How can people afford 2 week summer holidays?

[NobilityScooter]

Pre COVID we went on holiday in the UK because we couldn't afford to go abroad. £1.5-2k accomodation then £1k spending money. = £2.5-3k holiday (2 adults + 2 children).

The costs crept up each year until COVID then the UK shot up in price. We changed locations to holiday somewhere cheaper still in the UK. Then the accomodation was poorer standard too for the price but it's what we could afford. I looked at what the same place would cost the next year when we got back (not that we wanted to book it but to see a cost comparison). And it was over £1k more expensive!

So we looked at cheap all inclusive abroad. And got something for the same price as the UK post COVID but abroad. Fabulous holiday. Wanted to book it the next year over £1k more expensive! We're lucky to be gifted £1.5k that year so went back to the same place and had a great time but the DC were getting a bit old for it so needed to find somewhere new.

Everything is so expensive! Looking at last year's holiday place is £2k more expensive! So it's gone up £3k in 2 years!

So my question is how does anyone afford to go on holiday in school holidays? (2 DC at school and education jobs mean we can only go in school holidays). This is £3k - to £7.5k in 8 years. How is anyone supposed to afford that? I see lots of people on holiday and places are selling out so people must be paying those prices. Our mortgage has doubled (£650 to £1250) and our gas and electricity has tripled (£88 to £270) plus our food bills have rocketed post COVID. Where is the spare money for a holiday?

This. Never underestimate just how much money some people have

This

Our household income is around £170k, we don’t have a lavish lifestyle and put most into savings, overpaying mortgage, pensions etc but it means we can afford nice holidays and by nice I’m speaking relatively, last year it was a week all inclusive in a 4* hotel in Tenerife with our baby whereas in years gone by we have had more lavish holidays like we spent more on our honeymoon than our actual wedding doing an African safari. Despite being high earners, we both hate wasting money and are always sensible with it. We holidayed a lot even on a lot lower incomes, just booked a year in advance and saved up 🤷🏼‍♀️ but I do appreciate cost of living is so high now that you need to be earning so much to have the luxury of saving.

Crikey
I've looked on all those website and over the actual 2 week Easter break the cheapest cottage was 700-1000 ish
and over July even more so
literally don't know how you've got one so cheap
we paid for Easter but got lucky as welsh schools had an earlier break and it was still 550 for something in Dorset with 2beds

I had 5 nights cottage in Norfolk at the end of August last year for £320.- for family of 4, back gate opened to a lovely sandy beach. You literally could walk for miles!
The key was to either book early or very late- I found & booked the cottage last minute... about 4 weeks before going.

You just need to hold your nerve and be open to areas/ property available.

Yes I think that's true that you can occasionally get a bargain last minute
but most uk rentals are a lot more expensive than that I reckon generally
I sometimes see going for weird timescales helps too as it avoids the weekend premium

We both work/worked in higher education, so there could be slight juggling with school holiday times as leave is a little extended past peak school holiday season but not by much. We tend to book last minute, just got 10% off renting a motorhome by doing this. We booked our honeymoon last minute and had a two week safari in Kenya. We also took a holiday where you had no idea what location or accommodation on a Canary Island you would get as allocated on arrival. That Inbetweeners film makes me laugh so much as it was a bit like that being dropped off, though our accommodation was fine.

We knew working in education was never going to make us well off but the pension is good as is the leave which is the trade off for public sector and higher education which is not classed as public sector but has similarities. We made the majority of our money through investing, we both began doing this as teenagers a long time before we met.

These seem like crazy prices.

Go at Easter. Two weeks in Turkey next Easter holidays (2025) for 2 adults and 2 kids is coming up at £2.5k with Jet2.

We got term time for a start and just adjust our break to suit our budget. We got for 7 nights and look for kids go free places. We also compromise on some of the things we would like for the sake of our budget.
Sometimes we take on overtime to save up spending money and I’m currently looking at a very cheap butlins/haven break next year as this year we have a more expensive holiday.

That's a good price for 4 people. Can I ask what hotel please? I always find Jete expensive for 1A 1C.

@Giv0iw there's lots. Just put the details into the Jet2 search and they come up!

Update: a loved one died and left us enough money for a holiday. An utterly shit way to afford a holiday but we will raise a glass to them for sure.

Update: a loved one died and left us enough money for a holiday. An utterly shit way to afford a holiday but we will raise a glass to them for sure.

Earning around 100k between us, so by no means on the breadline but not 'wealthy' by any means either.
We travel a lot- clever use of avios, driving alot, staying with friends here and there, knowing when to splurge and when to be sensible. Oh and being sensible with cash in the UK as we like to travel- the only loan we have is a mortgage so we have one small reliable ten year old car that matches our income, not whatever loan we can get.... which has driven the length and breadth of Europe.
As we travel a lot, we've got all the right cards and know alot of the tricks for getting discounts abroad. Between us we speak a few languages as well which helps.
This isn't meant to sound boastful, and to be honest a lot of the destinations we go to aren't mainstream, but thanks to a lot of hardwork on our finances we do have more/make it go further than others with the same incomes.