How do people afford good holidays

Also, be careful pricing a trip that's more than a year out because airlines and (probably to a lesser extent) hotels usually set prices for one year and then adjust them as necessary, with the prices beyond that set to a kind of maximum default. So if you specifically ask ChatGPT for costs for, say, July 2027, you're going to get an unrealistically high estimate. On the other hand if you look too close to the travel dates - ask ChatGPT for an estimate for THIS July - prices will also be more expensive than if you'd booked 3-6 months ahead. One way to get more realistic is to ask what the costs WOULD have been for your dates THIS year, had you booked at the most advantageous time. Any specific info about number of nights, places to visit, number of nights in each place, age of child and whether one hotel room for all of you is OK, standard of accommodation needed, etc. will help a lot with a better ballpark estimate.

The USA is horrendously expensive, not just up front costs but meal costs, tipping etc add so much. 5 days in New York, 3 star hotel and no fancy meals cost us more than 3 weeks 5 star with private driver in India despite the Indian government charging tourists many times the local rate to visit places and me clipping many coupons in New York!

the more reasonable (and cost controlled) way to do CA and HI would be to book a cruise package from the U.K. eg look at imagine cruising. They can alter flying dates so you can incorporate a few days fly drive for instance. Outside the cities the USA is not as expensive as major tourist hot spots. The trip I’ve seen is fly to Miami, puck up cruise ship, through Panama Canal up the coast of the USA as far San Francisco then onto Hawaii, it then went onto the South Pacific, New Zealand and Sydney then fly home

I think you can do it for much less than that. ChatGPT makes stuff up and gets things wrong all the time.

Congratulations, you’ve picked two very expensive places to visit!

I have travelled to California frequently before but it has become ridiculously expensive in recent years - whereas food/clothes/eating out used to be cheaper than the UK it’s now ridiculous and Hawaii is on another level!

We did San Fran, Honolulu, Maui, Los Angeles last year for a conference, so we had to stay in a particular hotel in Honolulu which had us over a barrel for pricing but just generally it was very expensive. $25 for a beer or cocktail in most hotel bars/restaurants, $25+ for an entree -, although we did find good old Denny’s which was more reasonable!!

We booked everything independently and used air miles to book some of our flights and hotels (we also flew first class domestic (our version of business). For two adults we probably spent around 8k, but it should have been more without the miles etc. Plus we got a great deal on the hotel as we were on a group booking but if you stay in a resort (which you would want to with kids) it’s $$$. We estimated it was a 12k holiday between us if we had paid in full for everything.

Recommend researching all of the islands. We had to go to Honolulu but Maui was by choice and beautiful. Slightly cheaper also as it’s not so touristy. Recommend Hawaiian Airlines - their first cabin is the best I’ve seen on domestic. Also you have to do a Luau while you’re there.

Californianis a holiday on itself! I had never been to SAn Fran but have done most of the rest of Cali. I didn’t personally rate San Fran - very touristy, lots of crime, homelessness, but there are beautiful parts of the city. I would recommend Southern California which is beautiful. Outside of the cities are cheaper but still way more expensive than they used to be.

however, with the current state of play, flights to America are cheaper as it’s not so attractive to fly there at the moment!

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We do Skyscannner plus Airbnb for lots of family trips including US trips. Lots of research too… not ChatGPT! We flew into DC and out of NYC at Easter this year, staying over 2 weeks in the US… flights with Icelandair (who were excellent!) return to ireland were £1,575.54. Lovely apartments rented for around £1,200 in each place (DC and Jersey City - just a short bus trip over the river from NYC). For a family of 5.
West Coast would be more expensive but I would apply the same principles and look at getting it booked around 8 months ahead.
When we flew to CA and Hawaii we got lucky and via Skyscanner stalking could see which airlines hadn’t released flights yet - got them as soon as they were released so a good deal.

Not CA but we went to Hawaii in the spring and paid roughly 10K for 10 days. Check Costco travel.

😲

Mu brother and sister in law were always going on incredible holidays with their two boys. I couldn't understand it. She didnt work. He had a good job but not that great. When they got divorced she discovered they had no equity in the house because he kept remortgaging to fund the holidays!

Don’t be ridiculous! You are also being extremely rude.

