One week is great if you have your own business and can only get away one week a year, believe me its true I did it for 23 years :(. Making up for it now we have retired.

Making up for it now we have retired.

Some people annoy me intensely when they say things like "You're going on holiday again, you're never at home" or "You must be rich coz I can't afford to go on as many holidays as you".
I think, yeah, but what about all those years when we didn't go away, and all the years when we couldn't afford to hire a tent next to the local canal for a week, or what about all those hours I spent at work and couldn't even get the same weeks holidays as my oH.?

I get the impression that some people even resent OAP's going away, and if they do, they should stick to the low season when the prices are cheaper, the days are short and the weather is naff, or most resorts are closed in Europe.

Try living on a state pension and you'll soon realise that every time you want to go on holiday, the money comes out of the bank and there is no way to put it back in, and of course if you do have a few bob in the bank, you get no help from anybody.....I can't say " give me a few pension credits to top up my pension because I fancy a week in Benidorm".

It's called frugal planning in early family life, which has resulted in a reasonable and sustainable retirement in later life. And if people don't want to do that, then please don't come moaning to me or resenting me being able to go on holiday whenever I want to, because you'll get the sharp end of my tongue .

Sanji

Sanji, 100% with you. What I appreciate our sons encourage us to go on holiday and don't moan about us getting rid of there inheritance

I am able to afford to go away, as I work darn hard and do unsociable hours, and have one day off a week, and don't waste my money on sky etc, so I can afford to get away. I choose to spend my money on travel.
One thing I don't EVER do is resent people who go away, jeepers, I'm in the wrong life if I did.

It never occurred to me that either Fiona or Shirley H were being resentful or resenting the fact that others can get away more frequently than they could. A little envious perhaps :-)

My brother and I have always encouraged our Mum and Dad to be SKIers (Spending the Kids Inheritance!) and intend to do the same! But for the moment, we both work in education so, like Shirley, we aren't able to go during term-time either. Hence, opportunities to get away can be limited and depending on the destination, can be pricey when I have no alternative for the moment to going away during peak time. And besides, I love being able to spend the summer here in Scotland pottering around my garden, walking along our gorgeous beaches and enjoying the really long days (even if they have been very wet this year!). So for the moment, I tend to go away for a week in early April (often for a week here in Scotland because the weather can actually be very settled up here then) and/or for a week October to somewhere sunny (usually somewhere like La Gomera in the Canaries). This enables me to capitalise on the fact that the Uni's 'reading week' doesn't usually coincide with the English half-terms or Easter holiday and only parially overlaps with the Scottish school holidays too.

A fortnight in Cuba tends to shift around the year - it does often have to be in July because that's the only time I can take more than a week off but I hoping to go in March next year. A change of work responsibilities, and hence a different rythym to my working year, makes that doable for the first time in years and I can't wait!

But roll on retirement - only a few years away now - and I will be heading off as frequently as I can. The pension probably won't stretch to the same sort of longhaul trips I have done in the past but the lump sum and savings hopefully will :-) As my Mum always says 'There are no pockets in shrouds' and I know that like her and my Dad, I'll have no qualms about running the bank balance down over the years to the minimum needed to keep back as an emergency contingency fund. I'll happily see the rest go on 4 holidays a year even if I have to live off baked beans on toast for the rest of the year in order to pay for them!

SM

I must be slow - I didn't realise that anyone thought I was resentful? Why would I be? My post was about getting away as often as I can. I love hearing and talking about holidays- just look at my post count

Oh for goodness sake, I was replying to Shrimpers remark about retirement.

Making up for it now we have retired.

I don't think until you do retire and are free to go where and when you want ( if you have the finances) then you will not recognise what I'm talking about.
Is it envy, I have no idea, but when you are a pensioner, you begin to notice other people's attitude to OAP's and comments that previously would have gone whoosh over your head.
Shrimper obviously knew what I was talking about.

It never occurred to me that either Fiona or Shirley H were being resentful or resenting the fact that others can get away more frequently than they could

It didn't occur to you because it didn't have anything to do with them.

Sanji

It didn't occur to you because it didn't have anything to do with them.

