Will you be staying at home rather than having an annual holiday due to the COL

[LoisPrice]

YABU I am going on holiday as Im not suffering/struggling enough to forgo a holiday away either in UK or abroad

YANBU I can't afford a holiday this year

Some interesting examples of people who are having holidays but downgrading. I wonder if that might not be the biggest group actually, and I think we'll see a lot of that. People being unwilling to give up the luxury of travel but are making different decisions with their budgets.

Strikes me as well that maybe part of the reason for more school absences is people taking advantage of term time deals. It usually still works out cheaper paying the fine. Maybe people who'd previously not wanted the kids missing school readjust their approach if it's that or not go at all.

I've already had a couple of holidays this year

I hope to have another later in the year

Worked FT during covid & unable to travel

Now making up for lost travelling !

On holiday reading this.
Our plane was full

So going off this thread 75% of the nation is not affected by the COL crisis.
Many seem to have had wage rises. Most families can handle the increase in food and utilities costs.
Why all the doom and gloom about the economy being fucked ?

We’re going abroad, have never taken the kids abroad before so probably spending more on our holiday than we usually do.

Except MN is not representative.

Hang on, you think the entire population is represented in a self selecting thread with 104 replies, on a predominantly middle class forum?

I voted YANBU as we are only having a short UK break, but we are on the tail end of a house renovation and all our money is going on that. I think we could have managed a cheap week in the sun otherwise.

We are going away in August, I don’t see any COL effects anywhere (yet!) in SE commuter belt where we are. Restaurants and bars are packed, people still turning up to school pickup in new cars, holidays and parties carrying on as normal. Wfh still seems to be offsetting costs, with most people I know still massively saving on train fares, child care etc.

Perhaps will change when remortgages start kicking in.

Holidaying in the UK this year, but not cos of COL, for other reasons. Dh and I will go abroad in the autumn on our own I think.
cOL hasn’t majorly affected us really, we are lucky.

Neither. We are doing European city breaks in October and December. We live in a nice part of the country so will be staycationing (as in staying in our house) and going to the beach/day trips from here. The travel costs for our city breaks are very reasonable so I think two Autumn/Winter holidays are costing about the same as 1 Summer holiday. I have just gone up to full time as I hated my 80% contracted role and have not been able to get anything at my level PT. This is cushioning us from COL, that and reducing car use and buying from Vinted.

We are still holidaying but have cut absolutely everything else to counteract food and fuel increases. Don't smoke, don't drink, don't do hair/nails/beauty treatments, don't buy expensive cosmetics, school shoes in sale, Second hand clothes bundles (plus Next half price twice a year). Holidays together as a family is our number one priority.

So far we've done trips to Harry Potter Studios, Twycross and Woburn with DS5, Hull for the Aquarium and Butterfly World with DD2, Yorkshire Wildlife Park and Doncaster Dome, York (cheap Travelodges found for all these). Haggerston Castle for the weekend.

We went to Belgium, Holland and Disneyland Paris in May.
Legoland Paultons and WM Safari first week of school hols, Windermere Caravan in Lakes last week of school hols, then a week in Portugal booked for October.

We've got Florida booked for next year as I get a big raise and DD gets her free nursery hours.

A few mini uk trips as opposed to a big holiday abroad, but tbf that's what I would have chosen COL or not and it may end up being not much cheaper, although it spreads the joy out over the summer rather than one big holiday and done

We aren’t going away. But that’s more because I’m pregnant and just constantly sick so I didn’t fancy being sick and going away. Next year though we want to have three holidays to make up for it, so I don’t think COL crisis has put us off too much.

I’m single so the COL increase had affected me as I’ve only got one salary coming in. I’ve been away to Greece for a week and hoping to get another long weekend in sept but I have cut back in other ways.

Im still managing to have a social life and a few treats but definitely having to think more carefully about what I can and canf justify but for me the benefits of a week in the sun is worth s bit of compromise elsewhere.

No holiday this year or next year. I've been dreaming of a holiday since we last went abroad 9 years ago...keep looking and feeling deflated. Every day feels quite bleak..I have 3 dc under 7.

I'm hoping to find a different job that pays more (currently on min wage) but don't know what I can do. Would love a break away from all the worry.

We're away at the moment and are away again in August. TBH we haven't really been affected by many CoL increases so still go out and holiday as planned.

We're skipping a holiday this year as we need to spend some money on the house and can't afford both. COL is part of it but it's not just that and we're cleary not totally on our uppers or there'd be no replacement windows or new boiler.

We’re doing ok so far. We have two holidays booked but one is to our holiday home in Ireland (inherited not purchased), the other a Eurocamp in Italy.

We we’re lucky that our gas prices are locked until 2024 and mortgage is locked at 1% until 2025. We are fairly well off anyway I think for where we live, Salford, and household income of 90k ish.

Perhaps when our mortgage/gas deals end things will be different. We’ve certainly noticed a big jump in food bills, about £200 a month, which has been affordable without other expenses.

@UrsulaIsMyQueen I find it amusing that even those who aren't going on many holidays don't cite lack of money as the cause and god forbid that they are struggling financially !

We are affected by COL as most people are but we are still having holidays.

We have a UK week booked plus a week long cruise. Not cheap but DH is recently retired and we feel if we don’t do our holidays now, his health may not be so good in a few years. Plus I have a very high stress job and holidays are the only thing keeping me going currently.

I am aware we are very fortunate. We have had very lean years when the dses were younger, now they are grown and things are easier as long as I don’t think about university costs🤣

Fair point!

We’ve already been but we did downgrade as 6k for a European AI is not worth it. We did a low key French holiday instead and it was miles better for less than half of what our holiday cost last year. So much so that we might fit one more modest U.K. break in.

We did DLP in may and have some theme park breaks lined up over the summer. Next year we're going to Lanzarote and currently saving for Orlando for 2025. Our bills are higher and our mortgage renewal next year will be painful (currently on a 1.8% interest rate) but we'll manage. We've enjoyed ourselves the last couple of years so what will be will be. We are feeling it in terms of shock at the cost of things are seeing our bills increase but so far it hasn't stopped us doing the things we want.

I’ve been away 5 times this year and plan one more trip before the end of the year. I already booked a trip for 2024. Thankfully the COL hasn’t affected me but I don’t have a mortgage or kids