(Picture: Metro)
As Trudi Litherland took a bite of delicious spaghetti, she felt content. She’d just landed in Pisa, and her holiday was getting off to great a start.
But the mum-of-two, who had arrived in Italy with her two young children, didn’t have too long to savour the moment – as her flight home was in just a few short hours.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that an emergency situation was forcing Trudi to return home before her break had even begun, but this was actually the plan all along, as Trudi is part of a growing community of ‘extreme day trippers’.
Whether it’s jetting off to another country for a day or squeezing a bucket-list itinerary into 48 hours, extreme day trips are becoming a trend, with a dedicated Facebook group, ‘Extreme Day Trips’, boasting over 240,000 members.
The rules of the group are simple: trips ranging from day-long adventures to ‘ridiculous’ two-night stays count as ‘extreme’, but anything over three nights is a no-go.
Some UK travellers have made it as far as Dubai and New York in under 48 hours, while others have dashed to Cairo to see the pyramids in less than a day, and many more have taken advantage of Europe’s proximity for a quick getaway.
‘The places we visit are easy to explore within a day’
Trudi, from Hockley, Essex, booked her trip to Pisa five months in advance, flying from Stansted at 6:10am and arriving in the Italian city at 9am, before leaving at 6pm the same day. The return flights cost her £70 each.
With her sons, Henry, 10, and Barnaby, seven, in tow, the trio managed to fit a lot in.
Trudi told Metro: ‘It was such a brilliant, action-packed day out. We saw the spectacular Leaning Tower of Pisa, as well as other historical sites. We had a wonderful long lunch, trying various Italian dishes and ate gelati. After, both of my boys sat whilst a local artist drew their portrait.’
While Trudi said they all felt tired on the way home, they kept their spirits high as they ‘knew it was worth it’.
This wasn’t their first extreme day trip. In September, the three of them flew to Cologne in Germany and spent the day at the Phantasialand theme park.
‘This was such a fantastic day out. The theme park had so many unique rides. My boys loved it,’ she said.
Despite being dubbed an ‘extreme’ day tripper, Trudi doesn’t necessarily agree her travels are ‘extreme’. She explained: ‘The places we visit are easy to explore within a day.’
She also adds that this type of travelling is perfect for a busy lifestyle: ‘My boys love the thrill of the adventure and they are easy to fit around a school and work timetable.’
Trudi loves the quality time with her boys that these trips afford. Her husband, Mark, works long hours in banking but joins them on bigger family holidays. Trudi said: ‘His work is quite involved and I’m sure he welcomes the peace.’
Trudi recommends joining the Extreme Day Trip Facebook group to be inspired by other people’s experiences.
She added: ‘Don’t overthink it, search on sites like Skyscanner, select destination ‘anywhere’ and look for good deals with good flight times. Also, pack light. You do not need much for a day trip, just a small rucksack with a few essential items.’
Are extreme day trippers choosing quantity over quality?
Eloise Skinner, author and psychotherapist, warns that with these extreme trips ‘people might be less concerned about the quality of the experience, and more about the ability to display the trip online’.
She added: ‘Another factor could be the sense of achievement or adrenaline as a whole – quick trips can feel thrilling, exciting and non-stop – all emotions that we can crave, especially if our daily lives start to feel routine and predictable.’
These long trips, she says, could result in negative effects such as fatigue. She said: ‘Exhaustion and a sense of being drained might be a result of extreme day trips.
‘We might feel and bit disorientated since we don’t spend long enough in a particular place to get our bearings or a sense of comfort within the environment.’
Eloise advises that spending time researching the trip may help ‘reduce feelings of overwhelm and exhaustion’. She also advises ‘finding ways to stay grounded during fast-paced trips’ – such as scheduling moments to rest or ‘move to a slower pace’.
‘I want to see 30 countries before I’m 30’
Jake Carpenter, 27, from Andover, Hampshire, has been doing whirlwind trips before they became popular – he’s been on 20 from the UK since 2016 and is on a mission to complete 30 countries before his 30th birthday.
On a recent trip, Jake flew from Gatwick to visit both Nice and Monaco in less than 24 hours, spending just £39 on flights. While he found this deal on Skyscanner nine months in advance, he usually books with shorter notice.
