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.

Clipper is supposed to be better and cheaper for a river trip. You could go to Grenwhich and be entertained relatively cheaply.

@Dreamer3688

Thank you for your responses. Honestly though, it's not about the kids 'not getting a holiday' at all. For me, probably more so, it's the empty promises. I haven't promised them London but I know it's what they would want and honestly, they deserve it all more than anything. We were on such a knife edge last year that the kids ended up on the free school meal plan, we were using food banks and making excuses as to why we were biking to work because we couldn't afford the fuel and then why Dad was never home because he was working all hours...

I was so sure I could pull something great together - we have just under £350 saved and hoping to pull together a little more and based on the devon/ cornwall border. Just one weekend of, away from home, away from us talking about work all the time, fun! I looked at a family and friends railcard to bring the costs down of train travel down and the cheapest hotel seems to be a travelodge. But with breakfast, it's still coming out so expensive. Potentially may look at staying outside of London to bring costs down - should I be anxious at the thought of using the tube in the evenings with the kids? I've been told i can get tube travel cheap. Surprisingly, London is actually the cheaper of the UK options. Travel time is about 4 hours on the train - by bus its around 9 Which is too much for a weekend break.

If you've saved £350, I'd keep building on that instead of spending it on a holiday, so you might not have to resort to using foodbanks in the future.

Holidays are lovely and I'm sure your kids would love one, but they also need to learn it's the sort of thing you do when you have spare money and not as a matter of course.

You've booked the time off so why not think of some other fun things to do. It's good that you don't live too far from the beach.

We have just returned from 4 days in London stayed at the Premier Inn Hanger Lane, I can't fault the hotel stayed many times. Its £110 for 3 nights over the Bank Holiday and its right on the central line so 20 mins to Oxford Circus. There are plenty of free things to do in London so it can be as cheap as you want it to be, like PP said look at tesco club card offers.

I feel your pain. There is a lot a LOT of organisation and penny pinching going on in the pandemic still, especial headache trying to make nice memories and things to do.

Try to keep it simple.

Someone suggested Youth Hostel but as far as I know they are only taking whole site bookings at the moment due to covid. I may be wrong.

Would second the suggestion p.p. made about travelling maximum two hour journey and keeping it simple, asking for suggestions on here.

Self catering or family room in hotel (book through cashback site or last minute perhaps)

You've got a car so you could take along tons of food to cook there, and just do fish and chips or go out for a meal once or twice to cut costs.

I know what someone said about credit cards not being a good idea, however I do get it that after the year we've had people need a break.

Don't stress yourself out with high expectations.
Keep it simple and you may be surprised.

We have booked in to a chalet type thing only ten miles away from where we live. Kids plan to cook together and go for walks.

Also a trip to London on train with DD. Hotel wasn't too bad near Camden and once again we are taking food with us, going for walks etc. to keep costs down.

Its a change of scene. And time together.

A break is nice but honestly I don't think it needs to be that expensive. Avoid London and just pick a city a couple of hours away from wherever you live. Get whatever hotel/travel lodge you can find at an affordable price and book a couple of free attractions. Museums or whatever. Buy nice supermarket snacks for during the day and get a pizza hut or something for dinner.

My kids are more than happy with a night or two of this. It's the change of scenery and time with you they will enjoy!

Stay in Weston Super Mare and you can do a day trip to Bristol on the train.

Wherever you go, don't forget your Family and Friends rail card.

There is no shame in having had to access Free School Meals. Thousands have had to do that over the pandemic. If you buy a rail card don't forget to google codes for it.

A third off tickets, plus a code before purchase can bring cost down by one hundred quid at least.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g191282-d3654363-Reviews-Premier_Inn_Weston_Super_Mare_Seafront_hotel-Weston_super_Mare_Somerset_England.html

39 quid a night. It's nice and on seafront

Lots of children won’t be going anywhere on holiday this summer. It’s really not the worst thing to happen. They’ll have to accept it, like millions of other children.

@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.

OP random thought, what about buying a home projector (£130ish for a good one,) that can hook up directly to a fire stick - instant amazing home cinema! And buying a little pop up tent to camp indoors / outdoors? If you have any garden space you could even put out the fairy lights, outdoor Cinema, etc. 'advertise' to them as the best staycation ever that actually you can repeat any weened for the rest of time we did this in a similar situation to you once and our boys actually loved it.

