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

I love singlewithkids and have been on loads of their holidays with my 3 DDs. We usually have a private room with their being 4 of us unless I specify shared accomodation.

The holidays are popular with mums and dads and usually there are 2-6 dads on each trip. Crete last summer was fabulous and no-one got pi**ed. It was quite a small group.

Their Xmas party weekend only has 2-4 beds in each room not 16 (or however many one poster said)

I was just coming on LPs to ask about holidays as it'll be my first time alone too. I thought I was OK about being single until after Christmas everyone started talking about holidays and I thought about how daunting it would be.

My two are 8 and 3 so quite an age difference and so have different needs which can be hard to juggle.

I'd just discovered SWK and was going to try out one of their trips - but after what's posted here maybe not the camping party one! I'll check out the other sites.

I fancy an adventure holiday but DD2 is probably too young - going abroad is probably a bit out of my limit though.

Good advice, thanks

So sorry to read of your loss TCG and your legogirl. It must be hard becoming a SP when you never expected to be with your families.

I have never done a single parent holiday. Not sure why but maybe because I'm worried we'll have nothing in common (other than being SPs together).

Ds is 7 and I've always been a SP (ex couldn't deal with poorly prem ds). Holidays we have done:

renting cottages in Devon, Dorset, Cornwall (Classic Cottages are good)
renting cottage in France (Owner's Direct)
renting villa in Barbados (Owner's Direct) - a real fly and flop
skiing in France - we just book a room in a catered chalet. A bit pot luck but usually works out ok.
Egypt with Adventure Travel Company (would never do another holiday with them even if it was free).
fly drive holidays to South Africa - flights are pricey but very cheap once you are there. Ds went on his first safari aged 2!
Lots of UK camping trips - I really like the Forest Holidays sites as they are in lovely locations and have ranger guided activities. They also have a play area so a good place for your dcs to meet others.

Other than one time skiing I've never done holidays with kids clubs. Not deliberately avoided but just haven't chosen to go on those types of holidays. Mostly tend to do independent trips rather than package holidays.

One a couple of the UK cottage holidays, the French cottage and one Barbados trip I paid for grandma to come too.

Ninja, my DDs are 5, 11 and 15 and all 3 of them absolutely love the SWK trips. We've been on different types of trips with them from camping to overseas to bunk barns and luxury lodges. After EVERY trip my girls say that was their best trip yet. They love having other children to play with and I love having some adults to have a cup of tea with (or even the occasional glass of wine :) )

So pleased to see this thread on the go as am looking for some kind of summer holiday for me and DS.

We go to Haven, Primrose Valley every May, it has good public transport links (a must for me as I don't drive). We go Monday to Friday, sometimes inviting friends up for a couple of nights.

Last summer I took DS on a coach holiday to DLP which we both loved.

We do weekends away with National Holidays, they do lots of family orientated breaks at reasonable costs. Our next one is a 2 day break including Thomasland and Twycross Zoo.

I had been looking at the singlewithkids website and the breaks do look very tempting, I find I'm tied though in that with me not driving y destination has to be on a public transport route too (or a short taxi ride from one!).

Would love to jet off on a plane to somewhere hot, hot, hot but I just don't have that amount of money! Thankfully DS is a good traveller and is happy on trains and coaches.

Thanks alldirections my daughter really likes the look of the camping weekend at the adventure playground and it's cheap enough to take a risk -

sadly the wigwams which looked fab are booked out and I fancy the tipis but don't know if it's a bit pricey - will have a think ....

Hi ConstantGardner, I've used Small Families www.smallfamilies.co.uk a couple of times & would recommend them. They do conventional type package holidays for single parents.

You can definitely fly & flop with the holidays they offer. A host accompanies you & everything is organised. I love it, as it means for a whole week, I don't really have to think about anything very much.

those sites look good - i have holidayed as LP since even before splitting as exP made excuses not to come ... eg with my parents, but more so now - have done couple trips with Ds and dds with a carer for ds eg center parcs - so not really "alone" as ahve anotehr adult there.

and now ds goes to respite for longer periods have been venturing further with dds.

we did a four day ski-trying long weekend last year travelling o/nite on train from paris to moutiers - was great, i felt fine they great company (11 and 9) .

but would be good to do a week skiiing say /or summer with other lps/kids around knowing you can be invovled with them (or not). and with everything organized....save up for next year...

HI TCG - so sorry for your loss and well done you for starting to look forward. This is my 5th summer holiday cmoming up of being a lone parent and for the first two summer holidays we went here which was fantastic - a flying and flopping type holiday and it was very sociable as it's a campsite so in the evening everyone was sitting outside their caravans with BBQs, books, wine etc and I was joining in with neighbours from day 1. The second year there was a lone dad across from us too and there were several other single mums both years. iam still friends with 9and have been on hols with) some of the couples we met. Dead easy site for realxing as everything's there for you and it's on the bus route to/from venice airport. Can't recommend it enough. My dc were 5 and 6 when we first went and we all loved it so much we went back the next year.
The follwoing year we went to a Siblu site (they don't go any more but think Canvas and Keycamp might) whioch was lovely here but the local beach was gravelly which my 2 didn't like. Stunning pools though - but hilly site and not as much on in the evening as Portofelice. tehre wasn't a kids club here either but we did enjoy it. It wasn't as sociable as the others as the mobile pitches were more private but we still met loads of people and again am still in touch with 2 families!!
Last summer on a budget we went to lnacashire. It rained and the dc got bored and no-one spoke to us (probably cos no-one wassitting outside!). Morecambe was a dump, kids loved Blackpool PLeasure Beach but it wasn't my cup of tea - went there in desperation!! So this year we're going here and I am prepared for no-one talkign to me as it's ahotel/aprtment complex rather than a campsite but I need sunshine! Hopefully we'll meet people as it's much nicer and I enjoy the company.

