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 🫣

We do one long haul and two European holidays a year. But we have no kids and work for ourselves - both of those choices give us the time and financial freedom to travel which we love.

We go away quite a bit, mainly as we have a campervan so we can get about cheaply and because we live abroad, so holidays are often to visit and stay with family. I don’t think changing the tyre on a campervan while your two year old screams their head off is much of a flex really.

People seem to brag mostly when they are going to Dubai, which absolutely as to me Dubai looks my worst nightmare 🤣.

We go abroad once a year, sometimes two if we visit my family in France or do a short mini break somewhere. We also try and do a UK holiday with our dogs too. However we use air bnb and do everything on a budget, not much to flex about 😂

Should say "absolutely baffles me"! 🙄 too early for typing!

I love seeing people’s holiday photos on Facebook and Instagram. It gives me pleasure to see them enjoying life and inspiration re travel to different places. I post photos of my trips because they are the happiest time of my year and I want to capture the memories. I love looking back through these good times on Facebook myself. I know I can just take photos and not post them but having a highlights collection curated on social media is much easier to browse through when I am feeling down or bored and want to cheer myself up.

No, not really.

After being on here over a decade, there is so much predictability about people. People post about the same things in the same month year after year.

Summer holiday posts, school posts, inlaws, weather too hot or too cold. cost of living, weddings, etc.

I'm not on sm with friends and family. I'm rarely aware when people go on holiday, but when it comes up I rarely find it an interesting topic of conversation. To me it's similar to listening to someone talk about someone you don't know. It's just not interesting. And with pics on sm, isn't this more like a contemporary version if scrapbooking or keeping a photo album, in that it's mostly of interest to that person, a way for them to document and hang on to memories that are precious to them? With it being in the public domain we are then invited to comment on or critique the quality of these, but that doesn't add value anywhere.

Tbh I really only post when I'm on holiday, because I love seeing holiday pics from others or reels people make up, so I think they're worth sharing and I like being able to put them in a highlight reel to look back on.

As for affordability, I've had a 1.3k half board to Portugal, a £900 self catering to Italy and a Christmas holiday booked that's about 1200 I'm paying in instalments.

For a full time working couple without kids, I think that's doable. We go abroad when schools are on, so things tend to be cheaper.

No way in hell I'll be able to do it when kids come along.

Those prices are for two of us btw, not per person!

We go on at least two per year but I don’t post on Facebook/insta and don’t really chat to many people so it’s not a flex.

Work is terrible for this though, people seem to be on holiday constantly and talk about it constantly and it is so boring.

“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 🫣”

So the easiest thing to do would be ask yourself why you brag, post on social media and go on holiday. All the things your questioning you say you do 🤷‍♀️

Always been a flex. That's why postcards were invented.

And YY to a pp who mentioned people's holiday slides and how you would be invited to go around and watch them.

I thought that had gone out of fashion but in 2016 when we moved to our current house our new neighbours invited us around to 'enjoy' 3 hours of their houseboat / canal trip. Complete with a blow by blow desription of how they negotiated each and every single lock.

At one point I slipped home 'to go to the loo' in order to down a few glasses of wine quickly and hard.

I'm not in the UK but this year I'm doing 3 domestic trips and one long haul trip. The long haul trip isn't cheap (think 5 star adults only resort on a tropical island).

I also drive a crappy car, and have a lodger to generate more income (meaning that in my 40s I am sharing my house with a random person).

I think for anyone who has disposable income, it just comes down to priorities.

I adore going on 'holiday' and will grab any chance to go away somewhere for a night or more. We don't have a lot of spare cash, however, so when we go to a nice hotel it's because we have saved up and gone without other treats (e.g. we rarely eat out and never get takeaway, as we prefer to spend the money on travel or other things. In the same way, I don't have an iPhone.)

Our most frequent destination is to stay with OP's parents as we love to see them and also they need our help as they are elderly and unwell. Getting there is not particularly easy - or that cheap - but where they live is beautiful and DMIL likes and needs to walk so we go to different beaches with her as well as the forest and pretty towns (to do their life admin. e.g. bank, doctor).

DP doesn't use social media and I don't post personal photos and would never write that I was away on holiday so no one would know that we were away except DP'S or my parents or siblings if we send them a postcard or any close friends that we might mention it to.

It's something we enjoy but definitely not 'a flex'.

Why do we go away? Because we find it interesting to discover new places and this is a way we like to treat ourselves.

We did this a couple of months ago! (As in were invited to friends' to see their trip photos.) And the 100s photos had already been sent to us via WhatsApp!

I've always been in the fortune position of being able to go on holiday multiple times a year since I was little. My husband & I are in the same fortunate position to take our son away too - we will have 5 holidays abroad this year, we also have a caravan which we use every weekend. That's not a brag, it's a fact.

I don't post any of these things on my social media because I don't care to. I used to do but then quickly realised no one actually cares where I've been! Now I might put a few photos on of beautiful views etc. My good friend doesn't place much emphasis on holidays and never goes, she does however love herself a new car and re-decorates every 15 minutes - her house is beautiful! She also goes out lots. All of these things she posts about on Facebook, because she's proud of them! I see no different in that than I do of people going away! Is it a brag? Yeah I suppose, should it bother anyone? No.

I work for a travel agency from home. People are booking YEARS in advance to pay minimum deposits and low monthly payments to secure the dates they require. These holidays could have been booked a long time in advance!

Delete social media and free yourself of that bullshit!

Lots of research about how experiences eg activities / holidays make us happy, but "stuff" eg clothes, jewelery doesn't

Lots of focus on mental health and well being = people prioritise holidays

Holidays are cheaper than they were in the distant past

When you can't afford the big stuff, you spend £ buying the best of what you can afford eg can't afford a larger house, so go on holiday

And, some holidays aren't hugely expensive. When I go on holiday, I aim for cheap flights, self catering, buy food from local shops, and walk everywhere. I'm not spending ££££ on this

Our cheapest ever holiday was a home exchange. Free accommodation

Interesting. How far in advance would you say people are booking? Eg could one book for 2026 now? It makes sense.

Covid had the opposite effect on me. I found enjoyment in the small pleasures in life, I spent time making my house and garden much nicer, and enjoy my own space (read, humans annoy me); and now going away seems more hassle than it's worth.

I think people have always 'flexed' about holidays. It's something outside of the mundane for most. However, there has been an increase since Covid, like you say OP. But is that possibly because cpvid made people want to live a little more. Take more opportunities? Go places after a year of restrictions? I actually quite like seeing where people go, it's inspiration I guess.

cant believe you live with parents so you can afford holidays

No that's not why we live here🤣

What I said was, rather than saving every single penny (and having a miserable life doing nothing) with no sign of being able to afford anything, we started saving extra on the side to not feel guilty about taking holidays. We would be living here whether we went on holidays or not🤣

Im wondering this, is it flexi time? So people taking time off at very short notice?