The Therapy Crouch: The Therapy Crouch Guide To Better Holidays

Hello and welcome to The Therapy Crouch. Thanks for joining us today. This very special episode

of the podcast is made possible by British Airways Holidays. That's right, British Airways holidays

are an omission to make everyone take their holidays a little more seriously. As listeners

to the podcast are probably aware, we both love our holidays. They mean a lot to us as a couple

and a family. So I think we're perfectly qualified to help British Airways holidays out with this

one. Yeah, I think, you know, that's the most important thing to us, isn't it? Making memories

on holiday. I always say that. So for this edition of the show, we'll be sharing our thoughts on

why holidays should be a crucial part of everyone's year. Telling a few stories from our trips abroad

and handing out some tips on how to get the most out of your holiday. Anyway, before we jump into

it though, guys, we've been sent over some very juicy stats that I thought would be useful to

share with you. Okay. I know I found these very crazy when I was going through them before. But

yeah, according to a survey from British Airways Holidays and YouGov, 50% of UK working adults

don't take their full holiday allowance. What? How mad is that? So everyone's just leaving the

holidays to let them expire, not use them all. Why? No, well, in terms of why, their full holiday

allowance, work stress is a big one. Apparently 46% of people have said they end up working when

they go on holiday and are checking their emails anyway, 40%. Do you guys feel like that? Do you

manage to switch off when you get away? Yeah, that's what I say about you. You don't switch off.

Well, this holiday that we had last summer was particularly bad for that, because I had a big

show coming up. I was on the phone constantly, sort of logistics, stylers, hair, makeup. So,

you know, it was, you know, there was a lot of work on holiday, which I actually think should be

banned. Then when we go away at Christmas, you know, we're going to, we're flying to the

Caribbean with British Airways and we are going to switch off. It's going to be a no device zone.

I believe that when I see it. No, Pete. Digital detox. Yeah, a digital detox, completely.

I'm comfortable with it. I just put my phone, I don't use my phone to put on a few tunes.

I don't, I can switch off. I don't, and I've worried that you can't. Okay. Okay.

We've actually got one more stat here, actually, and this is for the boys, Peter.

Apparently, the study found that if men take at least three weeks holiday a year,

they're 63% more likely to live longer than men. That didn't get three weeks away.

What do you think about that, Pete? Do you reckon you'll be all right?

Pete loves a holiday. It's the one thing I kind of, I spend money on. Like, I,

I don't like kind of material things. I don't like spending money on things in general,

but holidays I invest. I invest in time and I invest in my family every good time.

I think there's nothing more valuable than memories. And some of the best memories we've

ever created have been on holiday. You know, I think, you know, when you're working so hard,

you're busy with the kids and school runs and homework. There's just nothing better than,

you know, that night before, you know, that night before bags are packed.

You know, the kids always love getting up like, you know, we always get the early flight because

we're up early. So getting up a little bit earlier is, you know, better for us and so exciting for

the kids. You know, it creates that, you know, magic. We're getting up in the middle of the

night to go to the airport to get on the British Airways flight. You know, it's,

it's, it's so magical for the kids and to be together, to do fun things, you know,

last summer, the jet skiing, snorkelling, my favorite holiday. Where you going? Dream destination.

Dream destination. Well, I love Italy, anywhere in Italy. I love, I love Portugal,

but I love the Maldives and the Caribbean. You know, there's just something about,

you know, being flown away to an island with that magical crystal clear water,

tropical fish, seeing sea turtles, dolphins, you know, it just doesn't get any better for me.

Cocktail on the beach, watching my kids play. Fantastic. Yeah, I can't disagree with that.

I like the odd kind of little city break that we do. I prefer a city break for you, me. You know,

and I think, you know, if people aren't taking the holidays, what perfect time to take a few days,

midweek, get the kids minded, you and your partner go away three nights, explore around these amazing

cities and come back feeling refreshed and ready to tackle on, you know, the daily grind.

Airport abs as well. You've reigned that writing, haven't you? Quite proud of you. Yeah, airport

ab is packed away in the suitcase. She's in the hold airport. Even like when it's just me and you

she doesn't surface often, but you do a lot with your kids and stuff.

Yeah, but the kids are getting easier now. I think that's, you know, playing a part in it and,

you know, we can go on more adventure holidays. Yeah.

