Nope, we aren’t.

Mr and Mrs loddrick taking baby wayne on holiday last year 😉

Nope, our area isn’t that salubrious.

Since when does not going to school help your education?

Since always, when you can be doing something more educational instead. Not hard. You talk as if school is the only place you can gain knowledge and experience. It’s not.

Yes you were

Lol… so everyone who isn’t the poorest person in the country is automatically rich? We weren’t rich, but we weren’t poor either.

I take that not everyone’s lives are the same wasn’t covered in those amazingly educational holidays you had?

Honestly – **** off. That’s just a stupid comment even for STW.

as who in the right mind wants to go on holiday during a school holiday (unless you have kids)

Well the summer holiday coincides with the warmest weather, the christmas one coincides with christmas, and the easter one coincides with a double bank holiday where you make your leave from work go further.

My parents never went abroad when we were children, couldn’t afford it.

Would they have gone if they could have afforded it? What if they had had just enough money to go during term time?

Being taken out of school for a couple of weeks so Mum and Dad can get a cheap trip to Turkey so they booze by the pool of a All Inclusive Hotel isn’t the same really is it.

Well your spin and straw man building managed to save us from having to interpret all that. Phew… dodged a bullet there! Good job your upper class “jolly” was purely educational 🙄

It’s not rocket science.

Your right but its clearly flummoxed you 😀

Good job your upper class “jolly” was purely educational

Errr didn’t say it was but 4 months living in a different country with (especially in Auckland) different Cultures probably didn’t do me any harm.

But I did do school work and wrote a massive diary that I had to present on return to school.

So you are saying that the people taking their kids out of school for a couple of weeks will be taking school books with them etc? If you think that’s the case, you’re deluded.

Since always, when you can be doing something more educational instead. Not hard. You talk as if school is the only place you can gain knowledge and experience. It’s not.

No, fair enough. But two weeks in a Eurocamp tent ain’t gonna teach em much.

**** this. I’m out of here!
Roll on Tenerife, 8 weeks yesterday 😉

Lol… so everyone who isn’t the poorest person in the country is automatically rich? We weren’t rich, but we weren’t poor either.

You were richer than us, if you had a caravan.

Never went abroad with my mum and dad as a kid, I never went abroad myself until I was 24.

Your right but its clearly flummoxed you

Not feeling overly flummoxed, would you care to enlighten me on what might have missed?

So you are saying that the people taking their kids out of school for a couple of weeks will be taking school books with them etc? If you think that’s the case, you’re deluded.

Not saying anything of the sort. Is that the type of analysis you picked up in NZ?

Not feeling overly flummoxed, would you care to enlighten me on what might have missed?

The letter “I” for a start 😀

You were richer than us, if you had a caravan.

Is a caravan automatically an indication of wealth? What if it was a very old caravan? 😀

You were richer than us, if you had a caravan.

Ok, fine. You don’t have to be the poorest person in the country to be considered ‘not rich’ do you?

No, fair enough. But two weeks in a Eurocamp tent ain’t gonna teach em much.

In France? How about French? I can speak a useful amount of French, and could in school far better than any of my classmates. Guess why.

Not saying anything of the sort. Is that the type of analysis you picked up in NZ?

Probably not, I was 8.

Sorry, what is your point?

I think he’s bitter than having children turns out to be more expensive that not having children.

But that’s state education for you, never teaches you the important stuff, you only get that by being taken on package holidays during term time…..

😉

Honestly – **** off. That’s just a stupid comment even for STW.

is that what you learned on these amazingly educational holidays? I’ll need to get a caravan and see if I can sharpen my debating skills to be as awesome as yours.

What kind of education teaches people to make ridiculous generalisations?

is that what you learned on these amazingly educational holidays? I’ll need to get a caravan and see if I can sharpen my debating skills to be as awesome as yours.

He’s right though, it was a stupid comment, and as such didn’t merit debating.

Hang on. Is this the STW version of a Monty Python sketch I seem to have stumbled across?

Hang on. Is this the STW version of a Monty Python sketch I seem to have stumbled across?

Who the **** are you insulting now?

🙂

is that what you learned on these amazingly educational holidays? I’ll need to get a caravan and see if I can sharpen my debating skills to be as awesome as yours.

They certainly need a lot of sharpening going by this performance!

I’ve held off reading this thread till now. All it has taught me is that if the chips on your shoulders get too big they eventually turn into blinkers.

Having kids and fitting work around them restricted our income. Our restricted income meant we couldn’t afford expensive holidays at any time of the year. Ergo, we have cheap holidays whenever our kids educational requirements allow.

We went to school often enough ourselves so that we were capable of figuring it out when we made the lifestyle choice to have kids.

Well put MoreCashThanDash.

And thread ends….

Having kids and fitting work around them restricted our income. Our restricted income meant we couldn’t afford expensive holidays at any time of the year. Ergo, we have cheap holidays whenever our kids educational requirements allow.

I’d suggest this is the attitude of the vast, yes, vast majority of parents. I think those making ridiculous generalisations would be a bit disappointed by this news though.

