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UK travel

Welcome to our UK travel forum where you can get advice on everything from holidays to exotic destinations, to tips on London travel.

Original poster

How does everyone seem to have holidays abroad???

38 replies

Matildathebrave · 21/01/2014 11:24

We are both working though have a big mortgage and have never been able to afford to go abroad since having kids.

Our eldest is now 13.

We have holidays every year in the UK and to be honest have always had a great time. We pay up to £700 for the week for all of us and have days at the beach, days out etc.

I've looked at going abroad but it costs thousands.

Am I the only one? Seems like it round here.

And no DH won't go camping :.(

OP posts:
Zigby · 21/01/2014 11:26

I am with you on this one. We are struggling to find anything too. Can't bear the thought of 4 us crammed into a tiny room but can't find much else.

Daedalus · 21/01/2014 11:36

Our eldest is 10 and we have been to France once since the dcs were born.

Lizzylou · 21/01/2014 11:40

We have done Keycamp/gites past few years. Have stayed in tents (not real camping, there are beds, fridges and cookers!) and also mobile homes. The sites have loads to do. Gites can also work out very reasonable.
Ferry costs far less than flights!

Chocotrekkie · 21/01/2014 11:45

We have a small mortgage which we massively overpaid at the beginning (pre dc) so only have a couple of years left on it.

Made the decision to stay where we are rather than move to a big expensive house which is what most of my friends have done.

Our house is ok - just about big enough. No spare room for family but kids on air beds works.

I get house envy a lot when I go to friends but we spend the money on holidays - Florida, new york, cruises type rather than lying on a beach (which we don't enjoy)

Waiting for dd1 to go to secondary and we may move to a bigger place (dd2's room is too small for her to have friends round really) which will curtail our holiday spending.

FunnysInLaJardin · 21/01/2014 11:45

we are in a similar situation to you and go to France to Eurocamp every year. It can cost from about £1,000 for a week. Apart from that, no we can't afford to go abroad. It's just too expensive

Starballbunny · 21/01/2014 11:47

By not going every year.

UK holidays are a total waste of money, if you want to spend everyday in the pool and the sea, not watching the rain.

TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 21/01/2014 11:49

We don't generally.
You've probably been seeing threads about where people are going. It's selective automatically

My children have been abroad twice. Once to visit my parents which they paid for and another time to France in a static using an Inheritence which was given to us on condition we went on holiday.
Actually my youngest has been to my parents twice as I used an earlier Inheritence to take him to see my parents just after he was born

In some way I would say we were very lucky but then we wouldn't have gone if people hadnt died.

We don't go away every year even in the uk. If we do it'll often be things like camping in my brothers back garden. Maybe if you went every other year you could afford something more adventurous.

overitalready · 21/01/2014 11:54

Have you looked into going at other times of the year rather than summer hols?

We managed a week in the Canarys in Jan for £300 more than you paid for the uk holiday. Simply because we flew in Jan.

cromwell44 · 21/01/2014 12:03

We mostly managed France alternate years with UK holidays when the kids were younger and funds tighter. We used Tesco vouchers to buy Eurotunnel crossing then hired a gite or eurocamp type holidays mostly northern France or Vendee. No guarantee of sun though! Our UK holidays were always cottages near the coast.
We have a small mortgage and ok income now but we still struggle to buy five flights plus accommodation in August every year, so still go abroad only on alternate years.

PiggyPlumPie · 21/01/2014 12:11

It cost five of us the same to go to Spain for a week last summer as it would have for five days in London.

frostyfingers · 21/01/2014 12:22

We don't have a holiday every year - every other at most, and then we spend ages looking around and researching. France is quite accessible - renting a villa via Owners Direct, driving yourself, economical self catering make it manageable. Pick a villa in a group if you feel you/your children might want company.

The last couple of years we have been to Spain - cheap flights at godawful o'clock from Bristol, and waiting for the villa companies to have "sales"/cheap last minute bookings. It's been worth it though, we had a fab villa last year with air con & pool reduced by 50% in July because it was available for 10 days and they wanted to fill the gap - flew at 6am and back at midnight which was grim, but was definitely worth it. We didn't spend much out there - a couple of nice meals out, and a day out, but really we just wanted to enjoy the sunshine so were more than happy by the pool.

Our two eldest are now at uni and not keen on holidaying with us so with just one child at home we may even get a holiday this year.....

MmeLindor · 21/01/2014 12:26

We have family abroad - in fact coming to UK was our holiday away from home till a year or so ago.

When we want to go somewhere else, we hire a villa and get cheapest flights possible. Start by looking at destinations that you can fly to with Easyjet or Ryanair.

£200 -300 for flights, £600 - 700 for villa.

It doesn't cost me more to cook in Italy than it does in UK - in fact it can sometimes be cheaper. We don't go for many meals out, and make sure we either have a villa near a beach or one with a pool.

Not as cheap as holidaying at home, but not too expensive.

LtEveDallas · 21/01/2014 12:30

I save throughout the year so I get to go on holiday for 2 weeks. Our hols (2 adults, 1 child) cost between 3 and 4K.