Hope that helps xx

Thanks mollie O and all directions, think I'll look at swk website and maybe try a fly to south of France keycamp maybe. Just can't face the rubbish pools in Spain and high rise apartments tho that might be unfair (never been to majorca). I feel like a freak at the school gates cos everyone looks at me the whole time to see how I'm doing following the death of my husband and I would really like to be away from being the odd one out. So although I don't like the idea of swk defining me somehow I actually think it would be quite nice to feel remotely normal for a while and maybe to let the kids know there are other families like ours. That's if swk means single with kids. Where do u find out what all these acronyms mean? Lol

Hi all,
Love the look of small families.co.uk but they only seem to cater for late July summer sun and our schools break up at end of June. Great idea tho. Sadly name good for us scots

Hi !

I'm from Single With Kids and as our last caller has just told me they were recommended to us by Mumsnet, I thought it only polite to come on myself and say hello!

An interesting thread! There's never a "one size fits all" solution to holidays but it's good to share the options available, the advantage of the internet is it's so much easier to search and find something that's hopefully just perfect for you and your own circumstances.

I do hope it's ok for me to address a few points made in this thread if I may?
At Single With Kids we recognise that while many single parents may dream of sand, seas and Mediterranean sunshine, not everyone has the same budgets. Nor does everyone want to travel overseas, especially if you've a number of children or young ones. We try to offer a large variety of breaks so there's something for everyone - all families deserve a holiday, regardless of how much they earn. Our breaks range from very good 4 star hotels overseas (ALL private rooms!!!) through to more basic, budget hostel accommodation. If someone wants shared rooms to cut costs, then that's available too although that is only a very, very small percentage of our breaks. We also recognise that loneliness is a major factor in being a single parent, and it's refreshing to break out from that with a few smaller get togethers during the year.

NewPatchesforOld, I coordinate 99% of camping trips and have never seen any of the trips you've described, the description lends itself more to the pages of the Sun's stereotype of single parents (which is in itself fictional). Our holidaymakers are predominantly professional, 30-55 year old parents - we've more teachers than you can shake a stick at, doctors, nurses, secretaries....a good cross section. Patches do email me at [email protected] to tell me of your trip, I'm intrigued as to how I'd have missed any of the events you 've described? For the record, many of the campsites we use are very strict about the groups they allow, with noise deposits asked by many. Not once have any of our group lost their noise deposit, nor have we ever been turned away after a visit.

Whatever you're looking for for holidays on the internet - whether in a group, with your own extended family perhaps or simply you and your children, there are literally hundreds of thousands of options available. My personal favourites are often in the UK, we have a fabulous country with some real hidden treasures! Whatever you decide, with good planning and an open mind you should have a good holiday wherever you go. While as single parents we may not all be able to give our children a traditional family background, hopefully that won't stop us from giving them some fabulous experiences and some good memories for life.

If anyone does have any questions at any stage about www.SingleWithKids.co.uk, please don't hesitate to drop me a line at [email protected] - booking your first holiday as a single parent can be daunting (yes, I've been there myself!) and we're more than happy to hold your hand to make it easier.

Thanks for reading this far - I'll get back to work now! Wherever you go, whatever you decide to do we hope you have a summer full of sun, fun and fond memories.

Chrissie x

SWKChrissie - I've just seen your post and wanted to pop on and ask you if you would consider, in your information on each holiday destination (in the uk), mentioning whether or not it is accessible by public transport or not?? I'm sure I'm not the only single parent reliant on public transport, and this is the main factor for me in where I holiday and I'd find it really helpful to see this info on your website pages.

As a single parent I enjoy cruises. My kids also love them which means we all get a good holiday.

You need to choose a cruise company with very good childcare facilities, like P&O or Royal Caribbean.

At dinner you can join other passengers (for some adult company) or just you own family. The kids and teenagers clubs run from 9am to 12 midnight.

Cruising can be expensive and you have to pay adult price for the second person in the cabin, but if you look around and book early you can get good bargains. My next cruise in June (in school holidays) had a very good price for children (about £80 each) and as a result all the cheaper cabins sold out the day booking opened (March/April time).

Hi,
We did try this initially but found people's understanding of what was accessible can be quite different! We put the post code in for all UK events, if you use www.transportdirect.info it can give you a door to door breakdown (even telling you the number of the bus, train etc!).

It's probably worth us putting the Transport Direct link on our site pages actually - one for the list :-)

Chrissie x

(oops, my post was obviously in answer to boredandrestless, sorry if it sounds out of context!)

Thanks for that website Chrissie, I had tried doing the same on Google Directions using the public transport option and got no where! The transport direct info though is very thorough, like you say even telling you the bus numbers and train details! Will definitely be bookmarking that one.

Has anyone been on a Siblu or Keycamp holiday?

I was thinking of going on the Mango one to North Devon in June but by the time I've added on travel costs (and it'll take us a long time to get there by public transport as I don't drive) it would be cheaper to fly abroad and pay to stay in a chalet at one of these organised campsites. Sounds quite good and the weather would probably be more reliable but just wondered if many other single parents around?

Thanks