Holidays abroad booked this year?

[NotmySundaybest]

How many do you have booked if any? How long do you have 2 weeks or a week?
Do you prioritise holidays for your family every year?

We go every summer for 2 weeks. Planning another autumn break for a week but seems very indulgent. We do have the funds.

We have had a week in Iceland already, We have 2 weeks in Portugal at Easter and then 2 weeks in France in August.

I have no savings or pension but I do love a holiday!!

We have 16 nights booked in July for Mauritius and 8 nights over Christmas in Dubai, we have a 3 night lodge break booked in December and I am about to book May Half Term too.

@Bs0u416dha the food is so lovely, portions are small but they encourage you to order more than one main course to try different things.
I love hearing about people's holidays,

Orlando 2 weeks in May for me Dh, DD SIL and DGS, I have a week booked for myself and a friend in Romania in June.

Me, DH & DGS to Croatia in August.

Me DD & DGS to Paris in December

will probably also do a few nights in Yorkshire some time in the summer with all of us.

We like holidays.

Already booked Thailand for 2025. :-)

I'm will travel alone.

11 night cruise to Iceland and Faroe Islands

September - 2 weeks in Menton on Italian border

November - 3 weeks Kerala in India

I went to visit family in Belize earlier this month (it was amazing and I’d love to go back to Central America one day)

Next month DH and I are going for a holiday to celebrate our 25th - we have chosen Fuerteventura, 5* AI as a proper treat. we just want to get there and relax. We are leaving our 17year old at home for 5 nights but she’s sensible! We haven’t been away alone since she was born. Then it’s a family holiday to Madeira in August. Got flights and Airbnb near Funchal and we will explore the island. DD and I are going to do a city break in October half term but haven’t decided where to go yet . Can’t believe this is going to be the last year we are tied to a school term!! Freedom awaits us!!

This year is very unusual for us and we normally have just one holiday a year and not always abroad, but after health scares and deaths in the family we have decided to just enjoy ourselves - we work hard, paid off our mortgage early (we cut way back to do this - including no holidays abroad for a few years when dd was younger)

Next year DH and I might do a long haul holiday as a second celebration 🥳 #lifeisforliving

@Lesina can I ask if you used a tour operator for Thailand or just booked yourself? It’s somewhere DH and I are considering for next year

Again, this wasn't a question for me but I'm answering anyway 🤣. We usually do South East Asia every November (though we aren't this year and obviously didn't during covid). Always fly into Bangkok and then hub out then to place with and without Thailand itself. We always do our own bookings. Sometimes we book flights and first few nights in Bangkok together through Expedia, otherwise flights stand alone and the hotels though hotels.com. Organising flights withing Thailand or neighbouring countries is cheap and easy and there really is no need not to do it yourself, unless you want the ease of an organized tour. Where are you thinking of going?

Nope, I try and make sure there's always a bank of £2k in our saving account for any car emergencies etc.

@Bs0u416d thank you. 🙏 I haven’t explored areas yet but we want somewhere with amazing beaches, a bit of luxury but also areas with culture and places we can explore(I know that’s not too difficult in Thailand as it’s so rich with culture there) We will probably relax for a week and do exploring for another. Thailand is one of many on the list so after I’m back from Fuerteventura I will start making more concrete plans. For now I’m
saving what I find, including posts like this 😀

For a first time visit I think Bangkok for a couple of nights to recover from the flight then up to Chang Mia (cheap flights with Nok Air/Air Asia and the like make this very quick and it's very cheap) then perhaps down to Phuket for ease and there are plenty of swanky beach resorts there. Otherwise you could venture to one of the other islands but again, Phuket will give you want you want. If you're felling adventurous you could definitely forgo Chang Mai and fit in a trip to Siem Reap in Cambodia for Angkor Wat or beautiful Luang Prabang in Laos instead. Also with hotels.com or booking.com, you can pre book the rooms with a 'pay at the property' option so your plans can evolve and change in time. Transfers are never an issue as the tourist infrastructure is just so good. We're going back in January/Feb, I've just not decided where!

No, I wouldn't empty savings - what if the boiler suddenly packed up or the roof started leaking? That's why I had hardly any foreign holidays for years, prioritising mortgage and pensions. A trip to Brittany by ferry was about as good as it got for years, otherwise it was Youth Hostels in the UK.

