Dullest Holiday Ever

[okidoke]

So I’m away on the coast. With the wife. The estranged wife. The weather is tragic. Our dolphin swim has been canceled for the second time. Apart from a 3hr blues train ride with dinner this Saturday night, the dolphin swim was the only other thing we had to look forward to. There isn’t much around to see or do down here when the weather is crappy. We lunched at a winery yesterday which wasn’t too bad and we’re going out to dinner tonight, but we have zero to talk about. We just read our books or watch tv. At least the bed is comfy and I’m spending a bit of time in it, resting, sleeping. Tomorrow we’re heading into a larger city to spend the day at a huge shopping mall just for something to do. Maybe I’ll find some new clothes as my wardrobe sucks these days. The Airbnb we’re at is very peaceful though. Unbelievably quiet in fact. I don’t think I’ve EVER been to a place so quiet and that includes all my camping trips. Perhaps the double glazed doors and windows have something to with that as it’s blowing a gale out there and I can’t hear it. Anyway, three days to go with not much to look forward to.

Do you have a dull or painful holiday story?

 

[CenotaphGirl]

Ugh Paris, mid Nov, for a 3 night trip… rained the wholeeeee time and the hotel was full of pervy workmen and all entertainment was cancelled.

 

[Punisher]

I've never left the UK. That's as dull as it can get.

 

[ringwood]

Our trip across Canada earlier this summer. Forced to stay in some real dives - travelling across Ontario SUCKS!! It was the worst province by far - took 3 days to drive across and the northern half of the province is as backwoods as you can get.

Our worst stay was a place called the Marathon Airport Inn in Marathon, ON. We were forced to take a last-minute booking, only room left - they described it as 'pet-friendly'. I jokingly said on the phone when I booked the room, "As long as it doesn't smell like wet dog, it's all good." Well, the room was a nightmare! Not only smelled like wet dog, but also a combination of sweat, cigarette smoke, overpowering cleaning chemicals, and stale urine. Unmentionable stains all over the room, lamp was broken, carpet ripped up - just nasty. The worst part was that the windows were NAILED shut so we couldn't get any fresh air - according to the sign on the window, "Permanently sealed due to wildlife." Human or animal wildlife, we never found out.

Had we not been absolutely exhausted, we would've been outta there in a heartbeat but we ended up staying overnight. At least the bedding was clean(ish). Worst experience ever. We were up at the first hint of daylight and gone. Ugh!

 

[TheRealCallie]

About 5 years ago, my kid went to nationals for his culinary class (he was on a team for business managment) with his class. My other son (10 at the time) and I were going to meet him there, wait for him to do nationals and then we were going to go south for a vacation. Well, my other kid and I get about two hours from home (the trip to nationals was about 7 hours) and my car starts acting up. So I take it to Auto Zone, where they offer free code testing and discovered it was related to the timing chain. So not dealing with that on a trip, I wouldn't feel comfortable having unknown people work on my car and then drive it so far.
So, I decided to use AAA and have it towed back to my parents house. My kid and I got a hotel, walk a short distance to a restaurant for food (where my kid got an extra free cookie. lol) So we are essentially stranded 2 hours from home, no car to go anywhere and my kid is all depressed saying it's the WORST DAY OF HIS LIFE. lol So after I'm all done on the phone with AAA and my parents and my brother, we watch some tv and then go to bed. In the morning, we walked about 1/2 mile to the rental car place, got a car and continued our journey. We made it to nationals, watched my kid, my youngest talked to all the Army recruiters and even did push ups for them (they gave him dog tags saying he was the push up champion. lol) and we all decided to just go home, not continue and have our vacation. We were all just exhausted.
And then COVID hit, so there was never a chance to actually get back to that particular vacation and after covid, things were too busy to go on a vacation. So yeah, that was the last "vaca" we have taken.

 

[CenotaphGirl]

I've never left the UK. That's as dull as it can get.

Omg I would have bet money you’ve never left the USA shows how much I know

 

[user 135671]

I always travel with an acoustic guitar and a yoga mat that's usually enough to keep me entertained anywhere.

 

[4No1]

I'd be happy not to work and not to get up early for a while. I'd like to spend a day in a bed with a book, going nowhere, doing nothing except reading.

