i normally have 2 or 3 week long holidays with friends, as they like going to the costa brava resorts by coach.
this suits me well as although they are not keen on lloret, i can get there very easily from malgrat, their current favourite, or calella.
i also go to lloret anything up to 10 times a year for long weekends.
i can do this because i get flexi time as well as holidays, and so if i work a bit longer every day i can get up to 3 extra days every month. by careful planning and booking flights with ryanair and easyjet when they are cheap i am able to do this.
i get comments at work all the time about the number of trips i take, normally from people who tell me they are struggling to take one holiday a year and they do resent me going away as regularly as i do.
when i try to explain to them about advance planning, not taking a days holiday for silly reasons like a late night out, not going to the pub every lunchtime, not going to the pub all weekend -although i do meet up with friends every sunday, not wasting money on things like computer games(£40 for some of the newer ones), generally not wasting money or holidays -it must be the scottish blood - they just don't get it!
when my partner was alive we worked out that if we stayed in every friday night instead of going out we could save nearly £4000 every year. this would pay for 2 holidays a year, and we could still go out on a saturday.it became even clearer that by staying in every other saturday we could also get a further 2 single weeks holidays. not rocket science but we found that it did cause resentment amongst our friends who did not get the concept.
each to their own, but i would far rather spend 1 weekend a month sitting in the sun in spain than sitting in a pub in england every weekend.

Please can we get back on track and forget earlier misinterpretations

wizard

I simply misunderstood the point that Sanji was trying to make.and I apologise for that

In fairness, I think it probably was my fault (to an extent). I'm becoming the champion for OAP's rights and I picked up on a point that crossed from duration into frequency, and the resentment that I (we) experience and see in society at large towards pensioners, who can go where, when and for how long they chose (finances & health permitting) .

It’s like it’s a crime to have made provisions for your retirement and to be going on holiday, and the duration doesn’t really matter, it’s the fact that you are going on holiday.
It doesn’t seem to go down too well with some people who are obviously struggling in the present economic climate. Some now pensioners chose many years ago the path they wish to take regarding how they managed their finances for their future, so, I’m including the attitude from fellow pensioners towards other pensioners here too.

One of the most infuriating comments I have read (and I can’t remember where) was the suggestion that OAP’s shouldn’t be allowed to book a holiday between July & August, because they can go at any other time and this would free up more spaces for families.
Mmm, I'm off to Spain on Friday which will take me into July and I have paid the same price as anyone else, I want some sun and heat on my old bones and don't particularly want to go to Spain when the days are short, the weather is unpredicable and blooming cold in the low season.
Another comment which features regularly is ‘the hotel was full of pensioners’ or ‘the entertainment was geared towards pensioners’.

I would also pick up the point made by Shrimper and families who resent the fact that their parents or relatives are spending their inheritance. You think it doesn’t happen? Just wait until you are a pensioner and you’ll understand what I’m banging on about.

Anyway,SMa mistakes are easily made……… and you know you love the banter between us .
I think I've gone off topic again, but felt the need to explain something.
Maybe I should start another thread entitled... Do people resent you taking plenty of holidays?

Sanji

sanji,, we are SKIing too our daughter just said that we turned from stop at homes to jet setter,, not having had a weeks holiday in 30 yrs, when i semi retired we started having 3 or 4 weeks a year [well we have a lot of catching up to do]

I very rarely get to go on holidays for 2 weeks. This has alwasy been in the past because of neither myself or Rob being able to get that much time off work all in one go or at the same time and then of course whent he kids were little it was a case of taking them out of school etc..alwasy more trouble than what it was worth..as well as the financial side of things. We simply could not afford to have more than one 2 week holiday a year then and did not want to put all our eggs into one basket so to speak.

As the kids got older, we had just one long haul 2 weeker to Thailand and still wanted the week long holidays.

If I am lucky and can afford it, I aim for 3 week long holidays a year. Usually I get 2 and a few weekends away.

This year, plenty of weekends away and a week in Menorca to look forward to in September.

next year, 2 weeks in Cuba.

I dont begrudge anyone holidays..after all, they must work damn hard to be able to pay for them.

We normally go away for a week at a time, as we prefer to have more one weekers spread out during the course of the year. We went for two weeks to egypt a couple of years ago and found it too long. It actually cost us the same to go for two weeks instead of one though, so we though it was silly not to
We normally have two one weekers a year,- more if we're lucky, and a few weekends, and some camping thrown in for good measure. When we go on city breaks, they're usually around four days, and we once flew to new york for four days!

2 weeks a year once a year

I would rather a week somewhere abroad than none at all! Although if it is only for a week I don't like to fly more than 4-5hours.

For the last few years we have been in our camper van in France taking approx 2 weeks (varies between 12 and 16 nights). This year though due to other big commitments we don't have anything sorted - normally by now we would have had several weekend breaks away in the van.

I have put my foot down though and said that I don't care how busy we are we are having a weekend at a spa hotel courtesy of Mr Tesco in August.

We will then take our 'big' holiday in either December or January - 2 weeks somewhere maybe Asia or the Carribean...I cannot wait!