Tired of fighting this nightmare.

[Dreamer3688]

Sat here at crazy o'clock in the morning just wondering how I got here. Its the summer holidays, 2 kids and a husband in tow and after the most stressful 2 years of our lives trying to keep our heads above water and working every possible hour under the sun to maintain our overheads for a business we very nearly lost, our 2 kids (aged 6 and 9) have been beyond incredible throughout. If anything, they have put up with us. Now we are here, working ourselves silly yet again, just to try and recover from this nightmare and I'm still not even sure that we will. After promising the kids that we would have a great summer, we are trying our best to exhaust the free things we are surrounded by like the beach etc...but we're running out and trying to work every given hour to stay adrift. My eldest in particular is watching all his friends go away on trips across the country, some (crazily!) abroad. We've managed to get bank holiday weekend off as a family, initially got them all excited but I feel like I've trawled the internet for hours (days!), trying to find something, anything to go away to but the cost, just...how?! Both kids have talked about London many times but costs with train travel is coming out at over £500...that's before food and tourist attractions. They deserve this weekend more than anything and yet we absolutely cannot give it to them at these costs. And whilst I know they will be empathetic (to a degree!), they will be devastated if we end up staying home that weekend.

I'm just feeling like such a massive mum failure right now and I'm so tired of fighting this nightmare. We work so hard and yet here we are, struggling through another month with the risk of more empty promises.

@sandgrown

Check out National Express. Much cheaper than the train. Look for a Premier Inn/ Travelodge/Air B&B outside the centre and travel in. Lots of free activities in London. Go to a supermarket and buy snacks and drinks to save money on days out. Have you any Nectar/Clubcard points to cash in?

Nectar and club card points...I'd never even thought of this! Thank you!

Do you both need to be working on your business? Can one of you find another job that gives a fixed income monthly?

Have you done Bristol with DC before? That might be an alternative to London

You could just do hotel room only then buy a pack of supermarket croissants or similar for breakfast or even go to McDonald's etc

I did National express to London from north Devon and it took about 6 hours. We got the really early coach 5am and we all slept for a lot of the journey. Can’t be sure but I think it cost under £80 for 4 of us including reserving the seats 😊

Do you know anyone in London who might want to house swap? Or a friend of a friend? Lots of people would love a weekend in Devon and Cornwall.

I really think that you're punishing yourself with guilt though, you've worked hard and come through tough stuff, a weekend in London that you've scalped yourselves to achieve won't make it all magically better. You can have fun in other places.

Sorry you're feeling like this and you've had such a hard year, but kids honestly won't be that bothered. Where do you live? Can you go somewhere nearer to home? Go camping? Weather is meant to be getting better soon.

If you can make the London trip work for you there are so many free things, you don't need to book much. Science museum is great for those ages (you book, but it's free). Walking around the South Bank and Covent Garden, getting the docklands light railway, outdoor food markets, loads of things. Try Air BNB for accommodation?
But honestly kids won't mind either way.

OP, what amount of money you have after travel costs? I love London, visit once a year but I don't have a lot of money so I would like to help you planning your holiday. If you could provide us with dates it would help a lot

Op, if you can drive there are some great Premier Inns in Greater South East London. We've stayed at Richmond, Kingston, Wimbledon and Wandsworth over the years (depending which was cheaper at the time). They all either have parking or NCP nearby and at most 30 mins train or tube into London. If you can be a bit flexible with dates you can search out the best prices.

However please don't put pressure on yourself if finances are tight. Our dc had plenty of years where they saw friends going off on holiday while we stayed at home. It hasn't damaged them and they aren't resentful. They remember the holidays we managed to have when they were older. Maybe save what you have and keep adding to it for a holiday in 2022. A haven type place will be lots of fun for their ages. Even if you have to take them out of school for a week to manage to do it - term time holidays can be 50% less. Check out the hoseasons website.

Definitely look at Bristol if you haven't been there. We're not far from you and had an absolutely amazing family trip there a couple of years ago. We found a very reasonable airbnb, ate at za za bazaar which the kids loved, rode on the river taxis, visited We the curious and the acquarium added used tesco/nectar for a lot of it. There's a nice youth hostel right on the harbour. Often reasonable theatre there too. I love the atmosphere there plus how much is nice and close together so you're not trekking from one place to another. I think you'd find your money goes further and not so much travelling. Good luck!

