I hate my budget holiday

[ValentinaTheVampire]

We have small children to do things on a budget so we tend to do self catering in the UK to avoid paying for flights and also so we aren't all squashed into a hotel room.

But ugh, it has been so miserable this time (we are away at the moment). The weather where we are staying is pretty miserable. We are staying near family where I grew up as we tried to do holiday and family visit in one and I am honestly just counting down the days. I'm so tired from all the driving about and visiting and trying to keep kids entertained in the rain with none of their usual stuff around to help.

The cottages we've had the past few holidays have been so tired looking and even then they are so expensive.

I have a small but perfectly nice house at home. Kids aren't exactly getting a cultural experience here (although they are loving seeing family).

Dh wants to do another holiday cottage for my 40th birthday which is coming up over other school holidays and I've just told him no fucking way 😂.

I'd rather spend the money on my house or save for a nicer holiday even if we don't get one as often.

I can't tell if holidays have got worse or if I have become a that who just likes staying at home.

I would definitely look at going abroad instead. It's far cheaper than you probably think. We've done a few Eurocamps holidays which are usually less than £400 for the accomodation and then depending when/where you go find cheap flights. The one we went to in Holland was amazing for the kids and flights to Amsterdam are probably cheaper than the petrol to drive somewhere in the UK lol! We've done a few all inclusive ones with On the Beach when the kids were younger. Now two of them are classed as adults it's not as cheap but still probably not much more than you're spending in the UK!

Northern and some other parts of Europe are far better value than England and actually most of the UK, agreed

I also despair of the seemingly universal 6 week holiday (in England - Scotland is lucky) with zero flexibility to take kids out at other times. It’s no wonder unauthorised and persistent absence is so high right now. I genuinely think this is the main cause of high absence especially among younger kids. For most normal folk a decent holiday in the magic six week window is unaffordable. May and October half term aren’t much better. Easter half term is cheaper, but if you want good reliable weather you are restricted to a very few shorthaul destinations and they get expensive quickly.

If my kids’ other parent was more
easygoing I’d whip them out for a week in September or June…

Yanbu we did it one year when the kids were 3 and 4 with pil the kids are now 12/13. Love my pil they are fab but paid £750 for 4 nights self catering accommodation for myself DH and Kids which the accommodation was fab but 4 nights at £750 is a lot anx not all of it as PIL paid their share, then factor in fuel and food and the fact it rained the whole time in the summer holidays I said never again to DH would rather go without and do a holiday abroad which when we do we do self catering anyway so we can have breakfast and lunch at leisure and then eat out at night. You'll find if you shop around some really decent deals in flights and accommodation from hotels.com, vrbo etc that are self catering and if you do tesco shopping you can convert your vouchers which I did last year got 5nights self catering accommodation on hotel.com abroad using my vouchers and it was fab 4 star

Completely agree. I filter out the places which are pet friendly for exactly that reason.

We always self-cater, usually UK, and I’ve always said that with small kids it’s just the same shit in a different location! This year we wanted to save £ as we have building work starting, so went camping for the full week. It was so cheap in comparison (£250) and the kids are a little older so it was actually really lovely! And when the weather wasn’t great at least I knew it wasn’t costing a bomb.

Hotels over sc any day!

@ValentinaTheVampire.. You could probably get to efteling in Netherlands for that price and have 3 magical nights in beautiful accmd.

Also Dutch center parks are far superior and half then price

We only have 1 but have done a lot of SC with rotten weather. (And some of that was abroad!).

Plan nice but easy meals - buy a fajita kit for Mexican night, buy a rotisserie chicken and crusty bread and a bag of salad another night, and I usually bring the first night meal as something I had made previously and frozen so it's just reheat sauce and cook rice/pasta.

Plan lots of snacks. Buy lots of fruit and put put in a bowl. One day make carrot sticks and have a tub of bought hummus. Another day a sharing bag of crisps. Another day olives and cherry tomatoes (kids will eat the tomatoes and may try an olive when there's no pressure). That' sort of thing.

Easy lunches - soup, sandwiches, omelettes etc. And nice breakfasts, maybe a fry one day, yoghurts, buy croissants locally another, and a nice loaf for toast with a nice pot of jam is great for a few days. Maybe get a cafetière and buy decent coffee to make it a treat (bring cafetière home for next year). Remember to think about what DH can do and either cook together (and involve DCs) lots of meals, or make him responsible for some while you get time off as well.

Bring a pack of cards and a favourite family game from home and everyone brings a book. Bring some crayons and paper for an art day, drawing what's around you or just doing mad scribbles. If forecast is wet, is there a dvd player in the cottage or have you a device you can download movies to entertain the kids on (and a few for yourselves in the evening)? And have you proper clothes to get out in the rain - outer layers and spare clothes to get dry/warm if needed? Makes a huge difference to be able to just go out and not care, but walk in the rain, allow splashing in puddles and looking at the tracks of wildlife int he mud. Swimming in the rain is surprisingly fun . Getting out and using up some energy makes it much easier to then do quieter activities in the house if necessary.

Yes it's a different holiday - and could be awful if the weather is bad. But if you decide it is going to be fun regardless, that makes a big difference to whether it's enjoyable or intolerable.

