How does anyone afford to go away during school holidays?

[NatalieH2220]

Just that really, my son starts school in September and been looking ahead at a family holiday abroad for next year but prices are ridiculous! I always knew they went up but not this much.

Does anyone have any tips? Are there certain times that are cheaper? Or is 2k for a week away in the summer (Spain for example) standard if you have children of school age?

House not horse ! That would be weird!

We look at flying from as far as Manchester as even with the added costs of travel/hotel it often is still cheaper than flying from up here

My colleague once got a bargain doing this the other way around. She flew manchester to scotland, not 100% which, then Scotland to new york when scottish schools were back.

We have never had a typical med hotel holiday as we were skint when they were little with childcare costs and got in the habit of cheap holidays. We camp, caravan, apartment etc often on Eurocamp sites with really good pools. Kids love the space and make loads of friends. We enjoy the local sights and food. We’re not really week by the pool types anyway so not sure hard for us. DH does most of the cooking and we buy delicious local food so doesn’t feel like a hardship to me.

Yeah we are northern and usually fly from Scottish airports for the last week of our holidays. We have also faced facts that we can really only afford a week

And pre covid we were masters of finding DIY holidays - scouring Skyscanner for cheap flights and then finding Airbnbs or similar accommodation.

I've got 3 kids, eldest is 17 now. But I soon discovered that flying away on holidays in August were unaffordable for 5 of us. I started researching campsites in France, booking the mobile home early and driving over. We got 2 weeks plus for hundreds of pounds and they were the best road trips and super holidays. So many friends made and kids got alot of freedom. Last 2 weeks of August were the best prices as French kids back to school by then