Going away (almost) every school holiday?

[Reddingmilk]

We went abroad at Easter so we aren’t going away this month. Lots of school Mums being surprised that we aren’t going away again.

I am surprised people can afford to go on holiday so much as well as have enough annual leave for it?!

Quite a few families from school have been away at Easter, May, then they’re having a UK break this summer as well as going abroad. Then they’ll be off somewhere again in October. Baffles me.

In between this, they have lots of days out at the weekend.

I’m not just talking about foreign holidays, even the UK isn’t cheap and then using up annual leave too.

Am I doing something wrong? We are cautious with money and need to plan annual leave carefully so have some spare in case of illness etc. It seems to be unusual these days to spend time at home or just doing low key stuff locally.

You have to be rich to keep going away five star inclusives. You are obviously well off.

Oh and it would be pretty rare to have kids off school a full week with a sick bug and separately.

My DC between them this year missed 3 days of school. One for a minor surgical procedure, one due to a vomiting bug on a friday, each had a half day sent home with fever but were back the next day. I didn't use annual leave either half day, they watched tv while i finished work as I'd only an hour and a half left.

Dh and i each used one day of annual leave covering kids sickness.

We get 6 weeks each annual leave a year, plus bank holidays. We are away for 4 weeks but due to when bank holiday fall its usually only just over 3 weeks worth of annual leave, which leaves 3 weeks each for time at home over Christmas etc.

I think you might have misread my post - I said we do more cheaper trips rather than 5* AI

We do this, travel at Christmas, Easter, May and in summer (often twice in summer). Our jobs are flexible and there are times where we work very hard, evening and weekends, but no one is counting days of leave. It's one of the privileges of an otherwise underpaid job (academia).

We have family abroad, as do about 1/3 of kids in the uk today. So a lot of travel is to do with that.

I don't know why you have quoted me and made that comment. It' comes over as very unpleasant.
You don't need to spell it out we weren't as well off as other people.: Of course people who have more money can afford to do what they want and can provide music lessons , sports equipment etc as well as go on holidays. That's obvious. Although actually among DS's school friends none of them did have piano lessons and none of them owned a piano..
I was talking about what was important to us as a family. That holidays weren't that our priority and actually one per year was sufficient for us. Why you feel the need to comment on our financial situation I don't understand.

Obviously there's a huge variety in what people can afford.

Its most noticeable where we live that in junior school the families with two earners both in high paid careers are coming out of the childcare cost years and suddenly have a lot of disposable income. These are the families now going off to Zermatt or barbados in february, val de lobo, crete or cyprus in May, st Ives in august. Often extra weekends on top.

The reason I want to go away with my GC , on my own next Easter break is because I want to do a completely child centered holiday while they are still little. I'm going to Pirates village, Santa Ponsa. In eighteen months my eldest GC will be out of the age range. Read the threads on holidays with teens and you can see why people make the most of the primary years. I also do a Christmas Eve panto for that reason. You don't get this time back.

"IMO these people struggle to entertain their children themselves and feel the need for constant activities"

Nonsense.

I get allocated leave, and I'm recently divorced so I am going back to the one-holiday-a-year mindset. I am fortunate this year though, I spent four days in Athens in May by myself and had a lovely time, and in two weeks my parents are taking me & DD on holiday at no cost (apart from insurance and spending money).

Next year my holidays will be in June, and I'm saving up for an Inter-rail holiday. That's the only one planned. It's a shame because I do get a lot of annual leave but most of the time I stay at home due to the cost of these days.

I know, so frustrating that people try and drag others down to raise others up. It screams jealousy

Isn’t it as simple as some people have more annual leave and disposable income than you do?

To provide an example, I personally have 32.5 days annual leave, plus bank holidays. I also get an extra day (informal/non/contractual) over Xmas. Most bank holidays tie up with school holidays - over Xmas, Summer, Easter and May half term. So over say May half term, I could take a week off by using only four days annual leave. I could take around 8 weeks off a year if I planned it efficiently. School holidays are around 13 weeks a year.

