[Closed] The cost or family holidays in term time...

Just go camping in Wales FFS!

something should be done to regulate this.

Like face up to your responsibility as a parent, and go on holidays that match the lifestyle you have chosen.

No sympathy here either. We are struggling to afford a week in Peebles in a cottage first week of summer holidays. First time in a couple of years we've not had to camp for our week in the summer.

Proper first world issue. Or a troll?

Like face up to your responsibility as a parent, and go on holidays that match the lifestyle you have chosen.

Isn't it more that they're discounting during term to try and sell some rather than jacking up the cost during the holidays?

its about £900 cheaper outside the school hols

Go in February, it's even cheaper.

🙄

Buy fewer new bikes?

While we're having a dig at you...

no cooking for Mrs K

Blatant sexism!

She's just lucky she gets a week off from the ironing

This is not the forum to whinge about these things.

How rude!

Of course we'd choose a holiday based on affordability and lifestyle, but what we wanted was the scenario that I'd posted. From here on in, its now a case of making compromises to suit the budget, which is unfortunate but of course necessary.

Somehow I expected that desired holiday to be a lot cheaper than £3k, which has clearly annoyed me.

clubber - Member
Isn't it more that they're discounting during term to try and sell some rather than jacking up the cost during the holidays?

I genuinely don't know - is it?

Is DD wearing a brown cloak these days? 😆

Why do people always seem to think that a free market is the only way to successfully run the economy until it has an adverse effect on them personally?

Cut your cloth to suit your purse etc..

I've just booked a weeks camping in St Malo, last week in August, ferries/campsite fees/fuel will be around £750..

As my wife is a teacher, and we're not exactly loaded it'll be this or nothing!

By going in holdiday during the school holidays you are not being taken advantage of. In fact people who go at off-peak times are actually subsidising your holiday.

For your holiday to exist there needs to be some infastructure, some transport and some staff. These cost a lot of money and cannot easily be switched on and off. So by offering this capacity at a lower cost off season they are able to recover some of the costs of having the resources available at the profitable time when demand peaks.

If they weren't able to do this then even more of the overheads would need to be absorbed within the price of you peak week holiday. Thus you would be paying more.

Holiday companies are not charities or a public service, if they could sell low season holidays more do you not think they would?

Maybe we should go full comunist and set up some sort of public body to offer "free at the point of delivery" holidays. We could call it the National Holiday Service.

Just go camping in Wales FFS!

Cheers,
Jamie

Could I just highlight your mistake in the thread title please?

You are not complaining about "the cost or (sic) family holidays in term time", you are complaining about the cost of holidays out of term time.

FWIW, I was horrified at the difference between cost of a caravan in Devon this coming weekend (ie in school term time) and two weeks time (school Easter holiday). So I am going away this weekend 😀

Just go camping in Wales FFS!

EDIT- we're paying the same for our half of a cottage with the parents-in-law in Keswick in June!

Cheers,
Jamie

My girlfriend is a teacher.

So despite no kids, nor 13 weeks holidays, i have the same issue.

@rse...

I genuinely don't know - is it?

Plenty of holiday companies don't seem to be doing very well.

HoratioHufnagel - Member
My girlfriend is a teacher.

So despite no kids, nor 13 weeks holidays, i have the same issue.

@rse...

I feel your pain, MrsMomo is a teacher too.

And anyway, didn't we do this a couple of weeks ago? I'm sure I remember a multi page thread.

edit: [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/term-time-holiday-price-hiking ]Yes we did![/url]

Kryton- if it helps, I now have ads for Haven holidays at the top of my screen.....

Its now a case of making compromises to suit the budget...

No idea, I haven't been watching STW for a bit, but I'm just eating my lunch...

Mrs K won't do camping BTW, so other considerations are euro-situated Centre parcs type places...

And Mr P - yes I did thanks, August is the date in mind.

I genuinely don't know - is it?

Ahhh, everyone loves a Kryton57 thread. 😆

so other considerations are euro-situated Centre parcs type places...

You could ask for a pay rise? You're not an optomotrist (sp?) are you?

He's more of an optimist, starting a thread like this.

Work harder and therefore earn more money so it's less of an issue?

😉

so the peak visitors subsidise the rest and the holiday company, if they're lucky, scrape by.

That's arse about tit. The off peak visitors make the peak holiday viable. Without the off peak visitors the peak holiday would either not exist or be much more expensive.

MoreCashThanDash - Member
Kryton- if it helps, I now have ads for Haven holidays at the top of my screen.....

£900 for a week in a super deluxe chalet near a beach in Lincolnshire. Hmmm, I'll broach the idea tonight...

