How do people afford good holidays

[Penguinbiscuitsarenowtiny]

Just researching about a treat holiday/trip for my 50th in a few years time…Hawaii and California, obviously was expecting it to be several thousand as a special trip.
Chat gpt predicts between £15-26 K for two adults & one child

😳

How on earth do people do this?

Was it always this much?

Ive been to Australia, New York, India etc, none of them were anywhere near this price!

Depends what you call a good holiday. For my 50th I went to France for three weeks, it was brilliant and cost me about £1500 altogether.

😱
we have a joint income of £60,000 and got to go abroad 4 times a year!
We still manage to save too!
maybe look at how you could cut back to save more and go on holiday

Use Google flights to track cheapest flights.

That’s an expensive holiday but not that expensive

quote I had for 14 days, 5 cali at a Disney hotel and the others in aulani, 2 adults 2 kids inc flights £15k BUT this is Disney so much more expensive than needs be and includes park tickets and lightening lanes so that’s about £2k

packages in general are more expensive but I guess it depends what you want to do in cali too

A few years ago we did a west coast California road trip, us and two late teen DC for £14k. We save hard! We just took our two adult DC and their partners to Barbados for £12k

We afford very nice holidays by having a decent income and low outgoings. We chose not to overstretch on housing or cars, and we don't have kids.

I'm not sure what it is you're looking for in a holiday but I've flown from San Francisco to Honolulu for about $400 return. I've also travelled around America quite a lot and it can be as cheap or expensive as you like.

Why does a good holiday need to be abroad?

I honestly don’t think many people do that trip at all. I also think ChatGPT is not designed for factual information. You need to google and research properly.

For my 50th, I used a specialist travel agent. They took care of everything and stayed within budget.

How does anyone afford anything? They earn more, have lower outgoings or have family money. We spend around £5k a year on holidays at the moment but spend £15k a year in nursery fees. When they go we would be able to afford £15k holidays if we wanted to. We have a high income but it’s not really high.

Who the fuck do you think you are? Childless people are relevant wherever they choose to be.

Lots of us came here because of the fertility boards and stayed. So sorry that my inability to have children is so offensive to you.

Chat GPT isn't a travel agent or even a search engine so of course it's going to give you a stupid answer.

Get in touch with an actual travel company for a real quote.

Perhaps reconsider Hawaii, all I ever see is locals saying there is no ethical way to be a tourist there. I would personally also not visit the states while Trump is president given how many tourists have fallen foul of ICE and had a nightmare with it, but that's your call.

We’re off to cali for 3 weeks soon - 2 adults & 2 teens. Flights, airport parking, hotels inc breakfasts, universal, Disney, Warner bros, sports events, city tours, and trains all booked for about £12k. Everything researched/booked separately. Has taken a lot of planning! Obviously will have food spending on top once we get there. How we’re paying for it - we don't do it every year & we’re throwing in a bit of inheritance, a bit of redundancy money, and lots of saving so we can have ‘one big holiday’ before the kids are too old to want to travel with us…

Love Hawaii - Kauai is my top recommendation. Do you have to take your kids?

We're doing California this year. 1k each for flights, about 750 for car hire for a week, booking hotels indivdually - average 200 per night per room for a reasonable motel (not in LA). Food is super expensive though so I'd leave a higher chunk of your budget for eating/excursions than for accomodation/flights. Great place to vacation

hawaii is extortionate

just do cali

I never spend that much on a holiday and I'm really well travelled and stay in amazing places.

Get a CC with great points to a hotel chain/airline. Use it to buy everything and PAY IT OFF IN FULL EACH MONTH.
Research, research, research. Yourself, not Chat GPT.
Definitely look at VRBO/AirBnb (I personally have never had a bad VRBO experience). Also, if they have a link to their own website, check it out as it can work out cheaper but is more of a gamble.
Car hire, I use Expedia. It's often cheaper than going direct and it has made zero difference to any car upgrades. I use the car insurance that comes free with my CC. We have had 2 crashes over the years (neither our fault and both in California) and the CC insurance was fine.
Don't just go with the most well known hotel chains. There are some fantastic independents out there.
Be date flexible.

I kind of find the planning quite therapeutic, especially in the wintertime. Enjoy your trip!

What the heck?! Why has my post been hidden?!

They earn more? They sacrifice spending on other things? They go out of season? They book cheaper accommodation?

Oh shit hold on to your hat! I have no kids, higher than average earner and… oh dear are you sitting…have the pearls properly clutched… smelling salts at the ready?

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I’m an American😱🤯

Weirdly I’m still relevant even here on MN.

@Penguinbiscuitsarenowtiny sorry for the smart ass interlude I couldn’t resist 😁

Hope you find good deals out there for your trip.

I went to a good old fashioned travel agent to book my flight to Australia and accommodation. It really saved me so much money,particularly the flights.
The internet was just beyond my comfort trying to work out best airline.
I left Travel Agent with my seats booked as well..bloody marvellous 🤩

Start collecting airmiles now. That's what we dp and rarely pay for full priced flights. Some of the credit cards give you hotel status too so you get free breakfasts etc that also helps and some do free lounges too.

ChatGPT's job is to give you a plausible sounding answer, not necessarily the correct one.

We managed Florida - Universal, Disney, Cape Kennedy, Everglades, Keys for about a third of the cost of a Disney only, hotel based package. Not sure our holiday would count as "good" by your standards, but we had a brilliant time.

I LIVE in California and go on holiday to Hawaii sometimes. For one week in mid-range hotels, with flights and car hire for two adults, one kid, it’s easily $6,000. That’s before any meals or excursions. I’d honestly recommend doing one of the other. There’s SO much to see in both States.

Either road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles or San Diego, taking in the coast (Monterey, Malibu, Santa Monica…) etc and National Parks (Yosemite, Sequoia, Pinnacles are some of the best).

Or choose two Hawaiian islands (I’d recommend Oahu, which is busiest and most famous and one other - probably Maui, Kauai or Hawaii (the big island).

Have fun whichever you choose!

Well paid jobs and save up. That is the holiday of a lifetime and most families go to cheaper places and only one place. A holiday like that even someone well earning and going in the school holidays would likely have to save up over a couple of years