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.

There's no limit. We went to Australia for a month, four of us (one child not yet two so on my lap for the trip). As well as the flights there we flew from Perth to Cairns and then Sydney. Stayed in five different hotels. Rented a car. Got an expensive (Aus$350) speeding ticket! I think we must have spent near £20k, maybe even more.

Tricky to answer as it depends on how much money you have, what your other priorities are and things like that. If you can afford £15 - £30k on a holiday, and you want to, there’s no reason to not. Go and enjoy, you only life once!

Depends on how much money, and what else could you do with that money.
I wouldn’t spend 15k on a holiday if I didn’t have a car, I wouldn’t spend 30k on a holiday if I wasn’t in my forever home, I wouldn’t spend more than I could save in a year.

For me, booked to take my kids to Japan for 27 days, the budget has escaped beyond what I'd initially thought. However, I don't drive so no car costs, I don't smoke, I don't go places, I constantly compare and change bill providers, I don't drink, I don't buy new clothes, I have a very small mortgage due to luck and good timing and a lifetime of scrimping and saving and being ultra cautious.. You get the picture. I am what would be defined as not well off, however I am prioritising this holiday and I won't scrimp on certain aspects of it (some aspects I definitely will! And I've been really shopping around for every aspect) Because it is a once in a lifetime experience, which will only get harder due to my disability, and life is very, very short. I pay off a little bit of it each month (hotel here, bullet train tickets there, bit of cash changed to yen here etc)and so it's been very very spread out. Otherwise I definitely couldn't afford it. I did feel guilty for a while, but honestly, after the last half a decade we've had in our personal lives, it's totally worth it.

I'd rather spend a lot on place, experience and amount of time than luxury. So if I get a month backpacking around China, staying in crapholes, I'd prefer that to a weekend at the George V in Paris.

I've had proper luxury at other peoples expense and it's not worth it to me.

We do several holidays a year and one of those is typically 2 weeks long haul. We usually fly business class, stay in nice hotels and have very good time. I really enjoy the research and getting a good deal. I will often book then rebook hotels to optimise the cost. Last year we did Bali and I don't think we spent much more than 12k all in. I think that's really good value and whats the point of going to work if you cant enjoy it.

As we do splash out on holidays I really don’t want to add up what we have spent over the years. Just been to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands. You cannot do it cheaply so you really have to want to go. Not luxury but special. Maldives - no thanks. I like travel to access interesting places and luxury is great, but not necessary. Never scrimp either. Just smaller boutique hotels and a good bed!

We have done a lot of safaris. Bush camps are best! The same animals are there! They are more authentic. Again it’s not cheap. We are doing a mobile camp in Botswana next year. Really looking forward to it. No large lodges which we prefer. So spend the money but make it count.

I’m currently on a holiday that would have been worth £17k for DH & I (a week away in South America) but thanks to air miles, Black Friday sales & lots of planning (think flying business class, staying in luxury accommodation) - we paid £3,000 instead.

It’s up to you what you spend your money on

i was a travel agent for years and the people that invariably spent the most on holidays lived in the cheapest houses/areas

that is what they chose to spend their money on

and wise I think - all you have on your deathbed are your memories

See I live in London and have kissed goodbye to being able to upgrade my 2-bed flat to a house (prices start at ~£1.2m in my area), so I am not restrained by guilt that money I spend on travel could go towards my dream home. So this means that most of my disposable income goes on travel and I’m that friend / colleague / family member who’s ‘always travelling’ in my social circle. I see it as the silver lining of the London property market. 😁

This is so interesting, in light of my post above. We live in a nice area but only in a flat rather than a house. It’s not just a case of priorities. Some people (Millennials living in London like myself and DP) have no hope of ever buying a bigger property so would rather just enjoy life. 🤩

@Furiously I think you are right to an extent. We live in a very nice area in a fairly nice house. The house could be amazing if we spent £££££ doing it all up but we'd rather spend the money on holidays and travel with the DCs.

