How the hoo do you afford a family holiday abroad?

consumers_revenge

Lets face it, its a huge ripoff with the government and holiday companies in cahoots.


We are going abroad this year and its in the summer holidays, 7 nights in 2 bed ( lucky TBH ) in spain. That's £1830 plus food/spending. We could decorate the front/back rooms, plastered and recarpeted for what were paying for a week. This will be a 1 off I'm afraid. The family has plenty of UK holidays but will be nice to not be driving and somewhere unvisited.


Time Disney right and use the correct sites and last year for 4 of us 5 days was £1180 inc Eurostar and breakfasts in the resort. You have to play with dates to hit the sweet spot.


The spain hol we booked just after august this year. I have kept an eye on the price and its gone up by an eye watering £500 since


Its madness to be honest.

peachyprice

The most expensive way of going abroad is through the travel agents you mention.

We've had some fantastic DIY holidays, mostly cheaper than you could ever holiday for in the UK. As a family of 5 we never ever got close to spending anywhere near £4k

Pick flights you can afford, pick accommodation you can afford, drive, self cater, all ways to make holidays abroad affordable.

newgirly

If they are not bothered then don't worry! Easier said than done I know, we are a family of five (kids now 17/17/20) and have only taken them abroad once in a villa with my parents for a week about 8 years ago. I have felt guilty for years and years as we couldn't afford it, now we can and they don't want to go with us :rotfl:

We have had so many great times doing cheaper stuff, one of our favourites was staying on a working farm near Alton towers for weekends,depending on their ages caravan parks are quite exciting if they are little. If they are older then perhaps cheap city breaks? Voyage prive has cheap deals. My dd went to Disneyland Paris for a few nights on a coach for a really good price with a local company last year, It doesn't necessarily have to be a fortnight somewhere hot.

To be blunt there are going to be loads of things you may want them to have, driving lessons and cars, help going to uni, money to help with house deposits -the list goes on (and on!) unless you are very wealthy something has to give.

We are now in the fortunate position that we will be mortgage free while fairly young and intend to help the kids financially in the future. I now look back and don't feel regret for the holidays abroad we didn't have, at the time we had a huge mortgage and debt, and although tough that was the priority.

We still managed a lot of breaks on a shoestring which they enjoyed and also I think I overcompensated by making a fuss with other things -for example throwing Halloween parties, movie night sleepovers, taking friend's for days out and even camping once (not keen on camping I must admit!) making memories at home and having a house full if you like

Now they are a bit older they are choosing what they want to do, the boys are going on a city break with dh for heir birthday next year (with all the men in the family) and dd And i are away with all the women on a mini cruise.

If it means a lot to you then you should save up for a break in the future, if it's because it's what everyone else does and you don't want them to feel like they missed out - don't bother! You can always pay for them and respective boyfriends /girlfriends to go when they are adults and fancy a free holiday

keith969

The best holiday we had was one Christmas when we shared a rather dilapidated farmhouse high in the hills above Haweswater with good friends for a week. We got snowed in, made our own decorations, sledged and skated and walked the fells every day. Twenty years on and the (now grown up) children still talk about it. It probably cost £300 in total.

pollypenny

We camped in France. Second hand tent and borrowed equipment fir the first time, then stocked up on our own equipment from small ads.

We used municipal camp sites, nothing fancy, but in the Loire or on a beach. We bought food at markets and supermarkets, never ate out and ice cream had to be a rare treat.

The kids learned French quickly, made loads of friends and so did we.

I was 47 before I flew anywhere. And that was only to Amsterdam to stay with a couple we met on our first French camping trip.

copperclock

newgirly wrote: »

If they are not bothered then don't worry! Easier said than done I know, we are a family of five (kids now 17/17/20) and have only taken them abroad once in a villa with my parents for a week about 8 years ago. I have felt guilty for years and years as we couldn't afford it, now we can and they don't want to go with us :rotfl:

We have had so many great times doing cheaper stuff, one of our favourites was staying on a working farm near Alton towers for weekends,depending on their ages caravan parks are quite exciting if they are little. If they are older then perhaps cheap city breaks? Voyage prive has cheap deals. My dd went to Disneyland Paris for a few nights on a coach for a really good price with a local company last year, It doesn't necessarily have to be a fortnight somewhere hot.

To be blunt there are going to be loads of things you may want them to have, driving lessons and cars, help going to uni, money to help with house deposits -the list goes on (and on!) unless you are very wealthy something has to give.

We are now in the fortunate position that we will be mortgage free while fairly young and intend to help the kids financially in the future. I now look back and don't feel regret for the holidays abroad we didn't have, at the time we had a huge mortgage and debt, and although tough that was the priority.

We still managed a lot of breaks on a shoestring which they enjoyed and also I think I overcompensated by making a fuss with other things -for example throwing Halloween parties, movie night sleepovers, taking friend's for days out and even camping once (not keen on camping I must admit!) making memories at home and having a house full if you like

Now they are a bit older they are choosing what they want to do, the boys are going on a city break with dh for heir birthday next year (with all the men in the family) and dd And i are away with all the women on a mini cruise.

If it means a lot to you then you should save up for a break in the future, if it's because it's what everyone else does and you don't want them to feel like they missed out - don't bother! You can always pay for them and respective boyfriends /girlfriends to go when they are adults and fancy a free holiday

Thanks for this. It's really good to hear from somebody who felt the same as I do now and it out the other side of it.

Like you, I think I overcompensate in other ways. Our house is the one that's always full of various lads playing whatever it is that they play up there.

And you're right - driving lessons, cars, funding through uni are all things that are very much visible on the horizon now. We can't do it all.

When I think of other families we know then, to be fair, most of them are not able to swan off abroad in the summer holidays. They either holiday in the UK or they go abroad in term time. So it's not even as if there are Joneses to keep up with. It's all just my internal angst.

I think people are right when they advise that we should think about where we really want to go and save up for that. We've managed to collect quite a few air miles through my DH travelling for work and credit card offers, so maybe they will help.

Thanks everyone. Fascinating to hear what people do.

newgirly

It sounds like that would be a good balance

svain

The good memories of a family holidays can be made whether holidaying on the QE2 or camping 5 miles from home. An annual modest type holiday is far more beneficial to the family than a once in a lifetime holiday that requires years of saving/sacrificing.

copperclock

svain wrote: »

The good memories of a family holidays can be made whether holidaying on the QE2 or camping 5 miles from home. An annual modest type holiday is far more beneficial to the family than a once in a lifetime holiday that requires years of saving/sacrificing.

Thank you. Yes, I need to remember this.

Kim_kim

My daughter is grown now with two small children of her own.
We are going to Greece this year (Blue Lagoon Holiday Village). We are going one week over the October half term & the other week before it, taking them out of school for a week.
My grandchildren are very young still.

I used to take my daughter out of school for a week to do the same thing in October using the half term one week & only loosing one week at school.
Sometimes we went in late July & sometimes late August - but mostly October.

I know this is pretty frowned upon now, it wasn’t so much 15-25 years ago.
Plus I only had one, but some of those holidays were as a single parent, which meant paying adult price for my daughter.