Holidays for lone parents

[TheConstantGardener]

Hi all

I recently became a lone parent following the death of my wife in November. I think the winter weather has been getting me down so am dreaming of summer! Of course I realise now that holidaying alone with he kids would be hard so wondered what sort of things you guys have done in the past or are considering for this year? I'd love to go abroad but of course realise this will increase the stress levels and the financial side might be tricky. All the same, would love to hear any top tips.
x

Mango excellent in my experience. Very friendly and helpful and bent over backwards to help me with my fussy vegetarian ds (no idea where he gets that from )

Breacon trip - accomodation really nice. Shared self catering cottages (shared with one other family) but our own room, plenty of showers and each cottage had big kitchen space for own catering as well as several meals cooked by co-ordinator for us. Lots of space to run around, lovely walk down to village. Activities on our holiday were well organised and planned, our co-ordinator clearly knew area well and reasonably priced (though bear in mind you'll be paying extra for any trips/activities you do go on and if kids getting on well they'll want to do everything the others are too). We went horseriding, to an activity centre for wall climbing, tunnelling etc, afternoon at lake feeding ducks or hiring canoe/row boat (very interesting rowing by some!), extremly muddy walk to waterfall (ds got stuck in teh mud and I had to rescue his wellies - best day of holiday he said). Very friendly and relaxed and definitely recommend that trip.

Mango Xmas party - Think they have changed location now but when we went we had lovely accomodation/hotel, excellent food (again bent over backwards to ensure ds had something he would eat). Magician had ds transfixed, santa train trip was amazing - one of the best santa's ever been too and ds got a really nice gift, zoo outing would have been good if it wasn't so cold we were absolutely frozen and left early to go back for a swim! Would go again but it seems to clash with so many other xmas things here that we didn't make it this year and last year I was recovering from injury so couldn't consider going away.

So have booked woolacombe this year - On booking got a very lovely email from leslie (who we met before on both our previous trips) welcoming us back. Really pleased to see frazzled's recommendation above for it and am extra excited and looking forward to now!
Not sure how old your dc are going round but the do a tots holiday which is specially for littler ones. May be something to consider for OP as his dc are young still (which I didn't realise when I originally posted above).

SWK do have some private rooms, but these usually go very fast (think there were 3 on the xmas trip - I tried to book it as soon as it came up on website and they were all gone). You may find with 4dc and yourself that you'd get a whole chalet/cottage/tent to yourself though depending on the trip. Good coms when I've contacted them in past so suggest you ask for more details if you have query re accomodation situation.

thank you will give them a call my dc are 16,14,7 and 5 so wide spread

ug i just costed it out at over £2000 without any extras .Downside to big family and we need two bedrooms infact just spoken to lady and becuase of ds1 and ds2 ages i need 2 bedrooms so prices be nearer the £2500 instead

So thats rules me out guess back to booking holidays and having no other adults as such to speak to

Ooh come to woolacombe with us if you can. My ds is 11 and is very good with younger children.
Other mnetter friend is coming with his boys - 18, 11, 10.
We've looked at area and as well as the activties suggested on website there's the options of seafishing, surfing and things like that for older ones close by if they're not so keen on gnome world. Think I my ds will be over the moon with gnome world and the cascades though!
We are going on the last week of summer hols trip. Maybe see you there!

Ouch. That is steep, especially with other stuff on top. Maybe wait and see if they get reduced closer to holiday time?

Or look at centre parks or somewhere like that off season. We are going this weekend and got a super low price on an executive challet as it's low season (cheaper than the comfort accomodation!).
You pay per villa not per person with CP so may work out reasonable if you can be flexible about when to go. Don't go in school hols though!

goinground will send you a message as seem to have hijacked thread - sorry OP and rest!

i my mind I want a 'fly and flop' holiday where we can swim, walk and lounge with other parents able to take it in turns to give one another an hr off here and there.

Anyone ever found something like this?

gillybean, never even thought of the shared living angle - must be hard. Gawd.

Anyone fancy flying and flopping? :-)

Think lot depends holiday wise on how old your dc are,my elder ones I can flop leave them get on with it sadly dd and ds3 require rather more

Firstly, I'm very sorry to hear about your wife - it wasn't long ago so must still be very raw for you. I think a holiday would give you all something to look forward to and be a well-deserved break.

If you want a fly & flop type holiday, have you thought about booking an all inclusive hotel with kids clubs for kids of all ages? That way, you'll get a couple of hours break while they are attending the club, won't have to cook or clean, and can just relax. I have to say that for me, those single parent holidays where you have to mingle with a bunch of strangers sounds like my idea of hell, and as for actually sharing accommodation with strangers - hell no! Hell on earth!

I took DS (4) to an AI hotel in Ibiza for a week last Sept. I had to pay for DS as an adult but got a bargain on the Holiday Hypermarket website (it was a Thomson holiday but was over £150 cheaper than exactly same holiday from Thomson branch). He went to the kids club 3 mornings, so I went to the beach with my book and just set the alarm on my mobile so I knew when to pick him up. We went out and about sightseeing, took the local bus to Ibiza Town and spent lots of time playing on the beach. It was great, and I wish I could afford to do a similar holiday this year as there are lots of places I'd like to visit with him but I've got debts to pay off, so it'll have to wait a year or two.

