Where are all the Brits?

[Dog Star]

Totally weird. I’d noticed this to a lesser extent last year, but this year I’m just on the Rotterdam to Hull boat after 4000km round the Alps/Italy.

Got off the boat in Rotterdam two weeks ago. Saw a few UK plated cars on the motorway as we headed away from the boat but that was it! All the way through the Ardennes, down the side of Luxembourg, across to Germany near Frieburg, CH and Klosters, Livigno to Bardolino on Lake Garda.

Then back north to Lindau on Lake Konstanz via an alarmingly snowy (and devoid of traffic Stelvio Pass) and then up to Wilhelmshaven and today back to Rotterdam.

On this entire trip we did not see one single British registered car, lorry or motorbike. Not one. Today we saw a solitary UK Mazda Bongo near Amsterdam. Not one single other vehicle til we joined the check in queue for the ferry.

Utterly bizarre. Where are all the Brits?

[Super Sonic]

Haven't they all gone to America for the footy?

[Neil-nvaua]

Dog Star said:

Utterly bizarre. Where are all the Brits?

On the NC500, clogging up the roads, parking in passing places, and crapping in bushes.

[Melange]

Dog Star said:

Utterly bizarre. Where are all the Brits?

Complete anecdata so make of it what you will. For the last seven years, Covid travel restrictions excepted, we've buggered off to Spain in mid January for a week as I realised it did wonders for my mood and coping with mid-Winter in the UK. So far Malaga, Seville and Valencia at that time of year alternating, with a view to Cadiz and Alicante in the future.

Anyhow, January just gone was the third time in Malaga. We will normally inevitably end up at some point over the week in that square with all the restaurants and bars down one side which has the Picasso statue sitting on one of the benches and bordering his birthplace.

This year, at the same time of year and roughly the same time (apero time!) it was noticeably quieter to the extent I remarked upon it to my wife. I couldn't say for sure that it was just Brits not there, but I'm a bit of a mongrel both genetically and through marriage, and have Facebook contacts throughout the world. There seems to be a common theme amongst them of cost of living regardless of where in the world you are, and i wonder if that's inevitably filtering through to the lack of tourists in that little Square in Malaga or the lack of Brits on your travels?

Would be interesting to see actual tourist data from the UK post the next Summer holiday period I guess.

[rdjohn]

We are in Finistere at the moment and again, utterly surprised at just how few other British cars are about. On the ferry to Cherbourg there were a good number heading to Le Mans last Tuesday, but tourists seem to be very thin on the ground.

[_Rodders_]

Cost of living perhaps?

Although I saw plenty on the usual dash to the Alps last year and I bet we'll see loads in August when we're next over there.

[towser44]

So a fair few motorbikes in the Black Forest and the Vosges the week before last when I was over there on mine. There were loads on our train home on the Sunday as well. Recall only seeing just a couple of Motorhomes, but very few cars though.

[omniflow]

We do a fair few touring holidays and it's always interesting seeing how the number of UK registered cars varies according to your route and the time / distance since disembarking the ferry.

Normally we stop seeing UK registered cars frequently within about 3 - 4 hours of getting off the ferry.

Driving back to the ferry, it's normally not until you're about 90 mins from the port that you start to pass UK registered cars.

Once we've done our first overnight stop, it's normally very rare to see another UK registered car - maybe once every 3 or 4 days.

A couple of years ago we were in Lake Garda waiting to board a ferry. Every single car that disembarked was German. No UK and no Italians. Likewise on a Ferry from Savona (Italy) to Corsica (France) - 98% of the cars were German, a couple of Italians, French and Swiss, and then us. We know this because we had booked priority disembarkation which meant we were the very last car to board the boat, so we watched every other car embark.

[Monkeylegend]

They are all driving slowly in the middle lane of all our motorways and insanely slowly everywhere else in the UK according to PH.

[davek_964]

School holidays in a months time, so probably waiting for that.

[LHRFlightman]

We're in the Algarve. They're all down here!

[Truckosaurus]

Maybe people are avoiding driving holidays due to high fuel costs on the continent.

[DSMSMR]

We spent all of jan and feb in India. Met hardly any brits where we travelled and also number of Europeans in general was way way down.

[languagetimothy]

Truckosaurus said:

Maybe people are avoiding driving holidays due to high fuel costs on the continent.

this, or with all the traffic cop tech, people just hire a car, get around some nice sights and roads but not quite as fast and not your engine or clutch. Also means you can fly somewhere first.

[P675]

Not Europe but earlier in the year we were thinking of booking Thailand for March 2027. The Iran thing happened and it's put me off any long term plans. Just don't know how that situation will evolve, particularly as that part of the world is highly affected by oil supply. I don't want to get there in a years time and the place has gone to pot.

Might be a lot of people being cautious with the uncertainty.

[Jamescrs]

Was on the same ferry last month and I noticed the same once we left the Rotterdam area heading towards Germany. I was at the Nurburgring for a week and even there seemed to be less brits than I have seen previously.

[Huzzah]

We got out of the habit when pet passports were withdrawn. Prior to that once or twice per annum via the tunnel.

[Melange]

rdjohn said:

We are in Finistere at the moment and again, utterly surprised at just how few other British cars are about. On the ferry to Cherbourg there were a good number heading to Le Mans last Tuesday, but tourists seem to be very thin on the ground.

To be fair, I'm not sure I recall seeing many UK plates in "proper" Finistere (Camaret-Sur-Mer end) in many, many years