Britons Miss Their Pets Most When They Go Abroad

Have you ever said goodbye to your cat/dog when you've left the house, but completely forgot to say goodbye to your partner? We know lots of people who do this, so we wanted to find out what and who we miss the most when we go abroad, in order to determine what we hold closest and dearest to us.

We ran a survey with 2,165 Britons 'all aged 18 and over, all of whom have been abroad for a holiday in the past 12 months' and asked them about how they kept in touch with people back from (assuming they do at all).

Pets Are Missed The Most

We firstly asked all of our survey respondents who or what they missed the most during their most recent holiday. The top answers that we were given were:

Pet(s) - 21%
My bed - 16%
Friends - 15%
Family members - 11%
My partner- 10%
Work colleagues - 8%
TV shows - 8%
Certain foods/snacks - 5%
My job - 2%
My day-to-day routine - 1%

Almost All Of Us Contact Home

When we asked if they'd called or messaged back home whilst they were away, 87% confessed that 'yes' they did - just 13% were able to stay away from technology and fully immerse themselves in their break.

We asked those who did contact home how they chose to do so, with video calling being the most popular way of calling home (65%). Apparently pets (42%), friends (28%) and parents (22%) are the ones we wish to speak to the most whilst we're away from home.

Of those who didn't contact home, the top reasons cited were respondents being on holiday with those that they wanted to speak to and spend time with (62%), it was nice to enjoy the break from everyone back home (13%) or they simply just forgot to phone home (10%).

A Third Of Us Experience Homesickness

Alongside feeling the need to phone home, we asked Britons about their home comforts, with 37% admitting that they felt homesick on their last holiday abroad - a quarter of those (24%) felt that it affected how much they enjoyed their holiday, to a certain extent.

As well as feeling homesick, 16% confessed to packing something from home in their suitcase - with over a fifth of those admitting it was a stuffed toy.

Holidays are amazing - the build-up, the excitement and then being there, it's usually always worth the money and the wait that we have to endure. That being said, it can be easy to miss home comforts, family members and pets, and even colleagues as all of these play such a big role in our day-to-day lives.

With technology playing such a prominent role in our lives these days, and there being decent Wi-Fi in most places, we're more connected than ever. Although, it wouldn't hurt to ignore technology whilst away, fully immerse yourself in your holiday, and enjoy missing the things you love from back home - they say absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all.