To not understand holidays

[RandomlyChosenName]

Aibu to not understand how people choose and book holidays and what they do when they’re there. Except millionaires...

My childhood was spent self catering in the UK. I get them! And as a couple we went on short city breaks. I get them too. And we had an expensive all inclusive chill out honeymoon. Also easy! But I can’t work out how to do an abroad family holiday without being a millionaire.

All holidays seem to cost £2,500+ for the family for 2 weeks- I’m looking on First Choice, Tui etc. And the cheaper ones are a self catering room and a shared small basic pool. My children would be bored after an hour or two. Whilst they love swimming, they’d need to do something else for some of the day. Do everyoneelses children just happily swim non stop for 2 weeks? All the holidays seem to be miles from anything. Everywhere with lots of things to do is horrendously expensive.

I can’t work out where you find self catering villas abroad- I looked at AirBNB but couldn’t understand it. I thought it might be cheaper we could maybe go sightseeing or on walks or something. I cannot work out how to even start finding something!

AIBU to not be able to adult enough to even find a family summer holiday that won’t leave us bankrupt? And to not understand how everyone else does it?

We've never been able to afford holidays abroad. The children know no different, they enjoy UK self-catering. I'd like to take them abroad, when they are 10 and 6. That's the plan anyway.

Hairy like I said I never went abroad till I wS 10 and went to menorca i never felt I missed out even though I had friends who went abroad, it never phased me loved our UK holidays, kids don't care about stuff like that.

Not sure if anyone else has said this already, but if you "get" self-catering holidays in the UK why don't you just carry on with those? UK is nice, easy with kids, avoiding flying is better for the environment and this will probably be a cheaper option unless you favour 5* in Cornwall or the Cotswolds...

If you do really want to go abroad and want stuff to do, start by researching the area and then find accommodation. Maybe somewhere near to a big town would be best if you like things to go - have you looked at Cascais near Lisbon? You can get a train into Lisbon from there which has lots to do (including for kids) or drive, and there is some affordable accommodation options if you get a car and stay slightly outside of Cascais. Cascais itself is a nice little town for a walk about and has lots of events (e.g. evening light show, concerts etc) in the summer. Lovely sandy beaches too. We went there twice last year for this reason. Alternatively maybe something in a town with easy access to a Spanish city like Barcelona or Valencia, or perhaps Nice in France, would be good for you. I've also heard good things about Majorca but you might be too late for booking there for this summer.

When DC were younger we used to alternate between abroad holidays and UK holidays. To be honest, I think the cost was broadly similar. Having said that, it depends on what type of holiday you want it can afford. I never went on holiday as a child, never mind a foreign one as we were very poor. We can afford a reasonable holiday now and we both work so whilst I don't mind self catering, the reality is that we would mostly eat out. I also spend at least £500 a month on shopping at home, family of 4, 3 of them 6'2 plus active men.

We're doing a week in an Italian eurocamp with a beach and lots of pools. Flying BA. Will do a couple of sightseeing days in Venice and possibly Verona. Might be good...maybe not..we'll see but it wasn't hard to organise and cost around £1500, perhaps s little more. Maybe a week is more achievable?

When my ex and I had no kids and were earning a joint income of £40k+ a year we loved an all inclusive holiday. THEN we had kids. My income dropped and then eventually I was made redundant and agency work for a while. Forced into an all inclusive week for a family wedding that nearly bankrupted us. Stuck with caravan holidays to not to far park resort type places. Not even each year either. I’m stuck with school holidays too as I work in a school, which always hikes up the cost. Kids love a caravan holiday but depending on where you go they can be quite pricey too. Then we divorced. I’m single and earning around £14k. We not go camping but even find that expensive at £30 per night - usually only go 3 nights at a time but a few times over the summer. My DM paid for us to do an AI for my big birthday for a week and kids loved it. They did pretty much spend the time in the pool, a few kids activities on site that were free and evening entertainment. They keep asking to go back. Can’t afford that again. My DM also paid for us to go to Center parks for 3 nights with my sister visiting from abroad for a big birthday. Think those 3 nights cost the same as a week in the canaries AI!!

I personally can’t budget for a holiday abroad as every penny I earn is pretty much spent each month. I save a bit but that’s been used to buy Christmas and birthday presents.

So I don’t think you have to be millionaires but you do need to earn enough not to miss a few hundred quid a month to pay for the holiday.

TheLette

Also UK summer weather is fabulous now. Much prefer 20 degree summers to 30 degrees.

