Half term

[CompletelyFlopped]

When I was young, we only ever went away for one holiday in the summer holidays. That was normal! In half term, Easter hols etc.. we hung out with friends or at home etc..

As my children are getting older I've noticed that where we live everyone seems to go away EVERY holiday! Half term? "We're away", Easter hols? "We're away"...

So it's May half term soon and was hoping my kids would be able to.apend some time outside with their friends on their bikes etc.. but literally everyone we know is away again!!! What the?

Is this normal now? How does everyone afford to go away every holiday? And how do they get so much time off work!!!

Where does everyone go?! And why?!

Maybe they just don’t want to see you! 😉

It's much cheaper to go away at half term or Easter then during the summer holidays, especially if the holidays don't aline between different areas. Maybe more of their friends will be around over summer?

I’ve been wondering the exact same thing! I don’t have anywhere near enough annual leave (or money) to do this. Maybe they’re all staying with family and working while away?

We go away may half term (long weekend) and summer holidays (2 weeks). Definitely not every holiday. The only people I know who do, have family with holiday properties either UK or abroad, and visit that each time

Haha! Well fleeing the area each holiday is quite extreme! I mean I'm not the greatest friend in the world, but am i sooo bad that people literally need to flee the area at every opportunity?! Maybe! But I doubt I'm that bad!

Well I think the message of don't have dc unless you can afford them as being drummed into many so those with dc often have higher incomes. We tend to go somewhere every break but mainly UK and don't spend 7k on a week abroad in the summer.

This is what we are doing this year & a typical year for us.

Feb half term - trip & stay at legoland

easter - away with friends to New Forest holiday park

may half term - a few nights in a UK seaside place

summer holidays - 2 wks French holiday park &/or at parents house in France.

Oct half term - Centre Parcs with extended family

Christmas - we don't tend to go away but do days out.

As the dc are getting older I will swap things for city breaks.

And sometimes we do additional camping trips with friends.

If you can afford it, why not? I try and go away every school holiday, I budget £1500-2000 for a week, slightly higher budget in the summer but still a week. I'm sure there are plenty of people who spend £10k on a fortnight in the summer but I prefer to spread mine out.

I'm self employed so holidays not an issue

Visiting family?

We don’t even go away for a holiday every year. We could afford to, but the dog doesn’t travel or board well. 😩 We’re around nearly every school holiday. Generally, I’d say that’s the case for most of dc’s friends. When they are away, it’s usually to visit family.

There is one family I know who is very much into cosplaying that they’re old money. They aren’t. They work very ordinary jobs. Drive an ordinary car. Live in an ordinary mid terrace village house. But the dad likes to stroll about the village in his pheasant hunting attire and do similar I’m trying to appear as if I’m a born member of the upper class sort of silly things.

They seem to be away in Greece on a yacht a lot. It’s just an AI Tui sort of holiday, but they go on a boat trip one day, and then lots of photos to post every day to make it look like they are on their yacht. They aren’t. But they seem to take a lot of holidays for social media content, so they are the only people I know who seem to go away regularly. I don’t think they are normal, in all sorts of ways. 😂

@skirtingcurtain how do you have enough AL?

We don't go away for Christmas after we didn't really enjoy it at my dad's one year.
Feb we have been skiing once and we've done two term time skiing holidays. It will be that OR Easter, not both.
May we might do a couple of days but usually not.
Main holiday 2 weeks in summer.
We have also gone to London for a couple of days in October half term once or twice but never all in the same year.
So this school year I took DD to London in Oct half term, then we had 2 nights away over NY as it was DS birthday.
No trips at Feb half term, Easter or May half term.
Main holiday northern France/Disney/Paris in July and August.

This is the sort of thing people round us seem to do! Have no idea how people can afford the leave (or the money!) I'm pretty envious!

@drspouse I get 7 weeks (pro rata) plus bank holidays and don't work f/t. DH is 6 weeks but does hybrid and can bank overtime so we make it worth. Plus we both work in offices so get 2 wks off at Christmas without using much annual leave if that makes sense.

@CompletelyFlopped I would say this is the norm for my friends and school mum friends.

I think some people spend a lot in the summer on one holiday where we just spread it out if that makes sense.

We don't tend to go away in the summer - so last few years we are those people - although we also do extreme day trips - long day but does mean we tend to go somewhere every school break

Easter 2025 - Tunisia (week)
Feb half term 2025 - Copenhagen (day trip)
Xmas holidays - didn't go away
Oct 2024 - Nice/Monaco (day trip)
Summer 2024 - Switzerland (3 days) & day trip to Dublin
May half term 2024 - Greece (week)
Easter 2024 - Portugal (3 days)

Others will be 'away' as they will stay with grandparents while their parents are working

By having our 'main' holiday outside of the summer holidays we can get cheap short breaks the rest of the year - so we have booked Croatia for 3 nights for £300 each in August

We go away three/four times a year but it’s mostly camping so it doesn’t cost anywhere near as much as an abroad holiday!
We went to London (hotel not camping)in the Easter hols and we are in Cornwall this half term, then have two weeks in the lakes in August… but the cost is less then half what it would cost to go to Spain all inclusive as a family of five!

Re the AL time off - I get 25 days paid holiday and 8 paid bank holidays but I also purchase an additional 5 days holiday every year and have used unpaid parental leave (although I don’t do this every year).
We are planning a big trip next year and are factoring in the cost of using unpaid leave as part of the cost of the holiday.
We also used to go away every school break when we lived in old house - it was less mortgage so we had more money and I hated the house, the area and (by the end of lockdown) the neighbours so didn’t want to spend any time there!
I love where we are now so don’t feel the need to go away all the time

We go away in May half term as it's cheaper and not as hot as summer (still mid-high 20s though; plenty warm enough).

This year, we will have gone away every holiday but a lot of them are cheap ish ,

Feb half term - long weekend at center parcs
Easter - long weekend short haul staying with friends
May half term - short haul euro camp, got a good deal on flights
Summer - UK break
October - UK break with PIL (their treat)

It’s normal for those who can afford it.

like you we had one holiday a year when I was growing up.

but my DH and I earn lots more than my parents so we are lucky enough to afford multiple breaks a year - some with the kids and some as adult breaks.

additionally our kids also visit and stay overnight with grandparents and aunties during the holidays and go on scout camps.

so lots of reasons for being away.

I think a lot of it is visiting family as well, it is for us

Some people prioritise holidays.. I love travelling and showing my children the world

I get 4 weeks A/L
I can buy another week and work up the hours for another week. So 6 weeks in total excluding bank holidays

Round here a lot of people seem to have caravans etc somewhere by the sea and go and spend most of their holidays there. Others visit family which is fair enough. Both of those count as “away”.

I don’t know many people who literally fly off abroad for family holidays more than once a year.