Short-haul flights are highly polluting but that doesn’t stop these bargain hunters.
Have you ever considered taking a flight hundreds of kilometres away – and coming back the same day?
If you have, you’ll be in the company of nearly 240,000 people, all members of the Extreme Day Trips Facebook group.
Many of us have limited time and budgets, but still have an urge to travel. Some people now have decided to take it to the extreme – literally.
While some day trippers have managed to get as far as New York and Abu Dhabi and back in a day, the majority tend to stick to European hubs. While visiting a place for under 24 hours is hardly a relaxing way to see the world, it’s sometimes the only way to do it.
Euronews Travel spoke to the founder and several members of the UK-based Facebook group, to find out what it is about these extreme day trips that makes them tick.
Why do people decide to take such short trips?
“I would say it’s extreme in that the way train transport is in the UK, it’s cheaper to go abroad to, say, Billund for Legoland than it is to go to Windsor [home of the UK’s Legoland],” Nat Bocking, a film technician from Suffolk explains.
Train prices in the UK are often unaffordable for many and, despite rail travel being significantly better for the environment, the fact remains that flights abroad can be much cheaper than a train ticket.
For people with budget constraints, flying can often be the only way to see new places and take a break from daily life, while stretching the definition of what ‘extreme’ means.
“Before I joined the group, I figured that these flights were cheaper than rail tickets… When I saw Ryanair offer flights for 1p each way I thought ‘what do I have to lose?’” Nat says.
Michael Cracknell, the founder of the group, took his first extreme day trip back in 2002, travelling to and from Switzerland in a day.
20 years later, in 2022, he started the Facebook page as a page to share his trips and, since then, it’s grown in popularity.
His most extreme trip so far has been one day in Athens – around a four hour flight from the UK.
Despite this exhausting-sounding day, Michael says the trip, along with his 80-year-old father and two brothers, was well worth it.
“We had enough time there to do the Acropolis, the national gardens and the national palace. We also had an amazing three course meal in a restaurant, Diogenes, on the slopes of the Acropolis. We got to the city centre at 11.30am and had to leave the city centre at 7pm,” he says, “[It was] sufficient time to explore and have a great day which we really did.”
Like many of the group members, Michael likes to consider budget before planning a trip.
“The whole day out [to Athens] was also cheaper than a return train ticket from London to Edinburgh – £149 each (€179) for the Athens trip versus £189 (€227) for just the train ticket to Edinburgh.”
While Michael does admit these trips aren’t for the faint of heart, he believes everyone should give it a go, if they can.
“As long as you can sleep on a plane, it isn’t that bad! Yes they are long days, but you get to see some amazing places and experience amazing things.”
Budget tends to be an important aspect of these trips for many group members
Kari Brown is a long time member of Michael’s group and a travel influencer, with more than 6,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel Kari on Travelling.
As an influencer, she says, budget is a huge consideration.
“I want people to be able to copy what we do, so spending £1,000 (€1,200) on one trip isn’t feasible,” she explains, “I have a list of interesting trips I want to do now including doing everything for under £50 (€60)… and travelling to Italy for pizza for the price of a takeaway pizza.”
Her most extreme trip so far?
“We spent eight hours on an overnight bus from London to Disneyland Paris, spent the day there, and then another eight hours travelling back.”
Kari has embraced her extreme trips, though, and says the potential exhaustion is worth it.
“You need to be prepared to be on the go for 18-24 hrs. I often leave home at 4am to get the first flight out, spend the day seeing a new city and then the last flight back, and it’s he early hours of the next morning before I get home,” she says.
Dizzy Clarke, is a teacher, and is limited to travelling at weekends and during school holidays.
“I have a rule, if the flights are cheaper than the train into London then I will get on a flight,” she says, “It’s around £30 return (€36) for a train into London for me so it’s my benchmark.”
Budget isn’t Dizzy’s only consideration, though. For her, it’s a way to learn more about herself, too.
“The trips for me as a solo woman approaching 50 were about rediscovery of myself and to remind myself of the fact that I am a woman capable of travelling alone and the need for just 12 hours of not having to talk or be responsible for anyone else,” Dizzy tells Euronews Travel.
