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.
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….

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.

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 ).

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?!

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

Turkey (too close to the Ukraine)

LOL!

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….. 😉

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!
+2 I remember a couple of Butlins weeks when i was really young. My aunt was a housekeeper for a family that had a small house on the Welsh coast, so we’d have a week there when they weren’t using it, and yeah, all self-catered apart from fish and chips maybe once or twice. I don’t think my parents ever went abroad – didn’t myself until 1998. Simpler times… 🙂

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?

Well, here’s a thought – if you don’t rate academia, why don’t you just take your kids out and home-school them? Take your holidays when you want, and it means you’re not burdening the education system with your kids, so kids who DO want to work, and/or have parental support, are more likely to get better results. And as teachers are heading towards performance-related pay, you’re not going to inflict another lackustre f***-you predicted-grade-fail child on their pay packet. Happy days all round! 😀

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.

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.
[/quote]

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.
Im struggling to spot the differences between them…… 😆

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 if 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).