Sad that we will probably never overseas again

[BooseysMom]

Just that really. We're in our early 50s and had a child late in our 40s. We never seem to have enough money and everything just gets more and more expensive. We are both working but don't earn that much. We rented for so long that we didn't get on the property ladder until late. We have holidays but they're the same each year, a caravan in Devon. Never anything more adventurous. We would have to get passports sorted too which is more expense. I don't know what i'm asking really except why have we got so boring and even too scared to go anywhere different? It's crazy when you only get one life!

Go to a caravan somewhere else! There’s loads of lovely places in the UK; Pembrokeshire, Anglesey, The Lakes, North Yorkshire coast, Northumberland to name a few.

Also shop around, we do a mix of UK and abroad, you can get some good deals places like Jet 2 and easy jet holidays. You can pay in instalments and if you go all inclusive it’s easier to budget. Or go basic accommodation with self catering and be strict with food budget when you’re there.

Or places like Eurocamp are very reasonable and would be similar accommodation to what you’re used to. My brother and SIL have booked centre parcs in the Netherlands for Easter and it’s apparently much cheaper than the UK ones

I really don’t think the UK is boring at all. We’ve really enjoyed holidays in the Scottish Highlands, North York Moors and on the Norfolk coast (as well as Devon). We stayed in caravans or cheap rental cottages for all of those. Going abroad with tiny kids is over rated plus they don’t remember it so save your money and travel further afield when they are older. We have saved up and had bigger adventure holidays to Italy, Spain and France when they were a little older. It depends on what kind of holidays you like but it doesn’t have to be an AI hotel you can take a ferry and do Eurocamp for much cheaper and still see a different culture.

If anyone is thinking about flying to France, did you know that the big supermarkets rent out cars cheaply? Far less than you pay at an airport. If you fly in to somewhere not far from a city and can taxi/Uber or bus to a supermarket, that can be a way to save money.

Euro camps in May is the same prices as going to a haven in the UK. Plus they sometimes have last min deals on.

Sun newspaper (I hate it but needs must) has a holiday promotion starting on 10/01. They have lots of holiday sites available in Europe as well as UK. We have had some unbelievable bargain holidays this way.
Also Scottish islands that involve a ferry ride feel like you are going abroad. Cal Mac ferries are very reasonably priced.
Also look at last minute out of season deals for Oct half term.
Would you camp? Tents can be bought very cheaply.

look at micro campers, the world is your oyster, if you want it make it happen, micro camper, something like a belingo will do so you can use it as an everyday car, ditch the caravan holiday get a passport, if you want to save on the passport then you still have a camper to travel to other sites in the UK, you have 1 life dont waste it wishing it could be different when its such an easy thing to change.

When we were forced to holiday in UK in 2021, it cost far more than if we'd gone abroad as usual.

Nothing's changed; in 2025 6 days in UK cost more than 7 in Portugal.

I know, I was simply commenting on the fact passports dont last 20 years like you said.

My apologies. 20 was a typo.

Once you've been to one abroad, you've been to them all. They talk funny and the food is very odd. And it's invariably too hot, or too cold.

Have you looked at Belgium? Some lovely places and relatively cheap. We are going to Ardennes i August for 7 nights and it's 732 euros for three of us. Not including travel, we are driving.

also should have said centre parcs!

Agree with others, post your budget! I holiday abroad and tend to think of Devon as somewhere rather expensive. Got to be a good chance cheaper options exist.

if you fly Ryanair you can each take a bag onboard at no extra charge (size 40x 30x 20 cm) -Amazon sell ones exactly this size. Then wear any bulky items like coats, a jumper and trainers on the plane. We’ve just done a week away with just one of these bags each to reduce costs - Ryanair were charging £50 each way for one small wheelie case! If you stay in an Airbnb you can do a mid stay wash or even get it done at a local place - much cheaper than buying an additional bag.

If you have money for a caravan in Devon you have money to go abroad . Plus your child will start school so childcare costs etc will go away . Just treat holidays as a necessary expense you can’t do without . I do

A caravan holiday in Devon isn’t exactly cheap, you would likely get a holiday in eurocamp for a similar amount, there are some where you don’t need your own transport if you’re worried about driving.

If you can get to Devon then you are in the south of the country, meaning you can cross over to Europe for £100. The campsites in places like the Netherlands are so much nicer, and big bags of fresh croissants for under €1 feel like special food. Yes passports are a significant investment but it'll be worth it when you're exploring a quaint new town for less than the Devon trip.

