How do people justify the cost of holidays?

[umbrellaellaella]

I haven't been on holiday abroad in years, UK or otherwise. I thought maybe we could go somewhere next September, and I am shocked at the prices.

For a week, 2 adults, in September (ie. during school holidays), we would have to spend around £600 each to go somewhere decent in Europe (we wouldn't want to go somewhere like Turkey or Morocco, personal preference). That's £1200 before paying for things such as hold luggage, transfers, and food out there.

I then looked at hotels in Cornwall. It cost even more - around £1300 minimum to rent a room in a hotel for a week, with just breakfast included.

How can people afford and justify doing this every year? It seems a crazy amount of money. I know you only live once, but the cost of living is so expensive these days I don't know how people can spend this without feeling guilty!

Oliversmumsarmy plenty of people enjoy camping holidays each to their own. I personally can’t stand the idea of lying next to a pool, sweating in ridiculous heat for a week but can still recognise that that’s a lovely holiday for lots of people.

@Oliversmumsarmy different strokes for different folks, isn't it? We had our first family holiday in an apartment on a resort this summer and we all HATED it. Felt so restrictive. Back to campsites we go... (and a huge majority of our friends do too. We love the outdoors!)

rainbow You are allowed to leave the apartment, and even the resort you know.

Lol Barbara I was surprised to see how reasonable (and dated) the accommodation was. We've got a cabin that'll sleep the five of us for £900, which I was pleased with.... until it cost £450 to get us to the island, before petrol costs! I'm beginning to accept that it's going to be more costly than the usual week away. And even though we're self catering, because we're on the ferry, and carrying everything, I can't take my usual box of staples and essentials so the groceries bill alone will make me cry a little. My OH always forgets the costs of just milk, bread, cereal when we go on hols.

We always self cater as it gives us more freedom.

Again we get cheap flights, going out on strange days or times to get the best price. We go for odd numbers of days and book villas or apartments through Owners Direct or Air BnB.

We would rather self cater and be in the sun than meals out at home in the rain.

Sure camping can be an effort but i love it. It started very much as a budget holiday for us but now our finances have improved and we bloody love it. We are extremely fussy about where we camp and go to more expensive sites but i love it. No electricity and therefore no tech!! It forces me to switch off my phone and relax.

My dd likes a swimming pool so we often choose sites with swimming pools but i cant be arsed sat round a pool all day. I rather be out exploring.

Luxury hotel? Id find it really stressfull and forced. Its ok for one night but not a week. Id quite like a luxury holiday cottage but dd prefers camping as theres generally stuff onsite for her to do - the freedom to go and make friends and make dens in the woods etc while i sit outside my tent and read drink gin

I think id struggle with spending £££s on a holiday as my expectations would be so high.

At least on holiday abroad in the summer you are almost guaranteed sunshine and it's warmer than the uk so kids can go in the 'usually' heated children's pool

and dry off and go back in again without having to change clothes and it's sunny so everyone is happier and it's new and different for them

I love Cornwall but if you don't have good weather it's miserable here in the uk

rainbow I too wouldn't like an apartment in a resort. There are alternatives.

We like our privacy. So a private villa is great for us.

The people who camp. This is a genuine question how do you stay warm???

I've camped at music festivals and it's always freezing during the night even with a 4
Season sleeping bag and roll mats and wine.

Also done glamping which had bell tents and proper beds and extra duvets, it was freezing at night also

I have only camped in the summer, so from may onwards but the great britsh weather is what it is.

The key is to insulate from below. We have self infalting matresses which unlike air beds have foam in to prevent the cold rising. I put reflectice mats under them and if its really cold we have 3 season sleeping bags but we have abandoned the sleeping bags in favour of our normal duvet and a fleece throw as the bags are too restrictive and actually too hot.

I cant sleep if i have clothes on so sleep naked and im never cold. I dont do cold!

We did have an electric fan heater once but obviously had to switch off at bedtime.

Electric hook-up and fan heater/oil-filled heater for overnight.

My issue is where do you go to the toilet in the night.

The thought of tracking across a campsite to a toilet block is not my idea of fun.

I have also watched too many horror stories that involved a toilet block or going to the loo in the night

We cant really afford to go abroad so we do a few things here. It is partly due to other choices weve made (I work part time low paid..)