I think those making ridiculous generalisations would be a bit disappointed by this news though.

😀

Not sure if surfer agreeing with me or taking the piss out of me. 🙂

“SUPPLY and demand: remember them? If the demand for a good or service goes up, and its supply doesn’t increase as much, then prices go up. If supply increases, and demand doesn’t, prices go down. It’s not rocket science, and it explains just about everything about our society. It is the reason why some takeaways charge less on Monday nights, why champagne costs more than water and why people with PhDs in mathematics earn more than people with no qualifications. It’s a tragedy that the public debate remains depressingly unable to understand the implications of such basic microeconomics.

Take the cost of holidays. It is more expensive to travel at peak times, when everybody else also wants to go on holiday, than during the low season, when children are at school and employees at work. To those who understand how the world works, that makes sense and is the sign of a system that is working. It ensures an efficient allocation of resources, with price signals incentivising people who don’t have to travel during school holidays to wait until a less busy period.

Yet many members of the public – including the large number of signatories of a recent petition on the subject – are shocked by this. To them, it is a disgrace and an obvious case of profiteering; some even believe it to be a giant conspiracy. MPs will be moaning about all of this shortly in Parliament.

I don’t get it. What are holiday companies meant to do when demand shoots up? Keep prices constant? Cut them even, driving consumers into a frenzy? And presumably, given the collapse in revenues, they would have to jack up their prices during the rest of the year, when fewer people want to travel, to remain afloat financially? That would mean emptier hotels and flights for most of the year and a decline in the total number of annual travellers (the same number would go on holiday, albeit more cheaply, during sold-out peak times, while fewer would do so during the rest of the year). This would be followed by the mass bankruptcy of travel companies, hotels and even airlines. Competition would be reduced, prices would rise and choice would be restricted. Trying to buck market forces is always a dumb idea.

What about the idea that the whole thing is a giant conspiracy? There may at times be instances of anti-competitive behaviour by some players in some markets (though a US judge dismissed one major case last week). In the UK, the Office for Fair Trading recently pushed through some changes: it thought that some restrictions on discounting limited competition on room rates between online travel agents and hotels’ websites. Whether this was a significant problem and whether the reforms will make any real difference remains to be seen – but it won’t affect the basic economics of the industry.

The simple truth is that the modern travel market is highly competitive overall. Consumers can buy tickets from a myriad of cut-throat low cost airlines; they can book a trip directly with one of hundreds of thousands of hotels around the world. There is more information, accountability and feedback than ever before.

There are only two ways scarce goods or services can be allocated: either via the price system, by allowing markets to clear freely; or through rationing, which would require the government choosing who can travel and when and at what price. The second option would not only destroy the travel industry but it would also annihilate liberty and the freedom of choice. Some problems could be alleviated if schools varied term dates – but families often have children in different schools so this isn’t always practical. We would all like cheaper prices all of the time. But that’s silly: travelling will always cost more when most people want to go on holiday. It’s a feature of a well-functioning system, not a bug.

Not sure if surfer agreeing with me or taking the piss out of me.

Agreeing DD as always!

Theres a lot wrong with that Woppit.

In France? How about French? I can speak a useful amount of French, and could in school far better than any of my classmates. Guess why.

How much do you think you would have learned in two weeks on a Eurocamp site? Playing with English kids? Where the staff are English speaking?

J’ai learné bowcoop de frenchaise a le Yoorocamp

Is a caravan automatically an indication of wealth? What if it was a very old caravan?

Just means his parents were richer than ours. Didn’t mean that my mum and dad took me out of school to go on holiday because they didn’t have the money to go out of term, though – as responsible parents, they just took the holidays they could afford during the school holidays. Don’t really see what’s wrong with that?

We stayed at Eurocamp a few times. Got plenty of practice in French when out and about.

Hanging around the site speaking English isn’t mandatory. Just because some people don’t have educational holidays for their kids, doesn’t mean no-one does. I’m sure that many people wouldn’t bother doing anything educational, but many would. And being abroad gives kids opportunities that they can’t get here. That’s why they organise exchange trips after all.

So perhaps teachers should work with parents who wish to take their kids out of school to make their trip educational and worthwhile. Which many do, of course.

Incidentally, I just checked the prices of the flights we’d take to the US to visit family. The lowest is about £500pp off season to £730 ish in the summer hols. Nothing like as big of a hike as some people are talking about. Perhaps choosing your destination wisely helps?

Theres a lot wrong with that Woppit.

Such as?

a_a – apparently this thread still has some legs to it after all 🙄

Just means his parents were richer than ours

Does it? How do you know how much money his parents had? Do you know the other decisions his parents made or sacrifices they made to be able to purchase said caravan? or is that not the analysis you are interested in?

Yeah perhaps teachers should be responsible for educsting kids when they are not in school too. Great!

Growing up in Ireland, wealth had nothing to do with whether your parents chose to buy a caravan or not. 🙂

Whoppit please tell me thats a cut and paste job and you didnt waste your own time writting it!!!!