To think my DH is a miser when it comes to holidays? How much do you spend?

[Pipsquiggle]

We are a relatively high earning household. We earn between £7k and £9k a month net. Have a small mortgage, no debts to pay off, monthly bills but essentially never spend over what we earn (we have saved for so long, we have kept up with this habit)

We both agreed that we needed a foreign holiday where we could relax, so I looked at options for an all inclusive 4/5 stars, pools, kids clubs etc. for 7 days. The quotes I got back were circa £5k to £6k (school holidays, family of 4).

My husband then says 'We can't spend like this every holiday - it will be a 1 off' - which is fair enough, I don't mind camping or hiring a cottage etc.

But then I got thinking - am I taking the mick with this holiday? What do other people spend when they go abroad?

I don't want to start a 'showing off' thread but genuinely How much do you approx earn as a household and how much do you approx spend for a week abroad? This holiday is slightly lower than a month's earnings - is that too much?

Thanks in advance.

We spend way less than a months wages on holidays though we have loads of other commitments and a big mortgage.

Oh and if you go AI, they don't chain you to the hotel grounds, you are free to go and explore at any time.

I don't go abroad anymore for a few reasons. I've never been keen on flying for one, and the other reason is because we rescue dogs. I would hate to put them back in a kennel to go away. We are both fine with this.

I think the price of your holiday is well within your budget, and I think you should also have a nice balance of saving for the future, but also enjoying your time now. I don't think the price of your holiday is unreasonable at all. You are creating great memories which are priceless. Sorry for the cliche.

@user33323 Ryanair and easyJet, flying at unsocial hours, on random days of the week (eg Wednesday 9pm is cheaper than Saturday morning). Doing a layover. Price tracking and not booking too early on certain routes, as it’s usually more expensive to buy flights 6 months in advance, than 3 weeks before. Short-haul I mean. Many people book as soon as flights are released, but often they go down in price closer to the date. Not all of them of course. I travel a lot for work and know all the tricks

It’s obviously not easy to find cheap flights during the summer holidays but there are always options if one’s happy to take the less comfortable one.

I live near big European hubs (think London) so lots of options for both airports and airlines. I’m also happy to fly to Barcelona and then take a train down to Alicante for example, if it will save me £100.

I’m flying to Madrid and back in March for £60 return, including hand luggage, with Iberia, just because I’m coming back on the last flight of the day which gets me home after midnight, but is significantly cheaper. I’ll be a zombie at work in the morning but we’ll deal with that problem then!

Also not sure how you’ll get accommodation in Canada for 20 quid a night. Good luck with that.

I think he's right that that's a very expensive holiday. I spend 3.5-4k for 10 days in Italy Portugal or Croatia are my faves. Including a shared pool and all meals out plus a car hire. Hotels are expensive. I earn a decent wage. It depends if you have school fees or a mortgage to pay. I'm not great with money or particularly tight.

We are going B&b 9 days in a 5 star hotel in tenerife and it's £6.5k for 4 adults 2 children 2 rooms. This is a gift. I'm not paying. Call it another £1.5k of our own spends.

Rileen What is a layover?

Eileen

@BridStar Some of society's most essential jobs pay under £25k. All those people who just don't realise their worth produce our food, keep the shops going, clean the streets, take care of children and the elderly, so that you don't have to worry about those things and can earn your high salary while looking down on us plebs who get excited about £27k.

To answer the OP, of course a holiday costing £5k is very expensive and more than the average family would spend. But if you can afford it and holidays are important to you, then why not. It's one of those things that is "how long is a piece of string". You can holiday for £500 or £5000.

Similar income to you. Kids are 5 and 7.

We started off when the kids were young doing AI abroad. Didn't enjoy it. Pre kids we always travelled around - safari, tours etc. Am not one for lying on a beach watching busses of English people rock up and heading straight for the bar.

We have a lot of holidays throughout the year. Scotland twice a year, family has a holiday house we escape to once a month, camping trips once or twice a month in summer. City breaks in the UK. Quantity for sure.

Waiting until the kids get older and we'll be doing some proper travelling with them. Can't wait to travel across Europe with them by train and take them to India and New Zealand.

Income has no bearing on our choice of holidays. It's more taste.

