Has anyone else never been on holiday?

[GIorious]

I've been away for a couple of nights a few times but never been on holiday, nor am I likely to. I feel like an oddity and it does get me down - someone recently laughed at me when I told them. When DH and I spend a couple of nights away (nothing fancy, a Travelodge or similar in a nearby city) I've really enjoyed it and would love to know what it feels like to get excited for a week away.

Just feeling a bit down today because life feels like such a slog right now and I'd love a holiday more than ever!

Is it as unusual as I think it is to have never been on holiday or are there loads of us?!

Not alone. I find there's a great deal of snobbery? from people who declare themselves well travelled when they discover I've never left the UK too. I've always been poor, it isn't a crime.

Oh yes snobbery, absolutely. People treat you as if you're a bit thick or uncultured or whatever, or as I said, just outright laugh! I would love to travel, even within the UK. There are so many places I'd love to see. But like you, I've always been poor. £100 for a couple of nights at a Travelodge and fifty quid for us both to get there on the train is a huge deal for us, which is why we only do it once a year at most.

It's very unusual. What's stopping you if you want to?

Money. We were dirt poor when I was a child so holidays were the last thing on my mother's mind. Although we're not dirt poor now, we only have one wage coming in and it's not a very big one (around £25k). So nothing left over to save. We can't even afford a cheapie overnight away this year, another reason I've been feeling a bit down about this today.

Would you enjoy camping? That's what we did as children as it was the only thing my parents could really afford and I loved it. Such happy memories.

Why can you not go on holiday? A Travelodge for a couple nights will cost you about the same as a week’s camping holiday, even with buying all the kit, as you must be spending money eating out all that time when you could be cooking cheap meals for yourself.

A Travelodge must be £70 ish a night (plus eating out), which would s about the same as we’ve often paid for a holiday cottage, especially if you only need one for the 2 of you. At a stretch we pay about £90 a night for a big 4 bedroom cottage for the family.

But that said, if you make the most of 3-4 days away, that’s great. That’s a holiday. Not everyone does 2 weeks in the Costa Brava (we never have). We have lovely UK holidays on the cheap every year though.

Same here. Paying the bills is far more important than passports, insurance, cases, clothes, meals out and the cost of flights/travel to airports/ferry terminals/etc.

People who have always had the money to go on holidays often find it hard to comprehend what it's like to actually not to be able to afford the 'oh, just go camping in Normandy' or 'You can get a cheap flight and hotel, there's nothing stopping you from being a normal person like us from it really'.

If you can afford £50 haven have 4 nights away during term time for that price. Self catering so just take food from home (your weekly food shop) and do a lot of walking. It would at least be a change of scene.

Are you both well enough to work? Could the non-working one go back to work? Either permanently or temporarily, do a few weeks of seasonal work to save up enough for a holiday? You don’t say you have children, but even if you do, one of you could work days and the other evenings and weekends for a couple weeks/months. It wouldn’t take much to save up, if it’s what you really want.

In theory yes, but I'm disabled so in practice not really possible.

It also makes me sad that DS never had a holiday, either. He's 26 now and is saving for his dream holiday, which will be his first. I'm so pleased that he'll get the opportunity to travel.

I'm disabled so can't work. I think that's the thing that gets me down - barring a lottery win, there's no prospect of saving enough to go on a 'proper' holiday.

I do enjoy planning imaginary ones though!

Could you have a look on the £10 a day thread? See if there is anything you could manage from home on there? It might take you a few years but any money from that could go in a pot for a trip if you'd really like one. Doesn't have to be expensive. Where do you shop? We did a holiday in Holland drove there and paid Eurotunnel in clubcard vouchers (you get 3 times the value so it works out well) , again it can be something to aim for longer term, a long weekend in France for example.

Sounds like you arent tied to s hool holidays so therefore you can seek out the bargains!. What about Haven, they have late deals and offers on all the time. Weve just booked a week in September for £235, but we have a dog so can only have certain vans and hes extra!....or try Hoseasons?. What about the Sun newspaper holidays, im sure they still do their holiday offers but unsure what time of the year they start ( just remember seeing tv adverts).

The Sun newspaper used to do extremely cheap holiday offers, and I'm sure I've heard something about it very recently. I think you buy the paper for so many days and save up tokens, and then you can go on a UK holiday for something like £50.

I feel for you OP and really hope that you get your holiday! We haven’t been able to afford to go away for a long time, but occasionally do housesitting for friends to get a week away. Is there anyone friend or family you could stay with for a few days to get a change of scene? (I do appreciate that it’s much harder getting away or house sitting if you have a disability though.)

House swap?

We do go abroad (occasionally!) but we enjoy our UK based holidays just as much. There are threads on here every year about people who don't think a holiday can be spent in the UK . Which is just daft.

Maybe look at the Sun holidays, and you can often find mid week breaks or Sunday to Thursday outside school holidays a lot cheaper.

Don't know about you, but I wouldn't be up for a journey involving bus-train-train-walk costing £60 with a Disabled Person's Railcard, add in taxi, carrying a week's worth of shopping, plus clothes and then 'only' spending £261 for four nights in the disabled accessible caravan at the nearest Haven to me. Especially not when people are insisting it's only £50 all in and I'm being unreasonable to say 'It really isn't that cheap'.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/13208886/how-book-9-50-holidays/

Looks like the offer is on now, you wouldn't be too late to start collecting whatever it is you need from the paper.

If you just want a change of scenery, some of the caravan parks do great Monday to Friday deals.
We like the Haven at Berwick on Tweed as loads of lovely places to visit from there.
They have adapted caravans so you can book one of those and they are nice. We've booked for under £100 for four nights, especially if you are not bothered by the entertainment as they offer a cheaper price for this.
The advantage of a caravan is you get cooking facilities so no need for pricey meals out if you don't want them

This thread really shows the wealth divide.
I hope you get the opportunity to travel one day OP.

OP those people were very rude to laugh at you that's horrible behaviour from them and says more about them than you.

Oh and I love holidays but they are all bargain basement UK or camping.
I didn't go abroad til I was 22 and haven't been in the last 15 years. My kids have not been abroad but they have seen plenty of lochs, mountains and our lovely coast.

Can you perhaps find remote work. Even a couple of hours a day?

Wow thank you for taking time to respond and make suggestions!

I had a look at Haven - the nearest one to me is around £480 for 7 nights in May and £500 for 4 nights in September (cheapest). The 4 nights from £49 offer is for parks hundreds of miles away. Shame because the one near me looked lovely. Inaccessible on public transport too though.

House swap - we live in a 2 bed rented flat in not a great area do not sure that would be an option! We have no friends or family so nobody to visit or house sit for.

When we go for a couple of nights away we use Clubcard vouchers for eating out so don't actually pay for dinner. We just grab a sandwich from Tesco or similar for lunch. We spend less on food than we do at home!

I've tried but I haven't worked for almost 30 years so no references/recent experience, and my criteria is so limited (I can't commit to regular hours because my condition is very unpredictable) that understandably, nobody wants to employ me.