How do young people. afford so many holidays?

[Waferbiscuit]

Our office includes a number of people in their 20s who are on salaries of c 23-27k. There seems to be a real culture of travelling and going abroad/on holiday amongst their set. One colleague has been on a city break weekend in Europe 3x in the last 5 weeks. The others go on multiple long haul holidays a year.

In terms of their set up, Im aware that all of them rent or have bought homes with partners so would have the usual outgoings. None have wealthy families. I’m just a bit baffled about how holidaying became so important and no idea how they can afford it. At that age I was broke and couldn’t afford a holiday despite being on a similar salary.

Now I’m 50, financially stretched and grumpy so no holidays for me!

Holidays can be fairly cheap! A weekend break can easily be done for about £150 / £200. If you make that a priority, rather than clothes, beauty, cars, it’s quite achievable.

Credit

I think if you’re that young and share bills with a partner and earn 25k a year you’re doing quite well actually. I don’t think it’s surprising at all

In our areas they've given up hope of ever buying a home so they have no need to save. Paying for one, out of school holidays is often not expensive, especially if you're happy with no frills.

Credit cards (that's what I did)

Term time holidays, flights are cheaper, hotels are cheaper, they eat at cheaper places, take public transport and not taxis. When I was young I would have taken the inconveniently timed flight or a stopover to save a few hundred, I wouldn't now.

European city breaks can be very cheap. I’ve done many for around 150/200 for the two of us including flights and hotel.

If you do your research it can be very affordable to go on holiday

Holidays can be very cheap. Travelling too if you don't mind hostels etc

Get to your 50s and you tend to want a bit more comfort, even a bit of luxury. This costs more.

I've not been on a holiday for years as I'm now a bit of a delicate flower about accommodation.

Oh and I'm even more prissy about what I eat!!

My colleagues are just like this. It’s all about very living for now and having the pictures to document it. They do have great holidays and sometimes I feel I wish I did too but then I remember they are renting and it’s very disruptive when they have to move due to rent hikes etc. And I wonder what they will do when they are older and still renting. Many have plans to move to cheaper parts of the country at some point in the future and I do wonder wherever there will be an exodus. But meantime boy do they love their mini breaks, expensive overseas weddings, sabbaticals and the rest.

Two friends on £23-27k sharing a house is a household income of £45-50k. If they share bills and rent etc then there's plenty left for the occasional holiday. Also, short, term time breaks are really quite cheap, especially if you can be flexible.

I'm mid twenties and most people I know go on lots of holidays, but they are all different. The majority I know have parents paying for them, one woman is in finance and makes six figures so can easily afford it, others are living in share houses with minimal outgoings and expect to be for the foreseeable future so chose to spend their money rather than save for a deposit. No one but us have DC so not restricted to peak times so it can be done cheaply.

I can't, of course, speak for anyone else but my partner and I go on holidays or trips 2 or 3 times per year plus an overnight or two. We're both 29 and earn combined total of £50k ish and own our own flat after years of renting.

We go a two-week summer holiday every year, we usually do a winter break in Europe and a weekend somewhere in the UK. For example, we went to Prague in January for 5 days for £136 each for a beautiful Airbnb and flights. This was in lieu of exchanging Christmas gifts.

We don't go on nights out where it's easy to spend £100 plus a new outfit, we limit takeaways and restaurant visits to once a week one or the other, we drink at home on a Saturday night, we don't spend loads on clothes - only buy what we need or the occasional treat if we really love something, we budget bills and plan meals and take packed lunches.

Living mindfully most weeks of the year allows us the funds to go on these trips which mean a lot more to us than having a designer outfit, spending a lot on expensive make up or going out drinking every other weekend.

In 2020, were planning Turkey, Spain and Italy. That said, visiting somewhere like Florida, Vegas or new York would be a stretch for us.

Agreed they can be cheap. Airbnbs and package deals too are good. I did Prague for £120 for 3 nights in May.

Credit cards and an expectation of living up to an instagram worthy lifestyle are to blame too!

I'm one of these people except I live at home with my parents (I do pay rent) and am on a higher salary as I work shifts. I save a significant amount per year and am only doing this for 18 months as my partner is deployed.

In my generation, people feel very entitled to doing a lot of travelling in my opinion.

