Does anyone else not go on holiday

MrsE_2

pukkamum wrote: »

Holidays are about who you are with not where you are, you can sit in a tent in a wet field playing monopoly and as long as you are with the ones you love it will be fab!!!!!!

No it wouldn't not if you are not into that.

You obviously enjoy that & so it suits you, my friend loves camping, so does my neighbour.

To me spending 3.5k on a camper van is madness & I would have used it for a tropical holiday:D

We all have different likes & dislikes.
I would rather be at home working than camping, but I know many people who couldn't lie on a beach all day - which DH & I love:D

Molly41

Im gonna disagree with the majority here as I think holidays are very important - well to us anyway. My kids have never been abroad as we cant afford it but we have done some lovely holidays in this country. We noticed that they came on loads when we were away. We spent a lot of time looking around museums, castles etc and from that they have developed an interest in science and history which have served them well with their GCSEs and A levels. I have taken them out of school as I felt it was very beneficial to them. They made a diary and showed them to their teachers who were very impressed. We were not able to have one last year due to my ill health and Im not sure about this year and we all really missed it.x

warehouse

Over the years I've found that the family prefer the cheap bargain basement holidays to the foreign sunny ones any day. If you have tesco vouchers then you have free Eurotunnel, free Isle of Wight ferry crossings, free days out to theme parks etc etc, check it out. Look on freecycle for camping equipment, grab the sun vouchers for very cheap holiday park stays, put them together and you have a fantastic and VERY cheap family holiday.

RoxieW

I also think holidays and days out are important. I love the fact that my kids have experienced different countries and cultures. We are having four/five holidays this year and none will be paid for on credit. Why do people assume that people would use credit? Perhaps they just earn more or use what they do earn differently? One of my friends goes on about how many holidays we have but then she spends alot of money on her car (a second family car) and she also goes out every weekend and smokes. I dont have the expense of a car and am not into spending money clubbing. Neither of us do. We dont smoke either which is quite an expense - or have expensive hobbies. We live in a modest house and dont spend alot of money on gadgets or mobile phones. Our priority is travelling and seeing the world and while this is prohibited while the children are young we do the best that we can and the best we can afford. We have done holidays on the cheap and holidays on the expensive side. The children often talk about when they went here or there. When they are older I hope that we will travel even more and when the boys fly the nest OH and I will hopefully do some serious traveling such as a world tour.
I think it is important to make something happen - even if it is a weekend in this country or a staycation with lots of days trips and fun things planned. Holidays make memories

Humphrey10

When I was a child, I really really hated it when we went on camping/caravan/canal boat holidays, I would have much preferred to stay at home.

Staying in a hotel or rented cottage was ok though.

The cheap holidays I liked were when we went to stay with relatives, or relatives came to stay with us, and we went on day trips with them. Even just going on day trips eg to museums, zoos, places like that with just my parents and sister was nice.

patchwork_cat

MrsE wrote: »

Don't agree they are stressful, its the one time of the year we really chill out.

Ahh but would you chill with 2 little ones absolutely exhausted because next door was making so much noise they couldn't sleep, or bored. Or in my case now with them fighting all the time, one of them missing their computer and x box and the other just plain bored and missing everything!!!

I have worked with people who say they live for their holidays and to be frank I don't.

I wonder if the childern enjoy them as much as those adults or would they rather they had the nearly £1000 spent on their share of the holiday spent on them on short trips and other things throughout the year? As I say with our fortnight a year when I was a kid I really missed my friends. Humphrey agree, although ours were always abroard, but I just would have liked to have seen my mum more often during the rest of the year.

As I say for me to even half enjoy a holiday it would have to be expensive, I don't leave my 4 bed detached with ensuite for something with less facilities!!! Not anymore - wish Ihad been a rough it sort and interrailing, but maybe I will spend the kids inheritance when they leave home and interrail (or equivalent ) with no camping on strangers you have just met floors or dubious hostels!!

Having said all that I am really encouraging my DS to take a gap year and see the world, but to be frank travel abroard is wasted on children - they hate the day trips (at least all those that we were offered), apart form the boat ones and the dolphins! and maybe the naff ubiquitous flamenco and castle ones with the bats in your hair as you walk from the coach!

aliadds

I seldom go away as I get homesick! I think the important thing is to spend quality time with your children! That's priceless.
I don't know if it's your thing but camping can be cheap and cheerful, and is better than nothing if you feel you should go away! Perhaps you could borrow a tent or caravan from someone. I know when my boys were young, they enjoyed the adventure and camaraderie of camping!:)

patchwork_cat

warehouse wrote: »

Over the years I've found that the family prefer the cheap bargain basement holidays to the foreign sunny ones any day. If you have tesco vouchers then you have free Eurotunnel, free Isle of Wight ferry crossings, free days out to theme parks etc etc, check it out. Look on freecycle for camping equipment, grab the sun vouchers for very cheap holiday park stays, put them together and you have a fantastic and VERY cheap family holiday.

Depends where you live for the Eurotunnel and ISle of Wight - we would have used half the time off getting there!!(slight exaggeration, but you get my drift!)

mrcow

patchwork_cat wrote: »

As I say for me to even half enjoy a holiday it would have to be expensive, I don't leave my 4 bed detached with ensuite for something with less facilities!!!

Ooo I do!

I love broadening my horizons. I think that's what horizons are there for.

My biggest nightmare would to be like Harold Steptoe looking back on his life:

"What have I done? Nothing!"
"Where have I been? Nowhere!"

I never want to be one of those people whose world is so small that it disappears up my own backside.

I've slept in campervans, cars, on floors, in tents, in caravans, on boats (big and small), log cabins, motels, hotels, B&Bs, on rickety old beds, even on a cliffside. There is no place quite like home, but home will always be there to go back to. I've got some amazing memories of the places we've been and seen and wouldn't change it for the world.

I hope to pass my love of travel and adventure onto my kids. We're seeing the world together and I love it.

brightonman123

forget keeping up withthe other families- all the posh trips must be really hurting their bank balances!

i am sure any *decent* school would understand if you took kids out for a week, maybe two, for a big trip away-

so long as nothing important gets missed, or at least you show willing to give them 'some' homework..emphasise exposure to foreign culture, activities etc, and be sure to send them a postcard,,lol