To wonder how people afford luxury holidays

[dontbesillyhenry]

Not once but several times sometimes yearly? We both work and earn relatively good money but can only afford to stretch to a few days in England. We don't have loads of luxurys either so it really baffles me what are we doing wrong?

We live in a capitalist society so I have no idea how differing income levels are so hard to understand

You do say good wage, maybe it's a good wage to you because your peer group earn less or your from a background where your parents earned very little. I guess people need to define good wage if it's over the average wage in this country it could be defined as good but I wouldn't necessarily say that.

With 2 of my friends it's just the fact they are rich, a combination of both family wealth and high earners. 3/4 beautiful holidays a year.

Another friends it's a case of keeping up with the joneses - she and her husband are up to their eyeballs in debt.

We did most of our holidays before we had kids - so I have done most of the places on my list, so now my priorities are a nice house/car.

We go camping a lot with the kids, the kids love it we explore a different part of the uk each time.

We will be going to Florida next year but will be staying with a family member - so it's flights and spending money. People won't see that - they will see an expensive holiday with meals out etc.

I also think that now a days a holiday is seen as an essential not a Luxury and some people are always trying to out do each other.

Credit probably? Or they have more money than they let on?

Or in our case, we went on an expensive honeymoon last year that was a (very generous) wedding gift from husbands nana, and then in May we went away with my dad and sister to a fancy resort, which my (again, very generous) Dad paid for. To anyone on the outside it looks like we've been able to afford two very fancy holidays in 12 months, when in actual fact we can't really even afford a term time cheapy at the moment, with having just bought a house (that we used inheritance money for a deposit for) and with a baby on the way.

You just don't know people's circumstances outside of what they show on Facebook or tell you about.

It's priorities i think. I spend all my disposable income on having a nice house and holidays - but have no expensive clothes/accessories/jewellery/beauty/cars etc and am amazingly antisocial. Bf is of the same ilk.
We had amazing holidays in Mexico in 2015 and Jamaica in 2016 and did the living room this year but otherwise watch tv and hang out together in joggies
Pregnant now so no doubt new addition will get all our disposable and the house will soon be trashed - oh dear - next holiday in 2030 then hehe

We go abroad every year, and have been on what are considered luxury holidays.
We are very good with money. We organise everything independently and often go exotic type places for less money than people pay hiring a villa in Spain.

We have one holiday abroad a year between 7/14 days. We do a mixture of all inclusive beaches (Tenerife, Greece etc) and then city ones (usually all in America).

We pay all our bills, our only debt is mortgage as our credit cards are cleared monthly, we both have brand new cars (one company and mine is half paid for by employer and is leased). Once the bills are paid, we then put £100 into house pot (for decorating/repairs/buying new bits etc) and £250 into holiday pot.

We are not in debt, don't take out loans and don't owe money. We book our holiday and pay it with a credit card then clear the card when the statement comes through.

We also have two nights away in this country 4 or 5 times a year.

We've just had two nights away in London thanks to the Virgin train sale. Return tickets and two nights in the centre of London for £126 plus we spent about £80.

We also use Clubcard vouchers and boost them up for days out vouchers, groupon offers and various other ways.

People assume we are either tight or in debt but we are neither. It's quite sad because people assume we are in debt upto our eyeballs and criticise for that or assume we spend hours to save pennies and life is too short so we get criticised for that too.

Mandraki I always find it interesting people would let others know how much money they have.

Absolutely no one bar myself and DH have ever had any idea how much we earned nor savings etc. We didn't tell anyone when we had paid off our mortgage and that was years ago.

Depends what you count as a "luxury" holiday as well.

You can go abroad for a week in August for £1500 A/I which is cheaper than a week in a cottage in the uk and all food is included. However, abroad definitely does not mean luxury, and a £1500 A/I is unlikely to be luxury in my experience.

Also, it depends when you go.

Yesterday I booked a very nice holiday for DH and I in term time.

It was astonishingly good value after all the years of paying to go during school holidays.

We don't have any debt except mortgage, we have a joint income or around 45k and usually go on around 4 holidays a year.
We have no kids and it's just the two of us so and just look for cheap flights and book around them.
We're not big spenders in everyday life but we enjoy ourselves.

Well you say in your OP you are both on "relatively good money", for some people that could mean a combined income of £40k, for others it could mean £100k minimum, it's totally subjective.

Things I can think of that mean some people have more disposable income than others who seem to earn the same:

• Free childcare from family, or no children/no childcare costs

• Low or non existent housing costs, eg bought in the right area at the right time, or had a huge deposit due to family help or inheritance, ploughed earnings into paying a off mortgage early or some kind of lucky break re: housing like renting at a low price from a family member

• Live in a cheap part of the country

• Get big bonuses on top of salary

• Have some kind of pot of money (coming from for example inheritance/gift/savings/legal payout/selling something) that is working for them to earn them more money in interest or dividends.

• Regular financial gifts from wealthy family members

• Unseen job or business sideline on the side effects in evenings/weekends from home

-Incredibly frugal lifestyle

Or else, it could be they get the holidays on the cheap or they are just slowly accumulating debt.

