How much is too much for a holiday?

[Orangeradiorabbit]

I always try to holiday cheaply with off peak or last minute deals. However, in the next few years I'm imagining taking a 'once in a lifetime' holiday. Think luxury safari or Maldives. How much is too much to spend on a holiday?

I don't have children, but reading other threads it feels like people sometimes spend 10s of thousands taking the family to Disney World, or similar, during the summer holiday.

Is £15k-£30k too much to spend on a couple going away somewhere amazing? For example, that might just be 1 week away and you could do so much with that money elsewhere. Especially when you could do a similar thing, but with less luxury (I.e. a budget version).

How do you draw the line? How do you mentally justify paying a large amount of money for a holiday? Or, are you someone who could afford it in theory, but don't because it feels like a waste of money- how did you make that decision? Have you been on a luxury break and wished you did the budget version? Or have you spent out a whack of money and it was worth every penny? Do you travel luxury on the regular?

I'm keen to understand others' experiences and thinking process. Part of me thinks: you only live once, why not see the world. The other part thinks: why not do something sensible instead, and travel much more cheaply. I'm also worried going somewhere luxury might become a new 'habit' and 'once in a lifetime' becomes once every few years.

I know being able to afford it/ not being able to afford it is one key criteria - and I'm aware of being privileged to be able to have this consideration in a COL crisis.

You only live once. If you can afford it just do it!

I'm on minimum wage but have had plenty of fantastic holidays all over the world (admittedly my partner earns a fair bit more than me which helps!) But I do go without to ensure I can help put towards our holidays.

If I want luxury I have no problem putting it on a credit card but these days I only take budget flights and I rarely look at hotels these days, I always book a really nice Airbnb instead.

It'd say it's happy memories that count more than money 😍

There's no exact amount, but I suppose it's a balence. For me it's about experiences and that can be expensive however it doesn't mean the absolute best of everything/highest luxury. For example, for me eating fine dining every night doesn't appeal that much, I'd genuinely prefer a mix of experiences from nicer places to street food, even if money was no object. But that's me and you might be different.

Would I spend 30k for a week as in your example, no. But I wouldn't judge someone or think it's wierd, if you want to and you can, go for it.

I think it depends how much money you have, what else you have to spend it on, and how much you think you need to save for later in life or a rainy day.

We have a large income, but also a large family with large outgoings. I am also risk-averse and worry about money in later life. We holiday cheaply, despite having enough money in the back to head to the Maldives if we wished!

I sometimes worry that I'll be old and rich one day, and will regret not spending more when my kids were young. But that worries me less than my fear of being old and poor and worrying about money once I can't earn any more!

I'm in the you only live once camp and also kids are only young once.

We've been on 3 family trips of a lifetime holidays including a safari and spent around £14k for 3 weeks. We tend to go for high end/luxury accommodation because we want it to feel extra special and different from normal day to day life.

DH and I are planning on doing a year traveling around the world once the DCs have left home and we're budgeting £35k for that so not sure I'd spend that sort of money on a 2 week holiday! Our trip will be backpacker style though with the odd luxury hotels every now and then.

Do it!! We spent the equivalent of a healthy house deposit on holidays last year and it's looking the same this year.

We love them - our time to unwind and relax, away from work and general life stress. I don't think I'll ever regret the memories we make or the amazing experiences we've had!

However we have no DC yet and are a high income household, so our spending on holidays has zero impact on our day to day lives apart from a depletion in the savings account balance.

For me, if we can afford it and we think we'd enjoy it, we do it. We spontaneously booked a holiday for two weeks time to the states, because we had the annual leave and the cash so thought why not.

I'm also risk averse, but that needs to be balanced imo. We have our emergency savings, fun savings etc. I wouldn't choose a 30k holiday over having an emergency fund for example, but I'd choose it over having an extra 30k in the bank.

Nobody can answer this! I would prioritise holidays over (say) decorating or similar work on the house because I want to be on my deathbed remembering fabulous experiences and not the fact that my house had immaculate paintwork! Other people think differently.
But if you can cope with any mortgage/basic bills, then I think the sky's the limit - just do what makes you happy.

I think its about knowing what you want, and will enjoy.

I did a once-in-a-lifetime safari a few years ago. It was a birthday present to myself, cost about £6k, which I could afford. There were more expensive options available (private butler, spa) which I didn't want or need so that would have been wasted on me. I wanted comfortable accommodation, good food, quiet places with fewer people and great animal viewings. I did include a helicopter flight over the Victoria Falls. It was bloody brilliant...

...so good, I went back last year 😂 Not quite once-in-a-lifetime after all! No helicopter the second time but instead a canoe trip on the Zambezi.

(At the other end of the spectrum, my holiday thus year is six nights in Cornwall which I will also love. £630 for accommodation for one person.)

We don't go away very often, and since having children we haven't been out of the UK. But after we got married, we saved and went on a 3 week honeymoon in Canada, staying in all the Fairmont hotels from vancouver, vancouver Island and through the Rockies. We even decided to upgrade our rooms when we were there which we wouldn't normally do. We went to the nicest restaurants and ordered the more expensive stuff. We thought of it as a once in a lifetime trip that we would never get to do again as we were planning on having children after we got back. I don't regret any of it and glad we spent what we did. 4 years later and I still think about that trip all the time!