Hi - I completely get where you are coming from - we are certainly not millionaires by any means I earn virtually nothing and my husband earns around £65k and we can not afford this sort of holiday that you are talking about. I also wonder how other people do! We certainly couldn’t afford to pay £500 a month towards a holiday!! And sitting around by a pool for a fortnight is not our idea of a fun holiday anyway! We love camping and tend to camp in France - there are so many interesting places - we love the Dordogne and Brittanny especially - so you often have lots of facilities on site - swimming pools etc and then loads of wonderful places to visit and the whole thing could cost around £1k or less for two weeks - I know many people can’t stabd the idea of camping but we love it and it is so affordable. Xx

@Dungeondragon15 but eating out and takeaways are luxuries, and, particularly for a family trying to save up for a holiday, can easily be cut out.

When my children were younger we used to have the odd week in a French gite with a ferry paid for by Tesco’s Clubcard points. It worked out at about £700 for a week for four. That was about 16 years ago so I guess it is more expensive now but it was only marginally more than a week in a British holiday home.

I guess it depends where you start from. I'm in Scotland, it's glorious and beautiful but honestly the weather is mostly terrible and the winters are long are dark. If we want to do a UK holiday with some chance of decent weather, we are looking at a very very long drive south or a flight or a train and then we either need to hire a car or do a city or something, meaning camping is out really unless you drive there. Same for camping in France, you need to fly really unless you want the long drive. DH drives for a living and I don't really want to drive abroad (or long drives here either). Flights are generally more expensive and we have less options of providers.

We've only had a couple f decent days weather this year and they happened while we away abroad. Sometimes you just need to feel the sun on your face. When our DC were little, we just wanted them to have the pleasure of swimming outdoors and drying in the sun rather than freezing their arses off all the time.

We have done UK holidays but generally still in the north so have had to spend money on activities as there is only so long you can spend being outdoors in the cold and wet.

And even when the weather is decent, there's The midges 🙈

We did Cornwall as a girl. That was a long drive!

And that was from just outside Glasgow - so pretty far south.

Family of 6, never spent anywhere near the price some people are claiming on here. Certainly didn’t save £500 per month!!
Flights with budget airline, self catering and beach days. Rarely pay for museums and the like, just walks and the sea. Holidays can be affordable, depends on when and where, what you do etc. Last week of August has seemed a little cheaper the last few years.

We have always had family holidays abroad but don't spend £000's - although there are only 3 of us so that is cheaper than a larger family.

We always have just one week holiday.

When we were confined to school hols we went Easter, Whitsun or October rather than main summer. It's cheaper and not uncomfortably hot.

Flights always with budget airline - if flights to where we fancied going came up very expensive we would chose somewhere different. One or 2 check in cases rather than for all of us.

Accommodation through Owners Direct, Home Away etc. Always self catering - normally we would get an apartment in a block with communal pool. Always a TV with DVD player, preferably wifi. That way you can spend time just chilling in the apartment without being bored.

If possible I try to find apartment on google maps so get one on the edge of resort do not too noisy but able to walk in to resort centre fir shopping, restaurants etc

We normally hire a car but public transport is generally fine if you are close to resort centre. We generally alternate a day around the resort with a day visiting somewhere. We don't tend to spend a lot on activities, maybe one or two days paid activity like a theme park or entry fee but mostly just walking around looking at places or, with young DC a free play park or football on the beach. I normally google things to do in the area before we go. Often we'll just go into the next resort to have a look around - a different beach, different cafe etc

A mixture of eating out and catering at the apartment- e.g. If you have less money cook something easy like pasta at your accommodation and go out for a walk afterwards and get ice cream or a drink at a bar.

As a guideline we wouldn't normally pay over £500 for flights for 3 of us and should be able to get accommodation for, say, £350 out of main summer.

@CountFosco you are most definitely not typical of anybody I know!!! And I appreciate we all live in 'bubbles' to a certain extent. The majority of people I know work in 'average' jobs, generally with one partner full time, the other part time. Most people have a holiday of some kind (often UK self catering) but very few people have these sensible savings for the future, with pensions being only those organised through work place. I can't imagine having a six figure income and no holiday.

Find a place you fancy going to. Look at skyscanner/on the beach/ryanair for flights and prices. Then look for sc apartments (you can google these in the area/owners abroad/fb/on the beach etc). As for entertaining kids whats wrong with beach/pool/sun finding out whats in local area. My kids used to love to just chill, swim, go different places to eat, stay up late and never needed entertainment. I akways booked somewhere small, near beach, no kids clubs (because I didnt want huge place full of other peoples kids) and toom a coupld of thrir favourite things with us. They usually made friends with other children and played or we played with them. Never had expensive hols as couldnt afford it. Now old and kids are grown up and my oh and I still nook flights and find local sc appts to stay in and enjoy eating out trying different places etc.

Hate my new keypad

We tend to go for a week.

Last one was a week in Spain.

Airbnb beautiful detached villa 4 bedrooms with a private pool.
Probably cost with spending money £2500.