I've just booked 3 nights away with 3 of my friends for next year. Flights and accommodation for £154 each. We've got mid morning flights from Luton, and a whole apartment with 3 separate bedrooms to share from Airbnb. We are all financially comfortable so we'll probably have nice meals etc while we are there, but it could definitely be done cheaper if needs be.

Lots of research and being flexible about dates/flight times/destinations is the key.

We are off to Bratislava in case you were interested!

I'm 26 and until last month when I got a significant pay rise, DP and I were on a combined income of just short of 50k. We're £700 a month each on bills, mortgage, food etc, he's another couple of hundred on maintenance for my DSD and we were comfortably managing a long haul holiday, a European holiday and a couple of city breaks a year, as well as saving for a wedding. I also don't think we were particularly having to watch what we were spending - takeaway or two a week, plenty of meals/nights out.

Don't have much in the way of savings, but once the weddings out the way I will work on that

DH and I are 29, have a combined income of £45k and pretty much all of our disposable income goes into travel. We travel in term time (no kids) and I always manage to find good deals.

For example we've been to New York several times, which my mother finds incredibly frivolous, but it's really affordable if you go at the right time. We also never go for a "proper" sit down meal, preferring to grab pizza/a burger/BBQ and a beer

I think if you’re that young and share bills with a partner and earn 25k a year you’re doing quite well actually. I don’t think it’s surprising at all

This - you can easily spend £3k a year on holidays and still pay bills, save a little, do nice things... Remember, 'youngsters' book all their trips online and are savvy with finding the best deals etc... you couldn't afford holidays from a travel agent with that, but it's easy to do a weekend for a couple of hundred pounds if you're a bargain hunter!

Really? It's cheap outside of school hols and hostels or last min deals are a bargain. You can get an all inclusive for under 400 quid and if you book yourself n eat cheap it's easy to do a hol for 250 quid with spe ding money pp.
I flew to Thailand and stayed with my cousin pre baby for under 500 quid for a week with scuba lessons included. Just fly at hideous times and eat cheap

Young people are much less picky about where they go and what they eat etc

Breaks can definitely be cheap if you have flexibility about when to go and not bound by school hols etc.

If you aren’t fussy about where you stay or who you fly with or even where you go then holidays can be very cheap. I’ve used budget airlines and Airbnb to get long weekend breaks for less than £200.

Also if you don’t have children you generally have a lot more free time and disposable income, why not use it on holidays? They are also in a position to work overtime or get TOIL hours to cover the holiday expenses.

Plus getting on the property ladder can be very difficult depending on where you live. I know people who just haven’t bothered saving for a house deposit because it’s quite simply unattainable, they’ve chosen to spend that money on life experiences instead.

Holidays are a lot cheaper now with budget airlines, Airbnb etc.

I am going away to Vienna next month for four days (Thurs-Sun) and flights cost around £50 each, and our apartment is £160 for three nights. When we go away we tend to get groceries in and only go out once or twice, which massively saves on costs.

I've done Finland for a five days for £400, all inclusive in Turkey for a week for £500, Rome for five days (with all the sights) for £300 etc. Being able to travel outside of school holidays makes a massive difference to cost, plus we tend to book B&Bs and don't eat out a lot which keeps costs down.

When I was that age I was away all the time. You can cope with odd timed flights or sleeping on an overnight train or long distance bus. You can 'back pack' or 'wing it' and stay with friends - sleeping on a sofa or on the floor is fine.
In my 50s I want a bit more comfort and convenience.

Plus, now, in relative terms, travel is so much cheaper. You can pick up cheap flights then an air bnb or a last minute hotel room. You can get flights for less than some people spend on a night out. Why wouldn't you - I know I'd rather use £200 to go away for a weekend than to get hammered in my home town.

With the internet, not only is booking easy, but seeing things on other people's social media and thinking 'that looks fun' is something we never had dangled in front of us all the time.

I'm 29, single, income is £20k (plus maintenance from ex) and I have a child. Every year we go on one long haul holiday, one short haul holiday, one Butlins holiday, one other seaside week in the UK and 2 or 3 long weekend Europe city breaks.

Total per year I spend on travel is roughly £6k.

Simple answer is my day to day outgoings are small. I don't own a car as my work and DS's school are in walking distance. I live in a cheap part of the country, 3 bed houses here are less than £150k and our water rates are some of the cheapest in the country (my water bill is £15pm).

Holidays and seeing the world are important to me so they're a priority. I'm happy living a simple day to day life in a 2 up 2 down house so that I can afford holidays