To think people are too obsessed with taking a holiday?

[Tepoi]

I don’t get the attraction of saving for months to go somewhere for 10ish days. Fine if you have money but hearing how people are spending the equivalent of 1 - 2 months take home pay on a holiday strikes me as very odd. Maybe because I don’t have the money to spare.
if you do go on holiday, and it takes 4-6 weeks’ take home pay, can I ask why you go?

My holidays cost about 2 months of my wage.
We do it because we have high stress careers, and when we're home, work life balance is hard to juggle, and work really takes over.
That 2 weeks is time that we have solely dedicated to our family, and our happiness, we can reconnect as a family, because its all a bit disjointed at home, I get time with the kids, dh gets time with the kids, we dint get much time with them together.

It also feels like we're all at our best whilst we're away.

Also, memories and experiences.

We didn't have holidays growing up, so it's really important to me that I give my kids the opportunity to travel.

On MN people will always stand up for the right to an expensive foreign holiday, then you’ll see the same posters on other threads getting evangelical about climate change lol.

Probably not the same posters, Mumsnet has thousands of users.

The pandemic showed how quickly stopping all activity could benefit the environment and slow down man made climate change. It also showed how devastating stopping economic activity suddenly was to the economy and people's jobs and livelihoods - and would have been far worse had there not been government schemes. Surely to stop climate change now the change would have to be as dramatic as that? But what would be the immediate global societal consequences? I doubt world governments are collectively going to pull the plug on capitalism. But economic growth and climate change are intrinsically linked.

before covid, we travelled 3 times a year abroad to our fav destination. We both had high stress jobs , and for us... when that plane landed and we walked off into the heat and humidity , our stress melted off us. We would go to our favorite resort and just switch off. We had to check my messages every morning for my business, but most of it was taken care of by our daughter for us. But then for the next week I never worried about cooking, cleaning, or work. My most romantic moments with my husband was always in that country. That is why we bought a home and retired here at 55 yrs old

I love travelling and seeing the world.
I can afford it, so why not.

I find it a lot more strange when people DON'T like or prioritise holidays. Completely different if you can't afford them, however, and I've also been in that boat for various points in my life. I didn't leave the country for 5 years at one point (studying, no money, etc) and it was bloody awful.

I don't tend to do a lot of long haul these days (although I'm going to the US next year), but rather a couple of European trips. Less stress with the short flights, no jet leg etc. Gorgeous weather most of the time, new sights, wonderful food and drink, and hopefully a good laugh with good company - what is not to like? I prefer the less travelled places too, which are always much more authentic.

My idea of hell would be some grotty resort around a dirty pool, with all inclusive food, full of chavvy British people. I'd much rather stay at home in the garden.

Nothing new to add but I don't regret a single penny of the money we have spent on holidays - never extravagant but there's something magical about going to a different country with those you love spending time with. We reminisce about our holidays so much. Definitely goes alongside Christmas/birthdays with things my kids love to chat about. Love, love, love holidays 🙂

When our children were small we could only usually stretch to a week in a caravan in Devon, now we have more disposable income we save every month and have a couple of holidays (one in the UK) and few camping breaks in the camper van. For us it’s a well earned break as we both work really hard, long hours and need the down time.

Brace yourself sister but guess what? Not everyone is like you! I KNOW it’s bonkers. But with 8 billion people in the world it actually transpire that some of them like different things and need different things to relax and survive. I hope this hasn’t melted your mind.

No need to spend that much.
Luckily I'm retired so can go when l want.
Book cheap flights.. look for accommodation ( apartment or villa) book hire car.. self catering.. about £500 for 6 nights.
Corfu.
Cyprus.
Canary Islands.
Even cheaper in Portugal and mainland Spain.
It can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be.

Obviously I’m on the pro holiday front, but plane and car emissions are broadly the same per capita because of the higher passenger capacity of planes. So we also all need to be considering giving up our cars.

Aviation accounts for about 2.5% of global emissions ~ by far the largest amount of emissions still come from burning fossil fuels in power generation and manufacturing. I’m not saying that we don’t need to be mindful, but if we all stopped flying tomorrow it wouldn’t have the impact we need to change things.

It’s a complicated debate.

I sacrifice a lot financially to be able to go away to the Med for a week in the summer. We budget for a family holiday about £3.5k but that means living on £150 a month for food, no clothes budget (unless I sell on Vinted or use credit card), very rarely going out for dinner etc. But to me that week is the epitome of relaxation and being able to switch off from day to day stresses.

