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Many of us will be plumping for holidays within the UK this year, the so-called Staycation, in order to try to save a bit of money.
But M&S Money reckons that the high cost of living in the UK, coupled with favourable exchange rates, means that heading abroad may actually be cheaper.
So what are you planning to do? Are you flying off somewhere sunny? Are you staying in the UK? Are you having a holiday at all?
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174Nothing beyond a few days away in Scotland. I won't have any proper holidays until my savings can provide a decent return when interest rates rise to finance it.
Last holiday away fror a couple of weeks was 2007, next might be 10 years away at the rate that my holiday money is being used to prop up the spendthrifts with low interest rates.
Posted on 06 June 2012 |
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879 30Just to declare my own hand. I'm having two 'staycations' - a long weekend with my extended family in East Anglia and a week in a caravan with my wife and son in Hastings.
It's not so much the cost as the thought of taking a 16-month-old on a plane that fills me with terror.
Posted on 06 June 2012 | Love 1 love
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879When ours were little, we used to hire then take a caravan to the South of France. That was the furthest we could easily get in 2 days travelling with only 1 overnight.
Apart from my wife not flying, the children took up too much luggage space for us to consider flying. You can take so much more in a car and even more when towing a caravan.
The problem with holidaying in UK is the unreliability of the weather. It is also quite expensive.
Mike
Posted on 06 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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8I'm going to Cyprus in July - wasn't going to go abroad this year, but stopped
smoking about six weeks ago now and decided I could use the money saved
for a good holiday. Also going to East Sussex in August, buckets and spades
holiday with grandchildren which we planned ages ago. Got a great deal on
self-catering accommodation there, £95 for four nights for six of us! :D
just hope the sun shines
Posted on 06 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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3What a set of miserable bleeders!
JoeEasedale' spend some of your savings & enjoy yourself - they don't put pockets in shrouds you know!
MikeGG1, sod the garden - it'll still want work whether you go on holiday or not & if the wife won't fly, leave her at home to do the gardening for you(?)
Understand about not taking kids on flights, it is a right pain, but everyone needs a holiday or two. I've been to cape Verde in April, booked for Formanterra in August & looking to take a cheeky week to the Canaries in October - can't beat a bit of sun!!
Posted on 06 June 2012 | Love 3 loves
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174What a set of miserable bleeders!
JoeEasedale' spend some of your savings & enjoy yourself - they don't put pockets in shrouds you know!
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I would rather never have a holiday ever again., or indeed not eat, before I would spend capital. I worked hard to create it and I will leave it intact in my will.
Posted on 06 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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265I and teh wife have been to San Francisco for two weeks odd in May to see my grandchildren who live there with my son and his wife. It was not that hot really but a great change . You really need a car there and I had a chevvy impala with 300 bhp and only 1200 miles on the clock. The shame is that the speed limits are so low it was pointless really , may as well have had my Picanto.
The airfare increases with teh tyax of the robbing governmnet each year but hotels in the US are very reasonable and fuel is $4.30 a (US) gallon. I find it a reasonable place to holiday with food good value compared to here, and booze not so dear either if you shop around. Yes teh grass was long when I got back but my watering styem coped in teh greenhouse and the tomatoes are fine.
Posted on 06 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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308We are going on 2 holidays this summer. One with my extended family to Guernsey at the end of July, and another for a week at Center Parcs at the end of August.
Really looking forward to both.
There are some REALLY miserable comments and some misers on here too.
Why won't your wife fly? Why do you accumulate wealth for the sole intention of giving it to someone else after you're dead? What is so stressful about going away? Why not take children on a plane?
I don't understand these comments, I think some are just excuses.
You only live once, and I fully intend on enjoying it as much as possible.
Posted on 06 June 2012 | Love 1 love
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7Just looked at a week in Kent , 2 rooms for 4 people in Aug in a reasonable hotel.Some offer no breakfast = almost £1000 - plus petrol , all meals and the weatherrrrrrr well.! Spain , Turkey , Greece etc nice weather , meals ,transport ..maybe £500 more but I need a stress free holiday .Caravan ... maybe if I owned one on a luxury site but cooking and cleaning are not for me .How many people sneer at Gypsy Weddings ,then can't wait for their seaside refugee holiday?
Posted on 06 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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64370mph on Freeways not enough for oldhenry, obviously? Speed limits pretty much same as here and drove to Las Vegas in May with business partner at 80mph most of the way. I don't find food particularly good value in all of California, but it is a great place to be. I've got a lot of business travel to trade shows this year in various countries but really like actual holidays in the UK as a preference, so will be heading to Robin Hood's Bay a couple of times again this year, but have promised to take my girlfriend with me to California and Las Vegas again in October for the SEMA car show. Trade shows certainly aren't much of a holiday, at least the ones I do, as we work so hard and are on our feet all day. I did get to see Paris at the start of the year and will also get to Frankfurt this year too, but in every case so far, new customers have made it all worthwhile. With my first wife I used to holiday in a touring caravan in the New Forest and I still think that is one of the best places anywhere to holiday. Some really good hotel room deals around in the UK , I occasionally grab a cheap room somewhere within an hour's drive for a little break with girlfriend. I enjoy my work so holidays aren't an obsession really. After typing this at midnight I'll be working on product catalogues for a couple of hours for the Farnborough Air Show which will be an interesting few days away next month.