I remember going to Ibiza, flights, hotel and transport from the airport about 20 years ago for £99. Never wanted to go there, ever, but at that price it was rude not to. Was a great holiday in the end, but no interest in the dance scene so avoided all that.
Obviously £99 wouldn't apply now but are there still no last moment bargains to be had? Get your passport OP! To be honest, I think holidaying in the UK can be just as expensive.

Your thread title stopped me in my tracks and made me think about my priorities. I rarely go beyond France/Spain/Belgium/ Holland but I'd be so sad if abroad wasn't an option. Personally I'd choose two nights and three days in Bordeaux or La Rochelle or Seville over a week in the UK. OK I would probably like the option of some spontaneous sunny Saturday day trips too to tide me over. Sunny and spontaneous going hand in hand is not a coincidence.
Personally I would even do without a holiday at all one year, if that were necessary to save for passports. But I do have major wanderlust that the UK can't satisfy.

Oh, my partner rents a cottage on the Norfolk Broads every year, 2 weeks fishing holiday. I don't go but it costs just under £4k. An insane amount of money and I'd rather go to Australia with that kind of money...
Am pretty sure you could get away on the cheap, esp if don't mind where or last minute.

Sorry not the point of the thread.. but may I ask how old you were assuming you gave birth to your child and not adopted ? I'm late 40s and would love another!
I'd focus on doting on your child - it goes way too quickly and memories in Devon are just as nice as abroad xx

When our three children were young and we were very tight for money in the late 80s, we did exchange holidays for three years - Denmark, Spain and Germany. We made a point of exchanging with families who had children in the same age as ours, so as not to endanger anyone's precious antiques. We had a brilliant time every time, and the money we spent on food and going out (this was during school summer holidays) was what we would have spent anyway if we'd stayed at home. We took the car across on the ferry and drove ourselves so no rentals needed. We only stopped doing this because our oldest got into his teens, and the areas we went to were not particularly good for a teenager who wanted things to do, so we went to campsites after that.

We had no problem with any of the families we exchanged with. A couple of minor crockery breakages (one of ours, one of theirs) were replaced. Neighbours expected us and had us over for tea, which was lovely.

It's a great holiday for people with young children or no children - not good for teenagers. We went through what was then a brochure called Home Exchange International, but nowadays it's a website.

Our house was not grand or in a posh area, but we were in the London Borough of Hillingdon and a short walk from a Tube station plus a short drive out to M25, so we were well placed for people wanting to holiday near London.

I haven’t RTFT but I find UK holidays tend to cost more overall than going abroad.

DH and I are going on a cheap holiday at the end of May, to a Greek island for less than £700 for the two of us. That’s flights, accommodation and transfers. It’s SC so we could eat a few meals in if we wanted to keep costs down or couldn’t be arsed.

In stark contrast, we paid £1500 for a week in a lodge on the IoW last year, for 3 of us, which cost an extra £150 for the ferry and the activities were a)more expensive and b) needed thanks to the shite British weather.

We went to Isle of wight one year, it felt like going overseas as you got on a ferry, and well, crossed the sea and it was lovely.
You can get The Sun holiday deals abroad. I know quite a few people that have done them and had a lovely time. You can google for all the codes, don't even have to buy the paper.
Also easyjet and ryan air do some pretty cheap flights if you don't mind where and when you go. Keep checking their websites. We got 4 return flights to italy last year for £280. Then booked an air bnb for 4 nights.
Can you also do a side job, my side job pays for our holidays. My main job pays the bills and the side job pays for holidays.
Also use sky scanner for checking cheaoest flights, use the function where you just select a month then it will bring up the prices in each day of a month. Some days will be £150 and the following day might be £45 for a flight.
Travel light so you dont have to pay for bags.
Use the hotel comparison sites like kayak for huge discounts.
I just booked my mum a holiday and i searched 5 different operators and the difference between then for the exact same holiday was in the thousands. That was for a more expenaive holiday but the same premise is for all types of holiday.
You can travel cheaply but need to be flexible and research.

We are the same OP. No money for holidays. Just debt, so no chance of saving up. I don’t know how everyone else does it. Seems like everyone we know goes on amazing trips all the time, it’s so depressing hearing about them 😫