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.

£15-30k a year would be too much for me to spend on one holiday personally. We spend 6-8k max including our Maldives trip and safari holidays and they were honestly amazing. We do a few long haul trips a year though so probably spend 20-25k a year which is similar to your budget. It's not too much to spend if you're happy to spend it. Life is for living.

@shivawn how do you do a safari for £6-8k? We've never got it below £12k going to Kenya. 2 adults 2 teens for 9 days on safari and 5 in Mombasa. I would book it again in a heartbeat if it was 6k.

I'm not into luxury. I've travelled the word quite cheaply and had really amazing experiences. Cuba, Costa Rica, Canada, Thailand, Sri Lanka, USA, Etc..

The flight is always the most expensive part, then a cheap Airbnb that has a local feel to it.

With the cost of living crisis, we had to tighten our belts. Plus really thinking about more environmentally friendly alternatives to flying

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You’ve given no context….

if you can afford a holiday of that expense I assume you are wealthy. If it doesn’t leave you of debt and doesn’t totally deplete your savings, I say do it! Life is so short. I think it’s crazy a holiday could cost so much but if I had the cash I might do it too

For me, even if I was rich, over €10,000 would be too much, unless it was somewhere I always wanted to go (and I needed a rocket/submarine to get there)

you could get 3 absolutely amazing incredible holidays for that money. (I would get 6 holidays for 5 people and they would be great, but I love researching and I love a bargain.)

I think €30,000 on one holiday is a waste, but like I said, I am not rich, but if you are then go for it and enjoy it.

@Amboseli why 35k? £50 pp per day doesn't seem a lot, mainly because I think flights are so expensive now. Good luck, very jealous of your opportunity.

We spent 10k on our 6 week honeymoon travelling. It was amazing. I booked a 'luxury' hotel for the final stop compared to budget places for the rest of the trip. I actually enjoyed that the least because my expectations were sky high and I was constantly analysing value for money. I think it's just my personality. I quite enjoy a bargain and I guess I also feel like I don't fit in at a 5* resort. Perhaps this is also because I don't have any spare money so couldn't even if I wanted to. Personally, if I were rich, I'd travel widely and stay in nice places but eat and day trip cheaply.

@pinksquash13 it's a bit of a guess based on reading blogs by people who are traveling now. We would try and use local trains and buses rather than flying everywhere apart from to our first destination. But yes, probably 40k is more realistic. Need to keep saving!

6 week honeymoon sounds amazing. Where did you go?

How long is a piece of string?

How much to spend on anything is relative to your own finances and values. When we were young, with small kids, we booked mid-range houses with pools in Spain or France and drove there. Budget around 2.5/3k for 10 days or so(a while ago). Then we got richer and did a few long-hauls to Asia, South America with drivers, nice hotels and a bit of luxury. Budget around 5k each = 20k. Now the kids are working, doing their own thing, we do a mix of normal Air BNBs, posh city hotels, agroturisms etc. Will spend for quality, but don’t value flash extras and find v ‘luxe’ places boring after a few days. And business class, if you have to pay for it yourself, has to be one of the biggest wastes of money ever! (In my opinion).

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.

For me, it's balance. You only live once, but if you blow all your savings on travel and then the CoL goes up and you can't put the heating on when you're old, that doesn't seem like a sensible decision to me. I'm naturally a bit cautious, as is DH, so whatever we choose to do is related to our income, our likely future income, our savings and the state of our home. I wouldn't, for instance, not fix our roof in favour of going on holiday. Our home is our main asset, so it takes precedence over everything else. But if your savings are in good shape, you're in decent health and you can afford it, why not travel, if that's what you love to do?

It doesn't always have to be expensive, long haul or luxury - a cheap flight can take you somewhere fabulous as easily as an expensive one can - and an apartment on a quiet street might actually be more relaxing with small children than a big, expensive hotel on a noisy street. That's one of the wonderful things about travel - some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor on a cold day can actually be more pleasurable than a Michelin-starred restaurant. We rarely do real luxury - but making it a rare treat makes it all the more special and doesn't spoil our cheap trips - because they're wonderful in a different way.

