Would you bother going on holiday if your life was like this?

[Becauseisaidsook]

Live abroad, house with small pool, quiet road, able to walk to the beach and countryside. Space to ride bikes, plenty of beach bars, beaches, restaurants nearby. Lots of playgrounds and things to do.
Would you spend money and have the hassle of going somewhere else when kids were small or stay where you were for your two week holiday?

Also we had lots of visitors: family and friends which changed the routine in a nice way too

Kids were small nope. Even when bigger you can do things like caming in the garden etc

I would for a change of scenery.

Probably not while kids are very small but for city breaks when older, or to visit specific places, yes of course.

Yes because there are other places rather than just beach and pools. To go to another beach no to go to mountains cities theme parks yes

Well if I wanted to go on holiday and wanted a change I would but if I didn't then I wouldn't 🙄

that’s me minus the pool but we have a membership to a nearby outdoor pool, so it’s very hard to convince me to go anywhere when DD and DS are so young. When they are older it will probably be city breaks and the odd beach holiday to a warmer place

If you're all happy at home then enjoy it. You could spend the money making the time at home really special - takeaways, new toys or a day out at a water park.
Much less hassle and very relaxing for you all I should think.

When our kids were under 8 we lived in a villa in Spain with a pool, close to a gorgeous beach, lovely restaurants etc. We still went on holiday, just not beach/villa holidays.

Absolutely. There are endless cities and museums and castles and little towns and scenery and places I want to see

I didn’t with under fives. There's plenty of multicultural encounters in their everyday lives where we live. It’s not like they would remember the trips.

I don’t really get the ‘they won’t remember it anyway’ thing to be honest. There are millions of things that have happened in my life that I don’t remember, big and small, but they’re all experiences that have shaped the person I am today.
Having said that, if you’re happy at home then stay at home!

Plus I'll remember it! I didn't stop wanting to see places just because I had children and our holidays never stopped being about seeing places we wanted to. On a more relaxed schedule and with a lot more snack breaks and eating in less interesting places for now at least. But we've never holidayed entirely based around only what the DC want to do.

If you are fortunate enough to live in a holiday destination, then no you dont need to go on holiday to entertain the kids

Yes, I have lovely memories of holidays we went on with our young children!

Consider a holiday house swap.

What do you mean by “small” kids? I would probably save travelling till they were around 6/7. And even then do a city break or something not more of the same.

I live in a lovely place and didn’t choose to go far when the children were small (less than 80 miles in each direction). If I’d lived abroad, I’d have wanted to come home and familiarise my children with my corner of the UK, family and friends.

Yes I would. I like seeing other places and doing different things but most of all, I like to "get away from it all". Being at home, however lovely, is simply not the same. And yes I would do so (and did) with very young children.

Yes, of course, if I could afford it. It's lovely to visit different places!

I had parents who moved around a lot. It leaves you with a pervasive sense of never really fitting in anywhere. That can be a positive, but it takes work.

In addition to going home to see your family and the culture you are from? Probably not until they are old enough to visit castles, museums and ancient ruins. In my family there is no lower limit on that (in moderation), but you might feel differently.

Yes because any holiday at home would invariably include sorting, cleaning, DIY and getting round to all the stuff we don’t manage the rest of the year no matter how hard we said we weren’t going to.

What if that holiday destination is the Cotswolds or Devon or London or Edinburgh? Then still no need for holidays?

To me with small kids a holiday is a break from worrying about cooking, cleaning, washing etc. Sounds like you’ve only got one DC though so maybe you don’t have a lot of menial tasks on your plate. Sounds like a nice life.