Not all "folk" (are you american?) have children and given the
recession many of the ones who do will be struggling to pay the
bills, never mind being able to afford to go away on a 2 week break
at the most expensive time of the year.


I know evidence tends to spoil a good Usenet argument but FWIW
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/pr...-2012/0012997/
reported that in 2011 the same proporiton of people took breaks of 4-7
and 8-14 days; and that the proportions were forecast to tilt towards
longer breaks in 2012.

Would you please share your evidence that 1 week is the "norm"?

--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

Not all "folk" (are you american?) have children and given the
recession many of the ones who do will be struggling to pay the
bills, never mind being able to afford to go away on a 2 week break
at the most expensive time of the year.


I know evidence tends to spoil a good Usenet argument but FWIW
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/pr...-2012/0012997/
reported that in 2011 the same proporiton of people took breaks of 4-7
and 8-14 days; and that the proportions were forecast to tilt towards
longer breaks in 2012.

Would you please share your evidence that 1 week is the "norm"?

Sorry - I misread the PR. The actual figures were 42% 4-7 nights and 36%
8-14 in 2011 with a forecast of 36% and 41% for 2012.
--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:24:45 +0100
"Robin" wrote:
Not all "folk" (are you american?) have children and given the
recession many of the ones who do will be struggling to pay the
bills, never mind being able to afford to go away on a 2 week break
at the most expensive time of the year.


I know evidence tends to spoil a good Usenet argument but FWIW
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/pr...ravel-in-2012/
012997/

Sorry , but some dodgy survey by an online travel agent who have a vested
interest in selling longer holidays counts for nothing.

Would you please share your evidence that 1 week is the "norm"?

The fact that in the office of about 40 people I work in only 1 has taken
a holiday of longer than 10 days in the last year. None of my friends or
family have taken 2 weeks either and last year I didn't notice an appreciable
drop in commuter traffic levels in london last summer either.

So other than first hand experience I don't have any evidence.

B2003

The fact that in the office of about 40 people I work in only 1 has
taken
a holiday of longer than 10 days in the last year. None of my friends
or family have taken 2 weeks either and last year I didn't notice an
appreciable drop in commuter traffic levels in london last summer
either.

So other than first hand experience I don't have any evidence.

No risk of sampling bias then? And no contradiction between your
conclusion and the ONS who reported in "Travel Trends 2010" the average
over all overseas holiday trips in 2010 was 10 nights?



--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

In message , at 03:23:40
on Fri, 30 Mar 2012, Roger Traviss
remarked:
Really? Perhaps in your strange world but folk with children will have to
take some time off during the summer to fit in with the school holidays

You're kidding?

On this side of the pond parents can and do take the kids on holiday anytime
they want.

Which side of the pond are you? In the UK it's almost impossible to get
permission to take kids out of school during term-time for a holiday.

My own school says it won't authorise term-time absence for any of the
following reasons:

availability of cheap holidays
availability of desired accommodation
poor weather experienced in school holiday periods
overlap with the beginning or end of term

.... so all that really leaves is religious festivals or unavoidable
family matters (like burying a Grandmother who lives overseas).
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 10:07:09 on Fri, 30 Mar
2012, d remarked:
So the whole of london is going to go away on holiday in the same 2 weeks
as the Olympics? Someone better tell the airports and ferry ports or there'll
be chaos!

Apparently a significant percentage of the population are leaving the
country during the Olympics so I suspect the airports and ferry ports
already know.

According to who? And what is a "significant percentage"? Unless its more
than about 20% which I highly doubt then it'll make sod all difference.

Reports say that 21% "want to leave" and 12% will. That's seven million
people, which quite a big chunk.
--
Roland Perry

On 30/03/2012 11:14, d wrote:
On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:46:56 +0100
Phil wrote:

Really? Perhaps in your strange world but folk with children will have

Not all "folk" (are you american?) have children and given the recession many
of the ones who do will be struggling to pay the bills, never mind being able
to afford to go away on a 2 week break at the most expensive time of the year.

A well known British phrase is: There's nowt so queer as folk. Do you
see that top level domain at the end of my address? .uk is as British as
the BR sandwich.

I'm not struggling to pay the bills, perhaps because I don't have any
saucepans [1] and can take my major holiday of three weeks (from a six
week allowance) outside the peak season. :-) Two and three week breaks
are the norm in my place of work.

[1] Cockney rhyming slang, though I wasn't born within earshot of Bow Bells.
--
Phil Cook

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:03:46 +0100
"Robin" wrote:
The fact that in the office of about 40 people I work in only 1 has
taken
a holiday of longer than 10 days in the last year. None of my friends
or family have taken 2 weeks either and last year I didn't notice an
appreciable drop in commuter traffic levels in london last summer
either.

So other than first hand experience I don't have any evidence.

No risk of sampling bias then? And no contradiction between your

And 5000 people out of 60 million no doubt with loaded questions to get the
result they wanted isn't biased either?

conclusion and the ONS who reported in "Travel Trends 2010" the average
over all overseas holiday trips in 2010 was 10 nights?

Did their survey have a time cutoff or was it a simple average that
included students off on a 6 month backback around the world?

B2003

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:24:00 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 03:23:40
on Fri, 30 Mar 2012, Roger Traviss
remarked:
Really? Perhaps in your strange world but folk with children will have to
take some time off during the summer to fit in with the school holidays

You're kidding?

On this side of the pond parents can and do take the kids on holiday anytime
they want.

Which side of the pond are you? In the UK it's almost impossible to get
permission to take kids out of school during term-time for a holiday.

Who needs permission? The 50 quid fine is less than the excess it costs
in travel costs in peak months.

B2003

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:24:05 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
According to who? And what is a "significant percentage"? Unless its more
than about 20% which I highly doubt then it'll make sod all difference.

Reports say that 21% "want to leave" and 12% will. That's seven million
people, which quite a big chunk.

Which reports? And half of the people saying they want to leave will? Thats a
big leap. And is that the same in every region?

I'd love to think otherwise but I suspect we're in for 3 weeks of travel
chaos in London over the olympics. All that and 23 billion poorer just so
Tony Liar could massage his ego.

B2003