Do families who go on 'big' holidays usually rely on credit cards?

[tigermoth]

It's been years since we last went on a 'proper' holiday abroad. Those two weeks in Corsica cost us around £4,000+ (two children, two adults). We had the money at the time and it was a lovely holiay

Since then we have mainly stayed with dh's family in Devon, so we are used to virtually 'free' holidays.

We love Devon, but I know that both our boys have wonderful memories of Corsica. I know how much they would love to go abroad again somewhere similar. As would dh and I.

I also know how much such a holiday is likely to set us back - not necessarily another £4,000 but we'd have to fund the cost of accommodation and airfares (during the school holidays) and we are simply not used to doing this.

It might seem a stupid question, but how do people actually pay for those sort of package holidays? Is it common practice to pay in monthly installments? If so, for how many months can you pay the cost - ie £3,000 spread over 3 months is not a lot of good for us!

We don't have credit cards, so can't spread the payments that way. And with no credit card, we'd have no access to any emergency cash if we were abroad. This worries me. At home with dh's family we have backup if anything goes wrong.

dh and I are not keen on getting a credit card as we both doubt we would be disciplined enough with it. But is it a 'must' if we plan this sort of holiday?

I also fund by cash thanks to my olympic fund. This is something I started via moneysaving expert forums. I basically bung all the money I make from additional income streams goes in the holiday/decorating/new sofa pot. For example quidco, focus groups and mystery visits. This way I do not feel I am paying for the holiday out of my own pocket.

It is okay to put it on credit card I guess if you are not going to be paying for the holiday long after you come back!

A holiday is all about spending time together and creating memories together, isn't it? Does it matter where, really?

We used to go on driving holidays when I was a kid, to big destinations of Disney Land, Washington, D.C., etc. but most of our memories are of the driving trip.

Why does it always have to be abroad and cost a load in order to be 'proper'?

hi tigermoth, sorry just caught up with this, try www.freedomdirect.co.uk..i have been checking the,m out tonight...

thats actually a fabulous point expat.

memories are what matter and it doesn;t cost thousands to create those.

It doesn't expat. We've got some great memories of camping trips

My sister and I still laugh 25 years later about my dad's antics in the car, the way he ran the morning like a military exercise - Wakey, wakey! Up and at 'em!

'Destination: Charlotte, N.C. via I-30N, expected ETA 18.00.'

And my second daughter in her recent backpacking in Central America found hostels at one pound a night. I wonder if anyone can beat that on the UK mainland? I suppose home swaps would beat that as you pay nothing.

i rather think the flight alone as far as costs go - for a family to central america would be rather costly.

True. I took the 5 children and I there last summer. Our flights were about £600 each. The other problem if people have a load of children like me is it's more expensive than if you just have one child or two. But they're worth it.

My parents had holidays at home mostly when we were small until I was 10 and then I think we had about 4 foreign holidays in succession and that was it.

If you reserve your flights and hotels months in advance you will get better prices AND you will be forced to pay at least a percentage as a deposit up front and the balance of the flight (at least) quite a while before flying. So that will spread two major costs.

i agree, should you have mroe than two children - or god forbid an odd number of children - supplements kick in

oh and that lovely age rule which difers from company to company.

for flight purposes an adult at 12? ( maybe younger i can't remember)

some holiday companies charge adult rates at age 11.

yes, should you actually treat them as an adult at age 11 and leave them alone all day and all evening i am sure that the police would be involved. and "but i paid for an adult mi'lord" i suspect will not be a justifyable defence.

makes my blood boil actually.

tigermoth - if you are trying to keep the cost down, why not go to Portugal or Greece? They are much cheaper destinations that others within reasonable distance of the UK ie the cost of the flights will not ruin you nor will accommodation and food.

I love the Greek islands. In fact, I have been to Greece on holiday 10 times in my life, and one of the reasons is that it is such terrific value for money once you get away from the tourist hot spots.

You can find great hotels in the Lonely Planet guide books.

wow, I never expected this many replies!

I can't write much now but I have been reading everything - so many helpful suggestions. Thanks to everyone who shared your holiday financing methods with me.

It really brings home the fact that whatever we do, we need to start paying and booking quite soon.

I browsed on one of the websites mentioned and saw we could easily get a two week hotel holiday in Egypt for a bit over £2,000 inclusive (in the school summer holidays, too!). That is just a quick look but it's encouraging. I can see that I can revise my £4,000 estimate downwards by quite a lot.

I told dh about Egypt yesterday as we were driving to Broadstairs in our VW camper van. He was quite surprised at the cost. We started to discuss how we could start paying off installments.

But dh also reminded me we' have vague plans to take our 30 year old VW camper van to Italy next summer. This is true (and we'd definitely need a credit card in case of breakdowns!).

I think we'll need to book the ferry sooner rather than later, if the lower price in advance thing applies to ferries. I hadn't thought about that till reading your replies here. I am such a holiday innocent

Mind you, the camper van broke down on the way back from Broadstairs and we had to call out the and get a tow back to our VW specialist garage in London. It was stressful, dh doesn't do stress well, and what it would have been like in Italy doesn't bear thinking about....

