Are holidays a flex now ?

[iloveshetlandponies]

I've noticed among most people I know both irl and on Facebook and work clients etc, it's now the normal to have like 3 holidays a year . And I always goes on fb / insta Some people I know have already been away both feb half term and Easter. It's abroad as well, not just UK. And when it is the UK it's always the more brag worthy locations like posh parts of Cornwall, and north Devon etc and in swanky accommodation

And I think it is more since covid - unless it was just my social circle it seemed that most people went once a year if that

I think social media plays a part as well , then others can see how well they're doing when they're tagging themselves at their 3rd fancy exotic location this year

I dunno maybe holiday bragging has always been a thing and I've not noticed. I'm guilty of it too tbh, I'm lucky enough to have been to some cool places in the last year or two and I've posted online not Gona lie 🫣

While I was getting my bloods taken the nurse was telling me about her three holidays on the horizon...Mexico, Barcelona and taking the Grandkids to Disneyland...while I wondered how many people had had to listen to this self-satisfactory spiel while they were hoping they weren't sick or that their condition was managed. Time and place fail.

My husband and I have the same questions. I think some people are super comfortable with debt - we aren’t. I also realise people prioritise different things - my SIL has a really fancy car, but they have to share it as can only afford 1 amazing car on finance where in our family we would prefer 2 less good (but reliable) cars which gives us each the freedom we need.

They just prioritize it, aka budget for it no matter what. So they make sure they put away xyz amount for holidays every month, if that means cutting out other treats/unnecessary expenses than they do that.

Yeah, this is exactly what we do. We always had a big 2 week holiday every year and a couple of small city breaks but since covid we have been going away on at least 3 'sun holidays' and lots of weekends.per year.

Before covid we'd just been saving our arses off, going nowhere, doing nothing but working just to save for a mortgage but the prices have gone so insanely high here theres nowhere we could afford to move to in order to still be able to commute.

We're living with my parents and used to feel so guilty about the one holiday we had each year as we 'should be saving every single cent'.
Bollox to that, it was no way to live.
We still save a huge portion of our wages ,we pay my parents about 850 per month between us so its nothing(would be 2000+ per month for a one bed apartment if renting privately) Any money left after our regular savings and outgoings goes totally on holidays. I'm constantly looking for the next place to go.

It keeps me going through hard times at work and in life in general. Only having 8-10 weeks between breaks or holidays helps keep my morale up and I've noticed get sick less often!!!

Amd we still dont do much much the rest of the time in between... except working. We dont go out on weekends really or do anythingafter work, save it all for our trips away and then indulge all in one go.

I don't know what a 'flex' is but we go on 2-4 holidays a year and I also get to travel with work.

It's what we love doing and what we spend our money on.

I enjoy it and appreciate it even more now due to the restrictions of the pandemic

Like others we prioritise holidays above over things. So we don’t spend lots of money on clothes, shoes, jewellery or things in the house and we keep things for years, when others would have replaced them. Our cars are a few years old and we own them outright. Have been away twice this year so far (Europe) and UK holiday for the summer.

We live in a smaller house than we could, and prioritise holidays. We do tend to go abroad twice and a couple of UK hotel or cottage breaks.

I know people with massive houses and massive mortgages who hardly go anywhere. Each to their own.

One thing I’d say is the that tv, news and general media have done a very good job of convincing everyone that everyone is poor and skint with COL crisis, when that’s not the case.

I agree some people prioritise holidays over a bigger house/mortgage or expensive cars

i also know families who are treated to a holiday every year by their parents which I think is really nice

At my kids schools a lot of people (including myself a couple of times!) will go away for a week during term time and pay the fine which works out much cheaper (although in MN land doing this makes you a disgusting, selfish person 😅)

That, and also you just don't know what people have spent. Some people have access to options that allow them to go away really cheaply. They might be staying with a friend or relative, might use airmiles etc.

As an example, I have a work pal who went to Spain last week. She's single, crashed at her cousin's and the plane ticket was change from £100. Paid her way while there by getting a supermarket shop and doing the cooking for them both every night.

Yep. My friend has loads of totally amazing holidays to places like Bali and Thailand - turns out her sister works for Qantas and gets her cheap flights, and she then stays in backpacker hostels for £2 a night. The photos of her on gorgeous beaches and visiting ancient temples don’t show that bit! (She isn’t hiding it, just obviously doesn’t put photos of the dull bits on SM).

When we were in the situation you describe, we had 3 holidays a year (not always abroad though) no loans, credit card or finance.

We bought our first house in the early 2000s and haven't 'upsized' to the same degree as some of our friends. Also haven't had a swanky extension with bifolds & a blue kitchen etc or any expensive home improvements.

