Feel a bit sick at how much our one week trip cost

[smacke]

We had a one week trip over Christmas to Barbados. Never been away before at that time of year but for various reasons, DP and I wanted a week just us two.

We just finished paying our holiday credit card off and realise that on one week of food and reasonable excursions like museum tickets, we spent £2,000. We knew Barbados would be expensive and we didn’t eat out every day, but even mid range meals for two were coming back at £200+.

Our 7 night trip cost over £2,000 per person. Not staying anything luxury and flying economy!

Didn't you work this out before you went?

Barbados is expensive. Surely you had some kind of budget in mind before you went?

Are you saying that it was 4k for the accommodation and fights and then you spent around 2k while you were out there between you?

That is quite a lot, but then I assume you had a good time.

Its not my cup of tea but its many people's holiday of a lifetime sort of place isnt it?

£200 for a meal? Blimey!!

did you have a nice time? Ignoring the money, was the trip away lovely? If it was, that’s all that matters. The horrors going on in the world at the moment, you can’t take money with you when you’re gone. Put it down to lack of research and move on.

No flights and apartment were £2k and then £2k spending. Lovely trip but not sure it’s a holiday of a lifetime kind of place!

£2000 for meals and excursions for 2 people for a week seems like a lot of money. Was there no way to each cheaper,? Did you eat out all the time?

If you had a wonderful time, and can afford it, then it’s all good 😁🏝️
Spend your money making fantastic memories while you can I say, could be dead tomorrow!

Flights and apartment for two for a week doesn’t seem too bad though. If you have an apartment you could have save on meals.

2k on just holiday spending! I'd feel sick too.

I knew it was expensive but not that bad. A lesson to do your research next time.

So 4K in total. I think this sounds reasonable for a destination like Barbados.

That is expensive. However, only two factors which are important:
did you have a good time?
can you afford it?
If the answer to both is yes, then I would not dwell on it further.

Not even an hotel ? Ouch.

A caravan in Skegness
Would have cost you so much less.
The English coast should not be missed
So put it on the bucket list.

It is what it is, try not to think
about it now and lesson learnt regarding doing more research for your next trip.

Don’t feel bad. As long as you enjoyed it- was worth it. We went in the summer and for a family of four, spent £1200 on all food and excursions plus shopping. We didn’t go to restaurants each day though- a mix of supermarkets, cafes and diners mostly. It was an amazing holiday. worth every penny. Still enjoying the memories!

Sounds like a lovely holiday.

One week over Christmas and you’ve already paid the credit card off, meh I wouldn’t give it much thought

I spend a couple of grand on meals, days out etc in Spain so to do that in Barbados sounds like a deal to me!

£4k all in for Christmas week doesn’t sound too unreasonable.

Main question is, has it left you short or in debt? If the answer is yes, then you need to plan better next time. If the answer is no, then enjoy the memories and move on.

I often spend around 700-900 per week for an apartmnent in europe, whatever country we're visiting. The flights, depends on time of year and carrier, but I like a lot of luggage so the price ramps up and we like weekend travel, only from Gatwick and at times we find convenient, so I can sometimes pay around 400 quid per person for those flights

While we're away we dont eat in at all apart from wine, cheese, nibbles etc, we eat out for nearly every meal, snacks all day, plus of couse general spending and shopping, entrance fees etc

So thats not a shiny Caribbean holiday, just a bog standard week in an european city of choice wherever I fancy and I dont think we spend much less.

Hopefully you enjoyed yourself and loved every minute.

You would've been spending on heating and food at home... so you've saved a little bit there

If you can afford it I don’t see the issue

£200 a meal is really expensive OP, did you not have transport and were trapped somewhere like a resort where everything was really expensive perhaps?

It's always worth researching beforehand as there are always cheap places to eat but you might need a car to get to them - we had loads of Doubles, Buss up's and roti's last time we were in the Caribbean (Trinidadian but not just in Trinidad) or ate at places popular with locals - tripadvisor can often be good for finding good cheap eats.

You live and learn i think, focus on the positives, you needed to get away just the two of you and you did that and saw a completely new place and different culture.

It’s really expensive, I looked into it carefully as an add on to a cruise but quickly realised it was only affordable if we could get at least half board

sounds about right. did you have a lovely time though?

That doesn’t seem too outlandish for a “nice” holiday. If you can afford it and haven’t got yourself into debt then don’t worry about it!