To be surprised by the number of holidays?

[brondary]

I have been really surprised by the number of holidays some people on MN go on. I would not have the money or the annual leave to go on that many.
Last Summer people were commenting saying how since the first lockdown in March, they had already had to cancel three holidays. Various people talking about how they normally go on five or six holidays a year and are really missing them.
I must mix in different circles as I did not realise any except the super-rich went on this many holidays.

We tend to have 3 or 4 holidays a year, plus some weekend breaks. We also have a caravan and a holiday cottage that we make plenty of us of (it's rare we're at home for weekends usually).

We each have 7 weeks leave, plus neither of us work over Christmas so we tend to go away then.

5 weeks annual leave. If someone can afford it then that five weeks of one week different holidays.

Plus five weekends with Bank Holidays. So if we go away then thats ten breaks a year.

Its all about what people do with their leave, eg always go away rather than visit family etc

We would usually go away every school holidays. Always UK, usually premier inn, 2 or 3 nights. Then a week or fortnight in the summer as our "main" holiday.
Some people wouldn't call our little mini breaks holidays but we always do. So yup, we go on a lot of holidays! And we are DEFINITELY not rich!

Yes not knocking it. I know reading about carbon, well off people are responsible for significantly more carbon output than ordinary people.

@natmoz yes that sounds diable for many people. The comments I have read talked about the Caribbean over Christmas, skiing in February, Greece over Easter etc.

@bert3400

We are very comfortable. Normally have 4-5 (long haul) holidays a year plus weekends away. We have our own business so as long as we have access to WiFi we work while on holiday. We are very very lucky and our business has given an incredible privileged lifestyle but we have worked very hard for it for 12 years and we used to have camping holidays in the uk for many years before the business took off .

But working on holiday isn't a holiday is it?

On a normal year I go on a European city break in Feb, normally Monday to Friday. A May holiday, maybe a juicing retreat or a long haul week, a two week July holiday, often a cruise and stay. Then I’ll have a UK mini break in September, somewhere like Dorset and a long haul holiday in November.

@brondary I get 5 weeks annual leave per year. Our Thailand trip will fall into next years leave. Weekends away are usually a long weekend 3/4 days, but I don’t work Fridays so will usually do this over a bank holiday weekend so as not to need so much leave.

I go on holiday every single chance I get , but very much on the cheap !
Pre- covid I searched the net endlessly for deals and travelled near and far for very little money .
One of the last trips I did was to LA for £410 - flights and hotel 😀 - 7 nights ... and I got a free upgrade on the way back 👌🏻

I don’t understand it at all OP. Our household income is over 100k and we don’t even manage a holiday every year. No idea how people are affording 3 or 4.

Camping or maybe they own caravans or call a short two or three day break a holiday. I can build two days flexi over four weeks or could pre covid.
When I was young and living at home with parents I used to go on 5/6 hols a year, most were abroad. I also took unpaid leave once. I’m lucky to get one holiday in now, too tiring!

@Smarshian Thanks for answering. Yes easier if not working full-time. I could not imagine going abroad for a weekend after I finish work on a Friday evening and getting back for Sunday evening. I did it as a single childless twenty-something and it was tiring enough then.

@SavingsQuestions I did word that badly - we have been to Disneyland Paris once so far- we spent £500 for 4 nights at a Disney hotel, plus £59 for both adults on the Eurostar. It was expensive out there but in total we spent about £400 on the (admittedly extortionate) food. We are going back next year hopefully, this time in the half term so more expensive but £800 for 4 nights and we will drive. I guess I wasn't thinking of the price it costs in term time and just thinking of the previous trip which I thought was a great deal!

I think I have been lucky to have not been constrained by school terms until the last year as I can see the price of holidays going up a lot more! This has coincided with increased wages, so maybe I won't feel the sting as much! Our last holiday to Rhodes was in May 2018 and it was £600 for 4 of us for a week. We want to go back next year and the same holiday it £1000 for a week at the end of August.

Our extra weekend break at Easter is usually a sun holiday, these cost about £70-80 in total for accomodation, plus all the travel and food (self catering) that probably makes it comes to about £200.

Our other breaks in the UK are in a tent. Our favourite campsite with lovely clean toilets costs about £17 per night.