2 old cars - no car finance.
No childcare costs
No student loans

It's doable.

Definitely agree re last paragraph 💯

Also, it might be that several of these holidays are only for the (long)weekend - 3 holidays doesn't mean 6 weeks off work on a beach. You can take instagram photos in several different locations in one day in Cornwall! :-)

I know people who take just friday and monday off to go on a long weekend trip. When you do this you can go on 10+ trips a year making it seem like you are traveling 24/7

yes I think since covid the gap has got more extreme, a lot of people are either in camp struggling to survive or in camp splashing the cash like crazy and there's much less of a "normal" middle ground. not even sure what normal is at this point.

i walked past a homeless man yesterday, he had his duvet out in a sheltered doorway, lying on the floor with some polystyrene propped up at the side to shelter his from the elements a bit. watching a film on his iPad. i don't know what is going on but the world is all over the place. nothing makes sense anymore.

"One thing I’d say is the that tv, news and general media have done a very good job of convincing everyone that everyone is poor and skint with COL crisis, when that’s not the case."

Don't get me a started on that. And then we have people perplexed how others can afford this or that, well simple, because not everyone is magically skint due to COL. Money has to circulate somewhere, it always will.

I think social media perpetuates itself and makes people feel that everyone else is doing xyz and getting themselves into debt to keep up. I heard a man on the radio today talking about how the fact that he hasn't been able to afford to take his daughter and partner abroad for the last couple of years is "affecting (his) mental health".

I have been abroad once in the last 15 years, I'm sure I'm far from rare, but people get themselves tied up in knots trying to flex everything.

People I chat to seem to be prioritising travel more since the lockdowns. Also there’s a sense that air travel will be off the menu in future for all but the wealthy with climate change, so people are travelling whilst it is still affordable.

I know someone who has recently been on a cruise. Their partner was posting very carefully engineered photos and talking about how fabulous and "posh" it was, whilst my friend was messaging me to say how awful and tacky it was.
People don't post ordinary or less than ordinary experiences.

I don't post anything personal in SM but I'm doing holidays more often post Covid. Part of it is making the most of the opportunity, after not being able to travel for a while. But it's also because we have 2 dcs now and want to experience different kinds of holidays and places with them, before they get too embarrassed to be seen on holidays with us. In the past I would have felt it was normal to do one main holiday and maybe a few short UK breaks. Now we have an annual overseas obligatory trip to see PILs, an overseas main holiday, a UK 1 week break and several long weekend breaks. One reason for the weekend breaks is that it's harder to do a day trip further away with little kids, so we are doing overnight stays where before we might have just done a day trip.

It does add up but we can afford it. We don't go to very exotic locations though as I don't think it's fun to take toddlers to very hot countries - we're sticking to Northern Europe mostly, which doesn't feel very glam at all.

People are finding life’s too short since covid. If you’ve got the chance to do something, do it. It might not be possible again.

Since Covid I’ve challenged myself to say yes to more things, so anything we can financially make work, we will.

I go away as much as I can.
But I have heard people saying this before that they prioritise holidays before things. Except it is not true. Hardly anyone prioritises things. They prioritise a mortgage, food, and living.

@Notimeforaname cant believe you live with parents so you can afford holidays

How can you say what I’m saying isn’t true? Last time I looked you weren’t me… 🙄 🙄

I think when people say 'they prioritise' they mean the prioritise how they spend their disposable income. I know we do. We are lucky that day to day living is covered - housing, child related expenses etc. Then we choose to not go out each week in order to save the money for holidays. It used to be that I would do a day trip of some sort with the Dcs because we 'could not afford holidays' and then quickly realised that even a simple day trip in the UK can often cost mega bucks. So we scaled that right back and re-allocated disposable income.

This year COL has had an effect and so we have our main summer holiday in Crete, but in accommodation perhaps 2 grades down what we would have had a few years back 9and one grade down from last year). And I am more consciously yellow sticker shopping and I also have a policy of the last week of the month not spending any money on groceries- it's freezer food, cupboard staples (loads of bean soups!) etc. Because my designated holiday money is as close to sacrosanct as i can make it. That might well change in the future of course (in fact we know DH will have a void in contract jobs for about 6 weeks). We have two older cars and the original plan was to replace one this year or next but we won't now. We'll keep them going for as long as we can. I used to buy alot of jewellery and have not done so for a good 5 years. I no longer buy designer perfume which I used to do. The past 6-7 years my main focus has been holidays with the DCs. And I feel so lucky that we can do that. My older one (who has autism and who has been hard to get into the concept of going away) told me a few weeks ago that his dream was to 'be a traveler'. So I am happy.