What we need is one of these. Perfect.

[img] [/img]

Why should people travelling out of school holiday time subsidise your ****ing holiday?

Suggest you work a bit harder in the free market to buy the trappings of the free market you desire!

peterfile - Member
Work harder and therefore earn more money so it's less of an issue?

I [i]could [/i]actually stretch to the £3k holiday this year (yeah yeah, lucky me), although I'd rather use some of the cash for other house-related things (DIY, mortgage overpayments) and object to paying that much in principal - unless of course what I'm seeing is just the norm and my expectations are out of whack.

Just to put this into perspective, 2 years ago before KJ02 the three of us went to Barbados for two week in a shared (with the inlaws) villa, premium economy flights for... £2700. The main difference being the hotel, within school term as KJ01 hadnt started school yet, and no all inclusiveness.

3k for a family all inclusive for 10 days is about par to be honest. I do sympathise in a way though. The traditional 2 weeks in the Sun that many of us as kids were lucky enough to have (myself included) do seem a bit out of reach nowadays, but times have changed and they arent going back. The presures on these hotels, flight companies are probably so great that they probably price at a loss for 9 months of a year just to get rooms and seats on flights. So its inevitable that they are going to claw that back during high demand times. Its hard to swallow as a parent like myself but its a reality. I am afraid I went through the process of stamping my feet and claiming its not fair, realised I used a lot of energy doing that it changed nothing, so we just worked round it according to what we could afford time and budget wise. Blummin well looking forward to my camping week this year. At the end of the day its time with the kids having a laugh and it beats work.

[i]something should be done to regulate this.[/i]

You mean change the way the supply/demand model works to suit people who want to go on a holiday but can't afford it.

Here's any idea, you could try to do some cooking.

Maybe don't spend £10k on a new vauxhall, or cashing the pension in to do some decorating or a new on-one, or £3k on a saab. And all this frittering of money is a quick scan in your last 3 weeks of posts

Maybe you need to get your priorities right and cut your cloth to fit.

Maybe don't spend £10k on a new vauxhall ([b]didnt[/b]), or cashing the pension in to do some decorating ([b]couldnt[/b])or a new on-one ([b]haven't[/b]).

These are all just ideas I've posted about. Thanks for stalking me I didn't realise that I was so interesting, but whats your point?

Hardly stalking, click the link and it brings up a list of your posts, took about 15 seconds. You're not interesting enough to stalk.

My point is if you want a holiday in the sun don't expect things to change to suit you, if you can't afford it either cut back so you can or don't go.

You're not entitled to a holiday in the sun you know.

I'd like a new Maserati and a house in Sandbanks, but they're too expensive - who should I complain to?

Would it be cheaper to just go in term time and pay the cost of any 'irresponsible parent fine' that might get doled out?!

When you say kids....does that mean there's 2 mini Krytons?
If so, then is £3k really that expensive?

4 seats on a plane, flying return to Portugal
Hotel transfers for 4
Accommodation for 4 for 10 nights.
All your meals and drinks included, included stuff like ice creams for the kids?
Child care (entertainment) for the kids
Pool
Evening entertainment/show?

£750 per person for 10 days doesn't seem too bad.

Me and the Wife have booked a holiday in Fuerteventura at the end of April (all inclusive) and that's costing us just under £1100 for 7 nights. That was one of the cheaper ones we found, as we are currently trying to focus most of our money into getting the house redecorated (joy of joys!). We could have gone to Egypt or Tunisia for less, but didn't fancy either of those options.

My point is if you want a holiday in the sun don't expect things to change to suit you, if you can't afford it either cut back so you can or don't go.

You're not entitled to a holiday in the sun you know.

All this is a fair point, I'm merely exclaiming my suprise / frustration at the price of what we desired to do.

You're not interesting enough to stalk.

I suspected as much, and am quite grateful for the confirmation.

When you say kids....does that mean there's 2 mini Krytons?

Yep.

4 seats on a plane, flying return to Portugal
Hotel transfers for 4
Accommodation for 4 for 10 nights.
All your meals and drinks included, included stuff like ice creams for the kids?
Child care (entertainment) for the kids
Pool
Evening entertainment/show?

All of the above, twin room though.

Tunisia (next to Libya), Morocco (terrorist warnings currently ongoing) and Turkey (too close to the Ukraine) were slightly, although only about £300 slightly cheaper.

Tunisia is fine if you only want a 'laze around the pool' holiday. We went a few years ago and it was fine around the hotel (and they were massive grounds, so you could have a nice stroll etc.).
But, as soon as you ventured out it was pretty grim. The hotel was in the middle of nowhere and it didn't feel particularly safe walking around the local area.

