How do you afford such great holidays?

swizzlebabe

I know this is a money saving site, but most of us I`m sure do it because we have too.

You all seem to be going to really cool places, how do you finance it?

Not being nosey, just need tips, my kids would like to go on an airplane holiday, but will have to make do with a caravan. Not saying thats a bad thing sure will have a great time. Although I will still be cooking-no eating out, apart from the odd bag of chips and ice cream.

BUt one day I`d like a holiday too.

Trollydolly_2

I cant afford a holiday to be honest, im just lucky that i get discounts at work.

The cheapest time and place i ever found for a summer holiday without staff discount was £101pp to Lindos in Rhodes, Greece. It was lovely. It was the first week of May, that always seems to be cheapest for summer and i booked it about 8 weeks in advance. We booked with https://www.globaltravel.com

Or if you can go in the winter, there are loads of bargains. I usually only do winter holidays now. I went to Turkey All Inclusive in January one year for £120pp for the week! The weather wasnt boiling hot but it was sunny and didnt rain, just right for shorts but not bikini!!

I always used to use my credit card to pay for the holidays, then struggle to pay it back for the rest of the year. BUT since MSE i have decided to put £20 or more away for each month for a year and that will get me a nice cheap winter holiday! No more credit for me!

You can book holidays in advance and pay a deposit, then go into the travel agent and pay off a bit at a time, as long as its all payed 8 - 10 weeks before you depart.
So you could try and work out how much you could pay off a month or week and book something for next year.

some of my best holidays were camping holidays! Infact we started going over to france, Ireland and spain with the camping gear when i got a bit older, maybe you could do that instead!

swizzlebabe

Hubbie does not do camping, would go by myself with the boys, but at 5 1/2 and 3 a bit young yet. May be when there older.
Need to go in school hol`s, is may ie spring bank cheaper than oct half term?
Sure that would be cheaper than summer hols.

Don`t want to put it on the credit card-trying not to use it!!

I know I could put a bit away each week month etc, but nothing left to put away after all the other putting away.

Will have to get a job when they are both at school full time, but can`t afford child care so will have to be term time.

alanrowell

How do you afford such great holidays?

1) No children, therefore don't have to book at peak time (plus I don't spend money on the children)
2) Flexible job, therefore able to take holidays at short notice as the fares become available
3) Constant vigilance, watching out for the bargains in places i'm interested in going

swizzlebabe

Oh I rember the days, never mind in another 15 years or so I will be ok.

Mad but ok for cheap hol`s

Lucie_2

We usually have 3 or 4 holidays a year - 2 (separate) weeks skiing, a 2 week crash out on the beach & a cheap late booking week/few days.
We save £100 per month into a saving account which pays for our holidays. This may mean having to miss out on other things, but I like my holidays too much. We don't smoke or go out to the pub every weekend - something other couples easily spend over £100 a month on.
Like alanrowell, we don't have kids either, which means we usually avoid going away during school holidays & paying the extortionate rates.
We book quite a few late deals, some of my best bargains so far have been:
1 week in Florida inc car hire for £345 each over Christmas
I week skiing (full board) in France in March for £450 each including lift pass
1 week in Corfu B&B for £109 each

Alternatively we book early to take advantage of travel agents'/tour operators' discounts - In September we are going to Egypt for 2 weeks All inclusive for less money than we paid last year (exactly the same holiday) just by shopping around & negotiating discount. We try to use the same travel agent all the time to get as bit of "loyalty discount".

DIY - book your holiday yourself instead of using travel agents. We are going to the South of France in July to watch a rugby match. The official trip is £400 per person for 2 nights. I've booked 5 nights for 2 of us for the same price.

Party_Animal

alanrowell wrote:

1) No children, therefore don't have to book at peak time (plus I don't spend money on the children)
2) Flexible job, therefore able to take holidays at short notice as the fares become available
3) Constant vigilance, watching out for the bargains in places i'm interested in going

Spot on Alan, me too. I'm actually having my main hols in november this year. I can't remember the last time I went away in July. You can get some good deals on Ryannair and Easyjet by flying tues or thurs.

se999

Hi,

We couldn't afford a 'dream' holiday until we tried house swapping, I think a few people are talking about it on MSE at the moment. Admittedly, we've only done it as a couple.

Ideally try to swap with a family with children the same age, then the house is geared up with appropriate toys etc., they'll also know things in the area that are likely to be suitable too. If you pick somewhere in relatively driveable Europe, your only costs are ferry costs, insurance, petrol costs plus spending money, plus annual subscriptions to the Home Exchange organisation. If you want to go further, you've got flight costs and car hire costs unless you exchange cars too.

With Digital cameras, you can exchange photos of the inside and outside of the houses, so you can get a good idea of what the place will be like.

I was really nervous about the idea, but it all went smoothly.

chalky_bertie

Again NO KIDS, go away out of peak times, have a fair amount of holidays at work and finally we put away £200pm into out "holiday fund" which we use to pay of the current years holidays and finance the next biggie we have.

Magentasue

We can't really afford a holiday but we're having one! This year for the first time we're flying and as our two eldest are now 17 and 19 it will probably be our last family holiday. I finance it by marking exam papers. I could (and should) use the money to reduce our debt quicker but I feel that it is under control and that when I work and mark, the whole family suffer so we should all gain!

nelly_2

No kids (which seams to be the winning formular on here )
and work 7 days a week/ish, I dont mind working hard to pay for good hols they are great times and wouldnt swap em for anything.

One of my hobbies if you like is going on the worlds greatest and record breaking roller coasters, so in 3 weeks were going on this;

http://www.sixflags.com/parks/greatadventure/index.asp