With hindsight it would have been better to have travelled a bit more when I was younger and fitter but at least I can afford it now. So now I prioritise travel over car, (mine is old and 2nd hand,) clothes, (hardly ever buy any,) rarely eat out or go drinking, don't get my nails or hair done etc. I do spend a lot on holidays but I fly economy and make savings where possible.

As much as I’d love this, I think I’d be sick to death of the airport and packing every month.

Would love to be able to have the option to go away this much though.

@Bs0u416d thank you so much!! I have saved this and really appreciate your tips. If you don’t mind, I may reach out to you in late April if I have any more questions.

We went abroad 1 week Feb

Easter we are going to the Caribbean for 2 weeks

Summer abroad 4 weeks

October abroad 1 week

We always prioritise family holidays

I don't mind at all.

Nope, we worked extremely hard and gave up a lot to pay off our mortgage early. Also have 1 budget car that we bought new in 2013 and maintained over the years. I don’t drive and walk most places or get public transport. we haven’t upgraded our house even though we could get another mortgage and get something bigger/detached. We don’t really eat out unless special occasions but mostly we do that on holidays.
I don’t ever spend beyond our means and have enough saved for unexpected expenses.

DD will most likely go to uni in 2025 so we will be cutting back again at that point, but for now we are enjoying life as best as we can.

Turkey at Easter
Ireland in June (visiting family)
Looking at long haul in summer - South Africa? Or somewhere in Asia

We have a week booked in Turkey for May half term, 2 weeks on a Greek island over the school holidays and then DH and I will sneak a week in somewhere hot over October/November.

Envious of some of fantastic sounding holidays up thread

We do our best to have a holiday every year. Usually just in the UK as the kids have been younger. Now they are getting older we are exploring going abroad for 2 weeks. Nothing fancy, just a bit of train travel/alternating hostels with hotels with pools to give the kids a break. The combination of having not had a two week holiday for a very long time, travel costs, the kids being older therefore having to pay full whack for them and inflation means that we are raiding our savings. I am obviously hopelessly put of touch with prices, but had thought that we could do a budget/mid budget break for around 4k. How wrong I was. Meanwhile my friends seem to be forever jetting off on holidays several times a year. Lots have taken the kids to Lapland for 3 nights. I looked at the cost. £10,000! Just how can people afford it?? The same with cars. Ours is 10 years old and I am still very happy with it, but I looked at the cost of an electric one new and they were all around £38k upwards. I feel as though I am turning into my Nan and will soon be sending my kids off to the shops with 50p to treat themselves to ice creams, i'm that out of touch!

Just did 3 weeks in the canaries
have another 2 weeks booked in mid June
possibly a weekend away in Sept
and maybe another 2 week holiday in winter

Never….I save every month….but my mortgage was paid off at 47 ( I’m 59) ….AC are all self sufficient …..ive dropped to 2 days a week but am claiming my pension now, so it’s like having full time pay

It's just the 2 of us and we prioritise travel, we both buy extra annual leave every year. We've just bought a new house though and move in May so will be using a chunk of our holidays (and money!) for that rather than travel this year.

Already done a week skiing in Tignes and I've had a long weekend in London with my DM.
Booked:
Croatia for a week in April.
Berlin for long weekend in May for a friend's birthday (just me).
Canada for 2 weeks early July (1 week visiting DP's family, 1 week actual holiday 😄).
Edinburgh for 3 day weekend in late August.
Cornwall for 5 days in September with the dogs, staying with friends. 2 nights in the Lake District on the way back.
Vienna Christmas Market weekend with my DM in December (just me).

Caribbean is already booked for February 2025 with family, and we're planning 3 weeks in Japan in June 2025 as DP is speaking at a conference in Tokyo so we're extending the trip to take advantage of his travel being paid for!

What’s Turkey like at Easter @MumofSpud ? I’d love to go but we want to go Corfu in May half term.

We have a UK break outside of the warmest summer weather so we can take our dogs and enjoy lots of lovely walks somewhere different. We also have a weeks summer holiday somewhere abroad in August, I'm a teacher so am tied to peak summer plus we wait for my daughter to come home from uni as she looks after the dogs and horse while we are away.
Recently spent our holidays in France, Crete,Santorini, Croatia and going back to Croatia this year. We use air bnb as we like to do our own thing, then book flights separately which generally works out cheaper than a package.