I am shocked sometimes what people will spend on a cottage in the UK, and then say they can not afford holidays abroad. So it really depends what they are actually spending on these luxury holidays. A safari holiday can be cheaper than a UK holiday.

I spend a fair bit taking 6 ot 7 of us skiing a year and then similarly to a summer holiday abroad. It's the price I pay for having a lot of children (now just about all adult) and I don't mind at all. When and if I can't afford it it won't matter. It's the people that counts. We would be very happy in tents I'm sure.

Recently worked overtime, shopped around for a bargain holiday in a couple of months time, so booked and paid for

Last year £150 each for flight and hotel one week abroad

Long haul flights are cheaper if you book in advance and avoid peak holiday times & use air miles

I enjoy travelling, so I spend less on every day things eg old car, no Sky TV etc

Shop around for cheaper insurance and utilities

Investigate saving options like ISA, regular savings, cash back & other investments

£150 for flight and hotel? Wow! Where did you go?

We went to the Canaries in December last year for £30 return each. Our apartment for the week was £300 and it wasn't the cheapest available so, £150 pp for a week in the sun seems quite doable.

I'm more intrigued by all these reasonably priced long haul holidays - cheaper than Spain etc - do people book really far in advance to get the cheaper flights?

We can't generally book more than a month or two in advance due to the unpredictability of DPs work and I expect that long haul would be £££s if left until late. We don't have any access to airmiles or similar.

I could be classe as normal, within my team I have a colleague of a similar age we earn similar wages both have a partner (not sure of relative incomes) and 2 DC at uni.

However that is where the similarities end, I love to travel and that is what I save for and spend my income on. He rarely takes holidays, drives a very nice car but it is now 10 years old his choices/needs are different.

My boss is similar but he is younger with a massive mortgage and 2 DC in childcare so whilst he earns a better salary than me and his DP has a good job their disposable income is small and they will be taking their tent on a UK break.

Then there is my friend who only works 2 days a week in hairdressing and her DP who is a trade who have 2 new cars (expensive) are in Spain's for 2 weeks luxury all inclusive now and already have Florida booked for Easter next year.

We go on at least two foreign holidays a year. We don't go out for dinner hardly at all and we don't have expensive hobbies. Our extra money goes on holidays

There are loads of ways. I definitely hear you though OP, it is baffling.

Some people have inherited money.

Some people are holidaying at a property owned by family or staying with family.

People who can travel outside of school holidays have a huge advantage - having recently had to book flights over half term and being gobsmacked by the difference in price (literally 4x!!!!), I can say that if we were tied to school holidays we'd be holidaying exclusively in Scunthorpe.

Lots of people just prioritise different things - they might never eat out, never go out drinking, not buy expensive clothes and jewellery, not shop at Waitrose, not drive a nice car and so on. When I was a kid we went on really nice holidays but my parents were Scrooges about everything else.

For us - we have a airmiles credit card which allows us to get massively discounted long haul flights (for our last trip to South Africa, the flights were £500 return for two of us).

Also, we almost never book package holidays - you usually save more than 50% buy booking flights, car hire, accommodation yourself.

Finally - we nearly always go self-catering. DH have ulcerative colitis and too much rich restaurant food really knocks him for six so we have to really, but it comes with a massive costs saving.

What does OP consider a luxury holiday?

well I don't drink go out or buy clothes for myself and I still can't afford a holiday.
I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong as I work and after I've paid essentials like bills and food I'm broke.
It's not always as easy as just cutting back.

I don't know what OP considers a luxury holiday either
I go abroad 3-4 times a year but budget is under £500 for flights and accommodation per person - helps that DP and adult DC pay for themselves
I also allow another 3-400 pounds for spending whilst I'm away taxis transfers etc
I fund mine by selling stuff on eBay n keeping any expenses I claim back from work

We prioritise travel/holidays. House is avout 1/4 size of most friends. Very very cheap mortgage, most clothes from supermarkets. Have knickers which are 10 years old! But travel is the thing we like best. 5 year old DS already got the bug😁

OP unless you say how much you both have left over after monthly outgoings and how many children you have, Im not sure how what others do can be at all relevant?

We go 3 times a year.

Once to Dubai (spit as many feathers as you want MN) my SIL and her DH live there so we pay £1k max just for flight and about 700 spending.

We then do a villa holiday, flights usually under £500 return, often more like £300. Villa about £800 a week (a NAICE one from James's villas but in the sale) and then spent about £100 on car rental, and another £300 on food shopping and experiences. All in a week in a place where you get privacy, a swimming pool to your self and freedom of a car, £1,200 to £1,500 all in.

We then always book a last minute holiday as a longboard weekend. £28 return flights to Venice, £300 for 4 nights in an apartment, £200-300 on spends.

We stay in some really nice places, you just have to be savvy, never book package, we price up everything and book everything on our own. Unless it's cheaper to go package, but it rarely is.

That's 3 holidays for about 2.5k.