to ask for you tips with booking cheap long haul flights?

[Extraordinarytimes]

After costing up a modest eurocamp style break in France, I am wondering if we would be better off spending on flights and staying in a much cheaper country?

I haven’t traveled long haul since the kids were born and have been studying sky scanner but not really getting anywhere. Want to travel mid-August and don’t mind gentle monsoon. Do mind heat - can’t be higher than 35 really. Happy with modest accommodation; as long as the kids have a separate room and it’s clean. We used to camp (can’t now for health reasons) so standards can be low! Kids are all foodies so street food etc would be heaven for them. Would be lovely to have a beach but if not, decent hotel pool would be OK if there was plenty to see and experience.

Normally takes us 24 hours to travel to France so happy with similar flight time, or less! I have been looking at Thailand but can’t really make the flight figures work. Hoping for a total travel+accomodation spend of £4k - for 12-14 days. Husband refuses a shorter break as he takes that long to de stress!

Any hints or tips please? Or am I dreaming/being unreasonable and should return to France? 5 of us, kids 14, 12 and 10.

I used to build a holiday around whatever long haul flights popped up on Jack's Flight Club (I've been a member since before Covid), been to New York, Vietnam, India, Malaysia for dirt cheap - comparatively.

But I'm restricted to school holidays and since Covid there is very very little around. Lots of airlines have cut routes so the stuff that would be discounted just isn't there any more, and demand has gone up.

If you get on JFC now and have a look at the black friday offers you'll see what I mean. Very slim pickings. You might get something in Europe, but lots of the places that come up I've been to before. I still renew my membership every year but I purchase hardly anything now.

Pre covid I had a few August holidays in Thailand with my children. Not much more than £3k for flights and hotel for the 3 of us. That was a four star beach hotel so I could have done it cheaper. Now, flights are so much more expensive. We're going to Thailand for Christmas this year and, for 4 people this time flights alone are over £6k, although that is peak season.

If China doesn't work then Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan? I've really enjoyed them all, some as packages and some travelling round. Flights are shorter and cheaper.