A group of workmates fed up with spending their days off in “dreary” England have started embarking on extreme day trips abroad, finding it cheaper than staying local. Care home employees Louise Dunning, 59, and Tracey Dover, 52, snagged return flights to Alicante for a mere £66 last December, enjoying a whirlwind eight-hour Spanish escapade before flying back to tuck into their own beds.
Their early easyJet flight from Manchester Airport at 5.50am allowed them ample time to soak up the local culture, meander through the town and beach and indulge in some retail therapy, all before their return flight at 10.30pm. The pair discovered that fleeing “miserable” Blighty could be more cost-effective than a domestic day out – prompting them to book a trip to Amsterdam last month, this time bringing along their friend Ruth Kudakwashe, 50.
Now, the adventurous trio have lined up five more single-day jaunts to European hotspots – Palma is on the cards this month, followed by Brussels in May, Bergamo in October, Paris in November and a festive trip to Copenhagen’s Christmas markets come December.
Louise, from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, shared her enthusiasm: “We do the extreme day trips because we get to go abroad – we’re seeing new countries. I can go to Asda and spend £100 when I can go abroad for a full day out and still be back in my bed at night.
“I wouldn’t dream of getting the train and going up to the Lake District now – it’s so much cheaper and easier getting a flight. We’ve only just begun doing it, but I love it.
“When we first started doing it, everyone thought me and Tracey were mad – they thought we were like a travel agent. We were inspired by some groups on Facebook, as there are quite a lot of people who do the extreme day trips now to try and get out of Britain.
“It’s very dreary in the UK – very drab – there’s no atmosphere here. I went to Amsterdam, and everyone is dead friendly, there are flowers everywhere, people are waving, it’s so much more happy abroad.
“In Alicante, it was nicer too – more laidback, with lovely coffee shops – whereas it’s just hustle and bustle, stress and work here in the UK. It’s a novelty, you get a kick out of it, and we can go to the same place twice and go to a different area and have a completely different experience.”
She said places like zoos and theme parks in the UK “are a fortune to get into” and added: “I can spend less and be in a totally different country in an hour-and-a-half.”
The phenomenon of extreme day trips has grown over the past few months, with many opting for cheap holidays abroad for eight or nine hours, rather than staying in the UK. Louise has even met other extreme daytrippers on her travels, with Tracey from Sale, Greater Manchester.
She said: “We went to Alicante for a full eight hours actually in the city. It was in December 2024, it was about 21C. It was freezing here at home and we got there and it was lovely.
“We were at the airport early, we had breakfast at the airport – croissants and coffee. Then we jetted off, walked around the town and the famous mushroom street, and then we stopped for lunch.
“We bought a couple of little souvenirs – sweets, a scarf each, a fridge magnet. They have to be little and lightweight as we only have backpacks.
“When we came back from Alicante, the plane was nearly empty, there were just 10 or 15 people on the flight and they were all day–trippers. They were more experienced than us – some of them had been to Tunisia and Morocco on day trips.
“I’m trying to do one trip a month – that’s my aim. We’re in a group chat together with the three of us called ‘My Beautiful Trips’.”
For their whirlwind visit to Amsterdam with Ruth from Manchester, the trio shelled out £112 per person for easyJet flights, departing Manchester at 7.05am and flying back from Amsterdam at 9.30pm.
Louise shared: “Amsterdam was dead easy. It was just over an hour’s flight. Then it was 10 to 15 minutes on public transport into the centre of the city.
“We went on a canal boat along the river, we had a walk round the town, we went up to the Red Light District for a look – that was an eye-opener. It’s so easy and a lot cheaper than staying in Britain. You get to see the world one day at a time – that’s the slogan for the extreme day-trippers.”
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