To holiday in the UK?

[HoneyPie12]

So, first world problems obviously but summer holidays.. we have 3 boys ages 15, 12 and 7 and in 2024 we went on our first ever abroad family holiday. It was bloody lovely - we had the best time. It was a very impulsive decision made 2 weeks before at the travel agents and my equally impulsive husband went from looking online to us sat booking it with a travel agent within a day or 2! I cannot stress how much of a great time it was. We put it on our credit card and then didn't go anywhere in 2025 as we told the children we were still paying off our lovely holiday - they totally understood. It's all paid off now and we are now talking about doing it in 2026. However, while we were chatting, I've just heard myself say out loud - well if our budget is 5k...

5k. For one week. 5 thousand British pounds. I had the best holiday and we had so much fun but 5,000 pounds for one week?! We obviously don't have that spare or we wouldn't have needed to put it on a credit card last time. We have very little savings really and the sensible thing would be to stay home. We could go away somewhere in the UK for half the price I suppose - although not all inclusive and maybe no flipping sunshine!

I guess my question is:

AIBU to book a 5k family holiday in 2026 knowing that 5k is a LOT of money and could potentially be spent on other things?

Or is it a YOLO situation where my lovely husband and amazing kids work hard all year and why shouldn't we just say sod it and book - not many years left where they will be at home and want to spend time with us?!

I lean this way too 😄 🤣 xx

If it’s taken you that long to pay off your 2024 holiday, I definitely wouldn’t pay another £5k for a 2026 holiday. Why the fixation on all inclusive? We’ve done several Eurocamp holidays for much cheaper than that (especially if you can drive). They are great holidays for kids if they want pools/sports/activities on tap. Gives them (and you!) lots of freedom and it’s easy to make friends.

This is very smart. Probably why we have been so bad with money for so many years as we never had any so now we have good jobs etc we really need to start thinking this way! we didn't really have these problems before! X

Some of our best holidays have been in this country (Cornwall!) however I always want to go abroad too for the guaranteed sun.

If you paid it off without too much trouble go for it. Ps. £1K each per week AI in summer is about right for a 3 star hotel. It’s not a snip and it’s not particularly expensive. You could do an AI cruise for similar.

We went on a Tui cruise to Italy last summer hols for about that for 5 of us.

we have been so bad with money for so many years how so? That introduces a new element to your OP

when did you pay off the 2024 hol?

I agree with a PP - can you figure out what exactly made the holiday so good? See if you can get better value for money

for example if it was the novelty - you won’t replicate that feeling so might as well do something different and potentially cheaper

if it was warm sun and sand - that can be done cheaper

if it was having to do nothing - no food , no thinking , stick with what you loved

If I were in your shoes, I would book a slightly cheaper holiday on a pay monthly basis. You can do that online without having to go to a travel agent (ime this is way cheaper!).

Life is very short and nobody knows what’s around the corner for them, but I don’t think you will regret having quality time with your children.

Also, holidays in the UK are often quite expensive!

I wouldn't say we have a fixation- it's just we do lots of other trips in the UK, camping etc that don't really feel like a break if we need to cook and clean. I do love going away with everyone but the AI holiday was amazing for the fact I could just totally switch off - no laundry, no worrying about the weather and no cooking/paying for meals out when we find places that everyone likes!

How much extra did you pay for the holiday when you account for the interest charges?

I was a teen single mum on a very low income in council accommodation before I met my husband who worked a low paid job and was living with his mum after relocating. We found our way but never quite had enough money when my big boy was younger - nursery fees were crippling and some months we barely scraped by. Over the years we have both worked really hard in our careers and now have really good jobs - for context my job now pays more annually than we ever earned a year together back then! We never had holidays because we never had money!

I would just pay it and have a lovely time. Life’s short and life with kids is shorter. Be no time at all until they are no longer interested in family holidays and go off with their friends. English holidays are ok but the weather is hit and miss and still costs a fortune

It was 0% interest and we paid it off over 12 months so I'm not sure it cost any more x

I'm always shocked at UK prices. We do camp a lot which we love but even that can be 300 a week in the school holidays and we bring our own accommodation haha! Xx

It's 1000% the do nothing part. It felt so relaxing - even if it's just the no ordering shopping, no taking turns to cook, no looking up takeaways, no washing up part. It's probably very lazy of me honestly x

So not “really bad with money for years” at all

I couldn't bear to go into that kind of debt for a one week break tbh. But if would depend for me how big your 'dire situation ' fund is tbh.
How long could you last if one or the other if you lost your job? Or was unable to work for whatever reason for a few months ? Or if your boiler breaks or you need to replace a car? If you have enough of a buffer that you wouldn't be risking you ability to be housed and fed if one of you had a car accident or sth then sure.
But if you are only secure as long as absolutely nothing bad happens then no, not for me.

People holiday differently, but generally I find holidays abroad to work out cheaper then similar accommodation standard in the UK. (Cheeper food, accommodation and attractions usually ofsets the cost of flights/ferries).

Are you comparing like for like, or is it either 5* all inclusive abroad or butlins in the uk

I get why you would enjoy an all inclusive so much more as it's relaxing for you. But if you are justifying this on a 'making memories ' basis with your kids then do you think they care about that part?

You won't have many years when they all want to go away with you I know, but when they are too old to want to travel with you then you can afford more luxurious and restful holidays without them as a consolation 🤣

I'm a YOLO person. I'm also a grab your chances while you can person. With your DC growing fast, there may not be many years left for you all to enjoy the same holiday at the same time.
If £5k seems a bit on the steep side, have you checked out all your options, cheaper countries, cheaper weeks etc? Looked at the budget online deals from love holidays and similar? Or considered getting cheap flights to anywhere nice and an air b&b?

Buying it using a credit card and paying it off immediately, yes, that makes sense. But OP describes paying off the last one over a period of months.

I don't know, I think I was pretty bad with money back then. I didn't really have any so used to do Christmas on catalogues like Studio and then struggle with repayments, my husband had a car on finance back in the day that he couldn't really afford, both of us at separate times had payday loans, I used to be in emergency credit with the meters and I couldn't learn to drive untill quite late as I couldn't afford the lessons but kept saying I would save and never could - things like that make me cringe now. I grew up on a council estate with poor parents too so I just thought everyone lived the same way really! It was lots of silly financial decisions over the years borne of not a lot of financial education, circumstances and getting ourselves into a hole by "quick fixes"

Personally I would say go for it, if your eldest is 15 then you'll have limited opportunities for full family holidays in the future x

I would book another holiday yolo . Compare all the holiday sites i was comparing yesterday £1000 difference between tui and jet2.

Yes good point. We have put aside about 1300 since paying it off - but again not enough! Maybe just saving holiday money every month and then starting over once we have been is the best way forward x