The trio have been getting away to the likes of Spain for as little as £66
Louise Dunning, Tracey Dover and Ruth Kudakwashe(Image: Louise Dunning/SWNS)
A group of colleagues bored with days off in “dreary” England now take extreme day trips abroad for less cost. Care home workers Louise Dunning, 59, and Tracey Dover, 52, paid just £66 for return flights to Alicante in December – spending just eight hours before jetting home for bed.
Their easyJet flight from Manchester Airport at 5.50am gave them enough time to explore the cafes and restaurants, walk around the town and beach and do some shopping, before flying back at 10.30pm. They realised they could escape “miserable” Britain for less money than a day trip in the UK – so booked Amsterdam, jetting off last month, taking pal Ruth Kudakwashe, 50.
The trio have booked five more day trips to European destinations – Palma this month, Brussels in May, Bergamo in northern Italy in October, Paris in November and Copenhagen for the Christmas markets in December.
Louise, from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, said: “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.”
Ruth Kudakwashe and Tracey Dover in Amsterdam(Image: Louise Dunning/SWNS)
She said place likes zoos and themes 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.
Louise underneath giant baubles in December in Alicante(Image: Louise Dunning/SWNS)
“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 day trip to Amsterdam, with Ruth from Manchester, the trio paid £112 each for flights with easyJet, setting off from Manchester at 7.05am and catching a return flight home from Amsterdam at 9.30pm.
Louise Dunning, Tracey Dover and Ruth Kudakwashe on their travels(Image: Louise Dunning/SWNS)
Louise said: “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.”