Who exactly are the people who can afford to go on foreign holidays in the school holidays?

[Earthstar]

I personally can't afford foreign holidays in the school holidays.

We are definitely not poor. Dp and I both work - we are one of the "middle income" families. We have one child, one (old) car, don't smoke or drink, have a 2 bed flat, no sky etc.

Obviously lots of people with school age kids do go abroad in school hols, otherwise the prices wouldn't be so high - but how? How much do you have to earn to manage to pay to go abroad in the summer hols? And how much does it really cost for a 2 week break...or even for one week?

That's why we're staying in the UK. But even then, we're spending £1300 on two weeks in a glorified caravan. Madness.

I don't know how people afford holidays abroad in summer hols. Priorities I guess. Certainly not for me though.

Weeelll, we do. We are going for a week to spain in August, I think it will cost about £2000 for four of us. Flights on easyjet, a villa rented direct from a spanish agent, luckily no car hire needed.
We are have a good income (though nowhere near the 50% tax bracket) and live in a cheap part of the UK with low housing and commuting costs.
Tbh I think most holidays are expensive in August, whether abroad or uk.

We are going this year. It is rare for us. DH is self employed and is going to make about £5,000 over his usual this year - we look on it like a bonus - so are planning to spend £3,000 of it on a holiday.

Otherwise we have had two hols abroad in the last 9 years (2 weeks Eurocamp in France, 1 week in Valencia joined up to a friends wedding).

Going on holiday in this country is just as extortionate though. We stayed in a cottage in Scotland over Easter that cost £600. To stay in the same cottage in August would cost £1100.

Renting a gite in mid France for a week in August costs about £750 for the ones we looked at (for 5 of us) so the ferry and fuel costs would only make it the same price.

I don't understand why 'foreign' holidays are seen as expensive. The UK is as bad, if not worse, over the summer holidays.

We couldn't afford to take all 5 of us on a long haul holiday but there are plenty of reasonably priced self catering places available in France and other countries on the continent which would be as affordable as an equivalent UK holiday.

We went to South of France with Siblu in a caravan last August. Flew Ryan Air. It cost us about £2.5K for the holiday and flights. We could have done it cheaper if we hadn't had priority booking on the flights and gone in the basic level caravan.

Two weeks in a caravan in the isle of wight the same two weeks would have cost us nearly £2K.

Though the eurozone has become much more expensive in the last couple of years.

We're going to the Alps. £800 for two weeks in a huge apartment, travel down in the car (shuttle + hotels + petrol = £4-500 - we could do it quicker and scrap one night in a hotel but I can't stand being in the car for so long at a time). While we're there we'll only be eating as we would be at home (straightforward food, picnics etc); activities and so on are not too expensive and we'll do lots of walking and swimming (free!) - we should get away for less than £2000 for a fortnight.

By contrast, a house by the sea in Northumberland for a week in May half term is about £800! So we won't be doing that!

We save up all year to be able to go, and don't do other things in order to afford it.

thekla our house in northumberland is less than £600 in august

Us?

I resent the increase....we spent £2000 more going on holiday at Christmas....the same holiday would have cost us £4000 2 weeks earlier....madness

I do, I am a single parent on a (relatively) low income however, I save for my annual leave, I have family overseas, I swap hard labour for my board and fly cheap.
(And I'm ever so grateful.)

I second the view that holidaying in the UK is expensive. £1300 for 2 weeks in a caravan??? You could rent a nice cottage in France for that, taking you own car and including ferry crossings.

I think here in Scotland a lot of people do the 2 week package deal, (and hell will freeze over for some before they will stop) just because the weather here tends to be crap, ferries and France not a great option (hours and hours to get to a south coast port) also if you go at the start of our school holidays and drive to Newcastle or Manchester it is cheaper as English school stop 3 weeks after us so not the demand. (shh don't tell the tour companies)

We did abroad for the first time this year but went at Easter (not as popular) and went to somewhere not targeted as a family destination (New York) and put together the holiday ourselves (with help from Expedia). It worked out cheaper than 'sun' destinations we were looking at.

Oh and in the North of England we can take advantage of the holidays in Scotland being differnet times as flights are cheaper from Scotland in the last 2 weeks of August. And Glasgow is nearer than Manchester to us.

Nymphadora, you do the opposite of us then.

People are nuts to fly abroad for holiday this year with that damn volcano spewing.

Who exactly are the people who can afford to go on foreign holidays in the school holidays?

They are people who prioritise their holiday as the high point of their year. They save up for it, work overtime and forego, say, regular nights out to cinema, restaurant or pub, days away and take aways. It would not be my choice as too many eggs in one fortnights basket, too many factors eg cancelled flights, illness, disappointing weather, which might go wrong. However I know families who do it and they always say they had a fabulous time and had a year's worth of looking forward to it as well.

We, who do not go for the 'one glorious fortnight' option should be grateful to those who do, as their enormous expenditure subsidies the prices for those of us who can go out of season.

Well I priced a week in Sardinia for two adults and ds aged 3 next month so not school holidays and it was £3,900

Easyjet flights and b&b.

Travel agent tried to sell be BA flights first and I said no.

Well we have to. Ds1 is doing GCSEs so obviously can't take him out of school. Also if we went say in June, I would then need to use my hols entitlement for June then again in the six weeks summer holidays so I would quickly run out of leave.

Dh is self employed and the summer holiday is the only holiday he has apart from Bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

I can't afford to do 'Haven, Blackpool' in the school holiday!

WE are going this year, first year in ages. Going on the ferry over to France, to a Eurocamp site in Southern Brittanny.
It is working out cheaper than if we had 2 weeks in the UK.

And there'll be pate and French cheese and wine...

Is it cheaper in the UK if you're going for a week or a whole fortnight?

I know all the self-catering cottages and caravans I have booked have a 3 night minimum in the high season, but never really looked into a fortnight as DH can't usually get that long off during summer.

We usually go the first week of July as Scottish schools finish the last day of June but the English are still in so prices tend to be a bit better.

For us, UK holidays are cheaper because we can take our car to use to site see. And also with a baby in tow it's easier to know there's a NHS to use if need be and shops and items we are familiar with.

Would consider abroad later on once they are older, but just seeing all those people with little kids stuck by that volcano put me off for now.

We go with friends, which tends to cut the bill if you're staying in a villa/gite.

This year, we're going to Spain - 4 days in a city apartment in Barcelona and a week in Villa Freser and a couple of days in a city apartment in Girona. All in will be costing just over £2000 for our family of 4 - don't think that's extortionate compared with the cost of a package holiday somewhere for a fortnight.

And how do we afford it? By saving for it.

We are going to the South of France - but camping about £1200 I think.

I think that overseas holidays are going to become rarer and people feel the squeeze

We do go on holiday in the school holidays - have a tiny place in France bought in more affluent and less taxing times. So we mostly only pay for travel (we tend to drive down) and food. Dunno how much we spend but really no more than we would at home, except we tend to eat out once a day to give me a bit of a break. The fun thing is that people come and stay!