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?

Just don't do packages. We are flying east jet to the alps and hiring an air bnb house that's fifty euros a night. In the village there's walking, biking, water sports, cinema, restaurants etc.

Yelloh Village. Beach, pool, games, kids clubs, entertainment. France.

You’ll think I’m being weird but we just went to Mexico-4* A/I for two weeks, with flights for 5 of us-no free/cheap kids anymore, at Easter but got it super cheap with teletext! Didn’t even know they were a thing anymore since the rolling pages went, but they are on line still so give them a go.
My guys are quite happy with a villa and pool-play/chill/swim/beach and repeat!

We’re doing a ‘cheap’ holiday this year.

Flights for 2a 2c under £400 and that includes luggage -
Could have been a lot cheaper but I don’t travel light.
Apartment booked with Breakfast in a family friendly resort that gets great reviews on trip advisor ~ €1900

That’s for 10 nights.

Not the bargain that some people get but will do us and looking forward to some time in the sun - it’s been a while

I was going to do a Yelloh holiday but DH didn’t fancy driving in France - need to work on that one.

They look great though.

Holidaying is expensive. If you are a family with disposable income, then the amount you spend on holidays becomes a question of competing priorities. I completely acknowledge that not all families have enough income to make that choice.

I really like going on holiday. I like to be on holiday when I am not at work. That means that I measure discretionary spending in terms of holidays. For example, I will keep my car until it becomes unreliable and it is not a particularly flash car. This is a choice - I could have a newer, bigger car, but that would cost about £2k per year more (and still wouldn't be an amazing car). That's 2 weeks of cottage rental in the UK, I'd rather have the holiday. A lot of my decisions end with 'I'd rather have the holiday'. One of my friends was really surprised when I added up what she spends on nails and eyelashes and said that would pay for a UK holiday each year. She still wants the nails and eyelashes.

We did our first package holiday this year and it was great. Our DDs are well trained to mooch about and do lots of swimming. I think I'd find 2 weeks too long though.

I'm with you OP and appealed for help on here a while back (DS is 15 and an only child- we're not cool enough to be seen with most of the time so he needs "stuff" to occupy him)

I was pointed towards Nielsen holidays. The initial outlay seemed pricey but when I worked it out it seems quite reasonable. I suspect that once you've added up all the separate elements of a holiday it would come out a lot more expensive than you would imagine (or perhaps that's just me!)

It's interesting there seem to be a lot of people on here with large families, of course if you are booking for 6/8 people or will be expensive, booking for three costs little more than booking as a couple.

Depends on how many in your family, what time of year (in or out of school holidays) and where you choose to go. We had a mix every year so one year it would be a staycation or self catering in UK and another year it might be Centre Parcs or abroad. We saved a large proportion of my salary to pay for things like holidays etc though and DHs salary paid the bills and living costs. We kept other outgoings low though, did not borrow and did not constantly keep moving house like many of our peers who kept taking out bigger and bigger mortgages and loans to buy cars and then moaned they could not afford holidays.

I've just booked Naples for October half term. Flights were £250 for 4, accomadation about the same (airbnb). Southern Italy is hot and cheap. Food will be great.

I've been on lots of different types of holidays

Sporting holidays
Holidays with friends or family
Short weekend breaks
Boating holidays
Different modes of transport holidays
Touring holidays, staying in each place one or two nights max
Celebration holiday like birthday
Staycation / same country
Camping, camper van
All inclusive or self catering

I like variety !

My favorite are one month to travel to new destination & travel round in that area. Exploring new culture, doing & seeing new things

Your DC's are Inbetweeners? They'll be moaning no matter where you go.

Having only one child helps, as others have said. We usually wait for flight sales and book tickets well in advance, then sort out accommodation on Airbnb or booking.com. We live in Oz so the cheapest holiday destination for us is Bali, a four hour flight. I got tickets for three of us for $700 (about 400 quid), and I've booked a beautiful 3 bedroomed villa with pool for $1200 for eight nights. I could have gone a LOT cheaper on the accommodation, Bali is cheap. So that's 8 nights away in luxury accom for three for under $2000, about 1100 pounds. Bargain!

Have a look at Jet2 holidays, Thomas Cook have some good deals too and you can pay monthly. I think their best deals are early or last minute though. We are on holiday in Spain at the moment - Costa Del Sol but a nice village (not Blackpool in the sun). Rented 3 bed apartment with shared pool from a family friend for £400 per week (admitted mates rates) and flights were £205 each with Jet2 so 2 weeks relaxing cost is around £700 plus spending money (we’re here with 3 others and our 5 month old DD).

