To be sad we're not going abroad this year

[Paraparanoid]

We go abroad on holiday most years. This year we just can't afford the 4k plus it will cost our family of 4. Instead we've booked week in a cottage in the UK plus a few nights either side in Premier Inns, so will be away 10 nights at a cost of around 1k for accomodation and allowing 1k for spends. DD (13) unimpressed and I admit I feel a bit worried about crap weather etc although have done loads of research on things to do to keep us entertained. I'm now worried I could've done better with our 2k budget and perhaps could've gone abroad afterall. It would be school summer hols.

AIBU?

I agree that nothing beats a holiday abroad. The travel, different food, language, history, weather... I find it all very exciting. I'd rather have a shorter break abroad than a longer UK holiday for the same price. YANBU!

www.eurocamp.co.uk/reservations/searchresults

Don't know if the link will work but I searched Italy, may half term 2 adults, 2 kids. 5 nights. £195 total for a caravan. There's the proof.

We’ve done this type of holiday every year. We’ve had a great time. DD loves it. 13 year olds can’t be allowed to dictate what a family do. The point of a holiday is to relax and have fun, it doesn’t need a beach and wall to wall sunshine.

People keep saying we could've gone abroad for 2k but where's the actual evidence (links etc)? Show me & I might believe you!!!

Do me a favour!

We always go on cheap holidays both abroad and in the UK but you can’t just go on a travel agent website, type it in and expect a cheap result!

My best deals have come from hours of searching and thinking outside the box - using Facebook, Gumtree, Air BnB, multiple websites and mix/matching travel and accommodation options to find the cheapest combo.

No way I’m doing that for you for your hypothetical cheap holiday!

Bloody hell, I think people are being quite mean to you OP. You're just saying that you feel you could have chosen a different holiday for that budget and your 13 year old is moaning before you've even set off.

Just treat it as trying something different. If it doesn't work out then you won't do it next time. Just plan some lovely things to do whoch you might not get chance to do again. Look up nice restaurants to go to, maybe get a lonely planet guide and do some cool stuff that your 13 year old will be happy to put on Instagram.

It's only one holiday of many and I'm sure you'll have a great time just go expecting the weather to be crap then anything else is a bonus.

Ignore the haters, it's MN, some posters only like posts where people are surviving on 17p a week. Yes, we get it, some people are currently dying without medicine or food in a bombed hospital in a country destroyed by war.

OP, I think you are looking at it the wrong way: abroad can mean anywhere and anything, did you mean a beach holiday? I found that UK holidays are more expensive than a cheap package one when I compare websites and the cheap package.

Your cost will be the travel presumably: you could drive, take a train, or look a cheap flights mid-week, or at times that are not that great. We are not far from France, and even Spain or Italy. There are plenty of campsites on the continent - if you avoid the fashionable places, you can find very decent holidays there for example.

A town and a rental with a view over a lake will be cheaper than a sea view villa too. Mainland europe has the equivalent of our Premier Inn, it's not too difficult to travel on the cheap, and only stay in a nicer air B&B for a few nights for example.

Enjoy your UK stay, if you have planned all your days in case of heavy rain, you are prepared for the worst, and will be pleasantly surprised if the weather is better.

‘Haters’ - are you 12? Give over and grow up.

DD would be happy with sitting round a pool - the rest of us not so much. We've done a number of those & last time DS (ASD) really suffered hence wanting a villa with our own space and places to go out and see to break it up. I guess that is why I was having trouble ticking all those boxes in budget.

Wondering where the poster is who started a thread the other day moaning that her husband was trying to force her to go on a 10 day Villa holiday? She kind of inspired by post

Assuming DD is the youngest or only child, in five years time you will either not be holidaying together with her or you can go outside school holidays at much lower cost.

There are plenty of interesting places for a UK holiday.

I'm also sad we can't even raise 2k for a cheapy holiday this year particularly as my husband celebrates his fiftieth but meh such is life

Ignore the misery loves company crowd on here. People are always bending over backwards to explain how they never go anywhere and you should be grateful to be able to even go away for a wet weekend camping in Wales every other year.

You had you heart set on a foreign trip. I get it. When you’re working all the time in a country like this with unpredictable weather where all you hear about is Brexit, you want to get away somewhere different, somewhere with guaranteed warm weather, a holiday destination where everyone else is in a positive holiday mood.