Jake flew from Gatwick at 6am, landing in the French city in time to make a 10am walking tour. His return flight back to London was at 10:05pm the same day.
Despite the tight schedule, Jake managed to fit a lot into the trip. He told Metro: ‘I enjoyed a great walk along the beach in Nice, a guided walking tour of the French city, then took a train up to Monaco and did a self-guided walk around the micronation.
‘I visited the museum of the Princes Car Collection, went car spotting around the Monte Carlo casino and walked the Monaco Grand Prix track.’
Jake said that extreme day trips are ‘certainly doable’. He added: ‘They’re fun, affordable, and there is so much to do within easy reach of us in the UK.’
But some European destinations, Jake claims, don’t have many attractions. Unlike Trudi, he wasn’t impressed by Pisa, claiming that, aside from a ‘photo with the tower and some pizza or pasta for lunch, there’s not much else to do there. So, why go for a week when it can be done in a day?’
Jake ‘carefully selects’ his trips, so he’s not worried about not getting a full experience of a city. He says: ‘I don’t just do it for the sake of it. If I’m planning one and I think there’s more to do than I can fit in, it becomes a weekend trip, or a few days or a multi-stop trip.’
While these extreme trips may sound exhausting to some, Jake says he doesn’t suffer from tiredness. ‘They’re obviously really long days, but I have earplugs to sleep on the plane and make sure I get a good night’s sleep before.’
His advice to fellow travellers? ‘Be open-minded and flexible, look for flights and go ahead and book them. If you hate it, it’s over within 24 hours, and you never have to go back. But I only have positive memories, even the ones that weren’t as exciting.
The only downside? Jake says: ‘I don’t live near Stansted.’
‘It’s a great way to maximise annual leave’
Lauren Brogan became an accidental extreme day tripper after she calculated that a quick trip to Geneva would be cheaper than staying overnight at a hotel in Glasgow, near to where she lives.
Lauren, visited the Swiss city in April 2023. She found cheap flight tickets on Skyscanner and paid just £52 for a return from Edinburgh, staying at a hotel by the lakefront in Versoix.
The 25-year-old said she loved the ‘spontaneity’ of the trip. She said: ‘It was a city I’d never thought about visiting before, but there were loads to see and do and it’s absolutely stunning.’
She organised a full itinerary, which included visiting the United Nations Building, Botanical Gardens, The Flower Clock, Favarger Chocolate Factory, the Broken Chair monument, Mont Blanc Bridge and Lake Geneva.
Lauren said she would recommend an extreme day trip to anyone. She said: ‘It’s a great way to maximise annual leave and visit more places around the world on a budget.’
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But Lauren said it was ‘difficult’ trying to fit everything into the trip and admits still ‘needs to go back to see more of the city’.
How do extreme day trippers after the environment?
It’s undeniable that this trend raises environmental concerns. Lauren said she considers this ‘to an extent’.
She added: ‘I love Skyscanner’s guide to CO2 per flight and I do try to be aware of this on travel. I personally don’t do these trips often and they’re more of a one-off experience for me.’
For Jake, the cost of flying outweighs the negative impacts. He said: ‘It’s cheaper for me to fly to the other end of Europe than it is for me to get a train to any British city.
‘If we modernised and built more railways in the UK, I’d use them more.’
Matt Phillips, travel expert at Polarsteps, told Metro: ‘A flight generates 100 times more carbon dioxide per hour compared to a train or bus ride.
‘But short-haul flights, covering less than 1000 miles, contribute disproportionately more to carbon emissions. This is because take-off and landing are so energy-intensive.’
So, what alternatives are there? ‘Taking the train from London to Paris instead of flying cuts your CO2 emissions by a whopping 90%.
‘You’d be surprised by how easy it is to do a day trip to Brussels or Amsterdam if you catch an early Eurostar out of London.
‘You’ll arrive right in the city centre, and you also save time on airport check-in waits. To get more off the beaten track, take a connecting train or hop on a Flixbus.
If you are flying, however, Matt recommends choosing a more sustainable airline. He said: ‘BA is the highest-ranking UK-based airline due to its roadmap to net zero.
‘When it comes to short-haul airlines, Easyjet ranks top with its emissions intensity being almost 18% lower than the global average.’
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