is weird and pointless. You're not going on holiday to scope out somewhere to move to; you're just going for a very temporary different experience. I doubt I would ever consider living in another country but I like going on holiday to other places for the sake of the experience.

I can't fucking wait to be well enough to go on holiday. Lost over a grand on the one we had to cancel due to my heart.

In May my lady and I went on holiday... 3 miles away. I'm not even kidding. We had a lovely time though. Got a caravan for four days and just chillaxed

And I'm going to Centre Parcs an hours drive away for a weekend with my family in July. I have no doubt it'll be lovely, but that doesn't affect how much I enjoyed being in Berlin, Rome and Majorca.

I live 7 miles from Blackpool so it's like I'm in a never ending nightmare holiday.

No travel insurance that might cover it?

Not been there for years, has any money been spent on development? Last thing I read they were making in the Vegas of the North with a "super casino" and other things getting built.

Or something provided by your bank account?

Oh yeah then there's that !

For our honeymoon we went on a Caribbean cruise. Mrs JC had a stroke in 2012, that'll be £650 please.

Sod that, I could get a friggin holiday for that much !

I'll see your £650 and raise you £2500 insurance for three nights at euro Disney.

No mate, that was the last thing we had to organise

The holiday was due in May so we thought we had a few months to get organised. But, we got a house out of it and I'm not dead, so that's cool.

Aha ha ha ha!

My mate went to Alton Towers and it cost her an arm and a leg!

My mate went to Alton Towers and it cost her an arm and a leg![/quote
Lolz.

I can't conceive of not wanting to visit other countries to experience differing cultures, languages, cuisines (yep, high on my list). I'm trying to imagine how I'd feel if I'd never set foot off ol' Blighty, not ever - and I just can't.

If you never leave, you can't have the pleasure of coming back

Order a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar in Raffles and they make it using premix and then charge you a fortune for the pleasure. Money-grabbing sods.

The novelty of being back in Birmingham wore off after two minutes of rude selfish Brummie twats.

It is the sentiment, not the details, sir!

Yeah, the 'pleasure' of arriving back into crappy old Terminal 1 @ Manchester Airport; that 70s architecture and grimy fit out is food for the soul; where they charge about £20 for an inedible cooked breakfast that I wouldn't give to my dogs let alone attempt to eat it myself, with an insipid instant coffee that last saw an actual coffee plant sometime back in the '80s; all the queues, the delays, waiting endlessly for luggage that never comes, the morose staff - and as if all this weren't enough, it's invariably pissing down.

Don't get me wrong, I love the UK but, you know, eating exquisitely prepared, grilled baby cuttlefish caught that morning (that cost much less than a tenner) at one of Xàbia's fabulous little bistros by the blue, blue sea lapping gently perhaps 2 feet from where you're seated, with family and good friends, watching the setting sun - just isn't gonna be replicated in Weston super Mare.

I've never been to T1

He was made up though once he had a Singapore Schlong in the Dong Bar.

You're not missing much...

To be fair, my earlier post was obviously an attempt at humour (it's not like Spanish airports are oases of beauty and calm either, though I'd argue they're better than ours).

But, whilst I don't claim to be particularly well traveled by any means, clearly the world does has much to offer. I think I read sometime back that doesn't even possess a passport; I suppose it's up to each individual as to whether or not they want to see anything of the world, but to me, I just don't get it.

When I was a kid we went to France. You had to shit in a hole on the floor and the food was nasty. I mean seriously, snails and frog legs? firstly snails are snails, what's the point? and secondly there is hardly any meat on frog's legs. Oh and then there was the inescapable fact that their sewers are about ten inches under ground so the whole place minged of rotten eggs.

Then we went to Spain. The hotel wasn't finished yet and the water ran orange. Good thing we discovered Orangina really.

And it just continued. The Yanks don't speak proper English and live in wooden houses during hurricane season, nuff said.

Honestly after travelling loads as a kid and even as an adult I can safely say I would rather just stay here. When I left the UK in 1999 our idea of top nosh was a baked bean pizza. So I can forgive you back in those days. Now? we have some of the finest restaurants in the world serving all of the great food so you don't have to visit their shite country for it.

When my lady and I go to Hampshire we always go here.

http://www.verveine.co.uk/

I will vouch for the Turbot. It's incredible.