Personally I’ve done loads of UK holidays and have mostly had a good time but I will always also have a foreign holiday in the same year. Our weather’s too unpredictable and I wouldn’t be spending £2k on a holiday which doesn’t even include flights.

If you’d shopped around, you could’ve found a holiday abroad for around the £2-3k mark but it’s done now as you’ve already booked.

Well, tbh, I think the op is the one being miserable. We choose to take UK holidays, but that’s our choice. If the situation was reversed and we “had to” take a holiday abroad, I’d celebrate what’s good about it.

In the op’s shoes, I’d be glad we weren’t contributed as heavily to cc by staying closer to home. Instead she’s on here whining. Who is the miserable one again?

Paris and Amsterdam will be very expensive when you get there, I'd avoid cities if on a budget, feeding a family of 4 would work out pricey.

Depending on where you live, you could have gone somewhere in the UK that involves a ferry, so that the holiday feels like more of an adventure like; Isle of Wight, Jersey, Arran, island hopping in Scotland, Ireland, Sicily isles.
My parents have never been abroad & they have enjoyed holidays all over the UK
I agree that there are some beautiful places & history in the UK

As someone who grew up outside the U.K. I used to dream of visiting so many places here I had heard of. Living here now I try to ensure my children realise the U.K. isn’t just one city and there are countless fascinating places to visit, whatever your interests might be.

I didn't go abroad when i was a kid and firat went when i was 20 and paid for it myself. I never felt i had missed out or not properly been away.(no idea if my parents thought the same - they went abroad a lot after retiring) Some kids at school who had been abroad actually thought our uk holiday sounded better.
When we were first married me and DH had some fairly expensive/adventurous holidays abroad but since having kids we mainly camp or caravan (either france or uk) or last minute cheap cottages.
The only abroad holiday my kids remember was an AI resort and they were both ill- it was our least enjoyable holiday ever. One of the best was a caravan in cornwall - the weather wasnt amazing but was just really relaxing and a gorgeous location.
While i don't think its spoiling childten to go abroad every year, i also dont think its a huge deal to holiday in the uk. Its not the difference between having a holiday and literally staying at home. My DD thinks she misses out because we camp and often stay in the uk and her friends go on hotel holidays abroad...i guess its just what you become accustomed to.

You do need to get a grip. U.K. can be lots of fun.

I never took my children abroad. They are now 25 and 22 and are not bothered at all about going abroad themselves.
We always holidayed in the UK. This country had so many beautiful places to see.

Is this a serious AIBU? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

There’s people in your town that can’t afford to send their children to bed with a full belly, there’s people in your town wondering how they will pay their rent/mortgages/ council tax/gas etc and there’s people shopping in charity shops for 25p school shirts so their kids don’t look like tramps and you’re worried because your holiday is only in the uk? Get a fucking grip love.

Bejaysus, OP.

If you really must...

www.tui.co.uk/destinations/deals/tailored-deals

Link seems not to be working, but try Montenegro, around 350 pp with hotel and flights.

And, stop moaning, seriously. Do you know how spoilt you sound to those of us who couldn't possibly afford £2k for a holiday?

^^ This.

Could the posters who insist that op’s family of 4 could holiday abroad in the summer holidays for less than £2k (all expenses included) please link to some examples? Personally I’m sceptical. Even RyanAir flights to Spain etc are much more expensive in the summer

It's all about timing and booking when the prices fall. We are paying £500 for four flights to Mallorca and around £1200 for 8 nights in an apartment. If I'd waited to book the flights they went down around £100 and then straight back up again. A few years ago we had a week in Cyprus for £1400 because it was last minute and the price plummeted while I was looking at it.

Depending on where you live, you could have gone somewhere in the UK that involves a ferry, so that the holiday feels like more of an adventure like; Isle of Wight, Jersey, Arran, island hopping in Scotland, Ireland, Sicily isles

I agree, we go to Scotland and the Channel Islands a lot and you do feel like you are going somewhere because you have to cross water and Scotland is a different country. You could also go to Ireland.

I agree that you can go properly overseas for less than £2K though. Everyone is assuming that you have to go away in August which is the most expensive time. The Easter holidays were buggered by the Brexit that didn't happen this year, but if you are not in Scotland May half term is a great time to go away and less expensive.