Im amused at the "only 2k" holidays throughout this thread as we've possibly never spent that much on a holiday. Its ot because we fritter it on nails/cigarettes/whatever as we just dont have it!!

This year we're spending more than normal as we're spending 600 on a holiday cottage in the UK. Im looking forwards to it. We're not really into big attractions and will keep costs down by mainly self catering so expect for the 4 of us for the week to be under 1k.

Previous years weve stayed in caravan parks off peak and used as a base (Im not inton"entertainment" but i know lots are).

Usually under 600 if a week but weve sometimes done 4 days which works out a bit cheaper and srill feels like a break.

Also weve enjoyed camping. If you go with a group it means so much time to chat and be together which we dont always get with kits around. And theres nothing like it for letting kids run around and roam. We go for walks most days and they love it. Where im getting older Id be tempted by a higher bed and a camping loo if we could fit it in our car!!!

As for loos - we've previously taken a camping loo - has some chemical in it yuou "flush" so it doesnt smell and separate bit to empty.

I love holidays though and if we didnt have kids would spend the money travelling a lot more. Its a kind of restriction in the kind of income we've ended up with.

Ha ha. One of the things that puts me off camping is the night time toilet issue as I need to go every 2 hours like clockwork, more if I've been drinking.

We were in a small campsite in Snowdonia years ago and I went for a night time wee. The toilet was a single little shed across the field. I was in there and there was a banging on the door. I was fucking terrified but the banging continued and I shouted that the toilet was occupied.

Banging didn't stop (obiously I hadn't taken a phone so I could ring DP in the tent, and there probably wasn't a signal anyway) and eventually I opened the door to have the campsite dog jump up at me.

We are off to skipsea sands/parkdene resorts next year for summer holidays and staying in a static caravan. £450
For 7 days which is fab! Parkdene have lots of resorts around the uk so have a look x

I find it bizarre that tour operators can justify charging full price for a 2 year old.

It's £400-500 per person then the ones who do the free child spaces are charging £800 for adults, so either way is a fortune

Swimming

Obviously everyone has different budgets but it isn't a given that abroad is more expensive than UK.

Clearly you can't go abroad on your budget, but for the people who do the 'cottage in Cornwall' type holiday, that will almost certainly cost more than a week in somewhere like Benidorm as you can get quite cheap AI or eating out is cheaper, you don't generally need to pay for parking at the beach, attractions are usually cheaper and you don't end up paying for indoor attractions to get out of the rain.

We go on a couple of decent holidays abroad each year and always find a good bargain.
I don't smoke or drink much and work really bloody hard in a stressful job and deal with death on a daily basis which makes you realise that you have to make the most of your time!

My DH works away Mon-Fri 48 weeks a year, two off for Xmas, two for our holiday. Our holiday is everything to us and our girls, we save c.6k to enjoy two weeks in the summer holidays. For us, it's worth every penny.

Not everyone is the same, not everyone has the same situation, and everyone's holiday should be as they want it to be.

It's the environmental impact of the flights I find unjustifiable...

@OneThreadOnly0101

But Barbara we are doing a cottage in cornwall on our budget 😂 UK is clearly cheaper overall as you can do cheap holidays in the Uk which you cant abroad as we do it!! If you start comparing more luxurious holidays or AI or cost of eating out or are spending a lot on attractions then yes I can see why abroad may work out more cost effective. But the bare bones of it isnt cheaper. We couldn't holiday abroad for what we spend here!

We love walking so our Cornwall holiday will involve lots of walking, exploring National Trust, a couple of meals out, swimmimg and if its bad weather some rnr in the cottage whcih will be well needed family time. It will be ace :)

I see its v different to lying by a pool for a week which we wouldnt do anyway. If we had more money we def would travel and explore/walk abroad though but on our budget it needs to be mainly UK for now!

We've been to Isle of Wight for a few hundred and had an amazing time. It can be done.

@OneThreadOnly0101 *
I won't be regretting it on my deathbed *
^ This 100%

Intrigued about camping.

Can you have a heater on all night in a tent with electric hook up?

High earners (six figures) with no kids (yet) here.

We spent £1500 this summer on a 3 night trip to Europe. Stayed in a suite with a little private pool though 👍🏻

DP recently (for interest) priced up us and (our future) 3 kids going all inclusive to the Caribbean/Maldives - about £6/7000 so we agreed probably have to be a ‘every other year’ holiday.

🙈