How do you afford such great holidays?

albalad

No kids again , but i think the main thing is to be flexible , be prepared to go anywhere at any notice(teletext.co.uk regularly has holidays leaving next day for £80 -£90). Again neither of us drink or smoke although i used to do too much of both - so the money i would have spent down the pub or on cigarettes now goes into our holiday funds.And like others have said I work 6 or 7 days the rest of the year and have a flexible job

Register with ALL the airlines who then send you emails with cheap deals, new routes etc. Usually when an airline opens a new route it will have extraordinarily cheap seats ........to grab your attention.
We have benefitted twice from this in the last year ! Dubrovnik with BA for £80 and in June to Murcia with Ryanair for £32 each.
Definately do lots of research so you can DIY your holiday , which is usually much cheaper

Keep a close eye on this site too , some great moneysaving bargains to be had here. But most of all enjoy the holiday you are having

Smiley_Mum

I've just been pricing up a holiday for this year just out of curiosity, not that I'd be booking it or anything, just being nosey. It was on lastminute.com to Faro direct from Inverness, transfers and accommodation worked out at around £1500. Then you have spending on top of that and insurance etc, bits and bobs. So I'd have to save around £40 a week to manage it. :whistle:

Joannekerry

Ive no kids so hence we always have spare cash to put aside.

If you and the kids really want to fly somewhere then why not plan for next Easter. Keep an eye on the cheap airlines and the first day the flights are released book your seats (bearing in mind these have to be paid for there and then, try getting a credit card with 0% on purchases to give you a little extra time but DO make sure you can pay it back). In the meantime check out hotels for your selected destination. My mate went in Easter, travelled with Mytravellite, booked his hotel on the internet, one week all inclusive. For him, his partner and two children it came out to less than £400 with as much ice-cream as the kids could eat!

Dumyat

I do have kids but manage to holiday by researching options..does take a lot of effort but it gets easier the more you do it. this year we are going to a centre parks type place in holland..hoseasons £1400...direct with the park £750 for two weeks in july.
We have done late bookings too..week at easter in majorca £400 for 4.

Becles

You can get some good bargains in the Easter holidays.

Last year, I went to Majorca with my children and my Mam. We managed to get flights for £40 return each on a BMI Baby promotion and an apartment in Cala D'Or at £45 for the week self catering from www.somewhere2stay.com

You take a risk with the weather though. Easter was in March last year, so the day temperature was warm enough to sunbathe, but the sea and pool were freezing cold. It was cold on a night too, so you had to go out with trousers and coats on, and they put the radiators on in the apartments.

A week away for 4 costing £205 can't really be complained about though

saveapenny

same as most ...no kids, so can go away anytime. always look for the cheap fares and best prices on hotels, have not booked with a high street travel agencies now in years (that alone saves a fortune)

Chester_Draws

Have always managed to get a week abroad for past 20 years with 2 kids.
(prefer 3 days relax home/ week away/ 4 days home, and midweek travel usually cheaper)

Never looked at a brochure. (prices would put me off before I start)
Usually book about 3 weeks before travel.
Willing to gamble on unnamed accomodation (only once in 20 years got one we didnt like) (several times got 4* or 5* when we paid for 3*)
Never book less than 3 stars. (3* seems to guarantee acceptable/good)
Usually travel in June.
Usually pay £650 - £750 (at todays rates), so £1000/£1100 usually covers everything including 3 days car hire.
Usually chose Greece, as eating out so much cheaper than Spain etc (and superb fish restaurants)

Once you find a holiday being offered cheap, but maybe hotel not quite right, you know there must be seat availability on plane. Several travel companies will be using the same plane. Hunt around the internet, for the same day and same airport to see if any company offering better hotels/ better prices.

Usually try Medhotels first, as many bargains, but sometimes difficult to get competitve priced flights to match. (on Medhotels the price you see is the price per ROOM not the price per person, and then you need to find flights)
http://www.medhotels.com/

budgetflyer

using the flightchecker on this site.Set your perameters to "Under a tenner" you will be amazed at whats available. ie london to venice (treviso) in JULY for 99p each way +tax.
so flights for 4 are under £160 TOTAL.
Personally I would take the 5 yr old out of school for a week and go low season.Honest it wont matter much in the long run.If the school are awkward about this type of thing ,tell them you have to go visiting your great,great,great Granny in John O Groats whose ill or something (this wont work if you happen to live in or near John O Groats)
Your accom may only be £100 self catering that way.
Sometimes the best flights are from airports miles away. That doesnt stop us. Weve got the bus,train,drove to Luton,Manchester,Stansted,Birmingham-anywhere where the flights cheap.
The Sun £9.50 holidays are good. They do lots of European Camp sites so you could even drive to France or Northern Spain
Or why not take the bus-we have from Scotland to Costa Brava and Salou.
Kids are sometimes "FREE"
Siesta Holidays and Redcrest do Allocated on Arrival and late deals where you could all be away for £250.

TimC

swizzlebabe wrote:

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?

The big answer is the internet and by budgetting!!
Last year we went to Northern Italy (Malcesine on Lake Garda) - not known for being cheap. Firstly we found where we wanted to go and suitable hotels in a brochure, then searched for the hotels own site. This uncovered lots of advantages - not just price.
Instead of having to book two rooms for the two of us and our two young daughters we booked a suite for much less. The tour companies wanted big supplements for this room on top of the holiday price - so instead of two bedrooms we got two bedrooms, lounge, kitchen and sun terrace right on the lake for £130 per night half board.
We booked the flights with British Airways to Verona 10 months before (Ryanair hadn't opened their flights at the time), cost £350 (for August!) to the real Verona airport not one another hour away. The hotel arranged the transfer.
The total saving compared to the brochure price was £1,500.

Then the other advantages came in - compared to the package guests (who had paid more for their holiday) we were treated far better. Best table at dinner - honestly - a couple from the UK asked how come we were sat at the "German tables" Ultimately it all came down to the fact we were actually paying the hotelier (family hotel) more than them, because the travel company took such a big cut, and of course we hadn't paid yet so still needed to kept happy! Another benefit was, if we didn't take dinner we had €30 deducted for the night - more than enough to get dinner out.
So better room, better treatment, better flights and cheaper - brochures have become reference books now!
Our children liked it so much - we're going back this August - and the transfers are free this time!

Poppy9

Swizzlebabe

Don't feel guilty because you haven't taken your children abroad yet. I am sure they would much rather have a parent at home looking after them 52 weeks per year than an absent parent who they get full time for just a few weeks per year. You are in the enviable position of being able to take them for free days out in the park or beach with a picnic. As you say they will both be in full time school soon so if you then start working you may then be able to save for a foreign holiday. Also at such a young age I wouldn't worry too much about taking them out of school for a week. Holidays at the very end of August are much cheaper than early August and the kids only miss a few days of school. Try tagging onto end or beginning of school holidays. When or if you start working school holidays are so long you will need all your annual leave to cover them usually so taking them out in term time is often not possible. Take advantage now while you are not working.