Does anyone else not go on holiday

kegg_2

We usually have 2 holidays a year.
The first one is a extended family holiday for a week somewhere in europe and we take my mum who i am carer for as she is in a wheelchair with ms. This is a holiday for her to spend time with her grandkids and have a bit of a change of scene but not much of a holiday for me as we go self cathering so i end up cooking and cleaning up after the 7 of us plus still doing all my mums care needs.
Then in august we have 2 weeks AI in Egypt. This is my family holiday with just oh and my 2 boys. It is my time to relax, spend time with my boys and be spoilt a little. It is the only time i can put my family first as often my mums needs have to come first.
So yes holidays are very important to us and i tend to spend as much as i can aford on them. My boys have seen and done things on holiday that they will remember for the rest of their lives and so to me every penny is money well spent.

Turtle

We always had a week at Butlins as kids, absolutely loved it. Plenty of days out too to the seaside. Went to Calais for a weekend when I was 14, weather was awful and we were all miserable. When I was 17 I went to Greece with my best mate for 2 weeks, was great. Since then have been all over the world with my OH and seen some amazing things and stayed in some fabulous hotels. We usually have at least 2 foreign holidays a year, which we save up for and don't use credit. My OH always went on caravan holidays as a kid though these were often in Europe. If we have kids then I would expect we'd do the UK thing as well, as we both have great memories of childhood holidays and I worry about such intense sun exposure to children.

mrcow

patchwork_cat wrote: »

I find this post offensive to people who have different values . I think that to copy part of my post and make those inital comments afterwards is completley misunderstanding my post - did I not say in teh same post that I am encouraging my son to take a gap year and that maybe I will be bitten by the travel bug once again when I am older. However you chose not to paste that part of my post as it did not give you the opportunity to appear more worldly and superior than others as I have observed is your wont!

I would not dream of passing judgement on others descions. I just don't want to slum it on holiday - simple. I am not a steptoe I believe I am defined by what I have done, NOT where I visited and observed. Leave each to their own and if the OP does not want to/ can't afford to holiday/ they are not alone.

Personally having travelled ALOT as a child I think holidays are wasted on kids - I can barely remember the blue mosque or the CN tower and all I remember of Mykonos is the heat! - and do want to revisit ( although not back up the CN tower all I remember is the fear!!) I am encouragin my children to travel in GAP year - a month in Mongolia is in the pipeline for DS as is teaching canoeing in Canada and time in a Dojo in Japan honing his Ist Kyu ( hopefully Ist dan by then)

I think you need to chillax.

I was just commenting on your opinon that you wouldn't want to stay anywhere that had lesser facilities than your house.

I just said I would and that I do and that I love it.

I've not once passed judgement on you - you've chosen to do that all by yourself - and I cant stop you. All I did was say how I felt about the subject in question.

Holidays aren't wasted on kids. They are a great way to learn about the world and to see what's out there, of learning to understand the importance of language and different religions, getting a feel for different cultures and learning about world/UK history. They are a great way of expanding your views of the world.

Perhaps children don't remember everything in great detail, but the memories certainly can stay with them for life. Much more so than the day to day stuff. My earlist memory is of being in Vancouver when I was 3.




The CN Tower btw isn't that scary. The views over lake Ontario are really cool from the bar.

farmerboy

I think its up to each family to decide whats best for them. If you can't/don't want to go away don't, just make the time special.

We used to go away twice a year as kids with mum and grandparents (dad always too busy on farm), a week in Butlins Skegg, then a week in Blackpool for the lights. I never travelled abroad till I was 20 and that was to America on an exchange trip. We've had a couple of trips abroad since, but usually stayed in the UK.

We now have a caravan, and are looking to change it for a new one this year. This is the best for us as I can only get away at short notice. We managed 5 short breaks last year and a week in Devon all for less than a week in the Costa's. My kids love it, as do we. Plus you can get away cheaply, like 2 nights nr Birmingham for the caravan show in Feb £29, or 1 night the following weekend for a wedding nr Malton £8.50 (within waking distance of the venue too:T)

Not going away is not an option for us as we live where we work, i.e. the farm, and there's always something that need doing so we just wouldn't get the rest.

Primrose

Could your kids join the local cubs/scouts/guides? They often have camping trips away during the summer holidays which are not too expensive so at least they would get a break, even if you don't.

Stompa

SailorSam wrote: »

Can't remember the last one, years ago now.

I remember my last one, it was 1971.

mummy_Jay

So far I haven't taken DS (5) on a holiday of any sort, though I do try to have a couple of special days out with him in a year. I'd really like to take him on holiday but silly as it may sound find the though of airports with a little one in tow quiet horrid. I also find I can't justify in my head additional single fees to holiday in this country, so not yet.

But as one who spent my childhood having a foreign holiday once a year, i do want my DS to experience this but not the boredom of being stuck by a pool for days on end or looking at monuments that didn't mean anything to me at the time. So I have decided that when DS is about 11 or 12 I would take him to africa on safari, instead of a holiday every year, one dream holiday.

C_Mababejive

You shouldn't just go on holiday automatically and as a matter of course.

There is no point in going on holiday as some kind of annual planning formula.

If you are fed up of doing the same thing and paying good money for it,do something new. It doesnt have to mean queuing at an airport.
Change is whats important.
Thats what holidays are supposed to give you but sometimes you just end up having a different flavour of..err....same.

pukkamum

mrcow wrote: »

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.

Quite right mrcow, we are the same i would hate to think my kids thought that travelling was flying to a hotel and staying in that hotle til you went home.
When we went abroad (before kids) i saw so many bored children being forced to sit by a pool whilst mum and dad sunbathed then being forced to sit in a bar or restaurant all night.
This is when kids get bored and irritable.

Our kids spend all day exploring castles, museums, towns, countrysides, beaches (depending on the weather) and in the eve we sit outsied and have a barbie and a camp fire or sit in with a board game (again depending on weather) and they are so exhausted from walking, running and adventuring that they are in bed by 8 meaning time for DH and i.

Of course there are times when i think how fab it would be to sit by a pool all day reading books and drinking cocktails but i know the kids would hate it so while they still want to holiday with us (which won't be forever) we do things they love as well.

pukkamum

MrsE wrote: »

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

The fact is though yes we could have spent all the money on one big hol but instead we have years of adventures in it ahead of us, we go away almost every weekend in the summer and have a full two weeks in the hols and we are hoping to travel round europe this summer possibly for 3 weeks.
Imagine the memories for the kids, driving through the alps seeing different cities and towns.
You don't get that on a package to spain.