Pay For My Holiday!

I am increasingly asked to pay for other people's holidays. Now why on earth would I do that? Surely you wouldn't just pay for someone else to go gallivanting off round the world would you? Well, inadvertently you probably have.

I have, of course, got nothing against raising money for charity, but I have two issues with some tit asking me to sponsor them to walk the Great Wall of China.

1) It's not a challenge, given that the Great Wall Of China is essentially a road, and you're only walking 5 miles a day - you might as well ask me to sponsor you to walk up Watford High Street.

2) The first thousand pounds in sponsorship money you raise PAYS FOR YOUR HOLIDAY. So if you raise £1500 in total, you've essentially got a free holiday and only raised £500 for charity. I would therefore question your motivation.

Last April nine of us embarked upon a week long road trip around Europe. The challenge was to buy a banger for £500, and get round 12 countries in seven days. We then felt a bit guilty about essentially going on a week long piss-up - particularly as one of our best mates had cancer.

So we decided to get sponsorship from friends and family to make it look a little more responsible and raise money for a good cause. However, every single penny of that sponsorship money went to the charity. We each ended up spending about £700 on petrol, B&Bs, food etc etc. - none of it went towards the cost of us having a good time. And I think that's how it should be.

So all I'm saying here is that if you're thinking of doing a skydive, don't expect me to pay for it.