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BBC article ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn7v5lr2186o )on extreme day trips - defined as flying out in the morning and back in the evening.  Would YOU have an extreme day trip?

Workwise, I have done these in the past; these days, for pleasure, really it would not be a pleasure.  "Each to their own" - except should we really be encouraging all this extra travel in a less that carbon friendly way - or because people are using low cost fares, are the seats there anyway and otherwise empty??

Back in the late 1980's, [I forget the company's name] operated day trips from Exeter Airport - usually within a three-hour flight radius. I took advantage of trips to Naples, Bergen, Reykjavik, Berlin and Tromso - the latter actually being a 'night trip' to experience the land of the midnight sun, where it was as black as the Ace of Spades in the midst of a terrific thunderstorm!

I missed out on Barcelona and Rome due to heavy work commitments.



**** edited to correct a typo noticed long after the event! ****

In our case I think Exeter Airport would be the only viable departure point - a trip via Bristol might be doable - and vitually all the services, certainly at this time of year, are provided by aircraft based at what would be the destination thereby making an 'out & back in a day' impossible.

The only current exceptions would be some of the various TUI Fly services which use an Exeter-based aircraft and, for example, tomorrow (24th March) one could potentially do a day return to Gran Canaria. Although, assuming on-time flights, you would only get 45 minutes in Spain! And I haven't checked whether that would meet the check-in/boarding rules for the return.

Thomson's used to do these back in the 80s from LGW as well as regional airports.
The furthest East I got was Estonia & Latvia, and was at the Berlin Wall the day that it fell - I have a piece of graffitied wall somewhere in the garage.
Quite early starts I seem to recall, and occasionally a late delayed arrival back caused problems, but good more often than not.

I remember hearing that my ex took the children to Lapland to meet Santa on a day trip .. apparently not a very enlightening experience in midwinter.    But then ... they came back with stories to tell so it was certainly a memorable day.

I have voted - and took the opportunity to correct one of grahame's typos, in the interest of clarity.  ;)

I suspect this would have been Air UK, or its charter subsidiary Air UK Leisure.

I would love to do it, the idea of flying to somewhere like Rome for the day sounds great
I did join the Facebook group for extreme day trips from Bristol, but never got around to finding a date where I was free to do a trip

Good morning from Bristol airport. I’m off to Geneva for the day. £35.98 return with easyJet. Cheaper than a return train to London for the day.

(My employment gets me free travel on the Falcon to the airport from Plymouth which makes it a very cheap day for me)

I did Krakow for 36 hours last month.

I use Skyscanner and select the explore everywhere option and sort price high to low and see where i end up.

These are not exactly new...about 30 years ago when easyjet and Ryanair were not around,Transun,an Oxford company ran 'Just for the day!' trips from Bristol Airport. Costing about £250, you got the first and last flights there and back, a hot meal both ways, airport transfers and various options at the destination including guided tours and entrance fees. I remember doing Vienna Christmas markets twice, Seville, Krakow,Prague, Paris, Berlin, Reykjavik twice and Amsterdam. They were generally very well organised, full aircraft and at the time seemed to be excellent value for money.
Transun are still in business and now seem to have cornered the market in Lapland day trips at about five times more  than I paid 30 years ago!

That sounds amazing, would have loved to have had that opportunity!

I rather liked this - a day trip to Saint Malo from Portsmouth, with bike:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycletouring/comments/1jkxzq9/microtour_brittany/

"Cycled to Cancale without hitting a main road, got some oysters, cycled back, ate a family sized babybel on the beach, washed down with a bottle of local cider."

(French cider is not very strong and the country lanes are very quiet. I don't think there was a serious drink-cycling issue here!)

Thank you, that's the name I was looking for!

OK ... 7 out of 30 members who voted do or would go on extreme day trips for leisure.  For the others, a whole host of resons why not from the pragmatic to the principled.  Interesting study / outcome.

I’d be interested to know what people find too much hassle with airports, if that’s the only reason deterring someone, maybe some of the other more seasoned airport users  could give some tips around reducing the hassle.



For those in Bristol wanting public transport to the airport, avoid the A1, it’s the most expensive option. The falcon undercuts it on price, or for a massive saving catch the U2 to the Airport Tavern and walk the few minutes into the airport grounds

A1 flyer £9 single city centre to airport.
Falcon £8.10 single city centre to airport
U2 £3 single city centre to Airport Tavern with a 5-10 min walk into the airport terminal

Thanks for posting, LiskeardRich.

I'll offer you my local example of Bristol Airport, for their apparently trying to discourage 'day trippers' to anywhere, frankly.

I live in Nailsea, so none of those airport public transport options from central Bristol would help.  However, I could ask my wife to drive me up to the airport and drop me off outside the Airport Tavern - just to avoid the minimum £3 charge for every vehicle daring to enter the 'drop-off zone' within the airport.

I'd then have to trudge up the road to the airport entrance, check in, and walk up to the security queues. After eventually passing through those, I'd then have to sit around waiting for my flight to be announced.  Then, I'd have to walk over, by whatever means, to board the aircraft.  I'd then have to sit around for another while, before the aircraft even starts moving.  That's without any luggage, as I'm hypothetically travelling on a same day return flight to 'somewhere extreme' in Europe.

And it would be the same on the return journey: I'd ask my wife to drive up to the airport to collect me, from outside the Airport Tavern - to avoid yet another minimum charge of £3 for daring to enter the 'meet & greet' zone within the airport.

Frankly, if I really wanted a one day out on a jolly, I'd do a railway journey to South Wales and back, with far less hassle.  ::)

By the way: I don't have a current passport. That was another of my votes in the poll.  ;D

Worth pointing out that you can reduce the price on the falcon still further by using a concessionary bus pass to reduce the advertised price by half viz £4.05. I was paying £3 one way until the last price rise, you get dropped at the airport bus station and it will pick you up /drop you off at Anchor Road as well as Bond Street.

This doesn't really make sense, with a day trip you would not be taking any luggage, could pre check in, so literally walk up to the airport at the last moment and board the plane

You can never simply walk up & get on - even without luggage.

the initial barrier that you pass through by scanning your boarding pass on is set to refuse admittance at a point prior to departure - usually 30-40 mins. You still have to clear through security, even with zero luggage/carry ons.

As I found out on a one day business trip some years ago from Leeds to Edinburgh. Having just a notebook and pen on me made me even more suspicious in their eyes, and I was given the full nine yards - security wise - both going there and returning in the evening.