Travel independently. Find the cheapest flights you can going on awkward days or at awkward times. Find travel to and from places you need independently (buses, trains, trams). Stay in second cities away from the tourist traps (e.g. avoid Venice and stay in Padua - a twenty min train trip away). Stay in AirBnBs or hostels (some of which are incredibly nice and you'll meet all sorts of people). Do cheap or low cost activities. Either that, or earn more money!

We’ve been to California quite a few times- really enjoyed the LA/ Laguna beach combo we did a few years ago - like others I would give Hawaii a miss - I think you would find it somewhat underwhelming for what you’ve paid- if you want to mix up city and beach then it would be way cheaper to either look at Cali and Laguna/san Diego or Cali/ Santa barbara( which I love) or even mix it up , do an internal and add in Florida keys or st Petersburg or Bahamas . I estimate around £11k for 2 weeks including car and mid range accommodation and a shorter flight back California is pretty expensive by the way unless you live on fast food- think Scandinavian prices

I've often wondered this. I usually manage to save a holiday budget of 2.5k per year for four of us, that's it. We take our holidays in school holidays which adds to cost. I cannot squirrel anymore away. We have a decent income too.

DD went to an affluent school, and there were only a few kids who went on big long haul holidays. I dont think these type of holidays for parents with dependents are that common even for the middle class.

My first long haul holiday ever was 10 years ago (in my 50s) with a teen dd, we used my dh's life insurance to go visit his best mate in the US (NY / New England). We would never afford to be able to go otherwise. We rarely could afford to go short haul.

Have done a couple of long haul since but that was after DD left home and I am in the position to save.

@nonamesleftatall that’s a great holiday !! Have a fab time

Honestly OP I wonder this and I say this as someone who took two DC to Florida five times when they were tweens, California and Vegas for three weeks, New York for a week and Boston for a week. We now have adult DC, loads more disposable income and only ourselves to pay for.

And I think “how the fuck did we afford to do that?”.

The people i know having expensive holidays in their 50s and 60s are doung so because of inheritances

I took my son to San Francisco two years ago. I had no idea it would cost so much.
I had obviously paid for the flights ahead, and I had also paid for the hotel.
The cost of food and entertainment for the time there cost at least three times more than I had expected.
California is so very expensive.
Im not sure about Hawaii but I have heard the same for that.

I also had a shock when looking into Japan a few years ago and how much that would cost.

I think tourists have a similar shock when they visit London.
These are simply expensive destinations.

I have spent a lot on holidays. It’s pretty much what I work for. But some destinations are way out of my scope.

I do agree that there are cheaper ways to do trips.

Are you quite new here?

(Yes it probably is just you.)

Thread title is:
"How do people afford good holidays"

Yes the OP reveals they have a child but she doesn't specifically say how do families afford these sorts of holidays.

In fact, if one of the reasons people can afford luxury holidays is because the are not having to pay for children as well then I think that is a very relevant fact indeed. Simple as that.

I know someone who added it on when travelling round the states. It didn’t cost anywhere near that, including car hire. But they didn’t use a travel company at all and booked it independently.

I think the average family with a mortgage and children would not consider th it a type of holiday in the first place. A nice child friendly week in Greece or anywhere Europe is mostly affordable and as long as you are having fun and with people you love it’s great. No need to ever spend £20000 on a holiday unless of course you have the means to do so, and it sounds as if you probably haven’t . Lower your expectations and you will be able to find somewhere really nice and celebrate your 50 th without having to be paying for it for years later. I personally only know one person who goes on expensive holidays and I don’t think it makes her particularly happy

OP asked how people afford to go on hols. We are still people, you know.

And no kids really helps with finances, tho that will probs turn round in old age, as I pick up a lot of caring, that would otherwise cost a fortune.

My Bil had to cancel a holiday, I couldn't work out why he was so nervous, turns out it was in the region of £25k outlays. No kids, two professional jobs, now both retired.

Basically, it just depends what you want to spend your discretionary income on...kids (some people choose to have fewer children), cars, holidays, once all your basic needs are met, which for a lot of people now, isn't the case.

That is really impressive!

We have always lived frugally and saved for holidays. We look for flights deals, cheaper hotels & food, get around ourselves instead of tours & skip expensive tourist attractions (unless we want to go there desperately). We only book where & when we can afford to go.

Also skip agents and chatgpt. DH tried to use it to plan our Japan holiday earlier this year. Total rubbish. I did it for half the price & a much better, more flexible itinerary.

people without children are not relevant in a conversation about how people afford family holidays simple as that.