Morocco - never been

Turkey - love the place. Been to Icmeler, Calis Beach and Side; 4 holidays in total, I think. I wouldn't worry about it's proximity to the Ukrain just yet.

£300 is a 10% saving.

Have you considered alternatives, villa in Spain for 2 weeks, cheap flights, car hire could be had for well under £2k if you put the effort into searching.

We're going to a villa mid July, 17 nights, flights, car hire, for around £2k.

bikebouy - Member

Ahhh, everyone loves a Kryton57 thread.

The traditional 2 weeks in the Sun that many of us as kids were lucky enough to have (myself included) do seem a bit out of reach nowadays

Dunno about everyone else, but jetting off for two weeks abroad in the sun wasn't exactly the norm when I was a kid in the 80s.

We did plenty of holidays in the UK, usually staying in static caravan parks. On the years we did go abroad it was done on a budget (e.g. by BUS from Glasgow to Spain 😯 ).

But in these days of entitlement some people seem to think being able to fly the family to the Med for a fortnight is a basic human right.

So yeah.. sorry but I'm in the "cut your cloth" camp.

something should be done to regulate this

I really don't think it should.

Have you considered alternatives, villa in Spain for 2 weeks, cheap flights, car hire could be had for well under £2k if you put the effort into searching.

Or, since the OP says they're from "Daaan Sarf..." why not ferry and drive to somewehere in France? Lots of Gites/Appartments around for under £500 per week with a private pool.

[i]We did plenty of holidays in the UK, usually staying in static caravan parks. On the years we did go abroad it was done on a budget (e.g. by BUS from Glasgow to Spain ).[/i]

Graham we used to go to Rothesay for our family holidays so I know where you're coming from, and we lived in Glasgow. We used to go the long way though 🙂

Also done the bus trip to Spain, won a case of san miguel - result.

GrahamS - Member

Dunno about everyone else, but jetting off for two weeks abroad in the sun wasn't exactly the norm when I was a kid in the 80s.

We did plenty of holidays in the UK, usually staying in static caravan parks. On the years we did go abroad it was done on a budget (e.g. by BUS from Glasgow to Spain).

But in these days of entitlement some people seem to think being able to fly the family to the Med for a fortnight is a basic human right.

+1. We only got holidays down at Brean Sands, Somerset because someone Mum worked with owned a caravan down there and used to let us have it for cheap. It was a real treat, but even when we were down there we hardly spent any money; just played on the beach all day or played cards in the caravan if it was raining. We would perhaps have fish & chips once in the whole week as a treat.

A few people used to go to Spain on holiday and we thought they were really exotic!

JEEESAS!

We wanted Sun, a pool, kids entertainment and all inclusive so there was no cooking for Mrs K and the kids can suit themselves.

£3G's. Yes, £2995 for 10 days in Portugal ffs... ...and thats one of the cheaper ones.

*holds head in hands*

Basically a rip off by the Holiday companies, as its about £900 cheaper outside the school hols - something should be done to regulate this.

Car, Ferry, Tent, Spanish Campsite with a pool.

I went abroad a lot when I was a child, even when my parents were bordering on being broke....because we drove and camped. Stayed a few times in Villa complexes when they managed to save up the money - but always preferred the camping adventures as a child as we'd travel off the beaten path and get to know locals instead of other Brits.

Have some great memories because of it, playing cards at the campsite and messing around in fields/streets with other Spanish kids, getting in trouble and developing crush on a very beautiful flirty Spanish girl.

So hold on - it's more expensive to go when everyone else wants to go? Bugger me, that's a surprise!

Would it be cheaper to just go in term time and pay the cost of any 'irresponsible parent fine' that might get doled out?!

Turkey (too close to the Ukraine)

something should be done to regulate this.

Why not start your own holiday company then with cheap prices all year round? I'd be curious to see how long your business survives.

And do you seriously think the law should be changed just because you aren't prepared to pay the market rate for your holiday?

bigyinn - Member
bikebouy - Member
Ahhh, everyone loves a Kryton57 thread.

Like "i've just bought a cheese sandwich, should i eat my crisps before or after it" type questions?
I often wonder how he'd cope with life without STW to guide him....

You perhaps need ton separate the deliberate STW archetypal trolling pisstakes from the genuine questions I've asked.

Lemonysam - care to give me an indication of what to look at, sounds interesting...?

A quick search on Thomas Cook website: 10 days all inclusive, Majorca in August for £2200. 2 adults, 2 kids.

Did you actually search for a better deal?

