AIBU to not take my children on holidays....

[nonsense0name]

I can afford to go but can't justify the price, I hate flying, travelling and the sheer hassle of the whole thing, the packing, organising, being disapointed when it's not fab.

or am I robbing my kids of precious childhood memories?

we have loads of days trips and outings to the beach, park, beer garden in the summer, zoos, picnics etc etc

but I can't bring myself to part with the near £1k it costs to book a decent holiday cottage in this country or go further afield

What do you think - am I missing the point?

aribura why have you sent me nasty pm calling me bitter and twisted because if my post? Why not Say something on the thread? Are you 7?

She did what? That's really not on at all.

(psst. you did exactly what I have always planned to do if someone sent me a nasty pm )

Its more fun than reporting.

Pets. You post really didn't warrant that!

I remember never going on holiday as a child because my parents didn't want to (dad worked abroad so didn't want to go anywhere when home and mum was afraid of flying), and everyone else in my class got to.

Some parents just dont get the 'holidaying with children' thing.

Through my childhood we went on a total of 4 holidays. 3 of them were canal boat holidays. I hate canal boat holidays, they are like caravan holidays but you arent allowed out of the caravan.

My Dad was much like the OP, didnt like the fuss of holidays, didnt like the disruption. To make matters worse, he didnt like driving and also wouldnt be driven by my Mum so there werent many days out either.

Not exactly happy memories.

That sucks GnomeDePlume.

You mentioned in your first post that your children enjoy days out. A holiday cottage in this country needn't cost £1000, so why don't you consider a week in a part of the country that has loads of interesting places to visit.

We have had some fantastic UK holidays. We take the right sort of clothes for all weathers and have visited some wonderful places. One week we rented a cottage in Much Wenlock in Shropshire and visited Ironbridge gorge, Blists Hill, a couple of National Trust properties, a priory, West Midlands safari park, Ludlow and the Severn Valley railway. Shropshire is overlooked yet beautiful with lots of interesting places to vists and even in August the roads aren't too busy. The same can be said for Northumberland. I have found that if you stay away from obvious tourist destinations like Devon, Cornwall and any seaside resorts the accommodation is cheaper and it is far less crowded, plus there is more to do if it rains.

nice one Pets - can't understand why you got a PM either! Your post was just tongue-in-cheek and easy to see it was.

I know! I'm honestly devastated somebody on the internet doesn't like me....And its my birthday.

I am a bitter person though, not towards holidays or such silliness.

I don't like people taller than me or people who own Kitchen aids - I would kill strangers to be tall and have a cherry red kitchen aid so I slag them off to make me feel better

@ pets. Happy birthday!

I'm not a holiday fan, as dd has ocd and anxieties which just get worse on family holidays.
We have decided never to go away together as a family any more...it's a waste of money and is too horrible.
So ds is going to Oz at Christmas with dh, dh and I took dd to Barcelona while ds was on a school trip, and I go away with my brother for a week in Wales.
I have promised dd New York after gcse's next year.

When they were little we did Portugal and Wales a lot......I'm with LeQueen in that you need a nice holiday base. i live in a nice house...why would I go somewhere with fewer bathrooms or a crap shower?
Dh is not good on holidays either.

I'm not somehow damaged by my parents crapness at holidays but we are trying to build happier memories with the DCs.

The poorer than home accomodation reminds us all how comfortable in fact our home is. Sometimes the tightness of the accomodation has achieved family folkloric status. There was the MH with a toilet so small that you had to reverse in, close and lock the door, drop trousers and sit down all in one smoothe movement. If you got it wrong then you would have to shuffle out with disarranged clothes to have another go.

Being somewhere smaller than home forces us to be outside and enjoy where we are holidaying rather than sitting indoors watching television.

Cheers Boris.

Gnome- My granny used live in a tiny 1 bed terrace in London with a loo like that its so small that you have to sort if tuck your feet behind you to wee.
Toilet tetris it was dubbed

We love our holidays. Tis a time to kick back and be a little reckless and do what we want when we want.

Pets - I love Toilet Tetris!