When it comes to holidays, everyone’s got their own way of doing things. And while there are some things that are absolute essentials – from packing sun cream to getting duty free (or is that just us?) – there are other habits and rituals that are just a bit, well, weird.
How weird? That’s exactly what we wanted to find out. Below, we’ll uncover the holiday habits of the British public that are little on the stranger side of things. And if you’ve ever wondered what the correct number of pairs of underwear to take on holiday is, then you’re in luck. Let’s get started…
The method in the madness: what we did
From pre-flight rituals to suitcase packing and souvenir traditions, finding out the UK’s weird and wonderful holiday habits involved surveying 1000 members of the British public with a range of different vacation-tailored questions.
Below are the results of our survey…
The UK’s strangest holiday habits – revealed!
The most unusual items Brits love taking on holiday
Us Brits are nothing if not creatures of habit. Even though we know we’ll be experiencing amazing weather, incredible food and more culture than we can shake a stick at, we need to bring a bit of home with us too. And for 35.1% of our participants, that means tea bags, and that probably won’t surprise anyone.
What’s more surprising is the items that didn’t quite rank as highly. Teddy bears, bacon, a kettle – things get weirder the lower down the list. But the oddest were clearly saved for the Other category. Marmite, onion and honey (to stop colds apparently), and even Pot Noodles, although to be fair, it’s because the junk food icon is actually vegan. We’d bring them with us on the grounds that they’re delicious!
The most overpacked items Brits take with them
When it comes to packing, it’s always better to safe and sorry – even if it’s bringing too much of a certain item. The clear winner here, with just over 50% of the responses, was clothing. Which is not entirely surprising, but half of our participants are consistent at least. The same could be said for the third place item: toiletries. Looks like some of our participants haven’t been adhering to that 100ml liquid limit.
How many pairs of underwear Brits pack for a week away
Onto the important stuff. How many changes of underwear would you pack for a week away. For the majority of Brits, a change for every day of that week is sufficient – clearly these participants aren’t ones to overpack. Far more pragmatic, because you never know what’s going to happen on holiday, are the 19.3% who said they took 10 pairs with them, and the holiday-goers bringing stuffing 14 pairs into their suitcase are a truly impressive bunch. The same can’t be said of the participants who admitted (and there really is only one word) to bringing less than 7 pairs with them for a week. Shameful stuff, we’re sorry to say!
The highest amount of luggage weight needed for a week away
For most Brits, 20kg is enough for them to enjoy 7 days abroad, with 33.2% of the responses – which makes sense since that’s what most airlines allow to take with them. 22% stated they could make do with 15kg, while very closely behind them, 21.2% stated they could manage a week abroad with just their what was in their cabin bag. Still, that’s nothing compared to the 9.7% who love to pack light and can travel with only 5kg of luggage. We could never!
Other packing results we found
The souvenirs Brits love collecting the most
What’s a holiday without bringing back something with us? Our participants were very keen collectors of all sorts, but fridge magnets were way out in front, taking 45.5% of the vote, out-collecting second place postcards by nearly 27%. Alcohol-related souvenirs were also popular, with shot glasses and bottle openers making the list. And in the Other category, we also saw that 1.5% of participants said they choose to get tattooed while there – a seriously permanent souvenir. Let’s hope the language barrier didn’t get in the way.
Oh, and a special mention to the one participant who said they once bought a horse on holiday!
Brits’ favourite holiday souvenirs
Unsurprisingly, the results here pretty much mirror those of the results above – in terms of items at least – with fridge magnets taking the top spot as Brits’ favourite souvenirs. No horses this time around though…
Other souvenir results we found
Brits’ airport and flight habits
Airports are a bit of a breeding ground for habits, rituals and routines. They can be stressful at the best of times, and everyone wants to get to their plane’s seat safely and with minimal fuss.
It’s surprising then, that the vast majority (96.2%) of participants said they did not have any odd pre-flight or in-flight habits to speak of.
However, for those that did, the habits covered all sorts. Touching the side of the plane before boarding, entering the plane before their family members, bringing along crystals, sweets to stop ears popping and even reading all the literature in the front seat pocket. We suppose that’s one way of dozing off!
Another result we were quite surprised by: Only 30.1% of participants said that a pre-flight alcoholic drink was a holiday must. For many, their holiday only starts when they sit down for a sip, so we’re surprised this number wasn’t higher.
As for clapping when the plane lands, the results were more encouraging. For the 7.5% that said they do, however, we’ll just say that we’re glad we made the survey anonymous!
The most unusual items Brits take on holiday – by region
When it came to regional results, the outcome is one that’s, well, very British. Out of the twelve regions our participants came from, only two didn’t go for tea bags as the most popular unusual item to bring with them. They were tea-related at least though, with the North East opting to bring kettles and the Scottish choosing coffee, and we’re completely fine with that.
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