How often do you go on holidays with the children?

[Dandelionplease]

Hi all,

I’ve heard people going away every school halfterm! (Weekends and longer) is this the norm?

How often do you go away during the year? Including weekends?

As a family we go away 2 times a year abroad, and multiple times around the UK, my children during the summer holidays stay in Turkey with their GP, for the whole of summer.

They didn’t want to go this year but they changed their minds now, and now want to go.

3-4 times a year. Family have a UK holiday home though so 2 of the times will be spent there.

Thanks everyone seems like your replies are lots going away.

I notice a lot of uk holidays. Much easier when kids are young.

We are going to PIL this summer and this will be our only 'holiday' (I use that term loosely), they don't live in a very exciting place either. I guess it is a change of scene.

Hopefully if we don't have any unforeseen bills we might be able to do a weekend away towards the end of the year.

We are always skint, never can afford to go abroad, but we are especially skint this year.

We use to take the kids camping round the UK but they both don't really want to go this year, at 14 and 12 I can hardly blame them.

We haven’t been on holiday since our honeymoon in 2015. So 2 year old has never been on holiday. I don’t think she minds.

A couple of times a year we go see family a few hours away, but it’s definitely not a holiday.

It will be next year before we can afford a (UK) holiday. Not complaining! We made other choices and often go for days out, just not holidays at the moment. Too skint!

We’ll have gone away seven times this year, four in the UK, three abroad (although one of those is to family).

I certainly wouldn’t consider that normal though, we’re very lucky. My family used to go away once a year when I was a kid, usually camping somewhere like Norfolk or Yorkshire.

Well I'm most definitely the poor relation here.

Nine days in the summer. That's it.

We're off to Croatia so a bit less costly than other European destinations.im amazed how often you all travel.

when DS was young we used to tag along on work trips with DH which was fine, no one minded but he doesn't go any more.

having a 17 year old and a toddler radically increases the cost of holidays so theyre almost unafgordable.

How does everyone afford it. Please tell?
Id love to know. Are you all very high earners. I though were pretty good.

DH does earn a fairly ludicrous amount of money tbh yes.

Same as flowery tbh

We haven’t taken the dc away yet this year,
Dh and I had a 5 day city break in May and we will do a weekend hotel break with the dc over the summer, we also plan on having our main sun holiday in December as we are renovating the house over the summer so time is taken up with that.

Abroad once a year (for a week), then usually a week in Uk somewhere. And we usually have a weekend in London near to Christmas.
Lots of ds friends go on expensive holidays nearly every school holiday, including skiing etc but we don’t have that kind of money, and frankly it sounds exhausting to me anyway!

1 week long holiday year.

day trips/weekend maybe 3 times a year?

it all gets too expensive

My DH gets 5 weeks holiday a year, so we go on holiday for 5 weeks. This year has been split 2 x 2 weeks and a 1 week. Destinations vary, we enjoy UK holidays just as much as abroad. DH prefers UK, as he doesn't really like flying.

When I was a kid I didn't get to go on holiday, it was the odd day trip only. Me and DH have both worked damn hard to get to the position we are in.
We didn't take our son long haul until he was 5, UK holidays are easier with little kids.

UK cottage for a week
Short haul holiday for 2 weeks
A few weekends away, hotels
Few days staying with family too
Every year

We go abroad twice a year (one long haul one short haul) and a week in Butlins and a couple of long weekends in the UK.

This isn't the norm in my social circle though and I consider myself very lucky as everyone else I know goes away a lot less often.

I only earn just above minimum wage myself but I am split from DS's dad who earns a good wage and pays good maintenance which is why I can afford it. Plus I only have one child which obviously means less people to pay for.

Twice a year, both times to stay with relatives abroad. Occasionally, when we've been flush we have managed a third holiday at Easter.

But we always have prioritised visiting family over anything else we could have spent our money on: didn't have a car for the first 10 years of our marriage and walked everywhere to save bus money, didn't drink, didn't have a telly, only did the bare minimum to the house, still using the worn down furniture of the previous' owners' tenants who moved out 26 years ago (and it wasn't new then).

Still, very aware of the fact that you can only prioritise if you actually have money: if we didn't we'd been sitting here looking at the same shitty 40yo carpets and never get to see my family.

We tend to go away a few times a year, anything from short local breaks to longer international holidays, although not been outside of Europe with DC yet.

It is what we prioritise our spending on. We drive one old banger, our house is fine but by no means newly renovated/extended & I don't spend a lot on groceries. Going away is our 'thing'. Especially since we have had various different lots of bad news from either side of the family & it's made us realise that we value time together more than anything.

This year:

• Portugal for 2 weeks in April
• Camping in Devon for friend's 40th, 3 nights over late May bank hol
• Weekend in Haven same county as us, another friend's 40th, end of June
• 3 nights camping in Norfolk with big group of friends, end of July
• 3 nights in France with my parents beginning August

Have also booked 1 week in France October half term.

Have Merlin passes now so may camp in Peak District for a few nights while at Alton Towers etc

Twice. One weeks holiday and one short break. DH and I are both self employed, so not easy to get time off. Also going away is expensive. I never feel like we miss out. Lucky to get away twice a year.

Both UK.

Once a year for a week or so if we are lucky uk cheap caravan.
One year we didn't go anywhere at all.
Year before that I kept some money back from divorce and house sale and we had a weeks abroad holiday and did a long weekend with my parent too that year but they paid.
I always wonder how many days holiday people seem to have in order to go away so much, never mind the cost!

Yeah I think with a question like this, you are more likely to get people responding with what they do, rather than what they can't afford to do.

I know very few people with children who go away more than once a year, and some of them, not at all.

We go away once abroad usually then 1/2 weekends in the UK, maybe. I'm really conscious that our only daughter will leave us at some point, and I want to make the most of our holidays together, so they are mostly centred around things that she will enjoy or give her an experience.

We take them away several times a year but all our family live far away and we are high earners. So this year DH has taken them to see his family during the Easter holidays and I will take to see my family during the summer holidays. We also had a holiday (self-catering in the UK with my family) in May and have one planned (self catering, just us and the DC abroad) for October plus a long weekend camping at a festival in the summer (just us and the DC). So of the school holidays we're only at home for Christmas (family will come here for a week) and Feb (had some day trips). And MIL will come for a few weeks in the summer. If our families lived closer we'd be able to have more holidays abroad.

We afford it by booking early then paying it off bit by bit. You can get good deals with flights if you book when they come out.

3 times abroad the other year,once this year.It all depends on spare cash tbh.