Holiday costs

Sour grapes gilly? ?

UK holidays also massively increase their prices in August. Schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland & private schools break up earlier so benefit from cheaper holidays. I'm sure something could be done to stop this targeting of parents having to pay hugely inflated prices in August.

Our family had no choice because I was a teacher. Holiday companies can get away with it and it's probably worse since it became illegal to take children out of school in term time. We had to go in the school holidays and pay the high prices. And if you can afford it, it is good for children to go on a family holiday, spend quality time together and make memories.

We managed two or three holidays a year, always in this country (UK). For the first several years we camped, then graduated to caravans, then self catering or holiday parks. Couldn't afford to go abroad. The ACs talk about the fun they had, even now and try to replicate it with the GKs.

Can I just put in a word for the charity Family Holiday Association - they understand the value of holidays especially for the very poorest in society. Their website is here:
www.familyholidayassociation.org.uk/
There is plenty of research that shows a short break for everyone, especially those most disadvantaged is hugely beneficial. I know from families I referred to this charity that it can give them renewed strength to get through difficult times, and one mother started her long road to quitting heroin after getting away from home with her family for a week and watching “ordinary” families having fun.
Don’t know how the out-of-school thing works now with this charity to be honest- but in the past most headteachers were more than happy to release this group of children from school for a few days.

As a child we never took hotel or package holidays. My father took us everywhere in a tent, and later a caravan. We stayed all over Scotland and Wales and then camped all over Europe as far as the then Yugoslavia. Our holidays were marvellous and my father, being a careful Yorkshireman, never spent a lot of money. We were away for weeks in the summer. My children always enjoyed camping more than the other holidays.

Do all these families sleep under the stars ?

• driving is expensive, you require a fairly big car to fit a tent big enough for a family, food, cases for clothes and bedding.

• Trains are hugely expensive unless booked way in advance.

• national express very difficult with all the luggage and tent/equipment.

I challenge you to price up a UK holiday for a family of four in Devon/Cornwall/Wales/New Forest for a week including all that I have stated and just for fairness the family can live in the midlands.

There is a fortnight in July at the beginning of School holidays in Scotland when English schools are still in and a fortnight at the end of August when the Scottish pupils are back at school whilst English pupils are still on holiday. Parents can take advantage of this anomaly to avoid paying school holiday supplements. Scottish families going on holiday in England will find that prices are lower there the 1st fortnight in July. If flying abroad fares will be cheaper during that fortnight if you fly from an English airport. The reverse is true for English Families coming to or flying from Scotland during the last fortnight in August.

I’m not sure if the op is saying it took the parents a long time to save for the Spanish holiday that indicates a sense of entitlement, it seems quite sensible to me.

We’re extremely lucky that we can afford to go abroad on holiday. We do go to all inclusive resorts because my husband works extremely hard and wants to go abroad. It doesn’t mean that we should be ripped off for doing it.

By the way we don’t sit by the bar drinking all day, we’re too busy entertaining our children.

I don’t think it is at all unreasonable to be agrieved at British families being ripped off.

We’ve lived in Eastern Europe for the last few years and spent our summer holidays using TUI in Greece, Turkey, UAE and Zanzibar for apparently around a half to two thirds of what English families are paying.

We’ve recently come back to the UK and I was shocked when I was looking for holidays next year and discovered the same holiday was £1500 cheaper with TUI Poland than with TUI England for exactly the same dates and resort.

One additional thought.
As a child in our wee Borders town it was not at all uncommon for families not to be able to afford even a week at the seaside. We didn’t fancy it up with the word “staycation” it was referred to as “Just days out”
Maybe a day at the seaside (by train) a Mystery Tour coach trip, a day at the museums in Edinburgh (free) or perhaps a day visiting family.

Meant to add that my idea of “very expensive” might be just “one of the several cheap breaks” for someone else.

it was very expensive. It took her and SIL a while to save up for the family to go but they had no choice but pay this much really as they couldn't take the grandchildren out of school
I’m afraid they DID have a choice.
Nobody needs to go to Spain unless they are happy to afford it and given the summer we have had there was more than enough sunshine and heat to go around at home.
There are some wonderful beaches in the U.K., as well as wide open spaces for kids to run around.
Very little comes for nothing these days, but fossicking on the Jurassic coast, exploring and meeting the ponies in the New Forest, climbing in Wales, shrimping in Cornwall, dinghy sailing in Scotland - all of these are going to cost less than the “Costa” .
Instead of assuming prices are inflated in school holiday time, anyway, has it never occurred to you that hotels etc offer a discount out of season to attract those who are not bound by school holidays?

