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?

Try a travel agent although I've never had much luck with them.

I find it hard work too.
What drives me crackers is, you find decent accommodation with start days of Monday or Friday, great.
Then you look at flights, they only fly on Thursday or Tuesday so that's a whole country written off

Everyone always tells us we'd save money going AI, I've never been able to get anything AI even remotely desirable for the six of us for under £6000, and that's with us sharing rooms with the kids which is holiday hell for me!

I am quite picky about holidays as I fo t especially like the ones my kids enjoy so I won't have worse conditions than I have at home to offset that.

Not a millionaire then, but pretty rich if you have £5k to spend on a two week holiday!

Why? You need to be able to say £500/month and that's £6K. You don't have to be rich to do that. Someone might spend £5K on a holiday having saved for it for 5 years.

Sorry, you're talking drivel.

We book it all separately so choose area - look for closest airport, are there flights there from near us (skyscanner) is good for this. No, try a different location. Yes, are the times suitable? Yes, look for accommodation. If you type holiday cottage alps / Seville / Dordogne into google it will bring up websites. You then have to look at the actual location, how you will get there from the airport, hire a car.
We like going for walks, swimming in lakes etc, so we choose our holidays based on that. It is hard work though.

notso you can still book the accommodation, you just usually get a discount for arriving / leaving on the switchover day.

@Titsywoo we used first choice and the hotel was amazing

Go out and explore! If your kids are older then of course just sitting around a pool or on a beach is boring. I’d find it boring. Go to somewhere like Rome and prebook a couple tours. Paris or Brussels by train?Then just walk around and look - you can do a lot for free.
I think you have a lack of imagination. I think Butlins is pretty much hell on earth. Get out of the mindset a holiday means being in a hotel complex or holiday camp.

I think 2year olds are full adult price on tui, when I search 2 adults for example it's 2k, add the 2yo and it's 3k. Very happy to be wrong though.
😂 at house riding. Sounds like a good holiday !!

Have you looked at one of the euro camp type caravan holidays in France or somewhere? Ferry works out cheap, accommodation is poky but theres lots of stuff to do on site, close to beaches and stuff and nice towns to visit, nice cycle routes etc if it's not roasting

I would imagine lot of people would find saving £500 a month beyond their means.

You can search under free child places initially with tui and first choice so you know what choice they have

But how GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat whenever I've tried in various sites it says 'accommodation unavailable on chosen dates' or similar. I've emailed in the past but was merely offered to pay extra so I'd be paying for days when we weren't there or we'd have to find alternative accommodation for the extra nights which seems a faff with kids in tow.

Laughing at the people who think saving 500 a month is easy

Our holidays cost £7K for flights/accommodation and about £3K for food/spending ( 8 people, 2 wks always self catering but eat out every meal). We go away every other year and save hard for it. We don't smoke/drink/go out much but we love our 2 wks in the sun. We are not huge earners by any means

Try eurocamp (but dont book with them. Search the actual site.)

we used owners direct got a lovely 2 bed flat in Verona for £280 for the week, hire car £190 flights to MIlan £150 for me < DH and DD
we did need the hire car as a long walk into centre about 50 minutes but we used local Lidl for fresh croisssants etc for breakfast and mostly ate out or got cheese bread coldcuts and fruit

Yes try hoeseasons abroad?? We've saudvin their green parks, very reasonable, loads to do. The kids love it. Pack your bikes onto the back of the car and you're away!!

we're going 7 night All inc in spain at the end of july in a 4 star aparthotel with 2 bedrooms.
Hotel booked direct, pay on arrival (€2100) for 2 adults , 3 kids, they offer free airpirt transfer, kids club, activities day and night, water slides ect.
Flights with easy jet (£550)
I suggest choosing an area and just keep checking online, different sites will give you completely different prices but usually cheaper to book everything seperately.
Sites such as on the beach, jet 2, love holidays are usually quite reasonable and can be paid up.

Do everyone elses children just happily swim non stop for 2 weeks?

Pretty much, yes.
I mean they read a bit as well, and we'd usually go off for a walk at some point, but the overwhelming majority of their time is in and out of the pool, once we got to an age when we started going abroad, yes.

Tbf, if you are taking 4 people, for 2 weeks, at the most expensive time of the year, then you are going to be paying out £4K ish for a package holiday.

If you look at SuneoClub hotels on First Choice they have activities running 10-5 for both kids and adults as well as evening entertainment. They're generally pretty cheap (think they're actually advertised as being the budget range). We've been to two, one nicer than the other but neither horrible.

You have pre-teens but want a Butlins abroad. YABU.

Airbnb is easy to use. Just type in where you want to go then select whether you want an entire place or not, slide the scale to the maximum you want to pay a night and put in your dates. The site will then come up with all the properties available with your criteria. There is a map with all the properties marked and as you move the map the properties show

Like you OP I wonder at 1 the cost of hotel style holidays and 2, what do people actually do when they are there, I mean do you actually do nothing except swim, sun bathe, eat and drink? We have a caravan and that is our holidays, we look for camp sites that are not too expensive but have a decent enough pool and a bar, obviously we drive there and so have the car so we can sight see, go to the beach. French supermarkets are part of the holiday.
If campsite holidays in a mobile home might suit you then it is usually cheaper to book directly with the camp site rather than through a company like eurocamp or haven etc. (There is a camping section in the travel topic and you will get recommendations for sites) check ferry prices though, they really add to the cost.

You need to be able to say £500/month and that's £6K. You don't have to be rich to do that.

What planet do you live on, I'd like to book a holiday there

We use Eurocamp and love them.... £600 for two weeks in Italy around a May half term plus £250 for flights for five of us. Trick is to book VERY early!

My kids are secondary school age but I've always just chosen an area and booked everything separately except for cruises. Cruises are amazing! Jet2, Tui, Thompson's, etc is my idea of hell.