First time abroad, please help!

[Matildathebrave]

We've never taken our children abroad, age 10 and 6, though have always had holidays in England and had a great time.

I would love to take them abroad, more for the experience but DH is against it, reasons are they are too expensive and holidays in England are fine for us.

I don't work as I am a full time mum so he is paying.

How can I pursuade him.

Would like somewhere not too far, nice hotel near the beach, flights from Stansted, nice little package holiday.

Please give me some ideas!

Thanks

Minorca is a lovely, easy, family friendly place. Short flights, lovely beaches, nice climate (not too hot even in middle of summer) and very geared towards young families.

TBH, you could probably spend as much in the UK on a holiday comparable to the same sort of holiday abroad. Especially when you factor in all the activities you fork out for just to get out of the rain, hot drinks in cafes just to get warm etc.

I wonder if your DH is secretly afraid of flying, or perhaps can't cope with the palaver of the security protocols, etc. It is a shame to deprive the DC of an opportunity to experience other cultures, food and language in their native country. I assume you already have passports for the DC, it is very late to apply now if not and a big risk of not getting them in time, e.g. if the photos weren't accepted and you had to do them again.

You are leaving it a bit late for this school summer holiday, I'd have a chat with a travel agent in store to explore the late deals, they can write you an estimate of cost which is not binding, but they will probably call you in a couple of days to see if you want to go ahead.

Mallorca and Minorca have short flights and lovely beaches, and not all resorts are full of drunk 18-30 holidaymakers. They tend to have more flights to and from, and options for 10 or 11 nights instead of just 7 or 14, which can be slightly cheaper but still a nice length of holiday.

Agree with girlywhirly.

I would start to look at booking direct with hotels. Websites such as hotels.com and alpha rooms, are great starting points. Trivago was my saviour this year - it's a comparison site which shows you the best deals for any particular hotel and as these can change daily you can get some real bargains. Plenty of budget airlines fly from Stansted too so you could either make up your own package using budget flights or those offered by the major tour operators such as Thomson.

You can check out reviews of places on Trip Advisor.

I've spent more on holidays in the UK than I could spend on a package week somewhere hot and sunny. It depends what he means by holidays in England - renting a cottage is not necessarily a cheaper option.

I would go down the package route rather than the Easyjet/Ryanair/hire car/find accommodation yourself route if it's your first time. Everything's done for you and you don't need to fret about stuff like getting to/from the airport. Portland Direct are good - google them (part of Thomson, I think).

I suspect your DH has issues with flying/travel/foreign food. But if you can show some evidence - a cottage in Wales + petrol will cost us £X, and week in Majorca/Menorca will cost us £Y, you'll be on stronger ground.

DH used to be like this - holidays in England had always been good enough for him as a kid, why wasn't it good enough for us? The only answer is that sometimes it's nice to look outside the back yard, if you can afford it. Anyway - now he's a seasoned traveller and we've taken the kids to some pretty remote spots at his instigation - he's got more adventure in him than I have. You just need to get past this first hurdle.