How do people afford good holidays

Agree with this, if you get or can get paid in dollars, keep it in your dollar account (obv only works if you’re in a US based company) or buy currency with a watchful eye on price fluctuations

Collect Avios.
Buy in the sale (both the LAX leg and the Hawaiian Airlines leg)
Stay in Vrbo/Airbnbs
Use Genius discounts on Booking.com
Car hire on Turo
Farmers markets and delis not constant restaurants
Arrange your own days out not guided tours

ChatGPT is wrong. Price it out yourself.

I would say the - the US is particularly expensive because of the exchange rate.

We alternate California with Spain each year (family member has villa so it only costs us flights & car hire). California for the 3 of us is always about 6-7k and that’s staying in 4/5 star hotels so could do it cheaper plus we go in August as I’m a teacher.

We did it for our honeymoon. Two weeks on west coast of America driving down then a week on hawaii. 15k. we saved and saved it was a few months after the wedding so helped. any bit of extra money we had went to it. we booked through travel agents they arranged everything for us ( so worth that ) and we paid it off every month. I worked two jobs coming up to my wedding so that helped too. for what it's worth hawaii was unreal one of the nicest places in the world. but it is the other side of the world we had to get two sets of flights to it. it's exactly 12 hours behind English time. we don't have kids and we saved every penny we had for it. it can be done you just prioritise

We are off to Hawaii and California next week with two teens 😁 twentieth wedding anniversary.

we are using inheritance from three parents who have passed away in the last few years.

Book it all seperately. Look into real life options, not chat GPT. Hawaii will be shooting this right up, if you can stick to mainland it will bring it right down.

End of thread.

I have been saving for 20 years and now have enough for a big holiday

That does seem very expensive...

But on your original question, we save for nice holidays by being purposeful about saving. We have a dedicating savings account that we put money into little and often. And day to day we live pretty frugally. 2 or 3 takeaways a year, maybe 1 takeaway coffee a month, weekly shop at Lidl. That kind of thing.
We're currently saving for a 2-week cruise next September. This coming September we're off to the east coast of the US for 9 nights.
We're always actively saving for the next-next holiday if that makes sense.

I think you have picked 2 of the most expensive places in the US to visit for 3 people and for what I’m sure is at least a couple of weeks (2 or 3).

One way to perhaps get the price down is to fly to CA and travel around a bit then book a cruise to Hawaii.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/visiting-hawaii-by-cruise-or-by-land-pros-and-cons

Otherwise I think the answer to your question is that people either save for many years, adjust the trip to their budget, or find a destination within their budget. It’s likely a combination of all 3.

Try booking the flights separately.. california to Hawaii is technically an internal US flight, but Hawaii is about a 4/5 hour flight from CA, so it's like going on holiday within a holiday. It's a lot of travelling days unless you're going for a decent length of time.

Hope you get sorted but may be worth doing one or the other.

Took me 2 minutes to find this on BA.

2 adults, 1x 10yo, August.

Just over 8k

I'm a single parent with 3 children. We have a holiday every year - usually mid/long haul - and I normally either use LoveHolidays to pay in installments or book it all individually myself if I have the cash upfront. I research the cheapest way to get what I want like it's my full time job lol!

Not sure how accurate ChatGPT is on this but you can almost always get things cheaper than you find initially online.

First you research high/low/shoulder season and pretend to book each one through a few different providers and then find the most affordable compromise you're prepared to determine your dates. Decide how long you're prepared to work for it.

Get a credit card amd make sure you pay it off fully each month and earn airmiles and use them.

Then when you have a baseline price, wait for a sale.

We're doing Universal Studios for a week in October half term, with 2 days of fast passes, for approx 1.5k per person (Inc hotels, airport parking, estas, insurance etc.)

Depends how you want to do the trip. Can probably shoestring it for under 12k all in - several thousand was a pipedream though! Did chatgpt give you a breakdown?

Cali/Hawaii is a very expensive combo in the first place - in my head it’s less ‘good holiday’ and more ‘trip of a lifetime/for the wealthy’. I go to California a few times a year for work and every time I go, I’m reminded of why I’d never go back for anything except work - I love it but it’s INCREDIBLY expensive. With business class flights/decent hotel/local transport and food my company pays an average of 10k each time I go for a week on my own.

We DIY'd to NYC and Boston last year and it cost about £5k for both of us.

First post nails it.

We have been to New Zealand this year with Trailfinders and have booked with them to go to China next year. Neither one came in at £15k (not quite) and the two together less than £26k.

ChatGpt can be useful for some things but I wouldn't rely on it for holiday quotes.

Have a look on Skyscanner for flight prices for the time of year you want to go and look at hotels on booking.com etc. I'm not saying book them through those sites, but it will give you a rough idea.

You can use Viator to price up excursions you want to do.

Hawaii and California is not going to be cheap but I am sure you can do it for less than suggested, assuming you aren't looking for high-end luxury or business class flights etc.

I saw an advert last month for trip to Vegas, LA and Hawaii for just over £2000pp.

Work out what you actually want to do, then split it down into separate elements. California can vary wildly and it can be cheaper to fly to particular regional airports and then drive or rail to where you want to be: this year instead of flying into San Fran and then Reno for Burning Man, we’re flying into Salt Lake City, hiring a truck, and driving in - works out half the price and I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Utah and Nevada on the way. Hawaii is expensive, but it all depends on what sort of accommodation you’re looking for.

People either afford it by having lots of money to play with, or they afford it by getting more creative with how they spend it. We’re in the middle of the two, and it’s a fun place to be.

So you just believe chat GPT?!

The world is truly doomed.

We afford it because we are high earners, we don't have children, we don't have a mortgage, we don't have an extravagant lifestyle. It's not rocket science, some people have more money than you.

3 people from London to Hawaii via Los Angeles in August this year is £750 each, so 2250 on flights. Then you still have 20k for hotels car etc

I can afford it because I live in the north, didn’t have kids, bought a cheap house with low mortgage and earn enough to go.