Is a self catering holiday still a holiday?

[bagpuss90]

Very light hearted thread. I’m just curious as to opinions on this. So I was chatting to a friend last nite and I mentioned I was off on holiday next week to a self catering cottage . She said she would rather not go on holiday than go self catering because it’s not a holiday . Personally I think that’s nuts . I love the flexibility it gives. We will eat out a good bit . I’m not at work , I’m in a beautiful place away with my family . How is that not a holiday ?

Yep, but as she was told my option would be no holiday (staycation with 2 weeks off of work and loads o f fun days out ) is better than holiday with kids 😱🤣🤣🤣🤣

Have really tried to love SC but can't. People say, just make simple meals, soup, salad, stick a pizza in the oven...well yes, but I do that every day at home in the comfort of my own better equipped kitchen, so it's not much of a treat on holiday!

I especially dislike the murky kitchen cupboards in SC cottages full of what I suspect are the owner's cast off pans and utensils.

When I'm on holiday, I want to start the day with a fabulous breakfast cooked by someone else, not the same depressing cereal or croissants I would have at home!

Of course you can eat out, but having to cook and clean up after yourself in an unfamiliar place for the rest of the time is just not a holiday.

Would much rather stay in a hotel for a few days and actually feel like I've had a proper break!

Last time we did we called at a farm shop close to the cottage and stocked up on loads of local, no cook/easy cook delights. Loved it.

Relax everyone! We only ever camp with DH for a week each year very close to his parents holiday location so get meals or eat out there. Hes a farmer so not much time off during the summer and a genuinely dreadful cook.

Dd and i enjoy some lovely hotel breaks while he is working . But i flat out refuse to do self catering as i do all the cooking at home.

It's a holiday, but I understand why it is not for everyone.

This is why I like an apart hotel. Separate bedrooms and a kitchen/sitting room, but hotel facilities on-site.

I only do self catering - can't stand hotels. It's what works best for your family set up. We have DH with terrible insomnia, DD awaiting autism assessment who doesn't like crowds and is very fussy about food. Self catering is much better for us as we are more in control of eating and sleeping arrangements. We rarely eat out either due to the aforementioned eating issues. I am quite happy in the kitchen with a glass of wine though I can see why some people don't enjoy it.

Also, I have found even factoring in money spent on food and drink, self-catering in a French gite always seems to come in cheaper than any AI holidays.

Yes I think it’s funny how people are somehow suggesting that the alternative to SC is some kind of terrible Spanish resort with “reps”, a whole family in one room and one dining hall where everyone has to eat en masse.

There are so many different varieties of holiday (and they are ALL holidays!). Just pick based on what you enjoy, what suits your family and what you can afford.

IMO all holidays are harder with young children anyway. We have picked SC for quite a few years and (never pre-DC) this year are trying something else. They’re all holidays.

We went self-catering last week, like we do most times we go on holiday. I like having separate bedrooms but a shared living area with the DC, having a fridge and being able to eat somewhere different every day, according to what suits our plans or what we stumble across. We booked the cleaning package so we just stripped the beds and emptied the bins when we left, which wasn't a hardship.

I never cook on holiday though. It's usually cereal or pastries for breakfast, bread, cheese and fruit for lunch and eating out for dinner. Cutlery and crockery goes in the dishwasher. Sorted.

You need to ask.yourself what is driving this so called friend to put a dampner on your holiday. She sounds very mean spirited.
I would love to stay in a little cottage somewhere, and l have lovely memories of previous cottage holidays, much better than being stuck in a hotel surrounded by annoying bores in my opinion, (not that l would say this outloud to someone who was staying in a hotel.)

There is nothing wrong with Self Catering, if you are not the one expected to shop, pack, cook and clean for everyone.
DH and I have always shared the 'housekeeping' when at home and also on holiday, plus our 2 DC were not messy and lent a hand.
My favourite family holiday is a villa somewhere near a beach with other activities and sightseeing nearby. Bedrooms for everyone, lazy breakfast at 'home' with coffee on tap. Make a packed lunch for the beach or whatever, then back for showers and afternoon tea. Then either take out, dine out or a simple home cooked meal.
Hotels all in one room and having to eat every meal at a set time (at a high cost) is not great.
UK holidays tend to be multi generation mixed households and that works too.

We do hotels too, but mainly no that it is just the 2 of us and even then I prefer a condo or room with a kitchen.

I'm one of those commoners who always goes all inclusive.
To me, a holiday means no looking at the time and doing absolutely bugger all domestic wise, not so much as washing a teaspoon, especially when holidaying with the kids.
To be fair, since the kids grew up and stopped going on holidays with us, we only go to adult only all inclusive hotels.
Sometimes we even venture outside the hotel to go sightseeing, have a meal or a few drinks in a decent bar.

