Going away (almost) every school holiday?

Are you sure it's just they aren't paying attention and forgot you went at Easter? More people have their one and only holiday in the summer not Easter.

We live in a fairly deprived area so many people book a term time holiday to save money. I start googling cheap/free things to doin the summer holidays in about may and we try and get out 3 times each week. Last time we had a holiday was 2013 and last time I went abroad was 2002. I did accompany dh on one of his work trips but the only thing I saw was the service stations and the holiday inn. Although I didn't have to buy the dc to bed, that was nice.

People just have different levels of income, how is that surprising? We would go away more if we had more annual leave. We’re not jet setters by any means but we’re just constrained by 31 days AL plus 8 bank holidays a year each (Civil Service) 🤷‍♀️

if that helps, we go to the library A LOT, if I buy books they are second hand
and the music lessons from a private provider at school are actually quite cheap.

You do what you want, but let's not pretend we go on holiday as often as possible instead of providing for our kids. We do other things cheaply.

I was stating that although we didn't go on more than one holiday a year we did not neglect DS. He didnt suffer because we made sure we spent money on him in other ways. I don't know how that is unpleasant.

My son went to a school in a very affluent area and I know fine well what other parents could afford. My DS was very intelligent and musically gifted and I'm not ashamed that we tried to encourage that. I wasn't commenting on whether other people did this or not. How was I offensive?

I actually find unpleasant posters coming on here saying we are affluent, we have lots of money. We have 4 holidays a year. That to me is boastful. Yet you are taking exception to me saying we only went on one holiday a year but spent money on things such as books and music lessons? I don't understand where you are coming from.

Depending on where you are going/what you are doing going away (e.g. easyjet flight to grandma in Europe/caravan holiday in the UK) can work out cheaper than not taking AL and putting the DC in holiday club while you work especially if you have 2/3 DC.

This is the absolute dream for me. I am a single parent so that makes things difficult financially BUT the income I do have is as passive as possible specifically because I want to be able to travel as much as I can. I have family in southern Europe so can take the kids there every holiday but ideally I would be doing: Christmas alternating somewhere long-haul with family in Southern Europe, Feb half term - definitely somewhere hot and long-haul, Easter maybe in California, May half term in Europe, 6 weeks of summer travelling to 2-3 holiday destinations, October half term somewhere hot and on we go. At the moment I am just doing the Southern Europe options with the kids and then do manage a couple of work/adult only additional ones but Ideally I could afford to take all of us away every holiday. Travel makes some of us very happy.

I very rarely go away at Christmas so I work Christmas and New Year - not on the bank holidays but that gives me a lot of brownie points for the other holidays

We go away every holiday except Christmas but not abroad. So this Easter we did a caravan long weekend, July we did a London city break, August a theme park and we’re going abroad in October. I’ve spent just less than £2.5k total for all those breaks so it’s not always ridiculously expensive, it depends where you go, how good deals you get, etc.

I don't get every day of the holidays off but it's not difficult for me to get a week at Easter and Christmas (bank holidays help) and two weeks over the summer.

I get 33 days of leave so that still leaves some to spend with the kids locally

How do you all manage to get every school holiday off? We all have to take turns at work, and we're not allowed more than 2 weeks off at one time

Everyone's different. Even each year, I'm different. Some years we've been away Easter/May/Summer, some years just the summer and some not at all. I don't understand the pressure to go away - travelling is just another hobby really, not a requirement. Sometimes I fancy it, sometimes I don't.

This.

We are going away 3 times this year. Once because I did 6 weeks moonlighting in a pub to pay for an easter trip. Once because it is our annual summer holiday and once because my parents who live abroad are both having operations in December so we will go there for Christmas. That last was unexpected and we are selling shares to cover it.

Next year we will not go away even a single time because we will have obliterated our holiday savings and then some.

We aren't wealthy but we have a few holidays and loads of UK weekends away every year. It depends where your priorities are. We live a fairly frugal life day to day.

Primarily because your original post stated that you preferred to
prioritise your disposable income on music lessons and books - the implication being that people who frequently travel don’t value music or books. I was merely pointing out that many many people do both and much more besides.

It was your original post that came across as unpleasant and dismissive.

what pressure?

I have always enjoyed travelling, I am not putting my life on hold because I have children, we actually enjoy holidays together.

Why do you think you don't need to entertain your children and have activities at home? It's bizarre. Unless you think that you on MN and your children reading books for 6 weeks is actually fun? I'd go mad, and I love reading 😂

We go away most school holidays - a mixture of abroad and uk, we usually do February and October abroad, visit family at Easter in Ireland, and camping May and Summer holidays, with a few weekends thrown in. I absolutely do prioritise holidays as I find that holiday time as a family fun and enjoyable. We book a year in advance so that it's more affordable and often self cater. I'm frugal in other areas of life so that I can prioritise this.

There are quite a number of jobs/fields where you get a lot more than 28 days. Both DH and I get 44 days so we go abroad for 4 weeks a year. We aren't allowed to use any annual leave during February or October half terms or we'd probably go away more, but we do try to squeeze in a trip in the UK during May half term and sometimes another during the 6 weeks if our summer holiday dates allow it. We are careful with everything we spend so that we have enough for holidays, and are obviously very lucky as I know plenty of people are also very careful with their money and still don't have enough to travel.

I don't think it's the norm for families with kids to go away multiple times a year. I guess it's just about how much disposable income you have or what your priorities are.

I don't have kids but DP and I do go away quite a bit. However, our house is a right old state and two of the rooms plus the garden desperately need a complete refurb! I know I have other friends who are pretty frugal about holidays but put all their money into making their house really beautiful.

Some people have more money
Some people prioritise holidays - I'd rather have cheaper food shops, cheaper cars and have ikea furniture and so on but go away more often
Some people (obviously not on MN 😂) have friends and family and are invited to various places meaning it's actually a cheap holiday.
Some holidays are cheaper than others

You are happy with 1 holiday a year, that's a choice, you are not doing anything wrong but neither am I because I prefer to go away a lot more often and mix UK staycations, and various trips abroad, a bit of city break, some beach holidays.

My daughter's in-laws do this, with 2 children. They have a campervan and stay either at cheap campsites or overnight in car parks.

Isn’t it as simple as some people have more annual leave and disposable income than you do?

To provide an example, I personally have 32.5 days annual leave, plus bank holidays. I also get an extra day (informal/non/contractual) over Xmas. Most bank holidays tie up with school holidays - over Xmas, Summer, Easter and May half term. So over say May half term, I could take a week off by using only four days annual leave. I could take around 8 weeks off a year if I planned it efficiently. School holidays are around 13 weeks a year.

We have plenty of disposable income.

I know, so frustrating that people try and drag others down to raise others up. It screams jealousy

I get allocated leave, and I'm recently divorced so I am going back to the one-holiday-a-year mindset. I am fortunate this year though, I spent four days in Athens in May by myself and had a lovely time, and in two weeks my parents are taking me & DD on holiday at no cost (apart from insurance and spending money).

Next year my holidays will be in June, and I'm saving up for an Inter-rail holiday. That's the only one planned. It's a shame because I do get a lot of annual leave but most of the time I stay at home due to the cost of these days.

"IMO these people struggle to entertain their children themselves and feel the need for constant activities"

Nonsense.