Super nosey post: How much do you spend on your main holiday?

[ClassyJen]

I feel like have the cost of holidays spiralled over the last few years to the extent that I have absolutely no idea what the going rate should be. Every year when I start googling villas it’s like the pricing has been set by rolling a bunch of dice.
I’d love to know how much you spend per person on your main holiday vs how much you earn for context.
Assuming I go first, I earn just under £300k basic (not cash rich as mostly eaten up by school fees etc) and now spend about £7k flights + villa for the three of us for a week in Europe. I thought this was quite a lot but our considerably lower earning friends have just shared that they spend quite a lot more that us. Is this a reasonable amount? What are you confortable spending? I seem to be able to evaluate spend on a pair of jeans no problem but holidays are blowing my mind…

YVW have a teen doing her art foundation and umming and ahhing on a career in animation/film (should she do fine art first and an MA in animation after) and what the debt for that would look like when entry level creative industry jobs pay peanuts… so have informed myself of what a tough industry it is to break into, let alone succeed in as a woman. Am also doing a Phd/writing a novel (2 actually) and being supervised by people who struggled in the industry, despite doing very well! Not getting my hopes up of a tv serialisation or film deal any time soon… but if I earn enough to pay for our really lovely holidays and treat my hubs when he retires, I’d be very happy!

My advice would be to get her to personally write to industry CEO’s saying she is a teen who would appreciate 15 mins advice on routes to entry. Always target the most senior person in the company as 90% of us nowadays have values-driven personal initiatives set up to support young or young and disadvantaged people find their feet. It’s a win win as you get the advice and intros and they get to feel good about themselves.

@ClassyJen will suggest that - she is on the spectrum but incredibly talented and clever, so she could send some samples from her portfolio at the same time and try and get some work experience. Would not have thought of aiming for the top person though, so thank you very much for the advice! Poor love is really agonising over the thought of getting into a huge amount of debt for a degree when an apprenticeship might serve her better.

Hopefully a chat with someone in the industry who can advise her on this will help her decide how to go forward.

thanks again!

My pleasure, I personally don’t think a degree is necessary. Interview processes nowadays have DEI policy integrated to stop jobs going only to those who have afforded degrees. Also they are 95% on the spectrum in that area so don’t worry about that!

About £1400 on a 3-week trip abroad. £500-600 on a one week autumnal break. Four or five long weekends nationally or internationally, usually city breaks or visiting friends I have scattered about. Sometimes another 1-2 weeks abroad if I'm extra fortunate.

@NickMarlow have you looked at yha places.
They do sales in January and August.
Many places do private rooms with a double bed

I'm always surprised by how much people spend on holidays. I did a research project on it for work once and it was really eye opening!

We have a household income of about £150k and no childcare or school fees and we spend about £1000 for a week, always in Europe. I am obsessive about saving up Avios points to cover flights (usually not fully, but a good part payment) and we don't go for fancy accommodation, just simple apartments in lovely locations. Probably take two of these trips a year.

Then there are little trips not as a family throughout the year, for friend's big birthdays or similar... I probably spend another £500-£1000 on those in total.

Oh and well done on being so successful professionally OP. Also from a very modest background, work in the creative industries and not yet C-suite but definitely aiming for it one day. You are very inspiring!