It always strikes me that in most UK airports, Departures is a lovely glass walled experience with loads of places to eat, whereas in arrivals, you're lucky to find a toilet cubicle where only two of the following features prevail -broken lightbulb, broken lock on the door, sprayed with shit all over the place.

Go to foreign and the opposite holds true. Depatures is an afterthought but arrivals is clean, efficient and welcoming. It's almost like they've considered that it would be a good thing if your first impression of their country is a positive one.

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/arc ... ts/384980/

Interesting article about Isis from what Wikipedia describes as a moderate publication. It is fairly long so you'll finish it quicker if you move your finger under the words faster

They used to throw shit out of windows in London and let it rot in the street. They still do up North.

I also had a terrible campsite experience in the South of France when I was a child, but that was over 30 years ago. There are plenty of shit place in the UK, ditto France, USA, and most other places. Still, some of the best times of my life have been in the States, or Barbados, or France, or Estonia, or Solvakia, etc.

Certainly nicer than when I lived in Moss Side.

What the fuck?

Windows are things that let light into houses. And shit out.

They do throw shit from windows in the North of England as a great many houses or flats are not on the sewer network.

Only at Southerners.

It's quicker than going outside to the toilet

This is a good point, although an airport in foreign may also seem better due to the novelty and holiday feeling. Except LAX, that's a horrid airport with horrid staff in a horrid city.

I tend to go more often to the same place when traveling abroad these days, we have a 2 year old so its more about a decent place with as little traveling hassle as possible.

Just booked my 3rd trip to Benalmadena in Spain for May 2016, the first 2 we spent in a cheap and cheerful hotel, this time we wanted some more space and a better kitchen (hotel had rings and microwave only)

So I booked a 3 bedroom apartment, I found the block this year whilst out for the day, so I know exactly where everything is and what to expect.

Also know the sun will shine and there is a pool which is all I need for a 2 year old!

There are good and bad places everywhere. I actually tested out that "Other side of the tracks" USA saying once. You literally went from white picket fences straight into the ghetto.

As some one who relies heavily on our NHS I can safely say it's the most wonderful organisation in the world bar none. My 'team' are amazing and I could not be without their help. That's the sort of thing that sets the UK apart. For example, mate of mine has Asperger's (USA). Because of that he suffers with anxiety really badly so needs to take Citalopram. However, because of his condition no one will insure him, so he can't get the help or the meds he needs. And this is very common in the USA apparently and "Obamacare" sucks poo filled orifices.

Now I know alot of you fit and healthy young scamps on this forum don't need to lean on healthcare but what if you did? what if you needed 24/7 care like I do?

It's not like I don't speak from experience. BTW? you don't have to live in bad places in the UK. There are ways out. I got out of London....

There are things that irk me about the UK. The town next to me has been referred to as "Little Poland" and whilst I don't mind them one bit (and even make sure I go to the Polish deli for their smoked meats and pickles) they do have bad habits. Like setting huge fires on the beach making them look like ass.

But I can live with that.

I've just had to swear at the work Village Idiot to get him to understand why what he was telling stores was not only wrong but also completely counter-productive and damaging.

Seriously, don't tell people (when you have zero idea of what you are talking about) that a problem has arisen because I have failed to do my job when, in fact, I have done my job perfectly and the problem has arisen because of something completely unrelated to me or my work.

I know that feeling. Sympathies.

Monkey stole our pretzels:



https://goo.gl/photos/ooFz889WFEGxJF5fA

The NHS is great, and I've been on anxiety meds for the last seven years. That doesn't make visiting other countries on holiday for a week a chore that has to be filled with shitting on the floor and eating food you don't like. I like living in the UK. I like the NHS. This has no bearing at all on me having fun in Vegas, or visiting champagne houses and golf courses in France.

One of the couples we are friends with from our NCT course have just lost their 2nd baby

Very early days I don't think they had reached 3 months although they told us all early

We have a private Facebook page for organising events etc and they posted on there

I've typed about 4 replies then deleted them as I just don't know what to say

I think that would be just fine as it is, and lets them know you care.

That's terrible. I can only imagine what they're going through.

My youngest had an operation yesterday to remove a lump from her eyebrow. She's absolutely fine but it was a pretty hard day all in all.