Many people prioritise/ live for holidays above all else

[Elizo]

Recently went on a wonderful/ expensive group holiday with DC having saved up/ extended mortgage. We aren’t wealthy/ don’t go abroad often but from the chat with others think holidays are huge priority and what they really look forward to all year above all else. Saving/ working hard all year for ski-ing/ trips to US etc - clearly that sort of travel out of reach for most of us. Loved our holiday and wondering if we are odd ones out in this!

That's not my experience. Most families I know do a mix of holidays abroad and staycations. Lots camp. I don't live for holidays, they're a little bonus but never a sole focus of mine.

If they enjoy it and can afford it, why shouldn’t they?

I do like holidays but I don't prioritise above daily living. Have just booked for next year (very usual for me) as it's an event though.

I’m very similar. I book well in advance, so I only need to save a small amount each month, which doesn’t impact on daily life. I would not borrow to go on holiday.

DH and I both work FT, we need our breaks!

I absolutely love our holidays and it's definitely the number one thing we enjoy! Long haul/short haul/UK breaks - anything! We just love that time together spent as a family.
Children luckily both have hobbies, we do something most weekends, they don't go without. But we have a very very small mortgage, oldish cars, don't drink or smoke, don't spend money on anything else really apart from trips and days out together.
I don't really understand that "build a life you don't need a holiday from" quote - surely it's possible to have a lovely life and enjoy holidays too. Our life and happiness is spending time together ❤️

"with other working class Brits"- what would you have the "working class" aspire to in terms of who they holiday with?

Fair enough if Benidorm is not your scene. Fair enough if you feel people on a low income shouldn't reduce their standard of living in order to take a holiday.

However why steer at working class people holidaying with other working class people? You should try popping on a disguise sometime and joining us, you may be suprised.

So? If they enjoy that holiday what's the problem?

For me the key word in the quote is "need". Of course it's fabulous to have both a lovely life outside of holidays and also to have lovely holidays.

However, I know people who prioritise living and working in a way that makes them unhappy for 48 weeks of the year in order to have 4 weeks of happy holidays. That's their choice of course, and I respect that.

However it would not be my choice. I would prefer a holiday to be a "nice to have" rather than something that I "need".

I'd also like to live a life where spending quality time with the people I love is frequent and easy so that when we holiday it isn't any kind of added bonus.

I don't really understand that "build a life you don't need a holiday from" quote - surely it's possible to have a lovely life and enjoy holidays too.

I need my holidays because I want to see places, experience new countries and cultures - quite challenging if you don't take holidays to travel. Unless you work as hotel reviewer or travel influencer, but I also have no desire to do that. So holidays it is.

They'd evidently be working the low paid job they hate whether they went on holiday or not, since food and bills aren't free. So that's irrelevant.

As you talk about deprivation, the question is simply what they want to do with the limited disposable income that they have. Perhaps those working class Brits are capable of seeing the issue with more clarity than you.

'Pearl clutching'? Uncalled for.

Growing up in the 80s/90s, my parents weren’t at well off - quite the opposite. But they saved all year for us to go abroad (sometimes every two years). We didn’t have a car and we werent bought much outside of what we needed, but we LOVED going on holiday. We were never in debt, or living hand to mouth, but holidays were definitely prioritized.

Interesting that no-one seems to be commenting as to what they get from holidays, especially multiples and foreign. See so many doing bucket list ticking, queuing to take the same photo as a dozen others, checking off views without experiencing anything of local life -or worse, treating local staff etc as beneath acknowledgement - and I do wonder- what is it that you are getting from this that a few documentaries and week in, say, Margate wouldn't accomplish? And nothing is worth remortgaging for. My most expensive holiday was with 'well travelled' friends who avoided any interaction with locals, treated servers with ignore, and insisted on a misery making private boat hire to travel between islands instead of mixing it with the hoi polloi on the ferry. Worst holiday I've ever had. Best: local buses, trains and ferries, and the world for company.

What do I get from it? Different weather, food, culture, wildlife, meeting new people who have a different way of life, learning new things. Watching a documentary isn't exactly a patch on the real thing!

@daleylama I often wonder that.
There is an area of America I would love to go to. Unless I win the lottery it's never going to happen.
But I have read books and articles about the area. Watched documentaries. I have looked on Google Earth at the actual towns and buildings etc.
As a place of interest (to me) I know so much about it - I just haven't actually been there.

I love a holiday, happy to get into debt for one but I usually pay monthly in the lead up to break down payments. I think holidays are essential.

I prioritise holidays.

We limit flights but travel overland via trains. Think Race Across the World. The journey is part of the holiday.

For me, I work hard all year and earn a lot. It's about spending time with the kids, expanding their horizons. Getting them to smell the Parthenon not just see it in a book, feeling the chill in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, sunrise surf lessons and breakfast after. When I die, those are the memories I'll have.

fair do's to you. My point was, my experience of too many 'travellers' is that they do it for bragging rights, and yes the food and what each defines as culture- but its all very tickbox and shallow if you don't get involved in local life at all. The verb tends to go : ' I am a traveller,' you are a tourist', 'they go on package deals to resorts'

You extended your mortgage for a holiday?! That’s insanity. And I say that as someone who loves to travel (4 holidays abroad this year and 2 in the UK)

There's nothing wrong with a package deal at a resort though either if that's what people enjoy. We all like different things. I don't like wine, I think it tastes gross and for me it would be a waste of money to buy it but I do understand that other people are different than me and some people will spend a bit of money on a good bottle of wine.

We prioritise holidays - but this tends to be quantity rather than quality - so going for several cheap and cheerful breaks throughout the year (short haul or uk in rental rather than long haul and luxury hotel). I really couldn't do the massive saving over years for one holiday - just imagining the pressure for it all to be perfect, and the comedown if (when) it isn't .

When I say we prioritise, I mean that we live in a small house and until very recently we always had fairly old second hand cars .

My favourite thing is feeling the sun when it's warm and pleasant, rather than hot, and looking out on the sea with the sun sparkling on the waves. That's what I get from visiting southern Europe in the winter or 'shoulder season'. Alongside wandering around the picturesque villages. I try to recreate that with UK holidays in the summer - but more often than not I get grey clouds and sea. Maybe I should just move to the coast - but my family and friends are all in the midlands . So I have lots of holidays.

Planning holidays really helps me cut down on unnecessary spending. I saw two dresses yesterday that I liked, but don't need, so didn't buy because of holiday plans next year. I save about £10 a visit to lidl/aldi/b&m. So I'm lucky in the sense that they pay for themselves. Up North the weather isn't as good and the places that we can get to easily are the same. Not all children do well in wet/cold weather. If we had the guarantee of no/light rain then I'd be happy across Wales and our Northern coasts. I can fly cheaper and more quickly abroad than I can get to Cornwall etc. We do city breaks in the UK and across Europe as well. I keep my fitness up (at nearly 60) and subsequently my weight down because I want to get about for as long as possible.

"I don't really understand that "build a life you don't need a holiday from" quote "
It's total shite. I don't want to leave the UK, so I'm stuck with the weather. Both me and my adult DD (two children) commented while food shopping/meal planning that we could do with a AI for a week. "A change is as good as a rest" and needing a change of scenery, makes more sense.

We have sacrificed holidays for 4 years so we could save and pay off mortgage at the end of this year. Been hard and miserable at times but totally worth the sacrifice and plan to start having really nice holidays from next year!