I sympathise with anyone who has partner who won't fly. My ex-wife never would so we holidayed in the UK for the 18 years we were together. As I've always worked from home my overall carbon footprint is pretty reasonable, despite my business travel.
Posted on 07 June 2012 |
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81I'm holidaying in the UK this year - heading down to London for the Olympics. I'm not staying in the UK to save money (it'll probably cost more than a package holiday on a Spanish beach), but to take my kids to an event that will likely happen only once in my lifetime.
Posted on 07 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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72I'm still living in Germany. Our plan was for my parents and brother to come and visit me here for a holiday. Unfortunately, Mama is not well enough, so we are now looking at possible UK holidays later in the year, after I get home.
We've seldom done holidays abroad as a family. When I was a teenager, Papa did so many business trips to Greece that he could take us along a couple of times simply on the frequent flyer credit. But most of our holidays have been the UK - we did canals for several years; now we book a cottage somewhere interesting and use it as a base for exploration. The weak Euro may well mean foreign holidays are affordable - holiday flats are so cheap in Germany that it's tempting to come back here with the family - but there is so much to see in the UK it hardly seems worth the hassle.
And as for weather, I was 11 or 12 on our first trip to Greece. The day we visited Mycenae was the hottest of the holiday. My principal memory of Mycenae is trying to find some shade in which to sit down, and it took me two days or more to recover. I'll take British rain, thanks!
Posted on 07 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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1Holiday abroad? Most definitely, my wife and I holiday 4 or 5 times a year, no we're not rich, just sensible with our money.
Having taken advantage of a tracker on the mortgage and are now saving a packet.
We do some good sensible financial planning thanks to a few ideas from love money, which have also paid off. Yes not forgetting our pensions also.
The more people who use the excuse of refusing to fly, keep it up, more choices for me.
If you shop around, do some price comparisons and haggle with the travel agents, you get the best deals. Also I pay for trips with Amex for the airmiles (traveling to Dubai virtually for free later this year, thanks to it). Furthermore, use credit cards abroad to get the best rates. Study Trip Advisor,,, The pros far out way the cons.
For all those using the excuse to a staycation this year, I bet I spend less than you at the end of it and I get the weather plus the experience of seeing the world.
2 weeks away from a nice snorkeling trip to Egypt, work hard, play hard and reap the rewards.
M&R.
Posted on 07 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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58I've had my holiday this year, we did a month in New Zealand for our honeymoon. Best vacation ever. Hubby changed jobs part way through the year so that is all his holiday used up.
I'm abroad 4/5 times through the rest of the year with work, mainly USA and will take the weekend before and after to explore and relax.
I'm sure we will do some weekends away throughout the year but I find it too much hassle to go out of the UK for those. Just go to the lakes (closer than the airport).
Posted on 07 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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643I love flying but some people are phobic - so can we have less smugness about those who won't fly? It can be really upsetting for family members and cause great inconvenience. I'm the first to criticise people who won't help themselves when they have choices, but some genuine psychological conditions are a little more complex than chronic lazyitis and addiction to benefits and denigrating those with phobias is a pretty obnoxious trait.
Posted on 07 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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21I normally have a "staycation" at my friend down London once a year for at least a long weekend, as we don't see each other, but do keep in contact at least once a month over the phone. Whenever I stayed, we always have a fantastic time, doing different things, sight seeing, spending money, eating out, as I don't take the liberty of letting him spend all the money on me, I feel good the fact that I can afford to pay for a decent meal out for us. As for these inclusive holidays, I guess it suits people who just want to spend time in the sun and not explore the country.
My partner and I went to Cornwall last year, only went back to the holiday home when it was dark and everything shut, so when I do go on holiday, it has to be a self catering for me, as we only need a roof over our head at night. We will be going back in September this year, but more on the Newquay side, so it's going to be another fantastic holiday, even if it rains!
Posted on 08 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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2I wish we were going on holiday but really can't afford it this year. I did look into "staycations" but realised that we were looking at around £1,000 for a week without spending money and it's just too much. I was really shocked at the cost of stay at home holidays and haven't found anything remotely reasonable. Maybe I am not looking in the right places. Further, we have a teenager and a 15 month old son and like John Fitzsimmons, I couldn't even contemplate taking the toddler on a plane. Absolutely no way! We're just going to have to wait until my husband's workload improves before we could consider going away :-(
Posted on 12 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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25I was on holiday when you posted this question!
Hopefully I will be moving house this year so I wanted to save some money.
I love my hot foreign holidays but instead of the £2000+ holidays I was looking at (school holidays are expensive!) we had a staycation in Wales, my parents just bought a static caravan there (before VAT was applied ;) ). In total, including fuel etc we spent around £500 and had a fantastic time despite a few days of "British" weather. Rain jackets were a worthwhile investment too!
Posted on 12 June 2012 | Love 0 loves
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14"holiday"?
we've spent almost all our leave for the last 8 years at his mother's (who is lonely)
excellent value for money: staring down the warring sisters in law in a tiny flat while listening to heaving traffic . who needs San Francisco!
Posted on 14 July 2012 | Love 0 loves
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