Holidays - Are they worth it?

I've just got back from a whistle stop tour in Spain. Salamanca to Segovia via Avila. Then most of the holiday in Madrid with trips out to Toledo, Aranjuez & Chinchon, The towns are beautiful & very interesting & Madrid is an art lovers dream. The architecture & paintings are stunning, although Baroque isn't my favourite style. The food is freshly prepared from good ingredients & very tasty, apart from that in the hotels we stayed at, which was fairly bland & not that hot.

Which leads me neatly to my first point. About a third of a coach full, (45 - 50), went down with a really nasty tummy bug. It seemed to be quite virulent, lasted a couple of days & left people really washed out. My friend & I were lucky, we didn't get it. The rep's handling of the situation left a lot to be desired. We are awaiting the response from the tour company.

The timetable we were given was changed, supposedly due to the Palacio Real in Aranjuez, which is about the only thing to see there, suddenly closing on Mondays. Later we discovered that it has been closed on Mondays for a very long time. This had the knock on effect of giving us less time in Toledo, which was a big disappointment because it is a highlight of the trip.

Both of these complaints could & should have been handled much better by the rep & the tour operator. The reason people got irritated and annoyed was because of the lack of good communication & response to circumstances.

I developed Oedema at some point presumably due to all the travelling in planes & coaches & standing around in galleries & buildings. I also picked up a throat / chest infection from being confined in the same planes & coaches with lots of people who were coughing. Then there was the morning headache & dizziness. Goodness knows what caused that, unless it was the pillow over my head! (See next paragraph).

Not much sleep for a week, due to a friend who snores more or less continuously, didn't help either. I did discover towards the end that if I used ear plugs & a pillow over my head I could get to sleep. It was rather ironic, because surprisingly the rooms were quiet. 

So the question is - is it worth it? Especially when you consider the time taken preparing before you go & catching up when you get back. 10 years ago I would have definitely said yes. You simply can't beat real first hand experience of different cultures, meeting people, seeing different places. Wherever I've been, however far flung & intrepid, it's the good things I remember not the bad. Now I'm not so sure. Especially considering the time taken to recover.

Maybe travelling is for the young.