Okay, so I reckon the best way for us to really get into this is by talking about what we really

love when it comes to holidays and why we think they're so important. So I think firstly, new

experiences, you know, with the kids doing things we've never done before, you know, I quite like

the idea of going to Florida this summer, you know, doing a tour around America, hitting Disneyland,

seeing the alligators, you know, I just, you know, it's something we've never done and we've waited

so long for the kids to be at such an age. Well, I was just worried about our youngest being kind of

left behind a little bit, but he's at an age now where I think that more exotic trip like that

is on the cards. I think we can do it. But you know yourself from, you know, your childhood memories,

you know, doing amazing things, going to amazing places, you know, they live with you forever.

So for us to be able to create that for our kids and take them to these places is,

you know, is incredible and there's no one better to do it with than British Airways holidays.

Yeah, I remember we went to, we went to Florida when I was a kid and that was one of the best,

that is a memory that really sticks out in my mind. It was something special, like obviously

you do all the Disney stuff, but there's so much more to kind of explore there as well.

Like you say that, you know, the wildlife was mad. I remember seeing manatees for the first time

and Gators. Gators. Yeah, that was like, it's just mad. I've never been to Florida. We were

supposed to go in 1999, but my mum and dad split up so we didn't get to go. So that time scarred as a

child. But now I am, hopefully we don't split up by next summer and we get to take our kids there.

Oh, well, that'd be nice. I think another important thing is like making new connections,

making new friends. Some of the best friends we have. We've met on holiday. Yeah, I remember.

Do you remember the guy, I think we were in, I think, where we were from in Mexico. Yeah. And

you met the American guys from San Francisco. We still speak to them now. Still speak to them.

You know, he texted me, he was a Liverpool fan. I ended up watching, I think it was the World Cup

was on at the time. And I kept slipping off to go and watch games. And he was doing the same thing.

And we ended up having a few beers and watching the games. And he was a big Liverpool fan.

And he still invites us to like the wine region. Was he Mexican? No, he was from San Francisco.

But he goes to Napa Valley. He goes to Napa Valley. Yeah, every year. And he said,

you've got to come with us. That's one thing that you kind of, I'd like to do.

And I just love seeing the kids making friends. Our kids are so sociable and,

you know, they all swap numbers. And when we get home, they keep in contact. And

sometimes we meet people from where we live and we actually go on play dates with them and stuff.

And, you know, it's just so nice to see and it gives us a little break. You know,

the kids have made friends. They're not my they're on us every two seconds.

We can have a little cocktail and little chat and watch them.

What about that time in Carver where you thought the guy was taking pictures of us?

You thought he was paparazzi and you snatched his camera and it turns out he was just taking

pictures of his wife. Yeah. And it was so awkward. That's highly embarrassing.

Because I'm not that type of person to go and do that. But we were in the paper and I was thinking,

I can't. Someone's taking pictures of us every single day. And I just, I just was.

You were adamant it was him. It was him. And I went down there and I

wrapped the camera for him and I went through it and it was every single one was of his wife.

And he was like, who are you? But to be honest, after that all could encounter.

We actually spent a lot of time on our holiday with them. We laughed it off

and, you know, I had a few drinks with them, went for dinner a couple of nights and,

you know, it's nice meeting new people and hearing about their lives and where they're from and

interests and stories and different jobs that they have, different ways of life.

You know, it is a great going on holiday is a great way to connect with other people.

Yeah, it is. And then I suppose you meet those people and you're like, oh God,

we just have the best time them. And you're like, we need to be mates with these,

we're just going to be mates then forever. And then you get home and you forget the existence.

Instantly. That happens regularly. That happens with you. I actually keep

in contact with people you don't. So holidays are for relaxing. You love a game of golf on holiday.

