Holiday disagreement with DP

[Sereeen]

i realise that there are worse problems but I need to get this off my chest instead of continuing to argue this with DP until it gets blown out of proportion.

We are planning a short 3-day holiday abroad. 3 days only because he’s a workaholic and doesn’t want to take more time off. I found something that is within this time frame and what we agreed to spend. He really liked it initially but when he saw that the return flights would only get us back home around midnight, he refused because he’d be too tired to work the next day. Getting earlier flights (what he suggested instead) back would mean giving up half a day of our already short holiday, and the price difference - £520 in total with the late flight vs £750 with the early flight.

I expressed that I am not happy and the atmosphere is tense now. I just stopped short of calling the whole thing off. Surely one night of bad sleep / one day at work being tired is manageable? (he’s not a doctor or anything where being tired would cause a risk).

100%

Will he turn into a pumpkin at midnight though?

People like that are so tedious. I find they put their work before everything and like to make out how their job is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT than everyone else’s. I’d find it unbearable I’m afraid.

Surely he could just start work at 11 o'clock or so? Thing is, if his workaholism is affecting your relationship, then you have a big decision to make.

depends what you mean by freelance? It doesn't always mean you can come and go as you please, it just means you don't work for one set boss/client, you are still restricted in some ways.

I run my own business and I make the most of the freedom, BUT, if I need to be back for work I come back by myself and leave DH and DD, then go back to join them, but that means we can't be more than a couple of hours away.

Why does he only have 2.5 weeks off? That seems quite odd?

I hate landing so late and then immediately back at work. But he sounds like hard work given that he barely takes time off. Life's too short to waste it with someone who mainly cares about work before all else.

He’s a contractor, he works for clients regularly and would say to them: next month I can be available for XX days for you. He will need to start early if he commits to a day. How many days he works per month is up to him / depends on how much he wants to earn that month. The 2.5 weeks holidays per year are the time he chooses to not work, entirely up to him. Of course he only gets paid the days he works as a freelance, there are no paid holidays.

Then in my opinion, unless there's more to it, he's being very unreasonable saying he can only give you 2.5 weeks a year to dedicate to holidays and THEN putting restrictions in place for the holiday that you are trying your best to squeeze in to a time slot that suits him.

Does he not like going on holiday? Some people don't! has he always been like that?

I am sure as a one off he can manage on less sleep than usual and he can sleep on the plane. He doesn't want to, I'd actually cancel I think and take myself off for something simple on my own or with a friend.

Why not just ket him go early and you stay and enjoy yourself?