Mumsnet Talk

I really liked doing a road trip. No "childcare" as we were in a car and then in a fun hotel and looking round a new town. My son had the front so he didn't get sick and enjoyed the journey. Lots of sleep with him doing the tolls (Maths? Geography ?). Anyway Europe is bonkers small. Even he liked going from breakfast in Germany through mountains to Austria and then ending up in Florence all in a day.
He was interested, I was interested (loved driving there as it is much easier, although hate it in here) and then had lots of cheap wine once my stint was over. Brilliant holiday. My son was 8 though. Might not work with younger/teenagers.

The only ones I really resent are the cold wet overpriced cottages in UK, where you are doing all the same work as at home but without the dishwasher or tumble drier. I feel like a mug paying so much to be somewhere pokey and dark with no toys.

But as soon as you park us in a Keycamp/Alfresco sort of campsite with splash pools and chilled wine, and children having wobbly pony rides under eucalyptus trees, I start to relax. It gets so much easier as they get older. You can send them down to the camp shop to get the bread for breakfast while you lie in, or let them run down to the pool complex while you read a book in the sun.

we went to center parcs,i liked it,we put the older 3 in the kids activities every morning,went for lunch im one of the restaurants together after,wet swimming and then back to the lodge,gave them a light supper and then got them bathed and to bed,and the cooked something nice for ourselves.

that was 3 child free hours per day,plus the time we had in the evenings.

Ahhh, so glad I am not the only one who struggles! I think I will suggest a non self catering option next time. I would actually love to go away on my own but DH would see that as insanity and try to have me sectioned!

Oh op, my advice would be not to do self catering tbh. I know it's cheaper, but if it were me I'd go at a cheaper time and for less time. Perhaps a couple of long weekends instead of a week. Just not to have to do the food shopping is good.

We had a great 3 night stay at a pub on the North Norfolk coast last Aug bank holiday, family room and massive breakfast for 4 of us ( my DC same age as yours btw ) for 3 nights for £310.

OP send the kids to PGL for a week and go off on a beach holiday without them. simples!

I hate them.
We don't do them anymore...ds and dh go away, dd won't go anywhere and I go on my own.

I think the other thing is the preparation & planning you have to do. I am working nights the week before we go away and I hate all the extra work of buying food/equipment, washing/ironing/buying clothes you need for the holiday. Making sure all of us have appropriate clothes/entertainment/medicine, sorting out the pets etc & undoing it all when you get back! God, I am such a moaner!

We have been self catering in Wales once (rained all the time!) and Centre Parcs twice. My children are 6 & 9. I don't even know what I would prefer as it has been so long since I have been on a holiday! I used to love a laze around the pool kind of holiday but that is clearly out of the question now.

I agree with you, it seems like a taboo to mention it though .

Holidays as a family are all about compromise - I am happy going away with my DH alone, or with my DS alone, (or even better, completely alone) but trying to find something we all enjoy is almost impossible. DH loves camping/hiking/outdoor sort of things; DS (an only child) loves to be with other children and have 'fun/adventure type things to do'. I like a nice beach and a decent outdoor swimming pool.

When DS was a bit younger we did Eurocamp type holidays in rural areas which suited us most of the time although DH is a snob if there are too many other people around.

...when our DC were wee, I hated holidays. It took me a while to realise this was because we stayed in cottages in parts of England and France we had chosen as "suitable" but ultimately not especially enjoyable. Especially when I wasn't escaping the cooking shopping and cleaning.

As mine have got older, we have a compromise of going somewhere more interesting and trying to please us as well as them. Eg. Last year we went AI which they loved and I hated, so this year we are going BB with facilities so I don't feel like I'm in a gulag and a hire car so we have more freedom and options.

Maybe you are going on the 'wrong' sort of holidays? What do you typically do and where do you typically go on holiday, as a family?

What would you prefer? What would you enjoy?

How old are your DC?

Does anyone else not enjoy family holidays? We rarely go away due to financial reasons but when we do I just find myself being irritable the whole time! I find my DH really annoying when we are together 24/7 and find the lack of time alone very trying! What is wrong with me? Aren't I supposed to be blissfully happy to be 'away from it all' and how can I change things so that I don't spoil it for everyone?