We mostly did SC with DS as we hate sharing a bedroom, and now that we have started holidaying without him we've realised that I like to go to bed earlier than DH so it's convenient to have the TV in another room.

At the minute we're self catering in Tuscany. We have eaten every breakfast in, but eaten out for every meal bar a couple of lunches where we bought some cold cuts and cheese from the local coop. It's half the price of staying in a hotel and we even have a somewhat freezing pool.

Depends on the holiday. If staying in a holiday cottage/apartment then of course it's still a holiday - you don't have to cook, you can eat out as much as you like. It's also actually great to have a washing machine so you don't have to pack as many clothes!
I also love an AI when abroad with the kids, you always get a good choice of food and for fussy kids it's a godsend. I don't go AI when away with DH or friends as we like to explore local restaurants etc but it is very useful for skiing or kid's holidays.

It's a no from me.. cooking cleaning and tidying up, whats for snacks,, blah blah blah.. its like being at home... hotel for me please..

For me, a self-catering holiday is absolutely still a holiday. If we self-cater, we stay somewhere with lovely surroundings, we go out somewhere every day and we do barely any cooking - we mostly eat out but if we eat in, it's usually something super easy and holiday-ish, like a nice cheese/charcuterie platter and nice bread from a bakery or something like that.

Admittedly, we don't have kids. But I was actually reminiscing with my mum and dad about childhood holidays a couple of weeks ago, and they were both waxing lyrical about how much they enjoyed them and how it felt like just leaving normal life behind for a week, so despite the fact that we were always in a static caravan or a holiday chalet or something, they must have felt like it was still very much a holiday. I certainly don't think much cooking was done, and certainly no laundry or anything, and there were no strict bedtimes for us kids. I think a lot of the time we'd have been staying in places that didn't provide a telly (we're talking late 70s/early 80s) because I remember playing a lot of family card games/board games/guessing games and so on in the evenings and going out every day to the beach or a local attraction or something.

I expect it might depend on people's different family dynamics and how they self-cater, though. If someone is doing the same food shopping, cooking and laundry on a self-catering holiday that they do when they're at home, and trying to occupy kids in the same way they would at home too, then I suppose they might feel like it wasn't really a holiday for them. But my argument would then be that they are doing self-catering all wrong. It's a holiday if you make it a holiday.

I prefer self catering , abroad or in the UK. I like the option of being able to make a simple salad type lunch or dinner if we want to and I like having a leisurely breakfast before we head out for the day. We will have at least one of our meals out in a restaurant each day.

We went to Norfolk for Feb half term and I filled the fridge with M&S ready meals and nice luxuries like tapas platters and smoked salmon. We ate out either for lunch or dinner most days too. It's nothing like being at home as everyone pitches in to help clear away and these days there's usually a dishwasher too.

I love self catering! Nothing like a foreign supermarket!! We eat out probably once a day, usually either lunch or dinner, the. Make the rest at home. Usually simple ingredients which are usually far superior to what we get in the UK - great salad and cheese etc, sometimes weird and wacky stuff just to try it.
I'd fine eating 'out' 3 times a day way too much. I don't mind it for a city break of a couple of days, but for a week or more no thanks! I find self catering much more relaxed/relaxing.

We love self catering! We usually have a big cooked breakfast which keeps us going all day (taking it in turns to cook) and then evenings are either meals out, takeaway or sometimes throw something together. The idea of not strictly structuring each day and not being tied to eating out if you (for example) want to stay in your pjs all day one day instead is definitely a holiday to me!

Sign me up to commoner life then too.
A decent all inclusive usually has
multiple restaurants, rotates the food with theme nights- you can leave and still eat out- all tidied away by someone else…bliss.

Likewise, I don't think a holiday in an all inclusive resort and restaurant for the millionth time in the week is that much of a holiday either, especially if I have to share a room with my kids. The other guests would do my head in. My favourite holiday is just me, my family and as few people as possible. There are pubs and restaurants but cooking a couple of meals on holiday can be really nice and less fuss for kids.

I think she's right if she is the person who does 90% of drudgery at home and she knows it will be the same on a self catering holiday. That's not a very good holiday then is it? But that is a VERY personal perspective that you won't know of.

My exH did a great job masquerading as a super helpful modern bloke when behind closed doors he was the laziest misogynistic arsehole ever. I did everything and was so embarrassed I would never admit it! So a self catering holiday would have been hell for me.

We go self catering regularly but I rarely cook anything.

I take something down with us for the first night, get snacks and breakfast stuff in, eat out the rest of the time (occasionally get something nice from M&S to bung in the oven if we fancy a night in)

Our holidays are always self catering or camping. We like the privacy of self catering and not being tied to hotel mealtimes.
We buy in some treats and don't mind cooking and eating together and going out for a couple of meals. I guess it depends if you see cooking as drudgery or a nice thing to do.

There's just no way on earth sharing a room or small hotel suite with my kids could ever be classed as a holiday!