Could have cut it down about £700 -£1000 at least if we had gone for an apartment with a shared pool, and been a bit more careful where we ate out or saved more if we had just ate in each night

Could have knocked another few hundred off if we had gone Easy Jet with a ruck sack each

Dp during the week wakes at 4.30am and doesn’t get back from work till 7 or 8pm so for him he just chills out.

We love the pool and spend the morning in the pool and then venture out in the afternoon for a trip somewhere

I’m currently in France where we are staying on a Eurocamp site. I booked through The Sun when they ran their £9.50 holiday promotion. I paid £67 for four of us for a week! The ferry crossing was £378 (we have cabins each way).
The accommodation may be basic but it’s clean & comfortable. The site itself is beautiful in a great location. We have swimming pools, tennis, pony rides, archery & much more on site. We have driven to the local town of Saumur to have a wander & went back again last night as there is an annual vintage bike festival with music & stalls.
We like to combine relaxing around the pool, doing sports & venturing out for the local sites. We’re right on the river & close to a lake so I’ve bought my paddle board & we also plan to hire kayaks. My ds are 5 & 8 and find everything an adventure!
During the summer we love to camp in the UK.
I have planned a bucket list trip to Lapland next Dec all booked independently. Accommodation is £800 for a week in a private log cabin through Air BnB, flights will be around £1200 (although I know I can get it cheaper) and then I need to book excursions.
As others have said if you research and plan you can achieve booking a great holiday! There are many FB groups for budget family holidays as well as blogs. Good luck OP!

About ten years ago I had a teaching colleague whose family of four went for a fortnight to the Italian lakes for £7000. I nearly died of shock that anyone would pay that much for a holiday. But they lived in quite a small house. They could have got a larger home if they had spent that money on extra mortgage.

You pays your money and takes your choice, as they used to say.

Take a look at:
www.alfresco-holidays.com
www.yellohvillage.co.uk
www.siblu.com
www.eurocamp.co.uk

The further you venture from Calais the more expensive the holiday will be, taking into consideration fuel, road tolls and overnight stays there and back if you need them, but worth looking into. You May even get a few late deals too.

Save £500 a month? I'm shocked at how many people suggest that this is affordable.

Cheap flights, booked when prices are lowest.
Or train/ferry

Camping, air bnb, youth hostel family room, apartments on owners direct, house swap. All in countries and locations that are relatively cheap.

2 weeks, family of 4 in self-catering apartment in Spain cost us about £1100 for flights and accommodation. Spent less there on food and entertaining the children than we would in the UK. Food costs are lower and the weather meant cheap activities like the beach and pool. 2.5 weeks camping/semi-glamming in France for about £1.5k

Not pennies but cheaper than peak prices at UK holidays parks, self-catering cottages, etc. Our UK holidays tend to be camping or caravaning.

Turkey is still very good value

We’ve paid £2500 for 2 weeks self catering in Bulgaria for 2 adults and 3 DC, our friends have paid £2000 for 2 adults and 2 DC. That includes flights and 20kg luggage allowance each and transfers with Balkan Holidays online.

We will take £1000 spending money. We’ve been before and know that’s plenty. The weather is glorious, public transport very cheap and the food is gorgeous and cheap. We will bring tea, coffee, cereals etc as we don’t need that much luggage allowance. Breakfast on the balcony, light lunch by pool/room or out and eat out every evening. Lovely 2 course meal with drinks around £30 for 5; dc are 7, 10 and 12.

Apartments have 2 big pools, games room and bakery and bar. Beach 1km walk. We spend a lot of time by the pool as dc make lots of friends. We walk to the beach most days for a few hours, walk around, get the bus to other towns and go to their beaches. Check out bars and restaurants. Horse and carriage ride, hire bikes, boat trips and a visit to an aqua Parc on odd days. After evening meal we have a walk, stop at a bar or hotel for drinks and get DC ice creams. Once back at the apartment we sit in the balcony with drinks and chat, DC watch TV, play games or read books/word search. Sometimes they play in the playground at the apartments with their friends and we will sit at the bar and either chat to other adults or each other. I can’t wait. It breaks up the summer holidays as we go for the middle 2 weeks.

Holidays and days out are a priority for us. We live in a mortgaged 3 bed house on a nice council estate, we have 1 car that’s 15 years old, I work nights so no wraparound or holiday childcare to pay for. We are able to save £500 a month for days out and holidays. We have a short break at Bluestone or Butlins in February half term, a few nights at a city hotel to have a few days out over Easter free days with 1 expensive day trip booked with discount code. We often have 5 days in a caravan in this country in one of the school holidays too.

DS12 is autistic and loves holidays and all of us just love getting away and seeing new sights and find it relaxing.