Hey OP, I live in London (large flat, plenty of space, under 10 minutes to c London on the train and near Greenwich) and would love a break in Devon/Cornwall. Do you want to PM me and see if it’d be viable to swap? (No pressure!) I’m a long-standing poster if that says anything for my credibility.

If you go on the train, as well as saving on the cost of train tickets with the family discount card, you can go on the days out website that gives you two for one entry because you used the train.

Weigh up the cost of reduced train travel + 2 for 1 entry against using the coach/car + full entry to get the most cost effective way. You only need 1/2 paid for days together with the freebies and you have a lovely holiday.

Remember, a Premier Inn breakfast is huge (usually as much as you can eat) and can fill you up for the whole day.

Visiting London doesn’t need to cost the earth.

www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london?gclid=CjwKCAjwgb6IBhAREiwAgMYKRk8Jsk9aW1b98Pm-LklDv9ZWRNDpKnuJnRSr7OBSMUEJ6bVoc41c3BoCbp4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

abnb.me/FMhn4w4iyib

There is a thread on at the moment, 2 kids looking for free /cheap things to do in London.
I went and genuinely had great time, only “activity” was a fairly cheap guided Harry Potter walk. Otherwise ate out of Tesco express/cheaper street food option etc and had a lovely time.

Ps I’d go by coach (set off insanely early) for a weekend.

Check the megabus website OP.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4312530-Free-stuff-to-do-in-London-this-summer-holidays

OP I second Premier Inn!

Camping. So much more fun for kids than a hotel!

@FrownedUpon

Lots of children won’t be going anywhere on holiday this summer. It’s really not the worst thing to happen. They’ll have to accept it, like millions of other children.

Exactly this.

I think children are far more resilient than their parents about this sort of thing.

The OP has no savings and had to resort to using food banks (which there's absolutely nothing wrong with if you need them).

But I'm surprised so many people are coming up with suggestions on how to blow the £350 savings she actually does have, when the year ahead is so uncertain.

Better to save it and if it turns out she doesn't really need that money, she can add to it for a much more worry-free holiday next year.

If you have a car, you could try Travelodge at Kew Bridge - £91 for b/h Sat/Sun family room plus £6 per 24hrs parking (used to drive Devon-Chiswick a lot and it's fine). That said at 6 and 9 it's more about the experience than the location so maybe hang on to your cash until you can afford to spend it without worrying, and have a cheap and cheerful staycation instead.

Holiday inn in Sutton is about £40 a night and you can get trains to Waterloo / Clapham junction / London Bridge. Kellogg's are doing 2-4-1 tickets to the London aquarium or Tower of London attractions.
Or could you go camping near home?

We are going to Yorkshire next weekend, for £125 I've booked a campsite for 2 nights (obviously need a tent for that, could you borrow?) a day at lightwater valley theme park and a day at forbidden corner that's for me and 2 dc. On top we just need petrol and food which I will just make things like hotdogs, wraps and sandwiches. Lightwater is far cheaper than other theme parks as it's tailored for under 12's

Drive to Staines, Staines premier inn, train into London in 25 minutes. No battling London traffic and quite a nice town with river walks when you get back in the evening.

Or to be honest I’d stay more locally like others have suggested, maybe day trips to Bath/Bristol then you’re not paying for accommodation. Let them choose a take away each night. A few new toys that they can use longer term. Free cinema with Clubcard points. I’d rather pay for something like national trust membership that you can use for a year when things are tight than waste money on train travel. I’m sure after your stressful years they just want some proper one to one time with their parents. London will still be there in a year or two when things have improved for you.

I’d consider going for local days out but with all the “trimmings” so a local attraction followed by a takeaway somewhere scenic (or whatever you would choose as a family).

We’ve found that even a holiday in the next county is exciting! It’s just having a change that makes the difference.

For trains, a railcard, booking in advance and using the train split websites. I managed to get 3 of us from the Welsh border to London and back for £24 a few years ago!

If you have a car, drive down and stay on the outskirts, maybe Stansted. Tube is cheap as chips and safe at night. I've never felt threatened or scared on tubes at night.
There's loads of free stuff, science museum etc to bring costs down

I managed to bag a family room in caring cross with breakfast for £88 a night (but I did book in June for a non bank hol weekend). We did the hop on hop off tour bus (golden tours are the cheapest) to avoid going on the underground/buses as we are all still wary of infection rates. We did sandwich shop for lunch and pizza express for dinner.

If you use the just parking app you can find cheap parking. We parked at the national theatre which was just over the river from our hotel and was £16 per day.

Still wasnt hugely cheap though.