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?

Our holidays are our escape. One of those is taken to where my daughter lives so whilst it's abroad its not quite a dream destination type. I love the time spent with her, my SonIL and grandson with another one on the way.

We also take one beach holiday a year, self catering and done independently. We budget carefully and don't go for the most expensive. There is always bargains to be had if you shop around.

It's away from the madness of daily life, sun and relaxation for our beach holiday

People not satisfied with what they have at home.

You say that like it’s a bad thing…..?

Of course people want variety and excitement - a change from the usual.

Well, people with any gumption do.

I've only ever been on one holiday I didn't want to come home from in my life. I'm a homebody, I hate sleeping in a strange bed & love being at home, I'm also autistic & a change of any kind, even nice ones like being on holiday messes with my head. Ds is also autistic & the first time I took him away as a single parent on my own, the first night we were both in tears wanting to go home, we were supposed to be away a week but ended up coming home after 5 days. That is why when I was married, we had a caravan, we could go away but still sleep in our own beds.

Currently in Thailand and it’s chucking it down with rain in Chiang Mai but……yesterday me and DD had a cooking lesson with 9 complete strangers and had a lovely time. This morning depending on the weather we might go zip lining. On some level I get where you are coming from because for years I scoffed at spending money on a couple of days on a holiday. I have backpacked a lot during my early twenties and for me a holiday begins on week four and isn’t constrained by time. However, DD is 16 and I won’t get this time with her like this again. So here we are in a bunkbed in a dorm in Chiang Mai (shout out to The Common hostel).

We don’t go every year and this trip was funded by money saved in COVID. Im sure after three weeks I will be totally over it but right now hanging out with DD and watching her experience new sights, food, smells and people is a gift. I booked in January which meant I’ve had six months to look forward to and trust me when you are working overtime or on the weekend, a holiday gets you through.

Op you really don’t have to get what other people choose to spend their money on.

I don't make a lot of money, but I save and I go because experiences are more important to me than things. There are places and things so amazing that I just want to experience them for myself. I want to see the Aurora Borealis, to look up at one of the largest waterfalls in the world, to swim in warm turquoise water with brilliantly colored fish, to see with my own eyes the actual brush strokes on an actual canvas of a van Gogh painting, to walk in the village my great-grandparents came from. I've had the opportunity to sit on a beach in the dark and watch sea turtles come ashore to lay eggs, to see bioluminescent plankton, to hike in the grand canyon, climb the statue of liberty (my legs still hurt), to see Niagra Falls, and to interact with some of the most interesting people. What 'things' or takeaway could beat that? For me, that's why :)

What do you do instead OP?

YABU @Tepoi , only some people are too obsessed.

BTW, are there gradations of obsession? What degree would you find acceptable?

I love traveling and I want my child to experience the same thing. It’s about exposure to other people, cultures, languages. I feel it open the mind, fosters inclusion, plus I love seeing different places. I also like having some down time in the sun, having a great hotel and lovely food. A break from the norm and I don’t have to cook, clean or wash up, what’s not to love.

This.

When my kids were small and we didn't have much cash to spare we used to drive through the tunnel to sw France and stay in a static caravan on a campsite. They really were cheap holidays and so wonderful. I remember them with such happiness spending weeks together watching my kids make friends, learn to swim, brave a zip line etc. Those holidays took alot of planning - location, routes, overnight stay, exchange rates, packing list. But the planning would get me through the winter months.

Now my dc are nearing 20 I work so much overtime it might as well be 2 jobs. Holidays are precious time together eating, sightseeing and playing uno in the evening. Our holidays now are much more expensive but so worth it to escape the laptop. Being able to take them to NYC or other fab places is the reason I work so hard. And I'll have the memories and photos forever

We go on cheaper holidays, say under £1000. We get to go to Europe or UK, we do it to enrich the kids lives, eat foreign food, learn a foreign language, see how other people live and I spite them for their future. Learn to cook on a fire, read road signs in different languages, visit historic places, swim in the sea and ask for things in shops not in their mother tongue.

if we could afford it we would go further afield, we also do a lot of UK day trips to places (usually free places, but not always).

we devote our free money to inspiring our family to achieve different things, it’s more than just a holiday.

Inspire for their future*

Crikey that's quite a reach

I love my life but holidays are amazing.

😂😂

Far from it, I take from home the people I love with me….

I choose to spend quality time with them as well as day to day time.

Eh? I think this sounds a bit bitter and isn’t true for myself or anyone else I know.

We actually find holidays make us appreciate the joys of being home. We love going out and exploring new parts of the world with our kids, but it is just as sweet to come home to my lovely house/bed/kitchen/friends/routine. A break away gives more appreciation for the little joys of everyday life.

Some seriously weird responses on this thread.

Of course people aren’t satisfied with doing the same things day in, day out, for years and years and years on end.

This is normal, and what holidays are for - to mix it up! Variety is the spice of life, and all that.

I am quite surprised so many people adore going on holiday 100 per cent. Am I unusual in finding holidays rather stressful? We are now retired but back in the day we always took the children abroad on holiday and after they left home we did more long haul, and visited USA, Hawaii, Jamaica, Iceland and more because my husband is so keen to see new places. While I do have good memories of some beautiful places and experiences, I remember the pain of very early drives to the airport, tedious queuing, even more tedious hanging about at the terminals and other hassles. On my last two holidays to Cyprus there were some very drunk and loud people on the plane which made the 5 hour flights seem interminable. So when my husband mentions holidays now I tend to change the subject! My own idea of bliss is sitting in my own garden with a book and a glass of wine.

For us, it's a total break from housework, cooking, cleaning, working. We love the excitement of jetting off to somewhere guaranteed hot, to new foods, new places, new people, and different cultures. But we're equally excited about visiting parts of our own country too. We've made friends with people we definitely would never have met. It's interesting, fascinating, can be incredibly beautiful and awesome inspiring. We make magical memories together as a family that will last a lifetime.

I work for myself, the only time I can really switch off is when I'm out of the country, managed 5 last year, off today on my 2nd of the year and going in October too. It's quality time with my dc, they love it, it's always worth every penny. What are you working for if not to enjoy yourself with the fruits of your labour?!

I absolutely agree with the OP, so many people moan that they're hard up or having trouble paying the mortage or nursery fees and then I find that they've had two weeks abroad on a fancy holiday.

If they're spending 2 months pay on this it just doesn't make sense unless they have enough to live comfortably for the rest of the year. And even if they can afford it, is spending two weeks somewhere uncomfortably hot really worth the money?
We had some overseas holidays when our children younger were at home but not every year and not desperately expensive. Holidays like this are a treat, not an annual necessity.

This sounds like a really good idea of what a holiday should be. Not too expensive and much more meaningful to the whole family than a typical beach holiday.

Not everybody does the same things day in and day out, and holiday travel is not the only way to find variety.

I like days out, activities, visiting museums, galleries and restaurants and also being able to come back to my flat afterwards; I've yet to stay in a hotel or airbnb I like as much as my home, and I've stayed in an awful lot. I don't want to be away for days at a time and after many years of having to do a lot of it for work I find travel annoying, tedious and dull.

If I lived out in the boondocks with few options I could understand feeling otherwise, but I don't. As per PP, everybody is different.

For us it’s not just the 2 week holiday it’s the planning, looking forward to it.
So we watch you tube, decide where to visit, where to eat. Sort of like a hobby for several months.
Only chance I get to totally switch off from work.