The most painful was when we got ill and I still had a lot of things to do because we'd just moved to a new flat. Didn't feel rested after it. It was disheartening to be sick all the holiday.

 

[okidoke]

I've never left the UK. That's as dull as it can get.

I enjoyed it when I was there in ‘97. The UK isn’t dull! There’s lots of places to enjoy.

 

[okidoke]

I always travel with an acoustic guitar and a yoga mat that's usually enough to keep me entertained anywhere.

I think I’d be enjoying my time more if I was alone. I’m platonically sharing a bed. She snores, heats up the bed. Urgh. I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to come along with her.

 

[ringwood]

I think I’d be enjoying my time more if I was alone. I’m platonically sharing a bed. She snores, heats up the bed. Urgh. I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to come along with her.

A trip with the estranged wife. . . I'm curious why you'd go on a trip too, actually. What was the reasoning behind it? To try and rekindle some romance and feelings towards each other? Did she ask you to go? You ask her?

 

[okidoke]

A trip with the estranged wife. . . I'm curious why you'd go on a trip too, actually. What was the reasoning behind it? To try and rekindle some romance and feelings towards each other? Did she ask you to go? You ask her?

Well, we’re friends still, neither having other friends. She asked me if I wanted to go. Originally she booked the accommodation to be close to our youngest who had arranged her own Airbnb for herself and nine school friends for an end of year celebration but there was a big falling out and it got cancelled. The wife still wanted her own holiday. It wasn’t too bad today. We went to a large shopping mall in a nearby city and spent the day there and lots of money on a new wardrobe for myself. I haven’t bought myself clothes in years. We went out for a pleasant dinner and ended the night playing Scrabble.

 

[movinggirl]

One can never go wrong with clothes shopping.

 

[Jeff.705]

Our trip across Canada earlier this summer. Forced to stay in some real dives - travelling across Ontario SUCKS!! It was the worst province by far - took 3 days to drive across and the northern half of the province is as backwoods as you can get.

Our worst stay was a place called the Marathon Airport Inn in Marathon, ON. We were forced to take a last-minute booking, only room left - they described it as 'pet-friendly'. I jokingly said on the phone when I booked the room, "As long as it doesn't smell like wet dog, it's all good." Well, the room was a nightmare! Not only smelled like wet dog, but also a combination of sweat, cigarette smoke, overpowering cleaning chemicals, and stale urine. Unmentionable stains all over the room, lamp was broken, carpet ripped up - just nasty. The worst part was that the windows were NAILED shut so we couldn't get any fresh air - according to the sign on the window, "Permanently sealed due to wildlife." Human or animal wildlife, we never found out.

Had we not been absolutely exhausted, we would've been outta there in a heartbeat but we ended up staying overnight. At least the bedding was clean(ish). Worst experience ever. We were up at the first hint of daylight and gone. Ugh!

LOL . . . I have lived all my life in Northern Ontario but quite a distance from Marathon. I'm in Sault Ste. Marie. I agree - it takes forever to travel anywhere here because it's such a big province and it gets damn frustrating because most of the time it's faster (but mega-expensive) to fly than drive. Hope you come back some day and have a better experience!!

 

[ringwood]

LOL . . . I have lived all my life in Northern Ontario but quite a distance from Marathon. I'm in Sault Ste. Marie. I agree - it takes forever to travel anywhere here because it's such a big province and it gets **** frustrating because most of the time it's faster (but mega-expensive) to fly than drive. Hope you come back some day and have a better experience!!

Haha, thanks! Sorry for insulting your home province, but, man, oh, man!! Ontario is so damn BIG!! I know we must have driven through the outskirts of Sault Ste. Marie on our journey, but I can’t say I remember it. We did stay in Sudbury, but didn’t get a chance to scope out the Big Nickel. One day when we’re feeling adventurous, I’m sure we’ll be back.

 

[okidoke]

Haha, thanks! Sorry for insulting your home province, but, man, oh, man!! Ontario is so **** BIG!! I know we must have driven through the outskirts of Sault Ste. Marie on our journey, but I can’t say I remember it. We did stay in Sudbury, but didn’t get a chance to scope out the Big Nickel. One day when we’re feeling adventurous, I’m sure we’ll be back.

Pffft, Western Australia is over twice as big and I’ve driven around it