Feel annoyed we can’t go on another holiday this year

[Lifestooshort1542]

We usually do 2 abroad holidays a year one week each and 3 uk short breaks aswell.
This year we have come away abroad for 11 nights with the idea that if we came longer that would be our abroad holiday this year.
We have our 3 uk breaks booked this year too.
Well it’s nearing the end of our abroad holiday and I’m the type of person who’s always got to have something booked to look forward to (holidays are our thing we don’t spend money on anything else) so I’m now starting to get that holiday blues sad feeling of we are heading home in a few days and where usually we would be back in August we won’t be back until April again next year.

AIBU for thinking that waiting a year after an abroad family holiday is hard? Or do I need a reality check and look forward to our abroad holiday this time next year and we will do 11-14 nights again.

Financially we can afford to go in August this year but hubby works for his parents business and when I broached the subject to his mum that we may do a sneaky week in August she promptly informed me that he didn’t have any holiday days left (in fact he is already over his allowance of holidays with the breaks we’ve got booked in the uk this year)
I said well he can take a weeks unpaid and she said it’s not about the time off we’ve got a business to run and work to do.
So that annoyed me 😂

AIBU?

Blimey, there’s us feeling sorry for ourselves having our last holiday abroad 25 years ago, unfortunately our circumstances make it impossible at this moment in time and to even go on the occasional long weekend in the uk requires enormous planning.

So you are being a bit unreasonable, but very lucky to be able to have so many holidays.

Sure. But OP started a whole thread about how sad and annoyed she is about this, despite having four holidays lined up in the space of year. That's a holiday every three months.

Being sad about that is not really indicative of someone who's enjoying the rest of their life.

I like holidays too but when it matters to these extremes, something is likely missing.

Massively unpopular opinion on here but to be honest I judge people who happily fly back and forth on multiple overseas holidays every year. The environmental impact is ridiculous. If by having one overseas holiday this year you avoid a trip for say a family of 4 to Mallorca and back it could be the equivalent carbon emissions you use to heat a 3 bed semi for a whole year - that’s massive, and you’d still have had your holiday abroad.

Blimey. We're 15 years from an abroad holiday as a family (pre kids).

We're screwed because kids commitments make going away in the summer quite hard so we usually go youth hostelling at Easter or in may half term but gcses mean we're grounded.

Might get a weekend away in the summer or Oct half term but that's it for us.
I think having 3 more short breaks this year sounds amazing.

YABVU- childlike

@butterflycr
I think in your position I'd be reflecting on what's so unbearable about my day to day life life that I always have to have the next escape lined up?
Crikey, thats a bit deep.
How about she loves going away.
Last year I went abroad 13 times.Some were weekend trips to Belgium, the Netherlands,Ireland and other places in Europe where I went by myself, I had trips to Spain with my girlfriends and my holiday with Dh to Canada. I'm not escaping anything, I'm loving life and enjoy spending the money I earn on things I like doing!
My holiday for Easter 2026 is being planned!
Long may it continue.

YABU in that you booked one long break instead of 2 and now don’t like it but it was your bad choice - just don’t do it again!
Or you take kids away in August if money is not an issue without DH.

Haven’t RTFT, and no doubt you’ll get some unpleasant comments. I’m 100% with you. Whenever I break from a level of travel that I’m used to (and I go away a lot, it’s what I spend most money on), I really feel it and it can get me very down. Covid was an absolute nightmare, even though I went on holiday abroad twice in 2020 and 3 times in 2021, because I was heavily restricted in where I could travel (who remembers the ‘traffic light’ system?!).

I think your DH is being unreasonable by not negotiating time off - working for a family business, he must have more flexibility than most. I’m sure they can survive if he takes one week off in summer. If you can afford it, definitely try to make it happen. Go without him if you have to. Good luck.

I couldn't agree more.

Obviously YABU this thread feels like rage bait. How could anyone be so out of touch to post this genuinely 🙄

Sounds like your MIL felt that perhaps you and your DH needed a bit of a trip back to some cold hard facts of life. Yes, you are very lucky, and I'm sure you appreciate your good fortune and earn it, but maybe just dial back on the entitlement and check your privilege a little bit? I'm sure you'll manage to endure the privations of your life at home without a holiday for a tiny bit more of the year if you just put your mind to it.

Massively unpopular opinion on here but to be honest I judge people who happily fly back and forth on multiple overseas holidays every year.
The scheduled Ryanair flight that I book a few days before it leaves is going to go whether I'm on it or not.
The majority of my flights are last minute depending on my time off around my work rota.

Agreed!

The scheduled Ryanair flight that I book a few days before it leaves is going to go whether I'm on it or not.

This sounds like something you tell yourself to feel better when in your heart you know it just doesn’t work like that. The less seats that are booked whether last minute or not means less flights rostered. They’re not going to fly empty planes and pay for aviation fuel and salaries

Is this a joke? Surely no one can be this entitled!

I don't see 'privilege' and 'lucky' in this post - I see vacuity. It screams from the page.

I think your DH is being unreasonable by not negotiating time off - working for a family business, he must have more flexibility than most. I’m sure they can survive if he takes one week off in summer. If you can afford it, definitely try to make it happen.

But he's already had flexibility in taking over his amount of leave this year, and when the OP broached having an additional week with her MIL (I assume the business owner) she said no. The OPs husband will be really pushing his luck to ask again. The OP and her husband should have planned their leave better - if going abroad twice is important, then they should've planned that rather than so many UK breaks.

You sound really unlikeable

I haven't been abroad since my honeymoon been married 35 years. Haven't been away anywhere since covid before that my mum paid for us to go on holiday with her otherwise my children wouldn't have had a holiday at all and that was a holiday camp for a week

At what point in time did 'holiday abroad' become 'abroad holiday'? It doesn't even sound right. So YABU for that alone and as for the rest of it - meh. You are clearly lacking in awareness for posting this thread at all. Some thoughts should just stay in your head.

Go on your own?
Take a long weekend?

I said well he can take a weeks unpaid and she said it’s not about the time off we’ve got a business to run and work to do.
So that annoyed me 😂

This is why I would never work for family or vice versa. No one announces to their employer that they can take unpaid leave - and they certainly don’t get their spouse to do it!

Do you work? If he is over his allowance then you must be too.

The OP has since explained this - but even so, this doesn’t follow. The legal minimum for paid holiday in the UK is 20 days excluding public holidays. However, I get 25, and in my previous job got 28. It all depends on your employer. There’s no reason why one spouse couldn’t have more leave than another.

I hope this is a wind up. You should be grateful for what you have. Due to serious illnesses, caring duties and loss of my DH, I haven't had a single holiday, not even a weekend away, for 6 years. I'm waiting for an appointment time to come through for a knee replacement and won't be booking anything soon. Some people don't know how fucking fortunate they are.

This sounds like something you tell yourself to feel better when in your heart you know it just doesn’t work like that. The less seats that are booked whether last minute or not means less flights rostered. They’re not going to fly empty planes and pay for aviation fuel and salaries
I dont tell myself anything to feel better.
If I wasn't on a flight I'd be using my car to go to Scotland or Wales on my days off.

I could not cope with just one abroad holiday a year. And I’m not even well off, so a rare yanbu from me however I still think you’re trying to wind people up 😂