I'm going to visit my son. It's going to cost a fortune..

[Beakthrough]

He's in Uk at the opposite end to me.

He can't put me up so I need to pay travel and accomodation, plus I won't be able to cook for him (or vice versa) so I'll likely end up paying for several restaurant meals too.

I reckon, by the time I'm done it will cost me close to £1000 for the six days planned.

Nearly £200 in travel, £400 for the cheapest accomodation I can find, plus 5 or 6 dinners and ither spending money.

I have the money, I'd spend it on other trips without thinking too hard, but I'm struggling to justify it to myself for this one, which makes no sense to me. Can anyone else work out what's going on with my head?

Hopefully, eventually he'll have somewhere he can accomodate visitors but for the time being he can't.

I used to live in Surrey and drove to Scotland regularly . It took 8 hours. If you’re going somewhere like Inverness it would take 12 hours or more. Then factor in stops.

She said an 8 hour journey, so two days total (there and back), which is very easily done in the UK.

If you saw him at Christmas why do you need to see him again so soon?

If you leave it for a bit maybe you’d be more inclined to want to spend 1k on a visit?

Airbnb and VRBO aren’t cheap these days due to their service fee. A local B&B may well be cheaper or chain hotel may well be cheaper.

My son lives in Canada and I’m hoping to visit him this year. Wish my trip would only cost £1000 lol

Just spend it and think , it comes out of the pot you’ll probably leave him when you pop your clogs !

If money wasn’t an issue l’d just pay go, enjoy eating out and getting a break from routine- but mostly just appreciate spending time time with my DS. Not sure it’s reasonable to do the trip frequently, so maybe take turns ?

have you looked at hostasister - there's a page on facebook or probably a website. i bet you'd find somewhere for two nights and somewhere else for two nights?

I'd go into debt to be able to visit my son

6 days sounds excessive it would be better to do two shorter trips surely

Does he happen to stay somewhere like Fort William? Miles away from most places and a tourist trap so expensive accommodation?

Think yourself lucky my son lives in Dubai it costs me around £3,000,00 to go and see him

It's your DS, you can afford it so what's the problem?

What would that achieve?

Unless he was dying or something, there's really no need.... You don't love your son more than OP does by putting unnecessary financial burden on yourself, when you could just go at a cheaper time it wait until you can meet in the middle, or have saved out.

Where are you going? Which Town?

I'd actually raise my budget if I could afford it and get as nice accomodation as I could afford and turn it into a really lovely break.

I’m the same with my son but he lives in Vancouver!

OP, are there any University towns in the region he lives in?

There are several universities which let out Uni accommodation outside of term time.

You could book a Uni room and he and his partner could come over and spend a day with you.

I'm also wondering whether a cheap flight would be best for you; 8 hours is a long drive to make alone.

I’ll be honest, and say that if my parents said “I can afford it” and “I’d spend it on another break” and “struggled to justify this one”… I’d tell them to stay home and not bother. If I was THAT unimportant to them, that they’d prefer to spend their time and money elsewhere, than spend time with “me”, especially given that I spent my own time and money on visited THEM, I’d be done with them.

Done with them? They are your PARENTS!

Can you fly there? UK to UK flights can normally be found for pretty cheap

Can you fly part of the way. Trains are so expensive. Someone I knew flew from Gatwick to Amsterdam and then back to Aberdeen and it was cheaper and quicker than the train 😂

can you book future visits in advance so it would be cheaper.

also i read soMewhre about clearing your cookies as travel companies are monitoring what you look for and the price goes up and up. And they do price changes at night so you could grab a bargain in the wee hours.

use different devices to search for accommodation.

When my husband died I developed all sorts of fears - crossing the gap to get on a train, driving on the motorway. I can’t do either now but can use ordinary buses, as well as the long distance Flixbus. Could you save money going by bus?

And could you stay at a uni/college accommodation nearby? Local pubs are normally cheap?

Seems you can’t save on travel and accommodation and don’t want to cut down the length of your trip (whereas I think 3 nights would be more than enough, even accounting for the journey), so the changes you can make are to your restaurant budget.

Research budget end restaurants you can ideally prebook into.

Suggest to also look at what the hotel offers - eg can you save on a dinner package, at least on a couple of the nights?

I'm wondering if he lives in the Highlands or on Sky. It's gorgeous there but ridiculously expensive to Stay. I've found cottages.com is the best for decently priced places in Scotland and they have a sale right now so worth a look.
I'd be dreading 2 days of traveling within a week tbh so I think it's understandable

Is it possible to fly there or near enough there?

I've got a son in Australia and it's a long and expensive trip.