My DGC are very outdoorsy children Baggs 6 weeks summer holiday is a long time to fill when both parents work in industry and only have 4 weeks holiday per year . I take all my own holidays from work to fit in with the school holidays so I can do a share of the childcare. Usually we walk on the beach, collect shells and seaglass, paint stones, cycle ( not me), climb rocks, walk , picnic etc. All for free . For 4 days a year in the summer holidays (this week ) we take them on an outdoor activity adventure break . Climbing wall, high ropes, canoeing, football, swimming, rafting etc. And it is very expensive indeed . ( probably the insurance costs) but they love it and think they are so lucky . They certainly don’t expect Disney !

Carry on agreeing with each other then M0nica heaven forbid the conversation might stray from the OP. That would never happen in RL would it?

I wondered when Interest rates and “going without” would come into it

Eldest 3 C never wanted to go to Disney, youngest 2 decided they wanted to. First holiday with just them was to Disney. No jealousy from older siblings, they all have memories of being together, they are now making their own holiday memories with their own families.
As has been said before, memories are made with family not necessarily in exotic places.

Sounds amazing agnurse Something I would love to do now

We had camping holidays when I was a kid. We actually did a lot of fun things that weren't maybe as "glitzy" but were still a great time. My mum had these books called "Backroads of Northern [Province]" and "Backroads of Southern [Province]". Many of the attractions we visited were places that were a little off the beaten path, so not as crowded and a little cheaper. We never went to Disneyland but, you know, TBH I don't think we missed much. (I live in western Canada so Disneyland is a lot closer here.) We made memories sleeping in tents and going horseback riding and sitting around the fire roasting marshmallows and backpacking in the mountains. Not super expensive but fun.

Absolutely not Jalima

Of course, nothing would be said about worthy parents like us going to French campsites and quaffing French wine with French people whilst our children played together, learning to become bilingual

HA HA...I was waiting for someone to pick up on that....
I was surprised that no-one else had!

My childhood family had camper van and tent holidays that were probably very similar to those elegran's family had. On one occasion all seven of us slept in the camper van in a layby (we five kids usually were in tents) because we couldn't get onto a tent site, dad was the only driver and had driven from north Lancs to the Aviemore and was shattered. I should say, dad slept; the rest of us listened to him snoring.

We never ate out, not even fish and chips. Cooked simple meals in the van. We were not poor but holidays that cost much more than petrol to where we were going and camp site fees were not possible.

We didn't feel hard done by at all.

Camping and walking in the hills or along coastal paths is outdoor activity that's not expensive. Cycling ditto, so long as you have bikes already.

When you say outdoor activities are expensive, what activities are you talking about, gilly?

gillybob why do you not start a thread about families who cannot afford to holiday. You would get a sympathetic hearing.

This thread is specifically about those who can afford holidays but object to paying high season prices. Every time most people keep to the thread subject you object to it not discussing something else entirely different.

HA HA...I was waiting for someone to pick up on that....
It was said more in jest and my own experience of people holidaying with children outside of school holidays...am sure we've all met them? "yeah we just told the school to sod off cos after all they are experiencing another country...whilst sitting by the pool bar all day" obviously not ALL but there are a lot of folk who do just that.

I think the general gist is that children don't actually NEED holidays as such and are happy with parents time more than anything...camping, fishing etc even just days out!

The OP stated that it took the parents a long time to save up to go to Spain and I think most are saying WHY? if they can't comfortably afford it why is it a necessity? Its nice...sure...but not one of life's necessities.

The problem I find is this cultural feeling of 'entitlement' that exists now and if you can't afford it then somehow the kids must be suffering?

My kids never went abroad until they were adults because I couldn't afford it but its not sour grapes, I don't feel they missed out on anything and anyway have made up for it since! Did anyone complain that parents or children were being treated unfairly back in our day? NO! the ones who could afford it went wherever and the ones who couldn't settled for what they could afford and this is the message that most people are trying to get across - I think!