Right now I'm on a good wage, so able to afford to save £300-400 per month. When I can't do that any more we will go every other year, rather than holiday in the UK or look for a cheaper version of what we do now. I think the amount we spend tends to give us exactly what we want in respect of luxury/star rating etc

I'm not a spendthrift in other areas, in fact I'm pretty boring I suppose, so that's how I can save.

DirtieBertie · 21/01/2014 12:39

Tesco vouchers for a ferry crossing. We live about an hour's drive from a ferry crossing so it is cheaper in petrol to go to Northern Europe than Scotland or the Lake District, for example.

We camp and sites cost pretty much the same anywhere. I assume it is the same with other accommodation.

Needmoredisneydollars · 21/01/2014 12:39

We have a very modest house, which everyone else thinks is too small for us, with a small mortgage. We drive a practical, cheap to run car that is 7 years old. We don't drink or smoke, shop carefully sticking to food budget for the month. Clothes are sold on eBay once outgrown, ditto any toys and we make use of hand me down clothes where we can.
We save as much as we can and have amazing holidays, we live for them but I know friends wonder how we afford them.

Needmoredisneydollars · 21/01/2014 12:45

We're in the same situation as chocotrekkie, our house is just about big enough but have decided to stay put rather than go for something bigger like all our friends have done.
I love taking my DC away, seeing different countries. We sacrifice for it though, unless you all a lot of money you just can't afford to have it all, so we choose to budget, budget, budget and have the wonderful hols.

bakingaddict · 21/01/2014 13:13

I never had holidays abroad when I was growing up and I don't think it's an absolute necessity the important point is that wherever you go it's the spending time together as a family be it in a tent or a 5 star resort.

I am quite thankful that I can mainly afford a holiday abroad and UK holiday each year but if I haven't saved enough to go abroad then I would postpone to the following year. I would absolutely not get into debt to go on holiday.

dyslexicdespot · 21/01/2014 13:40

Have you looked into booking flights and accommodation separately? Cheap off-peek flights and a rented flat with a kitchen would not cost very much.

Try:

www.airbnb.co.uk/

laughalot · 21/01/2014 13:48

We go abroad every year, I am a travel agent and do not get loads of discount as most people think. We have a average house and have considered moving but holidays are important to us. We do take the children out of school at the minute but when my eldest goes to comp that will change. Holidays are so very expensive we have to cut back on things to afford them but we do love abroad.

ShoeWhore · 21/01/2014 13:56

We manage by shopping around and doing it cheaply and prioritising holidays over a lot of other things. For example, one of our cars (we live rurally so desperately need 2 cars!) is 10 years old. We don't have Sky or get takeaways. Neither dh or I spend much on ourselves and our house is somewhat less than show home.

I also got a modest tax rebate the year before last which helped pay for that year's holiday - before that we hadn't been abroad for 4 or 5 years.

As someone else said, going outside school summer hols is much cheaper - I managed to get flights for 5 to Barcelona for less than £500 in the Easyjet sale. Could you take a holiday at Easter or one of the half terms? Or if you do go in summer hols, lots of places are a bit cheaper if you go in the last week or two.

Last year with no tax rebate to help us along we went to France as driving was so much cheaper than flying.

noramum · 21/01/2014 15:56

We are Germans so going to Germany is more for the benefit of DD to practise her language skills and learn about the country. We normally don't combine it with family visits, I couldn't stand it.

We also do self-catering, I think it keeps control about your spending. I am a bit of an accommodation snob, I hate bad ones and would prefer going only every two years.

We don't have any expensive hobbies, actually DD does more than DH and I together. We don't go out a lot, we don't buy lots of stuff. We also don't do any other holidays during the year, just days out with picnic.

Preciousbane · 21/01/2014 17:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

higgle · 21/01/2014 18:25

The last UK holiday we had was in 2002. Cornish pubs were asking £6 for a baked potato and I decided never again.

tricot39 · 21/01/2014 19:00

when i was young we holidayed in the uk. sometimes we got very lucky with the weather. other times not but there are always things to do and see. we dont really do.sun lounger type holidays.

my husband's parents used to.holiday abroad and leave him & 2 brothers at home with granny.

so up to age 20 neither of us had been abroad more than a handful of times combined!

we decided that we cant be bothered travelling overseas while we are at the buggy stage so have been on cottage hols in the uk for the last few years. i really enjoy the uk seaside and that we get nice places because our budget is not eaten up by flights.

i prefer to pay down my mortgage than have fancy stuff or holidays. having less debt has made us happier in these uncertain times and that is worth a lot.

Domus · 21/01/2014 19:16

My boys are 10&12 and have never been abroad. I thought this was because we love the Lakes, UK beaches etc and like OP we usually spend £700ish on a SC place and have a lovely time.

Last year for a change I thought we'd go on a "cheapie" holiday in the med. When I tried to book, I really could not believe the cost. We didn't go, I really couldn't justify it to myself when I knew we could have a lovely holiday so much cheaper(although we could have scraped the money together).