But I don't think £6-8k is expensive for a week AI or disproportionate to your income.

PS for Canada we’ve found £384 return flights via Lisbon. Cabin-sized suitcase + backpack + a ‘duty free’ bag which will be a large carrier bag with stuff that (if) doesn’t fit in the suitcase, and I decant into a 10p duty free bag I buy at the airport. People often don’t know this but it’s a passenger’s right to have an extra item of luggage on board - yes, even on Ryanair. Quote the relevant regulation and they’ll have to let you board with it.

@Youhaveyourhandsfull there’s 3-4 of us going so that’s £60-80 a night for an apartment and we’re not staying in the big cities. We have found plenty of options, they’re not in central Toronto that’s for sure.

@Onlinedilema it’s a stopover. So you don’t fly direct London-Toronto but London-Lisbon-Toronto for example.

Another way of lowering the cost even more of long-haul flights is doing a multi-city trip. So for example London-Washington on the way out and New York-Manchester on the way back. Or start the journey in another European city to which you get £20 flights the night before.

Again, I’m young, fit and have no toddlers so comfort isn’t an issue just yet!

[quote EileenGC]@user33323 Ryanair and easyJet, flying at unsocial hours, on random days of the week (eg Wednesday 9pm is cheaper than Saturday morning). Doing a layover. Price tracking and not booking too early on certain routes, as it’s usually more expensive to buy flights 6 months in advance, than 3 weeks before. Short-haul I mean. Many people book as soon as flights are released, but often they go down in price closer to the date. Not all of them of course. I travel a lot for work and know all the tricks

It’s obviously not easy to find cheap flights during the summer holidays but there are always options if one’s happy to take the less comfortable one.

I live near big European hubs (think London) so lots of options for both airports and airlines. I’m also happy to fly to Barcelona and then take a train down to Alicante for example, if it will save me £100.

I’m flying to Madrid and back in March for £60 return, including hand luggage, with Iberia, just because I’m coming back on the last flight of the day which gets me home after midnight, but is significantly cheaper. I’ll be a zombie at work in the morning but we’ll deal with that problem then![/quote]
And that's great that you can get your holidays cheaper by doing all those money saving things (which we do too ) but the op has the luxury of a higher salary with plenty of disposal income so can enjoy a later start, taking a full suitcase, having extra leg room or a better view etc. What is the point in busting a gut at work if you can't enjoy the benefits?

Incidentally, 7 days AI for 4 in the summer holidays under £5k will not be the height of luxury - perfectly decent but not 5* or decadent

We are a 6 figure income house hold after tax and we just do a few weeks in a caravan in either Wales or Cornwall atm as a family. Occasionally pre covid one of us at a time going back to Aussie to see family every other year for a few weeks.

In a year or two we may do something bigger but I want to plough money into mortgage repayment so we only have a small mortgage left in 5 years if any then leave the rat race, still working but maybe part time or less stressful roles. Kids enjoy our holidays and don't ask to do anything else yet. When they are teens they will remember more of big overseas holidays than they would now and appreciate it more I think for us.

Do you not normally holiday then OP? I know people have different priorities but I'm finding this hard to believe unless you have had a recent change in your financial position .

Prior to Covid, our normal family life was that we would have one or two holidays abroad (Europe) each year, which would be for a week each time in an apartment with eating out most days plus one or two UK breaks .

The cost of our main holiday would have been less than you are quoting but we would holiday more than once per year and our joint earnings less than half of yours. Similarly to you we had a small mortgage and no debts. We have one DC.

@lechatnoir oh definitely, I'd also go for luxury if I could afford it! I was simply answering the OP's question (how much do you spend?) and the PP who asked how I get my flights cheaply. It's perfectly reasonable - and encouraged on my side - to spend as much as one wants on holidays, especially if they're the only real break from work and life monotony some people will get in a year!

I am with the person who said on page one that with that income there is no way I'd be camping (or renting a cottage in wet Cornwall and doing my own cooking).

It seems like a lot to me to spend for one holiday - like another poster I would prefer two one week holidays than one two week holiday.

But it's not unreasonable, especially as I assume you have not done much since March 2020.

Yanbu. Relative to your income that’s not an expensive holiday.