And my reference to Premier Inn being a cheaper option is because we book it in advance and it usually costs £30 - £60 a night depending on location. We are going to London hopefully later this year and it is £33-£47 a night for Premier Inn.

Just because I am on a higher salary than average right now, doesn't automatically mean I don't understand the value of money! In fact once you have paid childcare, the insane mortgage, and servicing some debt from our younger days, we are still not rolling in it. We have second hand everything including cars and clothes and live frugally now. We have both come from poor backgrounds and worker hard to get good jobs, so I do understand why people find it difficult to go away.

My DH and I budget 20k a year for holidays, he’d be happy to spend more.

We go on a foreign holiday, a 7 day holiday with mother in law - she pays, week with my parents - dad pays, family camping week, then I usually take the children alone to Butlins or Centreparcs for a week too. So lots of holidays but we don't pay for all of them.

I think its a genuine not realising that people dont have the momey perhaps. And an undertone of assuming people like myself don't book in advance/cheaply.

Your disney holiday sounds great! Qe are saving up to hopefulky do exactly that next year and will take out of school so looking at very similar prices to yours. With our income that will be our exciting holiday!

We have had a merlinnpass instead for a year and yes booked premier inns in advance at the cheap rate . For us that was instead of a holiday as we couldn't do both. It was great!

People on lower incomes aren't just missing "cheap deals!" It just genuinely is a different budget.

I get 43 days annual leave plus I work a flexible nine day fortnight, so time isn’t really an issue.
Some ‘holidays’ are working holidays where I join my husband for work trips and we’ve sometimes extend time there - so as an example, four days in Bangalore and three In Mumbai was extended to allow a week on Safari on the Kabini delta. We had flights, hotels in the cities paid for along with a driver and entertainment but paid for the Safari resort, meaning a very expensive holiday becomes affordable.

We usually go to about three conferences a year as speakers so are provided with an all expenses paid city break for four or five nights. It’s taken us to lovely places and usually allows us to experience different things from commercial tours.

We own a boat in France so do a few weeks on that travelling around and have a cottage in the Isle of Wight. We usually swap our cottage so that friends stay during Cowes week and they give us their villa in Montreaux for a break.

And I agree that many people don't understand what the reality of financial situations are for many people. If you are on average wage and have a family then there's not much left.

But lots of people on mumsnet do have big incomes

I get where your coming from OP and many of the replies confirm that. Mumsnet is full of middle class people. We are poor and can usually only afford a couple of basic UK holidays a year, one of which is just a long weekend close to relatives, the other maybe mon-fri at Haven or something. Can only afford to go abroad once every few years. I have worked the same job for 15 years though, so I do get 7 weeks off even though it's a just above minimum wage job.

The last time I had a holiday was 23 years ago...

@bert3400

We are very comfortable. Normally have 4-5 (long haul) holidays a year plus weekends away. We have our own business so as long as we have access to WiFi we work while on holiday. We are very very lucky and our business has given an incredible privileged lifestyle but we have worked very hard for it for 12 years and we used to have camping holidays in the uk for many years before the business took off .

Curious? but how do you even fit that many holidays into a year if they are long haul?

what are all these jobs with seven weeks off?

@SavingsQuestions

I don't assume people don't book in advance and look for deals, and I do understand what its like to not have money, hence our habit of still doing the Sun holidays and camping.

My point was more that a family could take one lovely luxurious holiday in a year, and they might spend the same as my total budget for all our little breaks and trips (such as the camping and staying at my grandparents cottage in Devon). Most friends I have seem to spend £2-3k on a summer holiday, whereas I might spend that on all my trips combined.

I do appreciate that is still a lot of money, but we didn't always go away very often. We didn't suddenly start living a life of luxury and wanderlust, we sort of added to our low key trips so we had more of them, rather than increased spending on each trip. I feel that if one of us lost our job we could still go away camping or something and wouldn't have to lower our expectations.

@Dishwashersaurous

what are all these jobs with seven weeks off?

Maybe teaching?

@SavingsQuestions enjoy your trip to DLP. I got lots of tips of the Facebook group DLP for Brits, which helped me keep it low cost but still an amazing and memorable holiday that we can't wait to repeat.

@onecandream

Civil service? They have 40.5 days a year including bank holidays.