I could have posted the same question. I would love to go on a luxury holiday or a safari. We can afford it but I just can’t bring myself to pay that sort of money for one or two weeks . It just feels wrong somehow.

I would love to know which company you used for the Safari.

We didn't use travel companies, we just arranged the whole trip ourselves and booked with local operators when we got there. We did a 3 week road trip in South Africa from Cape Town to Johannesburg with safaris in a few of the big national parks and a couple private game parks. We did some self drive safaris too which I actually preferred to the guided safaris, they were much more exciting to me when it was just the 2 of us in our little Volvo coming across a group of rhinos or lions. We also went to Kenya and Tanzania on self arranged trips too. Namibia and Zimbabwe will be next but we have to wait until the kids are older now!

Well, what else are you going to do with the money which is better? Money isn’t doing any good sat in your account. If you use it to go on a safari you are supporting the local economy and jobs there by paying for accommodation, food, guides etc and supporting the market in safaris is good for conservation too (in that the more money they make from safaris vs hunting the less appealing allowing hunting seems).

I suppose I feel I should leave it to my kids. Which is stupid considering how I’ve put them first my entire life.

No one can answer that question really. Holidays is probably what I spend the most money on, but I am not into luxury holidays, plane upgrades etc I like to stay in nice places, but quite happily stayed in self catering places to keep the cost down while the children were young. I prefer many holidays/ trips away a year rather than one big one.

We are also high earners and can afford expensive trips. However, luck can change quickly and it’s always a good idea to have some money in the bank. If you are planning children, I’d also advise to start saving for the university years now because the cost is 😱

This is the sort of thing my mum says. I don't want her money when she's dead. I'd prefer her to enjoy her life.

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I’m definitely a ‘see the world’ type person but with some caveats.

I don’t spend a lot on hotels because to me it’s just somewhere to rest and my thinking is a luxury hotel just doesn’t add anything to the experience. I will spend more on excursions and experiences though. An example is staying in a hostel in New York but spending a lot on a couple of broadway shows or staying in a hostel in Sydney but also doing the Sydney bridge climb. I will always remember the experiences but I can guarantee I won’t remember the nice hotel with the comfy pillows!

We normally do one big holiday a year (£25-30k) Our kids are adults and teens and we want them to have amazing experiences with us . We normally take other family members such as Grandparents as well. We are very lucky as we can afford it but money isn't the important thing for us it's about spending time with our families. Tbh I would be happy in a caravan in Devon (as long as it wasn't raining) as long as we are all together. Fortunately my DH feels the same and we treasure time with our Parents & our kids... hopefully our kids will feel the same when we are old 😊

I'm amazed to see what some people are spending on holidays. I hadn't thought we exactly scrimped but have done 5 star Maldives for 6-7k (for 3 of us), Disney in the school holidays for about 5k staying at the Waldorf in Orlando.

Those are pre-pandemic prices though. I'm conscious they have gone crazy since!

So they can spend it on a safari?… Honestly, inherited money gets spent more easily.

I would just weigh up the balance of what you love/want and what you can afford. for me personally, I would never spend £30K on a holiday because <whispers> I just don't enjoy going on holiday that much. I would prefer to spend disposable income on a hundred little things that may day to day life more enjoyable, or else spend on my home, where I am every day. But that's just me. If you can afford it and would enjoy it, then go for it!

I think travelling does enrich you though. We have travelled quite a bit. I’ve stayed in a few wonderful hotels. I absolutely do remember them! I also remember the fantastic boutique hotel we stayed at in Kyoto and the fabulous guest house in Longji in China. 5 Maldives isn’t what I want. The best sea, sun and sand holiday we did as a family was on a yacht in the BVIs. Fabulous holiday doing similar in the Galápagos Islands. We prefer to avoid resorts. We have “cruised” around the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia. 12 guests on the boat but what a holiday! Not 5 accommodation but exciting and amazing in other ways.

We are comfortably off and don’t go without anything. I don’t want to get old thinking “if only I had bothered to go to….” and be full of regrets. So we go!

? No idea why it’s bold!

@Amboseli That makes sense. Hope your reach your savings goal soon 😊

We went to Japan, Bali, Thailand, Slovenia and Italy. It was a once in a lifetime trip. Loved it.