“I wanted to just do something for me in the last couple of years. Energy wise, if you go with the flow then one can stop and rest etc. I don’t usually have an agenda so I know my limits.”
Do extreme daytrippers take the climate impact of flights into consideration?
There is no doubt that flying causes far more damage to the environment than taking the train and is one of the worst types of transport for emissions, alongside cars. Globally, the aviation industry is estimated to be responsible for about 3-4 per cent of CO2 emissions and has contributed significantly to global warming over the last decades.
Many people in the Facebook group are aware of this fact, and are doing their best to help offset their own carbon footprint every time they travel by plane.
“I donate to a native tree planting charity every time I fly,” Michael says.
Kari explains, “On some of the flights, you can add a carbon offset donation or plant a tree. I like the plant a tree option.”
Nat prefers to offset his flights according to the individual airline’s offering at the time of booking.
“It’s like £1 (€1.20) on Ryanair,” he tells Euronews Travel – although the price of offsetting flights can vary significantly, and cost a lot more, depending on where the plane is going.
For Dizzy, offsetting flights is not the most important consideration – although she lives a low-carbon life for much of the time.
“My lifestyle apart from these trips is low impact. I camp for five weeks every summer and don’t take long haul flights or stay in hotels etc,” she explains, “All in all, price is a motivator and most of all, experiences and memories with friends, on my own or with my family.”
What tips do extreme daytrippers have for people wanting to try it?
While the idea of an extreme day trip might seem out of reach for most of us, the group’s members say it’s far more straightforward than it might seem.
Having been doing these trips for more than two decades, it’s fair to say Michael is something of an authority on the best way to go about it.
“Do the research on what you want to do beforehand and make it a simple schedule,” he advises, “When you have built up the confidence then you can try more advanced things which are more involved and further away.”
“Always have a back up plan. It’s important to just go with the flow and accept you can’t control everything.”
Despite the fact that these trips are supposed to be completed within 24 hours, problems like flight delays and diversions can – and do – happen. This might mean an unexpected night in a hotel.
His top advice for tackling the worst situations? “Take basic toiletries!”
Dizzy agrees on bringing toiletries, as well as a portable charger block and a spare top or t-shirt in case plans are scuppered.
As a thrifty traveller, she says it’s important to keep finances at the forefront of any plan.
“[Book] at the start of the month when you get paid and make it a priority then. Keep to a budget. Bring tupperware with snacks in case of delays… and an empty water bottle,” to fill up for free, she says.
As well as being budget-conscious, Dizzy also has a very practical attitude to the wild world of extreme day trips.
“Flight delays are a fact of life. A positive mental attitude is required,” she advises, “There should be no stress so don’t overplan or overstretch yourself. Know the geography of your destination.”
Nat takes a rather different approach to his extreme day trips and seems rather more laid back in his attitude to his travels.
“Don’t think about the destination, just find a flight and schedule you can afford and book it now – then work out what there is to see there,” he says.
For Nat, “the journey is the adventure”.
“Consequently I do most of my extreme day trips alone now. Go where the cheapest flight is. Don’t overplan your time, just go with the flow. Enjoy it for what it is, don’t stress if you’re not hitting ‘must see’ destinations,” he recommends.
Kari advises taking different approaches to extreme day trips, depending on where you want to go – and says apps are a lifeline for her.
She recommends Skyscanner “if I know where I want to go but not the day, and I want to see which is cheapest.
Kari will use the Extreme Day Trip app – not affiliated with the Facebook group – “if I know what day I want to travel, but no preference where, and just want to try somewhere new.”
She also likes to use the Visit A City app “for finding things to do in that city”.
The most important thing to remember for Kari, though? Keep an open mind.
“You do need to be a little bit flexible,” she says, “When we went to Switzerland we had planned to go up the Matterhorn, but Zermatt was closed due to sudden flooding (while we were in the air) and we went to Grindelwald instead.”
That stressful experience hasn’t put her off though – and it likely wouldn’t put the most hardy extreme traveller off either.
“I don’t think there is anywhere I wouldn’t go or wouldn’t try,” Kari says, reflecting the attitude of many in the group, who don’t plan to stop these extreme day trips any time soon.
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