The memories and experiences are worth so much more than the money spent and give lifelong happiness whereas doing up to front driveway is not something any of will remember.

We can't afford to do both but even if we could I think I'd still spend the extra money on traveling!

I have always budgeted my income: save 10% for long term and 20% for holidays. I had nice holidays even when I earned very little because it was my 'thing' and now I take adult DC and have an amazing time. It's up to you.

Yolo. We have always spent lots of money on holidays and our dc have been on their fair share of amazing holidays with us. We always go long haul 5 star abroad every year and it's worth every penny as well as cruises and weeks in Cala d'or city breaks etc. The more money spent on holidays does usually mean the difference between a good holiday and an amazing holiday ime. Even though the good holidays are still enjoyable enough.
We've just retired early and are spending around £30k on holidays in the next couple of years. Who knows what is around the corner? We've had several friends die who were about to retire and do the holidays they've been dreaming about.

Depends what the budget options mean compromising on and what your priorities are. If you want to go to the Maldives and you want to have the full experience of an overwater bungalow etc then the budget option might not offer you what you want. Meanwhile if the difference between the luxury safari and a cheaper safari is something you’re not fussed about then by all means go for the cheaper one. For us travel is a priority so makes up a good chunk of our budget and within that a priority is not having to drive on holiday. So I have no issue dropping extra money on getting a driver or tour for things that you can’t easily do on public transport, but we’re not really fussed about luxury holidays so don’t tend to shell out on that.

Over the years we’ve regularly spent 12-15k on family holidays and now it’s just DH and I and the most we’ve spent for one trip is 10k. We do go away a lot and this year all our trips total just under 50k.

I spent £16k on a once in a lifetime trip. It would have been a significant chunk of my savings but I got an inheritance and spent that instead .
My incredibly judgemental stepmother had plenty to say about it - but I work hard, and I could afford it.
It wasn't a "luxury" trip, it was just a bloody
long way so I went for almost a month.
You're a long time dead.

This is my thinking. I'd probably do the second option. Or something like a round the world cruise. Maybe 1 or 2 holidays that cost a bit more. I get paying more for something specific e.g. safari and I get booking a nice hotel, but there comes a point for me when the extras offered just don't seem worth the money even if I could afford it. I would rather spend longer than go for absolute luxury. It's too much pressure for one thing! I'd be worried I'd get ill, or just not like it that much! But maybe that would never happen at that price point!

The thing is a lot of the trips mentioned in this thread aren’t all about absolute luxury there just cost s lot doing a mid range option.
My 10k holiday consisted of four economy flights per person, if we’d flown business class it would have been closer to 20k.

I used to be a travel agent to hnw fAmilies one spent £150k to go to Barbados 2 ad 3kids and 2 nanny's. Another spent SIMILAR ON a weekend to Necker Island to propose to his gf who he flew in from Miami. So if you can afford go for it. I always felt second rate at these places as I didn't have the clothes, accessories or spending money to fit in. I went to Praslin in the Seychelles and ate pot noodles in my room as I couldn't afford the hotel food.

YOLO here too.

God I've just paid £5k for a holiday and I thought that was a lot

Not fussed about luxury hotels, the last sentence should say, not holidays.

I don’t add up what we spend on holidays because I don’t want to scare DP 😂 but FWIW I imagine it’s around £15k a year for the two of us and will ramp up over the next few years as we tick some more destinations off the list. Seeing different places in the world is what I want out of life and we can afford it so why not is my view.

30k for a once in a lifetime trip burning a hole in my pocket?

-Qut job (or see if they give me 12 months leave)

• pack a small backpack
• travel from North to South America Alaska to Chile)

People laughed at me when I booked the biggest cabin on a cruise ship. We didn't use the dining table but utilised the rest of the space full, especially the whirl pool and the balcony. It added nearly £1000 to our holiday but we could afford it and we had a fab time.
We have booked it again for our summer holidays as we got a lot out of it.
Do whatever you want.