Holidays - are you really in poverty if you can't afford one?

Poppy9

Russ66 wrote:

We are lucky though. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We live in Wales!!

Me too. It cost just the bus fare, a picnic & an ice-cream (if my mother had the money. We never asked, waited to be offered) to spend the day on the beach when I was a child.

Now I'm a mum it's the car parking, picnic & ice-cream at the end of the day!

Living local to loads of beaches is great. School term time beaches are empty and during school holidays you can go along later in the afternoon when the car parks are emptying and stay till sunset.

Russ66

calleyw wrote:

I believe that I rich as I am not dicatated to by a piece of electronics that sits in the corner of the room.

How come you spend so much time on MSE then?

patchwork_cat

Well we haven't had a holiday since 1999.

It would be ridiculous to say we live in poverty, it is a case of priorities.

As a child we went abroad every year and most of the time I resented it as my friends didn't and I missed them.

Know my son goes on about not going away, but I know that he would be the first (maybe close second!) to complain if everything wasn't just so.

As far as going abroad is concerned I'd need a holiday to get over 2 weeks of the kids bickering, being overtired because the next apartment had been clubbing til 4 am, upset tummies, I could go on...

Poppy9

I do begrudge spending hard earned cash to 'live' in a substandard cramped room or two for 2 weeks, buying over priced crap meals.

I'm off to Florida for 1/2 term. Hope apartment is as good as piccies.

SammyD_2

j-baby-scotland wrote:

I think you are just being miserable...
Probably young & inexperienced in life, being polite!

Guess it depends on your definition of young and inexperienced then - I am mid 30's, have two young children, work full time, have a husband who works shift work, have done plenty of low paid jobs such as cleaning and retail work, given hundreds of hours voluntarily to community groups, live far away from my extended family, have travelled widely, and am the main income earner for my house. Yes and I do make my own bread and biscuits, I have worried about how to pay the rent in my younger days and come from a family who had very little when I was growing up! But then, I will be more experienced tomorrow than I am today.

Thanks to all who have replied.

jellyhead

sammy i agree.

we usually go to a caravan in wales - gotta love those sun token holidays lol! the holiday can be extended so you can get a whole week if you want (useful if you're travelling a long way and want a rest before travelling back!) but a short break is good fun. as a single mum i used to tag along with my parents and share their caravan. i'd get the train up there with my toddler.

we've been abroad (disneyland paris lol!!) but never for a whole week.

visiting family in another town always counted as a holiday when i was a nipper. we'd go to edinburgh, loads to do.

we're not sun worshippers so we don't really see the point of a foreign holiday if it's just like butlins but in another country. my sis goes on package holidays abroad and it's all just kids clubs, nightclubbing, hungover parents, etc. and not much in the way of visiting local places - the only difference between her holidays and mine is that it's hotter where she is.

calleyw

Russ66 wrote:

How come you spend so much time on MSE then?

:rotfl:

I would not say I am ruled by computer. It is one of those taken it or it leave things.

When I went to OZ for 3 weeks never touched did not want to. Went away for a week in september last year. Again never touched a computer. Yesterday did not get my fix until 9pm last night as I was busy.

I spend a lot of time here as I have no real life friends only virutal ones :rotfl: Nah really I keep warm using the laptop rather than turning on the heating :rotfl:

Yours


Calley

freebie_junkie

id be buggered without my computer. i got it from the DSA because it has programmes on it to helpe me do my essayes they read my work out to me and also teh internet etc. but it takes ages becuase it does it letter by letter! my OH makes it say rude things which he finds very funny because it has a really post voice! also i have dragon on it so i speak in teh microfone and it types for me but i prefer to try and type myself (hence all teh typo's!)

plus, it keepes me up to date with all teh freebies!

summerday

calleyw wrote:

Poverty means many things to many different people. And we all make choices. Some of smoke, some of us drink. Some of have wide screen TV's up to the minute gadets like MP3 players etc.

Calley

I fully agree with this. I's difficult, because people who claim that they are too poor to have a week's holiday a year- I ask what else are they spending their money on? Because if someone who says they can't afford a holiday has spent all their money on smoking, drinking, designer clothes etc, I would say it is less a case of them being in poverty, but more of a case that they have had to make choices and prioritise (like we all do) and they have simply chosen that smoking, drinking or whatever else is more of a priority for them, which is fair enough. But that situation to me is NOT poverty.

I do agree that there surely are some people out there who have very few luxuries or treats and just paying the basic bills takes up all their income and there is no disposable income left for any big treats like holidays, smoking, drinking, expensive hobbies or luxury food. That is real poverty.

Me, I must admit that holidays and travel are important to me, I don't smoke or drink, nearly all my clothes come from charity shops and our food bill is way below average. I'm not complaining about this at all, I relise it is my choice and I make it so that we have money spare to go on holidays- our priority at this stage of our lives (living with partner mid 20's no kids).
Sarah

jellyhead

it's our choice to have lots of days out at theme parks and trips to the cinema etc. rather than a big holiday.

when i was on IS with a toddler i didn't smoke or drink, didn't buy new clothes etc. but even so i wouldn't have been able to afford a holiday if my parents hadn't paid for the caravan. we didn't know about the sun holidays then, we got talking to a family in the van next door, we'd paid £800 for our van and their whole holiday had cost less than a hundred including upgrading to a nicer van.