I will come back to this thread later today when I have fully disgested all the comments.

You can use your tesco vouchers for channel crossing. I get the channel tunnel completely free every year for a trip to france.

tigermoth, I can recommend the apartment we stayed in: this one. The apartment itself was lovely, with loads of facilities on-site, 3 pools and right beside the sea as well (no roads to cross). Costa del Sol always sounds really tacky - and some of it is! - but Andalucia is a beautiful province and there is lots to see and do, plus it sounds much more cultural when you're asking school for time off

The owner is flexible about arrival/departure dates outside the summer holidays so we were able to get the cheaper midweek flights. The weather was perfect (it only got into the 30s a couple of times)

DS2 had done SATs and internal exams, so school were OK about him missing a few days (Wed pm/Thu/Fri at the beginning and Mon/Tue at the end) - am I right in thinking that your DS1 will be doing SATs next year, so the same would apply to him? (Usually the internal exams are right after May half-term here so this hasn't been possible any other year).

Incidentally you asked about early booking on ferries - Speedferries do charge less early on but I'm pretty sure the others don't, I think you're more likely to get late deals with them. (I haven't used Speedferries yet, we haven't taken a car to Europe since they started, but Marina has and says they're great)

Alternatively if you shop at the dreaded Tesco you can use Clubcard vouchers for Eurotunnel

I just checked out Eurotunnel's website - if you travel between 10pm & 6am it's £122 round trip. That would be £30 in Tesco vouchers - not bad! (Well, except that you have to spend £3000 there to get them....)

Speedferries are good. We used them once last year.

I dream of shopping in Tesco. Apart from one tiny Tesco Metro, there are not Tecos in our borough. Though the biggest Tesco in the UK (apparently) going to be built here soon -a 10 minute drive away.

The ferry we would get if we do this adventurous (some would say foolhardy) Itly trip will be Plymouth/Santander, so it would be a long ferry journey.

WendyWeber, have looked at your link and like what I see. I love swimming and beaches, so it's an ideal base for me. Dh and ds1 are less keen on beach holidays so would want more sporty activites, but I can see there's plenty on offer. DS2 is happy virtually anywhere.

dh and I went to Andalucia 14 years ago (staying in mountain villages and driving along the coast, in fact ds1 was conceived on that holiday,) so I know the area a bit. It would definitey be an affordable holiday for the summer half term break after SATS. Will see how the dates tally with school exams. And we could still then spend time with MIL in Devon during the summer holiday proper. That's a good thought.

It depends on how practical the VW camper to Italy trip seems. I can see it going wonderfully right or horribly and expensively wrong.

I love holidays abroad but I do get stressed out with the idea of choosing, organising and paying for them when we have such a convenient and nice option in Devon. Not counting France, I have been on seven or eight trips abroad, and I am pushing fifty years old I feel such a holiday novice compared to lots of people I know.

ahem. I crossed with Speedferries in January. I would advise anyone not to go, if its choppy and they are scared of rollercoaster rides. The boat is small, and the pitching was hair-raising.

Yes. We put a down-payment on ours and paid the rest monthly. 7 days in a 4 trident CM - not worth it. If we do CM again, it will be within driving distance or with EasyJet.

tigermoth, dont want to hijack your original thread but we went to italy in the summer in our campervan...if you want any info on time/ferries/approx costs etc feel free to ask....j

jemw, oh yes please! All those things you list. I need to do a 'risk assesment' as well as get an idea of costs.

It would also be really useful to know what the day to day expenses were - how did food buying, and drinking and eating out compare to the UK?

If you want to start a new thread on this, just let me know here and I will do a search under your name so I can find it. Otherwise, I could email you for info.

xenia, I never really replied to your point about careful choosing of career to for lifestyle choices.

It is a valid point, though as you must have known, it is far too late for me to train for one of the lucrative careers you mention. (Thanks to cloudhopper, kbear and others who pointed this out )

I agree that holidays are part of one's lifestyle choice. That's one reason why I chose my public sector career over higher paying work in the private sector. I get between 10 - 12 weeks holiday a year (as opposed to approx 5- 6 weeks in comparable private sector careers), thanks to a generous annual leave allowance and flexi-leave system.

When I advise my sons on their career choices, I will be telling them that the likely amount of holiday they get in a year is as important as having the financial means to go away on 'big' holidays.

tigermoth, xenia - isn't life mostly a trade-off between time spent earning money and time spent enjoying the fruits of your labour?

We have masses of holiday weeks a year, since I am a SAHM and my partner can take a lot of holiday, but we don't do particularly expensive holidays - we travel a lot, but at fairly reasonable prices. If I worked full-time we'd have a bit more money but a hell of a lot less time to spend it and would probably be so knackered that we'd just want to spend a couple of weeks vegging in an expensive luxury location to recover. And our annual holiday budget would probably be no different to today.

Plymouth to Santander in a camper van will be very expensive. However you will save quite a bit by crossing mid week. That is why our holiday this year was Monday to Monday - cheaper flights.

And custy if you go with BMI Baby or Ryan Air or Easy Jet you are an adult at 2!