Family of 5 here and looking about £10k
Six figure income. Talking to friends it seems £10k is a rough figure for most of them too.

@Pipsquiggle

Sorry not sorry to be blunt.

I am not interested in holiday budgets that are taken out of school holidays e.g. June or September. The price difference is just huge. We have to go in school holidays.

But you don't have to do the standard package (although I saw you said you want AI). There are so many other options where they don't fleece you in the summer holidays. Many places just have a rate for the month, so yes August will be more expensive than February, but May half term is usually very reasonable and the weather in Europe is good. October half term can be good as well though you have to go further south like Malta or Sicily for the better weather. Flights are often cheaper in August because there isn't the business travel. However, that is a pre-covid thing, so not sure what will happen this year. But anyway, summer holidays does not have to mean getting fleeced.

As other posters have said, it's all relative to your income and perhaps your priorities. We love our holidays and don't think £5-6k is a ridiculous amount to spend, esp with your earnings. We don't earn as much as you do and spend between £4-6k for a weeks skiing, a summer hol similar amount plus small trips throughout the year. It does depend on any additional earnings we may have in a particular year but we spend anything from £5k to £15k a year on holidays.

Years ago a colleague and I compared holiday costs. He and his wife had two DCs and would go AI, normally Cyprus or Turkey. Always high end.

DH and I would take our 3 DCs to French campsites staying in top of the range mobile homes, eating out many times.

The cost worked out pretty much the same, £5k for a fortnight. This was around 10 years ago and was equivalent to 1.5 months net income.

Similar income & it doesn't seem unreasonable to me if you're tied to English school holidays.

Pre-COVID we generally had a summer holiday abroad (usually a week - board basis dependent on location), maybe one other break of a similar standard (long weekend, winter break etc.) and we might also go camping or book into a hotel for a couple of nights around an event.

Since COVID we've been booking cabins and camping more, because I am sufficiently tight that I don't want to fork out ££££ only to end up confined to a hotel room or seriously limited in what I can do due to COVID. I do miss a nice spa hotel with decent food cooked for me though.

Similarly high income household. But our mortgage is approx 25% of take home pay.
We have now sorted hols for this year
1 week AI May half term 4.5k
Two weeks France Gite thing in summer - different locations, Eurostar and car hire 3k (no food or trips included)
Centre parcs at new year 2023 - 2k
Plus a family weekend away which we do every year £500

So easily 10k. We have prioritised holidays as a family but don't need to run a car and shop in Lidl.

We have also camped when one of us lost our jobs but also done big tickets items like Disney or New Zealand if feeling flush.

I don't have any regrets. We holidayed in the UK last year and it was fine but expensive. The city break in October half term where it bucketed with rain the entire time, cost lots and we came home more knackered was not fun though

I am reminded of a conversation overheard at work once which went...

Manager: Hi Dave, just wondering what your annual holiday allowance is?
Dave: Um... I'd say £30-35k a year?
Manager: glancing at HR paperwork in his hand no I meant how many days holiday allowance...

Dave was very highly paid to be fair and once invited us on a ski holiday where our share of the chalet (split with 2 other families) was to be £8k for a week.

It is quite a personal thing, some of my friends and family spend very little on holidays but lots on others things I don't (ie Waitrose food, Joules clothes for the kids etc)

This year we'll spend quite a lot on holidays as we're slightly making up for the past 2 years. Feb half term at a UK holiday resort like CP, Easter hols 2 weeks in Cape Cod (flying first class to Boston with miles) summer hols not much maybe SC with family for a few days, October hols European break, December Lapland, plus a few adult only weekends. I expect our holiday spend this year or be about £25k?

We're also perfectly happy renting a cheapo cabin, borrowing my parents campervan or pitching a tent so some years will probably spend less than £2k all year.

Lower end of your salary range and that £5-6k is more than we spend in a year. London mortgage though.

It doesn't matter the amount you earn unless it's really in the millions.
Your dh is worried about money and expenses and said this is a one off.

What he and you need to do is sit down and agree budgets, where is your joint income going? How much do you save? Emergency saving, rolling pots for school etc.
Then you can soley allocate money for holidays and no one feels hard done by or guilty etc m