We have plenty of disposable income.

My daughter's in-laws do this, with 2 children. They have a campervan and stay either at cheap campsites or overnight in car parks.

Some people have more money
Some people prioritise holidays - I'd rather have cheaper food shops, cheaper cars and have ikea furniture and so on but go away more often
Some people (obviously not on MN 😂) have friends and family and are invited to various places meaning it's actually a cheap holiday.
Some holidays are cheaper than others

You are happy with 1 holiday a year, that's a choice, you are not doing anything wrong but neither am I because I prefer to go away a lot more often and mix UK staycations, and various trips abroad, a bit of city break, some beach holidays.

I don't think it's the norm for families with kids to go away multiple times a year. I guess it's just about how much disposable income you have or what your priorities are.

I don't have kids but DP and I do go away quite a bit. However, our house is a right old state and two of the rooms plus the garden desperately need a complete refurb! I know I have other friends who are pretty frugal about holidays but put all their money into making their house really beautiful.

There are quite a number of jobs/fields where you get a lot more than 28 days. Both DH and I get 44 days so we go abroad for 4 weeks a year. We aren't allowed to use any annual leave during February or October half terms or we'd probably go away more, but we do try to squeeze in a trip in the UK during May half term and sometimes another during the 6 weeks if our summer holiday dates allow it. We are careful with everything we spend so that we have enough for holidays, and are obviously very lucky as I know plenty of people are also very careful with their money and still don't have enough to travel.

We go away most school holidays - a mixture of abroad and uk, we usually do February and October abroad, visit family at Easter in Ireland, and camping May and Summer holidays, with a few weekends thrown in. I absolutely do prioritise holidays as I find that holiday time as a family fun and enjoyable. We book a year in advance so that it's more affordable and often self cater. I'm frugal in other areas of life so that I can prioritise this.

what pressure?

I have always enjoyed travelling, I am not putting my life on hold because I have children, we actually enjoy holidays together.

Why do you think you don't need to entertain your children and have activities at home? It's bizarre. Unless you think that you on MN and your children reading books for 6 weeks is actually fun? I'd go mad, and I love reading 😂

Primarily because your original post stated that you preferred to
prioritise your disposable income on music lessons and books - the implication being that people who frequently travel don’t value music or books. I was merely pointing out that many many people do both and much more besides.

It was your original post that came across as unpleasant and dismissive.

We aren't wealthy but we have a few holidays and loads of UK weekends away every year. It depends where your priorities are. We live a fairly frugal life day to day.

This.

We are going away 3 times this year. Once because I did 6 weeks moonlighting in a pub to pay for an easter trip. Once because it is our annual summer holiday and once because my parents who live abroad are both having operations in December so we will go there for Christmas. That last was unexpected and we are selling shares to cover it.

Next year we will not go away even a single time because we will have obliterated our holiday savings and then some.

Everyone's different. Even each year, I'm different. Some years we've been away Easter/May/Summer, some years just the summer and some not at all. I don't understand the pressure to go away - travelling is just another hobby really, not a requirement. Sometimes I fancy it, sometimes I don't.

How do you all manage to get every school holiday off? We all have to take turns at work, and we're not allowed more than 2 weeks off at one time

I don't get every day of the holidays off but it's not difficult for me to get a week at Easter and Christmas (bank holidays help) and two weeks over the summer.

I get 33 days of leave so that still leaves some to spend with the kids locally

We go away every holiday except Christmas but not abroad. So this Easter we did a caravan long weekend, July we did a London city break, August a theme park and we’re going abroad in October. I’ve spent just less than £2.5k total for all those breaks so it’s not always ridiculously expensive, it depends where you go, how good deals you get, etc.

I very rarely go away at Christmas so I work Christmas and New Year - not on the bank holidays but that gives me a lot of brownie points for the other holidays