My favourite sort of budget S/C caravan type holidays have always been in the Isle of Wight

You are now realising that you are fed up with this type of holidays. My kids are teens now and over the years I had to figure out what worked best for us. I am sometimes OK with cooking during holidays and sometimes I'm not. It is all about budget and how much you are willing g to spend. More luxury could mean less time away, but it's worth it if that's what will make us happy, especially the designated cooker!

If you are holidaying in the UK, you need the weather on your side. I don’t even mind if it’s a bit cold, as long as it’s not raining! There’s only so much you can do on a rainy day with young kids so YANBU

Having said that, we’ve had some great holidays in the UK the last few years. We usually go in May/early June and weather has been sunny (except one year in Cornwall, where it pissed it down all week & the cottage was freezing)

We've done Eurocamp pretty much each year since ours were little, always going in the last week of August. Proces drop a lot, we'd have 10 nights in a house tent, very simple food (bbq, tinned hot dogs, salad etc) and the kids loved it. Clean play areas, pool with slides, beach down the road...they were exhausted by bedtime, and as a pp said, we'd then read and drink wine in the evening peace.
Look at Brittany and the Vendee at the end of August. Now we have caravans as ours are older, and we've a little more cash, but those tent holidays were so exciting for the kids!
(Check out Camping Bel if yours are little, Camping La Baie if a bit older!)

I completely agree with you. I hate UK holidays. We booked a UK holiday during Covid in a caravan in Christchurch. No problem with the caravan and the weather was great but it was getting around that was a pain. It was a nightmare driving around trying to find somewhere to park at a beach and then walking down the cliff with cooler box of food, windbreak, beach tent, towels, deckchairs, swimwear etc, setting it all up and then packing it all away again was exhausting, and eating out was expensive. Another year we stayed at Weymouth where it lashed down with rain every day bar one and we ended up going home a day early as being back home was a more attractive proposition. Holidays need to be fun for the kids and a relaxing break from work and chores for mum and dad.

SC every time! You're not stuck with hotel food! Just because you're "self-catering" does NOT mean you must cook! Eat out at lovely local restaurants! I far prefer it.

@Playingintheshadow also you can vary it up a lot more I find. It's one reason I personally don't like AI- if it's not great you feel kind of stuck with it as you've paid- plus it's shit for the local economy.

I think “British hospitality “ is a contradiction in terms…completely agree with you OP

I would never go AI! I would hate to feel forced to eat every meal in the hotel to get value for money.

Some people think self-catering means you have to cook - you really don't!

YANBU. I live in a holiday area and it's shocking how holiday lets and Airbnbs rack up their prices in the school holidays. Even so-called budget hotels do it - our local Travelodge was charging £200 a night last week! People end up paying ridiculous prices for very ordinary accommodation. Might be better to save up for a really nice European holiday less often, and do awaydays for the rest of the time.

We love Eurocamp type holidays for how easy they are. If you can get to Italy, we just had a week at the new Orlando in Chianti one in Tuscany and it was wonderful. They had a shop and restaurant on site, neither expensive, which made it all so easy.

You could look into the Yelloh Village camps as well, they’re a French company.

Sounds like you are doing all the running around visiting. I used to do that every time I went back to visit with the children. Then one day I thought, "if they want to see me then they can come to me". I let them know when I would be available and then enjoyed not driving in every direction visiting all and sundry. It left me with time to enjoy my break with the children.
Maybe too late for this holiday but hope it's useful next time you go away.

Butlins gets a bad rep on here but it's fab. Plenty to do in all weathers and the shows are great!

Trying to remember our British holidays. I wouldn't fly for a long time when the kids were little. Our motto was - if the kids were happy, we were happy and knew it wasn't forever. We used everywhere as a base and then explored the area around us.

Butlins - you have to go with the mindset that the kids will love it and will be absolutely knackered. So much to do - soft play, all sorts of rides, beach, shows - we had a pass that took us upstairs to avoid the crowds. Its chavvy yes - but it serves a purpose.
Farm holidays in Cornwall - used as a base to explore the area. Found a lovely working farm with private cottages.
Camping in Norwich - found a fab campsite which had a large sandpit around which everyone congregated. You could watch your kids from the tent and it had a swimming pool. Fab place. So much to explore in the region.
Edinburgh Fringe - went every summer when the kids were smaller - did the kids shows and again explored the area. We no longer go because the prices have just skyrocketed.
Then moved onto using the eurochunnel - using tesco clubcard vouchers - explored most of the centreparcs abroad in France, Holland and Belgium. Wonderful places and so much better than this country.

We used to save up our tesco clubcard points and use for eurotunnel and hotels. I appreciate everything now is so expensive in this country.

Love Minehead Butlins. Had some great holidays there. Always paid a bit extra for accommodation with a balcony and housekeeping. Couldn't fault it. We did do self catering, not AI, but we ate out or got takeaways most of the time.

Going tomorrow morning and can't wait!

As someone who used to love youth hostels when I was younger, I think they're a terrible option for families. They are always really busy, the other customers are mostly older adults, there are no facilities for children, the communal areas are full of old people reading books and the rooms are cramped - what are you meant to do with your children? Once they are in bed you basically lie on a top bunk for the evening. Plus they are always really noisy with fire doors banging all night, the food served is poor and the prices are excessive (although good deals are available it won't be at popular times). I also find the service quite variable, often silly rules or you can only get food in a very narrow window. Self catering kitchens always rammed so that's not easy either. I think you can have a far more enjoyable time either camping, in a caravan or in a budget hotel for the same or less money, depending on preference