Holidays are just not worth the money

[Phonicshaskilledmeoff]

Holidays are just not worth it.

The kids are desparate to go on holiday. I struggle to see the value though. For the 5 of us an abroad holiday is about £3k minimum. I struggle to get over the cost whilst I’m there - £500 a day and I sit wondering whether it was worth it.

The kids are excellent travellers and beautifully behaved when on holiday so it’s nothing to do with them. I just think it’s insanely expensive for what you actually get.

I enjoy it whilst I’m there - how do I stop being a cheap killjoy?!

@Hayley1256

so you would spend £30 on snacks plus £30 on patisseries and also ice cream - all on top of three meals a day?! Nah, I don’t believe you!

But that's for a family of five, presumably flights rake a chunk out of that

I agree!! Some of my best childhood memories are doing simple things that were either free or didn’t cost much. You don’t need to go abroad to make memories.

Yes, unless someone's specifically asking for advice on how to save money on holiday, the relevant point isn't whether they could do it cheaper, it's whether they're going to. AI very much does work out cheaper in some cases, particularly if you've a DC who would be eating off the adult menu in restaurants but still gets charged as a child/young person in an AI.

I’m with you. I used to love holidays more than anything but find them an expensive anxiety fest these days. I have 2 ND children and trying to find something that suits everyone is impossible. DD is desperate for a holiday but my last trip abroad with her was difficult and I don’t really want to do it again. DS doesn’t really like travelling, and requires so many accommodations for his autism that is becomes a logistical nightmare. I end up making so many compromises that it’s me who has a shit time.

You don't, and I've had some wonderful UK breaks. I love a British holiday.

But... if you like the sort of holiday that OPs DC are asking for, which is warm sea and outdoor pool, it's by no means guaranteed. I still do UK breaks anyway, and have one planned for this summer, but no getting round that sometimes you do need to go abroad to make a particular type of memory.

It's very popular for some reason.

Oh gosh I live for holidays, I just love them & it's my biggest expense (other than the cost of running our home). We've done it all: camping, seaside caravan breaks, cottages, bell tents, Centre Parcs, cruises, city breaks, villas & 5* all inclusives and I've enjoyed every experience. My 18 year old son will tell you camping & Centre Parcs were his favourites.

@Tink3rbell30

hmm i dunno… no one I know does this

To me holidays are definitely worth the money, we have a great time having fun together in a different location and can get away from the normal business of work, school, nursery, household chores etc

YANBU. When I see people taking their small kids on multiple foreign holidays per year and ngaf about their air miles, I sometimes wonder how treasured those memories will be once the kid grows up and has to live with the consequences of the climate crisis... I don't have kids, but I was taken on many holidays as a child and I can see the benefit I gained from it to an extent, but I also have well-rounded, imaginative, well-informed and intelligent friends who didn't have those opportunities and who have gained everything they could have taken from foreign holidays through other experiences.

I'm not trying to judge anyone who still flies - I used to take several holidays per year. However, we do all need to tread more lightly on this earth and holidaying in the UK is also a beautiful and very varied experience.

I agree a complete waste of money although we did holiday when our children were young. I
just don’t enjoy them anymore. Hate the whole airport experience, hate being stuck on a plane always with random man beside me who falls asleep and leans on me.

I totally share your feelings about value for money, OP. I absolutely hate the feeling of being ripped off and can’t enjoy myself as a result.

We only started taking the kids abroad once they reached secondary school and I have to say that I think a nice (not fancy) AI hotel absolutely IS value for money. It costs a fortune to feed these teenagers at home, never mind in a restaurant. Going to a water park is extortionate in the UK, especially if you factor in some snacking. Even having an ice cream or a cold drink at the beach is pricey. So to get all of that INCLUDED in the price seems great to me.
The teenagers are also constant shower people, so I switch off the hot water at home before setting off and think of all the money I’m saving while I’m away using the hotel facilities. And I also think of all the petrol I’m saving while I am living at a hotel village instead of driving about.
Im probably kidding myself but the cost of a holiday feels justified in my miserly little mind!

Easily, I took DD to Paris for her birthday a few months ago. Lots of walking about and sight seeing. Breakfast was around £25pp but included this was added in as part of the hotel stay. Add in a nice fresh smoothie from a deli which were about £6 each. Easily spent more than £60 throughout the day stopping for coffee/drinks , pastries, chocolate shops etc. Then lunch was around £60 for just me and her, Dinner was around £70. This was stopping at nice places, really nice hotel with balcony and view of Eiffel tower so I definitely spent more for 2 nights in Paris than I do for 7-10 nights AI (especially factoring in the shopping and Jelly cat cafe 😅) There were cheaper options but we weren't particularly on a budget.

Edited to add didn't spend as much on alcohol as I was solo with DD but did have wine with dinner and the odd g&t

We didn't go on holiday or do anything when I was a kid because we were poor. It was fine, we had a happy childhood and made our own fun.