You haven't said how old your kids are but maybe this kind of package deal might be what you're looking for?

Do you have a budget in mind? Or is cost not a factor for you?

You may like to fly and flop, but will your dc be climbing up the walls by this? They'll probably be happy with a pool/beach but you can't take your eyes off small dc for a moment anywhere near water. And with 2 running in different directions it does not make for a relaxed time. Best way to get a break is somewhere with a holiday club, play area, secure pool area, and to possibly factor in some activities/excursions.

Would also say that while it sounds nice to 'take it in turns to give each other an hour off' some people aren't happy to look after strange children. You may all be single parents but you are also basically strangers. And I would say you should be especially wary being responsible for other people#s dc around water when you have your own dc to look out for too. IMO you are probably better off finding somewhere with a holiday club suitable for your children's ages to be sure of getting a break and not expecting others to help you out (though they probably will to varying degrees). That way you know they are somewhere safe and secure and being watched and entertained and you can properly relax.

Hello have been watching this thread with interest as would really like to take my dd (nearly 5yo) abroad this summer. Did some internet searching last night and was shocked at how expensive it would be. Have done thesinglewith kids break before and was lucky as I shared a cabin with just one other very nice mum and she had a dd of a similiar age to mine so it worked out well but know that some other mums struggled a bit more so I an see it might be risky.

Hi TCG. sorry about your wife. I am also widowed, it can bereally difficult.
i recently took my 2 kids to center parcs on my own. they are 7 and 5. i didnt fancy taking them abroad and we had an AWESOME time. didnt feel lonely at all so much to do

think we could do with a mn single parents holiday .

somewhere with kids club but also own accomidation for those that prefer it and free to do own things but meet up through out day if wanted

Did a cruise last year with Ds (5 years old) and that suited us both.
Travel Zoo have good offers and have one for £499 a person (including return flights to Barcelona) which is similar to the one we did. Sounds alot but you do get to see 5 different places - Pompeii, Rome etc and kids love seeing the places they learn about at school.
It includes lovely food and kids clubs for all ages if you need them. Although mine just wanted to swim with me all day.

It's my sons best holiday but mainly because being on a really big ship thrilled him beyond words!
Sorry for your loss also. Can't imagine Christmas was much fun for you.

Am seriously going to Woolacombe this summer with Mango (with my toddler).

Might just bite the bullet and book it.

Hope to see some of you there!

Sorry to hear about your wife.

Me and DD holiday on our own as DH refuses to come. In the past we've hired holiday cottages, camped and gone to Egypt with First Choice. Holiday cottages I found not so good as DD had noone else to play with. Camping was good for this and normally some other family/group take pity on me and I've always been invited over to other peoples' tents for bbqs/wine. If you didn't fancy camping then how about a static caravan or a Featherdown Farm or a cottage where its in a group of cottages with a central play area/pool/etc. Bit more stuff going on.

Going to Egypt with First Choice was fine, I got to know someone through the TripAdvisor forum who was a single mum going to the same hotel so we met up out there. I think without her it may have been a bit lonely in the evenings.

Have you heard of Esprit, we go skiing with them but they do Alpine summer holidays as well which are very child friendly, lots of other families in the same chalet and you can join in sporty type activities if you want. Its communal dining so you get plenty of company.

www.espritfamilyadventures.com/

There are flexible kids clubs with them as well, we've always found them to be good when we've skied.

I really can't afford a holiday, but have wondered about here
I worry it will be a bot too lentil weavery for us though.

Wugglemump - that looks really nice, possibly no good for the OP though.

No, not for the OP, but something to think about for others possibly.
I'm umming and ahhing over seeing if they have availability for this summer, but as I said, worry that it's a bit lentil weavery.
I'm not sure how we'd get on in a dorm with DD taking her Nintendo DS and asking if Eastenders was on!

Yes I think the shared bedroom would put me off. I'd rather go to a Youth Hostel, I think they have a lot of private family rooms now.

Wish those who started threads would at least reply to those who had shown an interest in responding to original post. In my mind that is just good manners, Gets my goat, serious!!!

We went away with Small Families a couple of years ago. The holiday was brilliant (although not cheap!) and there were a couple of single dads in our group. I'd really recommend them if you would like others around in the same situation as you.

My DDs are 14 and 11 now and we've been on a few holidays on our own, going to Tunisia this year (not single parent holiday - so rip-off really!) and really looking forward to it. It's a First Choice holiday village, so loads for kids to do, which means I can 'flop' for a while!

1st holiday on my own with DDs was to Florida when they were 10 and 7. Absolutely great! Just booked on Virgin website. Didn't feel like we needed anyone else there as were so busy for whole holiday.

DobieGirl - I would imagine that being recently bereaved and having children to care for he maybe has a bit more on his mind than logging into MN every day. Normally I'd agree with you, in this case I'll make an exception.

DobieGirl the OP has responded to me (and so possible to others too) by private message. So he's not totally ignoring . Plus what Viva said above!