Agree with PP that London may be your cheapest option. Just getting around on the tube is fun at that age.
Museums and some street food they’ve never tried before.
South Bank and street artists.
Agree river boat and Greenwich.
A fiver each to buy some Union Jack bobbins.
The Heathrow Hotels are dirt cheap.
Premier Inn TN4? They do family rooms for 4 and great breakfasts which mine loved at that age.

TN4 premier Inn showing £49 a night for family rooms 28th and 29th August.
Connected to TN4 and you can get the Piccadilly line in. Kids love an airport.

London is fab but you could go cheaper ourwith the holidays - maybe it’s something you could plan for later in the year?

Would you camp or glamp? I bet the kids would absolutely love that. Obviously if you don’t have all the camping equipment then camping isn’t possible but we’ve glamped a couple of times this summer and it’s great fun. My kids are 7 and 11. While we are away we only spend money on food shopping really and fuel.

We’ve been on one 3 night trip that cost £200 and one that had a hot tub that was much more - but not necessary. The more basic one was fab.

Are you in Scotland OP?

Ah sorry I see your near Devon/cornwall

Driving to London is significantly cheaper when there’s four of you travelling. Could you find a cheap hotel to stay in for a night to break up the journey and make that part of the trip away?

I'd try Travelodge London Manor House - it is lovely new hotel near Finsbury Park with underground a minute away from hotel that takes you to central London in less then 20 minutes. Room for 4 is 50-60 pounds a night, depends on the day.

I wouldn't take breakfast in hotel, too much money you can spend better. I would buy fruit, pastry and orange juice and have breakfast in the room.

I'd take picnic blanket and have lunch in the park if you're short of money.

As others have said, many wonderful free things for kids to enjoy in London.

I hope you'll go OP, and be happy. You deserve it.

I dont know how this works out with kids or since the pandemic. However when I was younger and had little money you could stay in student halls of residents during the vacations for a pretty economical price. I stayed in several in pretty central locations (Euston Station area and Tottenham Court Rd Area) very convenient for buses. The rooms were basic but clean and comfortable and you got a good cheap breakfast. Some also do evening meals. Worth googling.

Defo look at youth hostels and a family room. You can self cater and then do all the free things in London

Wouldn’t want to be on the roads between Devon and London during Bank Holiday weekend, would probably spend more time in the car

Is it possible to rent out your home on air bnb while you are away to recoup the costs? If you are near Cornwall where people want to book holidays that might be an option?

We drive to London live in Yorkshire and stay at the Premier Inn Tottenham Hale in a family room. The tube is 5 mins walk as is parking.

Then we do the free museum visits and sight seeing.

If you shop at Tesco's you could convert your points for meals at Pizza Express etc?

Surprisingly, Hampstead was one of the cheaper Premier Inns. It's near the tube and is a really quick trip into the centre.

It has Hampstead Heath which is free! Great views over London from Parliament Hill. Also, swimming in the ponds, although I can't vouch how child friendly as I haven't been for years.

Tubes and buses are free for under 11s in London.

If you go on Premier Inn website it shows what is available and for 28th to 30th Putney Bridge which is a lovely area, safe and by tube and river is coming up for £131 for the 2 nights in a family room. There's also a couple more centrally located for about £30 more like the one in Bank from which you could walk to a lot of things and also close to river though reviews aren't that great for that one.

Mine used to love the Premier Inn breakfast and kids are free for it and they would eat for the day there eating a full English and the pancakes and about 3 drinks each but depends what budget you have left. If you don't add it you can get it day by day there and just get it once though would do last day if just do it once.

Hope you can get there. If you do a river trip you can see lots of the sights from there like Tower Bridge, House of Parliament then get off in Greenwich and wander round park, visit Observatory (free).

We recently stayed at the premier Inn at Uxbridge which is zone 6 for the underground. It was reasonably priced and ok for a couple of nights. As pp have said, there are lots of free attractions in London (my DC like the big m and ms store in Leicester Square in addition to the big Lego shop) you could use Tesco or nectar points to get tickets for other things. A good tip ☺️ i got off MN before we went was the Walkie-talkie building as you can get free tickets to go up it, but you need to book in advance. You get great views from the top! Also the Emirates cable cars over by the O2 are good and you can pay with your oyster cards. The Olympic village at Stratford is also worth going for a walk around.