I agree with others, try to book flights etc. separately. Also if you do some research you can get things a lot cheaper. You can save loads by flying from a different airport.

Booking this autumn for next summer is key.

I am taking ds 12 to the USA. It is costing me £3000 for 2 weeks with flights, food, sightseeing, 5 nights in hotel and a week of camping with numerous activities included.

We booked the flights in October for £400 via Expedia. We then stalked the hotel booking sites and got a 50% off promotion which covered one of the hotels in our shortlist.

It is so much cheaper to book bit by bit yourself than a package your.

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

And surely everyone isn’t spending that much... are they??*

The price of a good holiday abroad will cost you that much. What's so difficult to understand about that?

Definitely agree with using air bnb - we use it all the time and it's really opened up our holidays. A lot cheaper than hotels and self catering works better for us - DS gets his own room so DH and I get more privacy. We're off to Mauritius soon, (we live in Africa so it's a short haul flight) and for a self catering villa with a pool and a gate with direct access to a beach it cost us £800 for the week. We prioritise going on holiday, a lot of our disposable income goes on weekends away and holidays - we will move back to the UK soon, so we want to see as much of Southern Africa as possible while it's so much cheaper to travel to than from the UK.

I agree booking early is an absolute must. Then pick destination not as popular. For instance, pick a holiday in the French alps, but fly to Geneva, which you can get much cheaper than South of France destination. Many places are accessible by bus for very cheap again, just Google the town/city and bus/coach. If you rather ré t a car, do it very early and you can get a good deal.

Mountains are usually a good pick rather than beach as there is so much more to do. You often have lakes you can swim. The town will have festivals, events planned.

Ultimately people don't like when others talk about their holidays but that is often how you get the best tips so ask people around you.

Have you tried the apart hotels the viva & zaferio hotels are good have a pool with slides etc good kids club and evening entertainement. Can go AI or part board the rooms have a kitchenette in them. They are in Mallorca and Minorca. Could get A bus in to Palma lots to do & see there.

£2500 is a lot of money to you. For many people it is not... you wouldn't have to be a millionaire to have that sort of money 🙄Some people prioritise holidays so will save up over the year. My husband and I had a joint income of around 50,000 and if we wanted to save up 2500 in a year for a holiday we could have. We spent it on upgrading the car and doing work on the house but that's just because we had different priorities.

We’ve have 3 holidays booked, we’ve hired a villa in Turkey with flights, 2.5K for 4 of us, we will spend 2K there, however that will be for boat trips, water parks, excursions, food and drink etc...

We have another holiday booked for Sept, 4* all inclusive 10 day break in Spain, (1.4K) this one was solely booked up for the kids and we will be going with another 5 families, there is onsite entertainment (day and evening) a free water park.

Kids make there own entertainment.

There is an assumption though that all holidays are ‘beach’ and doing nothing else. Go to Paris on the Eurostar and book an Air BnB. Lots of things to do, great food. Then fly to Nice and have some relaxed time near a beach. I reckon it will be well under 4K.

We can't afford what other people would consider a holiday. However not sure my kids would have enjoyed it as toddlers - heat, sand, going to restaurants etc. So for us a holiday is being away from home & we have done following. May half term always cheaper & can come in for about £500 all in.

• Duinrell in Holland with Canvas
• Brittany/Normandy with Canvas either in big tent or small mobile home
• camping in our own tent in France
• Landal in Germany
• couple of nights in YHA in uk
• caravan holiday in Wales

It's what you make it. So my kids will even enjoy Wales in the rain - slot machines, ice creams, local swimming pool. I have no idea how people afford a sun holiday abroad. But we're teachers so perhaps go away more regularly but have to go cheaper. Also we're tied down by school holiday dates & can't add sneaky day on at beginning to get cheaper flight. We also do creative free uk days out - e.g. drive to London on a Sunday as it's free parking.

We have always done self drive Eurocamp type holidays. When DCs were young this gave the best combination of freedom to do as we pleased and facilities.

Campsites in France have a lot to offer. Often a good sized pool, on site shop selling self catering basics including daily deliveries of fresh bread and croissants. There will normally be a reception with plenty of information about local attractions to visit (from castles to theme parks to caves). There will almost certainly a list of the local market days so you can plan your visits to local towns/villages to either take in or avoid the market.

DS loves a swimming pool - will stay in it all day!
We have tended to do AI holidays (never dreamt I would) - largely because of the easily available entertainment/activities (with an only child it is more important I think) and also food options - I don't want to cook on holiday and the options make it easier with a fussy child. We've also done camping/holiday parks etc All-inclusive ones can be pretty cheap (standard varies) and actually I've found that a self catering holiday in UK isn't necessarily much cheaper.