Majorca for 2.2k....wooooo

Newquay with more sun!

Oh for gods sake just put the effort in and do it yourself. Don't expect everyone to do everything else for you. Have you ever used google. Its no wonder you don't earn enough to take your family on holiday.

Majorca for 2.2k....wooooo

Newquay with more sun!

It ticks all the OP's requirements. Besides there is more to Majorca than Magaluf.

And do you seriously think the law should be changed just because you aren't prepared to pay the market rate for your holiday?

A better solution, and one that I've actually heard the holiday companies themselves suggest, is that we organise the schools to stagger some of the main holidays to spread the load a bit.

Obviously that would require some government support and flexibility in the curriculum etc but it seems more workable than trying to artificially regulate a market economy to be "fair".

Lemonysam - care to give me an indication of what to look at, sounds interesting...?

http://en.gites-de-france.com/

Work out where you want to be and then filter it down by beds/requirements.

I'd actually look at Swimming Pool on Site rather than private pool if it's just one family going, more friends to make. we used to get 2-3 familes together and go to a really big place with a private pool. That way the kids can entertain themselves and if you get pissed you can divvy up designated drivers more easily...

758 quid return to Santander in August, with a car, 2 Adults, 2 kids.

Spend the rest on petrol, food and campsite costs. Have a road trip through the Pecos/Pyrenees. Have fun, make friends, let your children make friends and roam. Don't plan a damn thing and see where the wind takes you.

konabunny - Member

That is the only possible consequence of skipping out of school.

Cool; so no real barrier, then?!
Or were you being as tongue-in-cheek as I was?

Don't have kids, so haven't experienced 'consequences' of kids missing a week and a half of school time but what other consequences could there be?
Kid misses out on valuable learning, can't catch up to his peers so gives up, drops out of school, feels angst that his parents tore him from his education, gets into drugs, buys a gun and shoots his parents' as an act of revenge?
Awaits explosive rant from teachers..... 😉

[quote=Kryton57 ]Somehow I expected that desired holiday to be a lot cheaper than £3k

Well you've learnt something today then, shouldn't you be celebrating?

Or were you being as tongue-in-cheek as I was?

Don't have kids, so haven't experienced 'consequences' of kids missing a week and a half of school time but what other consequences could there be?
Kid misses out on valuable learning, can't catch up to his peers so gives up, drops out of school, feels angst that his parents tore him from his education, gets into drugs, buys a gun and shoots his parents' as an act of revenge?
Awaits explosive rant from teachers.....

Meh, I learn't more about the world going on holiday than school ever taught me. I developed more interests as well, such as an interest in the natural world.

We went to Devon or Cornwall for a week in the summer, and once every 5 years or so my parents tooks us back to Ireland. I can't say I have suffered any. More importantly my parents took a keen interest in my edumacation and drove me to try and do well and make a decent life for myself.

Nowadays having done a bit of world travel and been on lots of hols, my idea of fun with the kids is to stay at home..

+1. We only got holidays down at Brean Sands, Somerset because someone Mum worked with owned a caravan down there and used to let us have it for cheap. It was a real treat, but even when we were down there we hardly spent any money; just played on the beach all day or played cards in the caravan if it was raining. We would perhaps have fish & chips once in the whole week as a treat.

A few people used to go to Spain on holiday and we thought they were really exotic!

Edit - summer holiday this year will be the two of us driving down to the south of France to camp for a fortnight. If you can't get what you want, you have to take what you can get. 🙂

Turkey (too close to the Ukraine) were slightly

Seriously???

<shakes head in disbelief>

Would you not go to Manchester because someone was once mugged in Newcastle?

is that we organise the schools to stagger some of the main holidays to spread the load a bit.

I'm not convinced that that would work very well either. There are bound to be some who would complain that their kids have different term times as they attend different schools and that it would be much simpler if everyone had the same time off.

Gary_M - Member
Oh for gods sake just put the effort in and do it yourself. Don't expect everyone to do everything else for you. Have you ever used google. Its no wonder you don't earn enough to take your family on holiday.

Ah, so you are just here to be assumptive and inflammatory after all.

@ mossimos - I've seen that - requires flying out on a Monday which we can't do - needs to be a Thursday, because of complexity with my wifes working arrangements/leave available for the rest of the years schol hols.

GrahamS - Member

A better solution, and one that I've actually heard the holiday companies themselves suggest, is that we organise the schools to stagger some of the main holidays to spread the load a bit.

Obviously that would require some government support and flexibility in the curriculum etc but it seems more workable than trying to artificially regulate a market economy to be "fair".