That’s the biggest bonus for me now my son is an adult (and wouldn’t come anyway)

I can book a week off work in June and September and look for a good deal. I was in Skiathos in June which was less than £500 each fora week b&b. Basic but very pleasant small hotel with a pool and bar.
And off to Greece again so September- again less then £500. The hotel I use as a base so as long as I have use of a pool and the room is clean then that’s good enough for me.

I haven't been able to afford to go in years, but for me, if I'd never seen any of the world beyond my own country, I'd feel like I had missed out on a lot of experiences.

My DH died in January this year from a brain tumour - literally disappeared in just over 9 months from totally out of the blue diagnosis. He wasn’t much of a holiday person, always felt he should have been working, working, working.

In the past 6 months I have taken more holidays, taking our 11-year old (well, long-weekend Scotland breaks - we live there) than we have ever taken in mine & DH’s 28 years together.

In March I found out my breast cancer has returned and is now Stage 4. My life span has seriously been curtailed, on top of my grief for DH.

I intend to take as many holidays/short breaks as I possibly can with DS. Life is really too short to be working all the time thinking you have all the time in the world to take holidays when you retire. Of course, when you have your health and think you have all the time in the world to make up for working all the time it’s easy to disregard this.

As PP have said, it’s also for the fact that for a few days I don’t have to do the dishes, vacuum, clean bathrooms, that kind of everyday shit. Including cooking. That’s why camping is absolutely out of the question for me. Self-catering (minus the cooking - eating out all the way) or hotels only.

I agree I find it odd if people can’t afford it. We love holidays and do various holidays from very cheap to full on holidays. While I see they’re important, I’m on an Orlando Facebook page where some people literally save and do overtime for years to have 2 weeks at Disneyworld and it worries me as there’s still a lot of spending needed when you get there. I hate to think of people getting into financial difficulties just to have a holiday

Holidays are important to me, but this year we weren't flush with money so took a very modest UK break near to home.

With the weather it was a big disappointment and I won't make that mistake again - I'll save and go somewhere more exciting tbh

If I didn't go away at least once a year my mental health would really suffer. I need the break and downtime from work. If I stay home for annual leave the time gets sucked up with lying around the house doing nothing and/or catching up on jobs around the house. I don't feel like I'm getting proper time off. My job is full on and I need to switch off properly a couple of times a year.

I agree OP, however I'm aware that anyone with school-age kids will probably need to fork out a couple of months pay to afford a holiday during the school holidays.

I just love holidays and they are a priority for us. Love going abroad but equally love weekends away in our tourer caravan in the uk. It’s that whole ‘experiences over things’ thing and exploring somewhere new. Our home is comfortable but not posh, our cars are old, we don’t go out to eat or party v often and I’m not into designer stuff. Given the choice I’d rather have a week abroad than a new sofa every time! That being said we can only afford a staycation in the uk this year, as we have nothing to save each month. That makes me feel v huffy considering I have a stressful professional role in the NHS, and DH works all the hours god sends but when the chips are down it’s a luxury we can’t afford sadly.

As someone nearing 40 who went abroad for the first time ever recently I’m going to say yes, you’re being unreasonable.

We had the most incredible week away and I made so many great memories with the kids. I’m just a little sad that we didn’t get to experience it sooner.

And I’ve always been one of those people who likes to see others happy so I’ve never cared what other people do with their money.

I love my holidays, have been abroad 3 times this year and have another one booked. That time to switch off, give your partner and your children 100% of your time, make amazing memories, etc, it’s worth every penny. We’re not well off but we are in a position to save about 15% of our take home pay each month to go towards holidays. I go without other things so we can do that

Dh and I are on the same page in this. Life is about travel over stuff for us so we prioritise that. We love exploring new places together, relaxing in the sun and getting away from the drudge of life. Easy to spend 2 months salary with a family of 5. We don’t have flash cards and could afford a bigger home if we didn’t want to travel but that doesn’t interest us. We fly to Florida in a week and I cannot wait to spend that time as dedicated family time. In 5 years dd1 will be 20 so we only really have a small window left.

Covid showed us how much we love to plan and look forward to a holiday.

I’ve never understood buying an expensive car or personalised number plates but I know plenty of people do and i respect that as we’re all different.

if you don’t go on holidays, what do you look forward to or do to treat yourself?

We went to the USA on a month long trip, a few years before my daughter got sick. The memories are priceless.

By way of example a return flight from Birmingham to Greece would emit 680kg of CO2 person so a family of four would emit 2720kg. This is equivalent to 12,600 miles motoring (a normal year's car use) in. a Ford Focus.

So one family holiday to Greece is equivalent to year's motoring in an average car.