Everyone going on holidays

We go away every year but it’s not luxury holidays. I’m happy to slum it in a tent or Eurocamp type thing for the change of scenery and experience of being abroad.

Our rainy day fund is inheritance as I was ‘lucky’ to lose a couple of child free relatives. I’d much rather they were still with us but it had cushioned us from cost of living. I dare say others are in a similar position?

I wonder if it's "everyone" on holiday? I'm sure there are a whole bunch of people, even on your SM, who won't be going away.

In my case, I prioritize holidays. So my money doesn't go as far as it did a few years back. My holidays are cheaper. And I've cut back on other things (e.g. cake, coffee, takeaways) completely. Swapped brands and shops in Sainsbury for Aldi. I'm saving a lot less (outside the "holiday" fund, which I often dip into for unexpected bills - e.g. to fix my car or buy new tyres).

Over the years I've learnt that "skint" is relative. Many people say they are skint or can't afford X. However it doesn't mean their savings are at 0, their overdraft and credit cards are maxed out, and they are looking for money in the sofa to spend on reduced food, while walking 90 minutes each way to work because they don't have bus fare. (I'm not saying this ppl don't exist, I'm just saying many people throw around the word "skint" when they are far from it). They just mean they can't afford things they used to take for granted.

We're going abroad on holiday later this week. It's our family's first holiday for 8 years, and we've been saving for it for the last 2 years. Our DDs are 15 and 17, and we wanted to have a week in the sun, to spend some proper time together before the oldest heads off to Uni next year. Luckily, we all get on brilliantly and have a lot of fun together, so we're all really looking forward to it, but definitely not something we could afford more than once every 6 years or so.

There's no point discussing.this on here. This is a forums full of high earners, who look down on people on low incomes(never mind holiday's, we shouldn't even be having kids!). I scrimp and save to afford one holiday a year myself. It's not easy but I am fairly frugal in other ways.

Most people are not skint. Everyone I know is going on holiday this year at least once. Quite a few are going on 3 or 4 holidays.

I'm going on my first abroad holiday since 2016 in 2 weeks. Yes I'm on UC, but have managed to squirrel away the odd tenner for myself here and there for years saving for it. Ex-h is taking them abroad the same week so I'm getting my first ever holiday, guilt free child free week in the sun with some close girl-friends. 😀I'll still be proper skint when I come back.

but thought most people were skint.

Some people are skint-loads aren’t.

Sorry to hear about your difficult situation.
I honestly don’t know how they do it, perhaps inheritance or came to extra money in a different way. They can obviously choose to spend the money how they wish but my point was that holidays have become such a necessity that even people on benefits are choosing to spend the extra cash on a big long haul holiday rather than save for more important things (perhaps they are not motivated to save as it reduces your universal credit from what I heard?).

We swap homes so no accommodation costs. Had a two week holiday in Switzerland. We drove there in our old car and didn't eat out once. Bought nearly full two weeks of supplies at Aldi in France on our way. Lots of free activities: hiking, swimming in lakes & free pools, visiting Bern etc It was lovely & fairly cheap. This holiday could have easily cost many thousands of pounds for our family of four if paid accommodation, flights & hire car. Maybe some of our acquaintances who don't know us well think we're loaded ;)

Do you mean holidays abroad? Or just going away somewhere? I'm currently in my mum's caravan with my 2 kids, the weather is gorgeous and we are having a blast. My mum drove us here, I bought food for the week from the usual groceries budget, and I have saved up a holiday budget for ice creams, meal out etc. The whole week's holiday will have cost me about £300 over what I would have spent if we were at home.
Yeh, I'm pretty skint but my kids deserve a holiday and while I can't give them Spain or Cyprus, I have managed to give them sun, sea, sand and ice cream 😃 we've had a great week and I don't wanna go home 😂

I'm not really skint. I'm a decent earner (not by MN standards but by normal standards) and although my money doesn't go as far it's still ok and I still go on holiday.

@40somethingme I'd love to know how single parent families on universal credit are going to Mexico (assuming they are not Mexican and staying with family or something). It's been a stretch for this single parent family to do a few days camping this year, money has not felt tighter in over 20 years. Universal credit is really punitive and difficult to built security on in comparison to the old system.

Same

Brits took 86.2m trips abroad last year which was down on 2019 when it was 93.1m. So yes a lot of people are still holidaying abroad Where do Brits go on holiday?: Popular travel destinations (finder.com)

This year is our first abroad holiday since 2019 (last pre covid holiday). Since 2020 we have camped in the UK as its cheaper and during 2020 and 2021 just easier with restrictions. It means we have had time to save to be able to afford an abroad holiday (Australia this year)

Most people we know have had at least one week away this year (whether that abroad or UK) and a couple of long weekends (camping, centre parcs, airbnbs, holiday parks etc). You holiday to what you can afford. A camping weekend away if you have all the stuff can be as little as £50 if you are clever with where you go.

I think it's just because we are in the middle of the school summer holidays, so you will be hearing about it more than at other times of the year, as this is when parents are likely to have time off work to go away.

Was it? Only 2020 and 2021 were affected by covid as far as I am concerned, and I probably could have gone on holiday in 2021 but couldn't be doing with the restrictions/mask wearing on planes etc.

We are not rich by any means but we find cheap holidays and always have a good time. We create a holiday fund each January and save some money and then see what we can afford. We are going for a long weekend in Norfolk in october half term with parkdean which cost £150, if you wanted to keep it cheap you could get a food shop to avoid eating out.

we have also booked france with eurocamp for next august summer hols for £900 + around £20 (ballpark figure) for eurotunnel.

this is for 6 of us. we may have another long weekend in the easter hols.

I've spoken to a few people who struggled a lot with the rainy weather at the beginning of the year and decided to prioritise spending on a foreign holiday for some sun.

Of all the families and friends that I know, only one person is skint, and even they have saved for a holiday. Everyone else is pretty flush. But we are all in our 40's and 50's. No one has nursery fees anymore, and most are nearing the end of their mortgages or have no mortgage. We have 2 holiday booked. But I don't really spend much on anything else. I have 2 haircuts a year, never pay for beauty treatments, drive a car that's 13 years old etc.

@leafybrew Zante, it was lovely, had a great holiday!

Not necessarily because they couldn’t afford it because of Covid, but because people changed their spending habits - I know of lots of families who used to holiday regularly before Covid, then stopped because of Covid and began spending their money on things like home improvements etc.
Obviously they couldn’t afford both. Those people are just beginning to holiday again

I haven't had a normal for us 2 wk holiday since covid as our DD hasn't been well enough (MH issues) to cope with being away for more than a week.

This always confuses me when I see it, why would someone not have been away since 2020 because of covid? We had a holiday booked for April 2020 which didn't go ahead, we rescheduled for August 2020, then we went away in 2021 and onwards as normal.

Really? It seems a longer time than that since Covid restrictions would have affected travel - or do you mean it has taken a while for people to recover financially?