Sorry I meant to add, we spent around £12-13k

Holidays are important to me.

If I had £30 k to spend I would either;

• rent my house out and backpack around the world for 2 years
• work out 10 wonderful holidays for about £3 k each and take two or 3 a year

In so ex ways if you can afford it go for it but I would want it to be longer than a week as that's so much pressure for it to be perfect. I'm looking at a similar budget but for 4-6 months away really getting off the beaten track

So many factors at play.
My main message is this. Don't judge other people's choices.
I will spend what is relatively a lot of money on holidays but nothing on hair/ makeup etc. Both are fine if they bring you joy and aren't stopping you buying basic things you need.

This year we are spending a lot on holidays, but we also have put money into our pensions. I wouldn’t spend so that there is no money being ‘sensible’, but I wouldn’t ‘just’ be sensible either. In other words it’s balance.

We have spent about the same on holidays this year as we saved. Usually we spend a bit less than we save (into pensions).

An expenditure of £30k isn’t unreasonable in my view and we have spent that several times on big trips (and more). I tend to limit flight costs to £10k, but then what I want to do has a price tag, and if that’s what we want, then that’s what we do. Travel is my only indulgence. It’s not about luxury, it’s about seeing the world (but I’m too old to slum it).

It’s really impossible to ask other people this question. I have just booked a £2K holiday next year. This was an expensive special holiday for me, whereas for others it’s barely a mini break. Just do what you want to do if you can afford it.

If you can afford it do it but I always still like a good deal haha

I prioritise holidays over any other non essential so rarely decorate, don't have sky and have a really old mobile phone and car. Everyone is different of course some people spend £££ on a kitchen e.g. or handbags so everyone will have a different answer.

Holidays are so important and essential for us as a family and as individuals. It's something to look forward to after working / studying hard and a breather from our busy daily routiney lives.

We tend to spend 1-2 months savings a year on holidays which consists a mix of long hauls, cruise and UK breaks. Save the other 10 months. Usually 1 main holiday and a 2/3 small ones. We don't do it on luxury level or on the cheap, but somewhere above average and try to be savvy when booking.

I appreciate holidays more now with the kids as they are now teens, compared to when they were under 6 yo. We experience new places together and memories built were so worth it. I know one day they will be too busy to holiday with us once they are adults with their own lives, therefore, it's even more important to go on holidays together as much as we reasonably able to.

Answer to OP question, I think 30k is too much to spend on a week's holiday regarless of income level, unless you will have no money worries now and in future. But that' just my opinion.

I have an annual travel budget. Sometimes we do a small number of more expensive things with that money. Other years, we do more frequent cheaper trips. It depends on what we feel like doing that year. For example, this year we have some trip which is taking 60% of the total budget, and two smaller trips each taking 15%. There's no right approach as long as you're not getting into debt, in my opinion.

For me there's a limit of what I can justify to myself (although we could afford more) and it's about £5k for two of us for a two week trip - not including spending money. That would a 'special occasion' spend for us; it's about what we're spending on my 40th trip.

For a week long trip it would be about £3k between us as the top end. We're on a standard weeks holiday now and it's cost us about £1500 altogether, less spends.

It would need to be extremely special for me to feel justified in exceeding those rough amounts.

Too much for a holiday is whatever you can’t afford.

I love traveling though and do it as often as I can but others may think differently and not spend lots of money on holidays.

I have never once wished I'd've done a budget version of a luxury holiday.

As for how much to spend - well whatever you're comfortable with. I know someone who pays around £30k each year to go skiing. They stay in absolute luxury. Plus it's not their only annual holiday as £30k is less than what they earn a month.

I like a good holiday but I make sure it's affordable for us and we can still decorate the house, change our car and put money into our savings.

If you can afford it then why not?
We pay through the nose every year for an abroad summer holiday for a family of six which is never amazing in terms of accommodation etc but it's where we are in life right now and appreciate we are fortunate enough to do it every year
If all goes well we do plan to go away as much as possible once the children are older but we're not the type to blast thousands on pure luxury
Don't get me wrong we will stay in nice hotels in lovely places but for me you could get 3 nice holidays for that sort of money. Especially if you go in term time

We do last minute bargains and have spent a lot on blow out trips. It’s all about budget and priorities. I track our finances quite closely and know how much we have available for holidays and feel no guilt spending that! I do prioritise holidays and experiences over other stuff (house, car etc.). The most we spent was a 6 week trip to USA and South America which was probably about £22k in total. Next holiday after that was a French campsite for under £1k. We will probably do big ones every 4/5 years ok.

We go on lots of holidays because we don't spend wildly on each one and that suits us.
When we were younger we did some long haul, more expensive holidays but now I'm retired I want more time away in the sun more often plus some city breaks rather than a week or two once or twice a year so that changes what we do and how much we spend.
We did a couple of Disney trips when DS was about 7. They were amazing at the time but despite that they haven't really stuck in his memory as much as I'd have expected. Perhaps he was a year or two too young to really appreciate it but definitely don't regret doing them.