I like going to the gym. I like going to spas. You know, we're like, you know,

our favorite thing to do is, you know, we often holiday with the whole family. So that's moms,

dads, brothers, aunties, uncles. And I love that. You love taking everyone. I love, you know, for

me, I don't like to experience things without everyone experiencing them. I want to include

everyone, everyone to have the best time. Pete's not quite as keen on this as I am, but

it's like when we go away together and you, you kind of like a down because you're like,

it's so beautiful here. And I go, what? We can't enjoy it. You're like, I just wish

everyone was with us. I know. Cause I, I always feel guilty going to these amazing places and no

one else does. So I just want everyone to come. But you know, having everyone, like if you go to

Portugal, get all the family drowned and, you know, make an amazing barbecue, have all the kids

playing together. You know, you like to chill, go to golf. What I look at is like, I've got a book

actually, the top 100 golf courses in the world. It's my sad little book, but I look at them and

I think I just want to, I want to kind of achieve as many of them as possible. How many have you

been to have the book? About three. We should do a golf trip once or twice. We as in me and you?

Well, you can come. I don't want to go. My ghost is kind of like the exotic ones.

But you, I remember you, I dragged you around. We were in, I think we were in Mexico again.

No, we were in Hawaii. We were in Hawaii. That was it. Yeah. And I dragged you around on the

buggy and you had a few drinks and just drove. I was sunbathing, legs out the buggy in the sun,

drinking of ice cold beer. Nice. You got on board with that, didn't you? Yeah, I got,

I could see it then. The most incredible view, view of the sea, palm trees,

sun on my skin. I was just like, I get golf. I don't get golf, however, if you're in

England, in the peeing down rain, ice cold, chasing a ball around for six hours. No, thanks.

Well, it's 100% better on holiday. There's no denying that because you're playing,

you're chasing the sun round, playing in top places. Dubai's got some great courses.

It's Dubai and that. It's too hot though to play golf in Dubai, surely.

You can play night golf out there. Yeah, you can. Which is good. I've done that once or twice.

But I think there's nothing says more chip time to relax than when you step foot off that British

Airways plane into another country. You feel the heat on your skin and you just go, relax.

Belin on arrival. I don't think there's anything better. I think you work all year for those

moments, don't you? And I think once you get out there, you kind of reconnect as a family.

Yeah. I think it's like one thing we always say and we haven't practiced what we preached

so far this year, but having those kind of little breaks away together without the kids,

couple of nights, city break, Rome, Barcelona, Porto, just to reconnect and kind of date again

and not be mom and dad and be a couple, get wind and dine, dress up.

You know, that's so a special thing to do. Certainly is. There's one thing about a holiday as well.

When, like you say, you put your phone away, you put your devices away, there's no emails,

you're just on your own. And you lie there on the sun lounge out and just let your mind drift

about things and like, you often think about what you want to achieve, what you want to do when you

get back, what you want to get into. And I think sometimes by the end of the holiday, you're like,

I can't wait to get that, put that into practice. Yeah. Like I genuinely.

Well, I redecorate my whole house in my mind whilst lying on the sun lounge.

I'm like, I've literally done a full renovation. Yeah. But you know, it's at home when you're

in the thick of it, you don't really get that time to concentrate on what you want to do.

You know when I was playing football, you're so kind of engrossed in what you're doing,

and playing wise the whole season. And it's the only time when you go away on holidays that you

take stock of kind of like what you've achieved. So at the end of the season, you'd lie there and

you'd be like, God, remember that goal? That was a great win. And you think, oh, that was good. Oh,

I should have done better there. And you just, you kind of like, I used to kind of go through the

season while I was lying there. And then I'd think to. So when you're staring into space and not

listening to a word I'm saying, that's what you've been doing all these years. It's a good time to

reflect. And he just ignores me. And that's what you've been thinking about. When he said

all his achievements, he assumed he meant like family. Should I score against Bailey? Yeah, I

know. This is the kind of man I'm dealing with. You go on to like the new season, you think,

God, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm setting targets in my head of what I want to

achieve, what I want to do, where I want to be. And it's quite often a good time to do that.

You know, we're quite fortunate and we go away a lot. You know, the kids are off school, we'd

like to go away. And for that reason, you know, we've got four kids, life is busy, we're working a

lot. And it's just that time to, you know, little kids who aren't in school, like a long time,

they're in like six hours a day. Do you know what I mean? You don't really spend that much time with

them. So to be on holiday, mind you, 10 weeks is a bit too long. Those summer holidays are too long.

