How much was your dream holiday? Was it worth it. Follow on from wedding cost thread.

[squirrelchops2]

Hi
Following on from the 'how much was your wedding cost' ...which I couldn't comment on, I'm curious about holidays.

If you've had a dream holiday, how much was it and was it worth it? Most importantly...where!

Cuba was a dream for me and cost £4k which was a lot as I've spent less doing 6 weeks in SEA! However Cuba was amazing, we toured the west side inc Havana with multi stays before ending up in a luxury resort on one of the Cayos.

£6k for 2 weeks in Japan. Worth every single penny.

£20k Japan for 3 weeks. Business class flights for 2 were the biggest part of the cost, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Used to fly all over the world happily in economy but I was young and bendy then and also travelling for longer so could get over jet lag….

12k for 4 of us to spend 2.5 weeks in Japan. That includes all spending money and doing everything we wanted to do. It was about 7 years ago, so would be more now. Worth every penny.

Two.. quite a few years back we spent £35k on a ski chalet in Verbier with my oldest friend’s family. Was a pretty special week. More recently dh and I went all out on a South African safari staying iat Singita which was £4k per night. We then spent a further ten days in the winelands and Cape Town.
At the time I felt sick at the cost but we’re coming up to our 60’s, these are the years memories need to be made and I’ll never forget it.

3 month once in a lifetime trip when my kids were 9 and 12. Stop off in Hong Kong, month travelling round Vietnam, 2 weeks in Cambodia, month in India and two weeks on the beach in Oman. It cost £30,000 but it was priceless to me and I'd do it again tomorrow if I could.

Our dream holiday was 11 years ago, so I've no idea what the equivalent cost would be today, but at the time I guess it cost between £10k and £12k for 2 of us. We went on safari to South Africa, and loved every minute. We researched it carefully and went with an excellent top-end company. This meant that we had amazing game drives, as well as all the stuff you'd expect like accommodation, flights etc.
In my view, for something specialised like safari, I think you need to spend the absolute maximum you can afford - worth every penny.

We did a Kruger safari and the garden route a couple of years ago for around £5k for both of us! 2.5 weeks.

The lodge was lovely, the food was excellent and we saw all of the big 5. I absolutely loved South Africa, amazing place.

£15K for LA-Hawaii (3 islands) - NYC for 1 month was best ever in 2016
Then £12K for 30 days in Thailand in 2024 close second both for 4 people

I’ve had quite a few, very fortunate! These are all based on two adults.

Japan = £15,000 for two weeks
Australia = £20,000 for just over two weeks and we did Melbourne (including a drive out of the city to some attractions), Tasmania and Sydney. For me, the amount of time was fine as we flew in business so jet lag wasn’t really an issue.
Peru = about £12,000 for two weeks.

We flew business class to Mauritius and spent 16 nights in an apartment. Total was probably around £13k including food, drink, car rental etc. It is somewhere DH always dreamed of going and spent another £1500 or so on diving.

It 100% was not worth it. Crappy little Nissan that only spoke Japanese so interacting with any of the controls/sat nav impossible. Apartment was grubby, beds uncomfortable, some things were broken or in poor condition. We ate out most nights but struggled to find any restaurants that served genuinely fresh seafood that wasn't deep fried. Diving was good but even the crew said the Maldives are much better.

We did some day trips that were kind of fun (drove down to the south West for seven coloured earth etc., and a boat trip to islands north of Grand Baie).

Was it our dream holiday? Certainly not, wouldn't go back.

£8k 2weeks in Japan. It was incredible.

I spent £13k all in on a trip to SE Asia for 3 of us - Definately worth it. I am currently planning a trip to vietnam for myself for 2.5 weeks. It’s coming up from about £2.3-3.6k for one depending how ‘luxury’ I go. That’s for flights, hotels and all trips.

i think I’m going to end up spending the money and going upper end so hopefully it’s worth it.

We did two weeks in SA last year with all 3 DCs and oldest one's partner, including 5 nights at Singita. I won't say how much it was, because I too felt sick at the cost, but it was spectacular and worth every penny. It's money I'll never regret spending.

Not me sadly, but my daughter and son in law did 3 months.

greece, Italy. Switzerland, Dubai, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, New Zealand. Cost $14k. A mix of hostels and 5 star resorts and everything in between.

Best money ever spent (according to her!)

Singita is magical and I don’t regret it either despite like you feeling sick at the time. Not sure I’d have taken my kids’ partners though that’s extremely generous!

China with adult DC, 20k, it was incredible.

£20 k 2 weeeks touring Chile. Amazing