No, don't do that!
It would result in us kid-less folk having even less chance of getting a quiet break without screaming kids everywhere ruining the tranquility. Even when we go late September/Early Oct there are still hoardes of families, with parents who seem to let their kids run amok and do what they want, so long as they aren't disturbing them. (Slightly tongue-in-cheek and generalised, but only slightly). 😀

We went to Devon or Cornwall for a week in the summer, and once every 5 years or so my parents tooks us back to Ireland. I can't say I have suffered any. More importantly my parents took a keen interest in my edumacation and drove me to try and do well and make a decent life for myself.

Nowadays having done a bit of world travel and been on lots of hols, my idea of fun with the kids is to stay at home..

Again, meh....my adventures as a child taught me that there was a bigger world out there other than the one I knew. Ie - British state schools where bitching, violence and general apathy were the order of the day. The Spanish children with their friendliness and the world I spent some time in, were vastly different from anything I had ever experienced.

I actually meet up with one of the girls I met on one of those holidays (Maybe 15 years ago), we wrote to each other for about 5 years. She's a postdoc in London, in a similar field to me now! 😀 We still smile when we think about how long ago that was and that we managed to stay in contact.

So, which would go bankrupt soonest - a holiday company that charged peak rates all through the year or one that charged off-season rates all year?

I laugh every time I hear anybody accusing them of ripping off families. (Hard-working ones, naturally).

Oh, and Mrs BigJohn's a teacher so we have the same issues. But I think we would probably choose to go on holiday at times like Christmas, Easter and August even if she wasn't.

As ive posted before we took the risk on the kids having an inset day at the end of the summer hols as they were due back on Friday 5th September. Cottage in Cornwall was about 250 quid cheaper I think for that week over the week before.
Also got Easter booked and because we got in early, got 4 flights to tenerife (unfortunately with ryan air) for just over 600 quid. Loads of accommodation then to chose from, fortunately we've got that for free tho. 😉
But as the fellas above have said, get on the Internet, start with on the beach and go from there, you'll easily find something cheaper than that.

Not at all, but we manage to get great deals and generally don't need to ask for advice. You need to put the effort in, you just can't just expect a good deal to come along and say hello.

If you need to go on a specific day, book flights to suit, book a villa with a private pool, hire a car. Its a no brainer and will save you a grand for mortgage overpayments or whatever. Of course your wife would need to do some cooking, but you could help?

Don't have kids, so haven't experienced 'consequences' of kids missing a week and a half of school time but what other consequences could there be?

The other thing which often escapes the hard of thinking is that you won't be the parent of young children for ever, and so can take advantage of the lower prices later on...

Sky scanner for your flights.

Was that a package deal with one of the big companies ?
We went to Tenerife last year in February half term ,all inclusive for a week at same time as the in laws.
They went with Thomson and paid £1800 for 2 of them flying from Exeter.
We booked directly and went with RyanAir from Bristol and booked the hotel with "on the beach".. Directly booked a private taxi transfer and we were in the hotel within 45 mins of landing.
For the 3 of us (1 child) we paid £1075 in all, so a significant saving.

[quote=gonefishin ]

is that we organise the schools to stagger some of the main holidays to spread the load a bit.

It's worse than that - what if you're a teacher working in a different school to the one your kids are in?

Gary_M - Member
Not at all, but we manage to get great deals and generally don't need to ask for advice. You need to put the effort in, you just can't just expect a good deal to come along and say hello.

Gary, you're missing the point. I did't post for advice, just a semi-rant.

The fact that some useful advice has arisen I am grateful to the posters for.

Go to a nice bed and breakfast in Skegness during school holidays and stop bloody whinging about 3k Portugal blah blah blah bah blah.

Kryton57 - Member

bigyinn - Member
bikebouy - Member
Ahhh, everyone loves a Kryton57 thread.

Like "i've just bought a cheese sandwich, should i eat my crisps before or after it" type questions?
I often wonder how he'd cope with life without STW to guide him....

You perhaps need ton separate the deliberate STW archetypal trolling pisstakes from the genuine questions I've asked.

I don't think I am. My point is that if you want a good deal don't rock up to a travel agent and buy a package. Cut out the middle man, make the effort and do it yourself.

>> There are bound to be some who would complain that their kids have different term times as they attend different schools..

>> It's worse than that - what if you're a teacher working in a different school to the one your kids are in?

Well [i]if[/i] they did stagger the holidays then it could be on a regional basis. I would imagine that the majority have kids in school in the same region.

For those with kids in different regions then there would still be some overlap (e.g. if one region started the 6 week summer holiday 2 weeks before another then there would still be 4 weeks of overlap).