But you know, just to be with your kids and play with them and watch them in the sun, smiling,

happy, you know, off the devices, out of this English cold weather. What's good about it is

expanding their minds. It's like, you see things on telly, but like when you do it for real, you

know, like these sort of dolphins, you know, like for the first time in the world, that something

like that. You're cutting a coconut out of a tree and putting a straw in it, drinking the coconut

juice. Getting chased by a bat. You're getting chased by a bat. That was one of our highlights.

With the little, we were filming this. Scuba diving, snorkeling, the things they've done.

We were filming this little bat and it kind of opened its wings. I say little bat, it was at the

wingspan of me and it flew at us, didn't it? Yeah. But like, we got out of it unscathed. We can laugh

about it now. We've had it at the time. I just like seeing the kids with like, you know,

just in the swim trunks, no shoes. All day. All day, like little island babies. Yeah,

mowgli. I just love it. I just love, love it so much. Yeah. So as you can probably tell,

we love getting away and just like British Airways holidays, we'd love for everyone to

take their holidays a little more seriously. So we thought we'd end things with a therapy

crouch. Top three tip for a great holiday. Okay. Number one tip after hearing them stats,

take your holidays, switch off, you know, your health is your wealth. You know, there's, you

know, do you remember when we were in Mallorca and I was looking at the view, we had this little

window in the, a tiny window, window in the wall. But it was a tiny little window with a wooden

kind of shutter and the view was that spectacular. It looked like a picture and I was like,

there's got to be something good for your body by looking at this beauty, this natural beauty.

Do you know what I mean? Taking in these incredible landscapes, you know,

breathing the fresh sea air, that's got to be good for you. I remember taking a picture of that little

window and I went, that is incredible. Took a picture of it and got back and basically the

outside of it was out of focus and it was just a wall. Yeah. It was a lovely wall.

It's like when you take a picture of the moon, the moon looks stunning and you take pictures.

It never translates. Yeah, it didn't work, but it was nice for us in that, in that moment.

No, but I definitely say take, take those, take those holidays, switch off if you can.

Yeah. Tip number one, tea holidays. Tip number two. Well, tip number two is like, I think is the phone.

I think you've got to just leave it in the room. Do things. Do new things. You don't need to capture

everything. You don't need to speak to anyone. Go rogue. This is for me. Go out there and just

embrace where you are and do it rather than capture it. Yeah, but we like that now. Like,

you know, years ago, you used to want those beach holidays where you'd lie in the sun for like eight

hours, you know, and not move off to some bed, but we like getting up and doing stuff, don't we?

Especially, you know, going on bike rides and then going down to the beach for sunset and

taking a little picnic, you know. Yeah. Yeah, just get up, leave you. I think what you're saying is

live in the moment. Live it, yeah, and do as much as you can while you're there, you know,

because you might not come back and visit new places. Lovely. Tip one, each holidays,

tip two, live in the moment. And finally, tip three, broaden your horizons. I think sometimes you go

to a place you think that's amazing. We couldn't have a better time. So you go back there and you

go back every year. But there's something comforting about going to the same hotel and people

knowing you and, you know, we go to the same hotel and do buy and we get to the room and that,

you know, the cupboards are stacked with the kids' favorite snacks and the flowers I like and,

you know, they'll put like a little golf time on the table for pizza and we booked you into golf,

you know, you get to know someone. But, you know, there's a whole world out there.

There's millions of places that we've never tried. And I think now the kids are at an age where,

you know, we can explore more and try different things and open ourselves up to more cultures and

I don't know. Yeah, no, because I think you can go back to the same place every time. But what I've

said is like when we do branch out, we go, oh, this is just as good. And if you're visiting a

different place, you're learning, you know, there's a different culture that is, you know,

the kids are doing different things and so are we. It is good. Tip number three, broaden your horizons.

Love it. Thanks so much for listening to this special episode of the podcast brought to you

by British Airways Holidays. If this has inspired you to take your holidays more seriously,

you can head to ba.com forward slash holidays. Plus, the good thing is British Airways holidays

are making it so much easier to enjoy your holidays without the stress. All their holidays

are at all protected. They offer 24 hour help lines should you need them when you're away

and allow you to book with a low deposit and flexible payment. You can even use Avios points

towards your holidays to plus all their holidays include 23 kilograms baggage allowance per person.

Good for you that one bow. I need doubler. So no surprises when you book. Goodbye and happy holidays.

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