My children adore holidays and I spend a lot on experiences. I don't think it's a waste of money. Spent 5k on our summer holiday, for this year which will be a mix of pool and cocktails, beach and sight seeing. It's a lot but you can't put a price on snorkeling in the sea and seeing an octopus or experiencing different cultures and languages. I also spend a lot on theatre tickets and just paid an eyewatering amount for tickets for Olivia Rodrigo. DD will scream the house down when I surprise her with them. I can afford it, we get one life and the money isn't bringing much joy when it's sat in the bank.

We do day trips instead which is so much cheaper although we do only get to see one smallish part of the country. A week at butlins would cost around £2000 all inclusive but a day trip there would be £60 plus whatever we would spend on lunch.

If you can afford it without it impacting your life, fine. If not, no

You've left out drinks. Those are potentially a very significant cost, especially if out and about in the heat. We did half board once, so I learned this well!

Holidays are 💯 worth it. We love the build up and anticipation. We love being there and we love the memories. We deprioritise other things so we can enjoy our holidays.

I love holidays. They are one of my biggest expenses and we have 3-4 a year. Working in Healthcare I see so many unhappy ill lonely people or families who have politics and tragedy on a daily basis.
It sounds cliche, but we are all here for such a short period of time and I damn well want to experience as much of it with the people I love that I can! If that means I re-grout my bathroom rather than have a refit and spend the money on seeing tigers in India, I doing it. We've been so lucky as a family to experience travel al continents and taste the different foods, see different cultures and learn from other people, I truly believe it is one of the most enriching things that you can do for yourself and your kids.

The problem with going self catering/camping/ sharing one room is that although you save money, you also end up giving yourself more work.

my kids are teenagers now, we’ve done camping/ euro camp/ uk camp sites/ all inclusive abroad/ villas.

Self catering is fine, but if you don’t have a car, you end up either carrying shopping up some hill back to your apartment, they preparing it, serving it and washing the dishes. All without the a dishwasher/decent knife/ non stick pan. The kids maybe happy with that, but it creates a whole lot of more work for the adults

Camping is worse, packing the car/unpacking setting up, relentlessly taking children to the toliet, not being able to find anything in the tent.Again fun for the kids, but the cost savings come at the expense of the work you crate for yourself.

All inclusive, you risk the food being crap, sunbed wars.

villas - unless you spend £££ you need a car.

Sharing a hotel room with pull out beds, all in the one room, again cheaper but Everyone ends up annoyed at each other.

This year, I’ve priced up the sort of holiday I’d like, warm, beach, pool nearby, air con, beds (not a sofa bed) for 5, ideally separate rooms. maid service, no cooking by me (so either a nice hotel half board or all inclusive, or a nice self catering apartment somewhere that eating out (as a family of 5) won’t cost £100+ for every meal.

if I could get a holiday like this for 3k, I’d probably say it was worth it.

Of course that’s a holiday. Don’t be ridiculous.
ALL my holidays were exactly like that. Wonderful, glorious memories.
Ditto with my own kids who would same the same.

This phrase ‘an abroad holiday’.

it worries me.

Why so much ? Yes you have 3 kids to my one but I book an apartment by a pool. Self catering and get basics in for lunch bread fruit ham cheese etc and out for breakie and evening meal

apartment is £70 a night

flights are 300 ish each so £600 for me £1500 for you and dh and kids

but can’t see how you would spend £400 on food daily

Depends where you go.

We went for 3 weeks on 10 day passes last year, and it worked out:

Passes (1 adult, one youth, one free child one): £700 I think

Reservations: about £300 including 2 sleeper trains

Accommodation: I budgeted about £50 a night, but it probably worked out more, call it about £1100 in total. Accommodation in Germany probably ended up £65 per night on average, Romania and Bulgaria about £40.

Attractions: private wildlife tracking tour in Romania about £100, Teufelsberg in Berlin about £20, Berliner Unterwelden tour about £50, fortress in Veliko Tarnovo about £16, Palatinus Baths in Budapest about £30, outdoor swimming pool in Nuremberg about a tenner, Teknikmuseum in Sinsheim about £70, swimming pool in Strasbourg about £15, voodoo museum in Strasbourg about £20, Rodin museum in Paris £12 (kids free!!). So about £350.

Food- we did it very much on the cheap. Bounced from Lidl to Lidl most of the holiday, but pushed the boat out in Berlin where Turkish Street food in Kreuzberg is insanely cheap and good, and in Bulgaria where everything is cheap.

So I think that just about comes in under OP's budget, for a 3 week holiday visiting Cologne, Berlin, Brasov, Veliko Tarnovo, Budapest, Nuremberg, Heidelberg, Strasbourg and Paris.

I mean, by all means go on an AI package holiday in a resort, but it's by no means the only kind of holiday, and there are many cheaper (and to my mind more interesting) options.