Are you put off from visiting?

Hithere

Farmor

Different families, different arrangements

Not all families would agree to remove the child from his/her bedroom so a relative has it for a visit.

I just don't get this ?🙄.... I mean why ¿.... there is always room for family at my home and all my family is the same....I have had my boys sleeping in the summerhouse before today

Thanks for all the encouragement!
For hotel, read Premier Inn, travel lodge etc, not the Hilton or Marriott. We used to get a good deal at Macdonalds. I’ll have to look at Airbnb-never done that before.
We need to think about our dog too. 4 days dog care or somewhere we can take her.
DD would willingly have us to stay, but it’s not a big house and there’s already 5 adults some of whom share.
We used to sleep on an airbed at DD, but I don’t fancy sharing a room with their dogs now, and DH can’t get up off the floor.
Anyhow, I’m glad no one has said it’s crazy and we will go.
Re them coming to visit-they and their dogs are more than welcome and they know it, but trying to organise a time when none of them are working or performing has got more difficult, the older they’ve got.
Yes I’m truly grateful they’re not abroad. Visiting family members overseas is always part of a planned holiday, not a few days pop-over.

If we could afford it , then yes, we would definitely go . Only once a year I guess and the cost of everything has gone up

I would go but I do understand the dilemma - it’s a lot of money. Once our ds’s children were in their own rooms, there simply wasn’t room for us to stay with them. Only one bathroom was also an issue. It’s all very well saying ‘sleep on mattresses’ - where do you store mattresses the rest of the time in a tiny house?

We’ve always been happy to stay in a Travelodge nearby - we only use it for bathing and sleeping so don’t need anything fancy but even so, the cost mounts up, especially when the round trip tAkes over 1000 miles of petrol in the car.

We also have a son overseas - haven’t been to visit him since 2019 although we hope to next year.

Hotel costs vary throughout the year. Going at a cheaper time or for cheaper days of the week can make a difference.

Hithere

Farmor

Different families, different arrangements

Not all families would agree to remove the child from his/her bedroom so a relative has it for a visit.

I think children rather enjoy 'camping' on a lilo indoors.

I think you should go. I agree that staying in an hotel is more comfortable for oldies but staying with the DD or DS's family would save you a lot of money. Could you also save money on the dog sitting? There are organisations that place your pet with a family and I should think that would work out more cheaply than using kennels.

Farmor

Different families, different arrangements

Not all families would agree to remove the child from his/her bedroom so a relative has it for a visit.

Lucca

Travelodge can easily cost £300/400 eg in Glasgow on Friday Saturday Sunday

I randomly selected Bristol to check for 7/8/9 December, and without discount codes prices varied between over £400 and £175 for three nights - I guess if you want to stay on the doorstep, and book at the last minute you pay top dollar, but you can definitely get it for much less if you search, book in advance and get a discount code.

Callistemon21

^It could be worse- how do people whose AC and DGC live on the other side of the world afford to visit them?^

We said we'd never go economy again either .....

Probably cheaper to pay their fares to come to us although they are double what they were pre-pandemic.

We’ve said the same Callistemon on both counts.

Perhaps you could say you're putting the money you would spend (or some of it!) towards a family get-together somewhere halfway, when the weather gets better.

Travelling to Scotland is an expensive business now but we do go. One set of in laws always stay in an hotel which they prefer, we have stayed with the family even though its a bit of a squash.

No I wouldn't pay that sort of money. We rarely do family visits around Christmas anymore when everyone is so busy and things are so expensive. If we do we stay with family. We still do zoom, facetime, etc that we started in lock down.

We have big family meet ups at other times of the year so we don't miss out on making memories and we're still seeing the GC, not to mention cousins, aunts, uncles, in laws that we would rarely see otherwise.

I'm surprised at people who stay in a hotel, rather than with family, even if it's a bit of a squash

It's not always possible, though.
We've stayed with DC but some relatives we visited were either in a care home or unable to cope with visitors staying.

My OH comes from a distant country and we visited his parents a few times over the years with our growing family. Their house was quite small but we all squashed in - mostly on mattresses on floor. Apart from non-availability of hotels, they would have been insulted had we chosen to stay elsewhere.

It cost a lot to travel there, but not much after. Keeping family connections was important to us.

I'm surprised at people who stay in a hotel, rather than with family, even if it's a bit of a squash. We have AC in various locations and when visiting would always stay with them. GC are always delighted to wake me up in the morning (even if I could sleep a bit longer!).

We had 5 children and not a very big house, but my parents always stayed when visiting for Christmas or other times. One of our children would move out of their room.

If you've got into the habit of staying in a hotel, it would be hard to ask if you could stay with the family again, but I would be reluctant to visit if I had to stay in hotel.

Premier Inns have shot up in price too.

I would go, but maybe look for cheaper accommodation like airbnb as mentioned. Just don't stay anywhere advertising a garden cabin/studio. I said I'd be fine in our DD's last March, and it's a wonder I didn't get hypothermia it was so cold. And that was with storage heaters.

Ps breakfast included.

We found a nice hotel cheaper than a Premier Inn in Devon.

Travelodge can easily cost £300/400 eg in Glasgow on Friday Saturday Sunday

I'd go too - can you find a B&B that is a bit cheaper?

We had tours around the UK visiting relatives we hadn't seen since before Covid recently; we hadn't been anywhere for nearly 3 years so hadn't spent out on holidays.

Don't have your problem as both children live in our town but unless I really couldn't afford it I would go. You can put a price on memories and time with family. Unless they live in a tourist area surely you could get a premier inn or travelodge cheaper.

It could be worse- how do people whose AC and DGC live on the other side of the world afford to visit them?

We said we'd never go economy again either .....

Probably cheaper to pay their fares to come to us although they are double what they were pre-pandemic.

I would go, you cannot put a price on time spent with family.