Sanji, I didn't think you were talking about me either or I would have responded. Like fiona, I love holidays and good luck to anyone who can get away as often as they like be it OAP's or otherwise.

My parents use to spend 5 months of the year in Majorca until my dad had a hear attack over there which has put them off going for such long periods of time now but they spend most of the summer at their caravan on the coast.

well I'm glad thats sorted out- I had no idea why shirley and i were brought up. I was thinking I must be phrasing things all wrong and need a holiday

I had no idea why shirley and i were brought up

No neither did I, especially when I had quoted in my post and at the start of my post, a line from Shrimper's post, which would indicate that was the point I was expanding on.

Isn't that how things work in here, you quote to respond to something from a specific post that you wish to talk about or expand on.?
So, why the chuff try and cause a problem that wasn't there and hadn't even been quoted

Roll on Friday....

.

It does seem odd Sanji, like trying to cause trouble for the sake of it

Soon be Friday.

Fiona wrote:

4 holidays a year- brilliant Wish I could do that.

Actually that is wrong I forgot about going to Munich for 3 days/ 2 nights in January , I suppose that sort of counts as a holiday It was our Xmas present to each other as we both worked over xmas and new year , we had booked to see Rondo Veneziano at the Gasteig ( have seen them in Vienna as well) and was searching for something to do the other night and went to see Duran Duran who were in town , that took me back to my mid teens I love 80s music

To be fair , I know we are lucky to be able to do 4 weeks , but then we both work full time in ok paid jobs , have no kids , still living in the same nice house I bought when the property market crashed mid 90s , I do love a bargain !! And we don't really go out as the wife's shifts play havoc with a social life , and I'm happy with a beer and watching some EPL .
Some of the people my wife works with often make annoying comments about how much she goes away , my lot I work with know how much I love my holidays and always say , you work so hard you deserve them ! And then more often than not ask for some time off themselves! I actually encourage them to book holidays and have regular rest , if they need an extra day off to get over a flight I let them have it , although I did have to explain to one of them that you don't get jet lag with a 2 hour flight from Majorca !

Duran Duran- I didn't even know they were still doing the rounds!
My holidays are at the expense of a decent car and my house is now embarrassing - it has been so long since we have done anything to it

My holidays are at the expense of a decent car

Mine too fiona well at the expense of a decent car for hubby anyway. I don't have a car and hubby keeps hinting about us getting a decent one as the one we have is old. I keep telling him it gets us from A - B and is serving us well. So I'd rather use the money for holidays

Oh they are still brilliant , perhaps even better now , jumping up and down with 1500 Germans, singing hungry like ze wolf !!!! It was fantastic , it was like a good old fashioned gig , not like these poxy arenas where you have to follow everything on a screen because you can't see from row Zz and JT on bass was lifting me off the floor , my ears were hurting for a week, I wasnt a Duranie in the 80s though , frilly blouses and eyeliner are not really my thing !
I've got to do something with the back garden this year, I did the lounge completely last year and have had to get a new boiler installed this year , paid it on my Hilton card so I get some points towards a free night ! Now that is forward planning

For years whilst my son was little, we had one holiday per year, mostly to spain ableit cheap and cheerful it was a good holiday and enjoyed by both of us, but as a solo parent money was tight, as my son got older and wnet on holidays with his pals and most recently his girlfriend I have usually managed two holidays per year sometimes three - and I have had comments by work colleagues (don't want to say friends because they are not), cor you must be rolling in it! - Well I'm not I have had difficult times previously but now enjoy better times If anyone can afford a holiday a month no matter what circumstances jolly good luck to them

I only go 'away' twice a year and have the occasional night away in the UK but for some reason our works' colleagues all seem to think we're forever away. They remark 'have you booked again already?' or 'where are you off to next' but none of the remarks are made nastily, they genuinely like to hear about where we're going or have been.

I think it's probably becaus we always book early, and usually as soon as we come back from one holiday, if not before we've been, Shirley. We have a few 2 or 3 night breaks in the UK, but usually courtesy of Tesco vouchers, or a really good offer

I'm confused about who is supposed to be resenting whom?