3 weeks in 3 bedroom 2 bathroom caravan in Normandy from 3rd June 2008 including ferry total cost for 4 adults £750.

Where could I get that in UK? And we bring back wine giving us even more savings.

UK prices are definitely a rip-off.

Patka

Isn't it only relative though?

I earn a certain amount of money for my job. Those people living in Turkey would never earn that much for doing an equivalent job in their home country.

We pay £ 2.50 for a pint of beer which equates to x% of our average wage. The equivalent % of the cost of a pint of beer in Turkey compared to their average wage is most probably similar.

Does that make England expense or Turkey cheap?

Would Turkish residents not say the same about their country? "It is too expensive to go on holiday here in Turkey - I can get better value in Egypt." might be subject on a forum dedicated to travel in Turkey.

And so it continues until you get to the poorest county in the world.

Mark

I believe flights are very expensive both inside Turkey and to other countries.

We had a Turkish couple from Istanbul on our gulet last year and they actually got down to Gocek by bus taking about 13 hours as the preferred transport. Both of them had good jobs not in the tourist industry as well. it must be pricey if they are willing to undergo a journey like that rather than pay for a flight.

Maverick57uk, I live in Southend and totally agree with you. Its a seaside town and I wouldnt venture along the seafront after 6 o-clock at night, its full of yobs and dirty! We went to Norfolk for the weekend on the May bank holiday, we booked 2 caravans for £120 each a night! Then we had to pay extra for passes £25 for the weekend, the on-site spa which is still on the Haven website has been replaced by a water gun squirty thing, the only thing for adults to do was drink! You can imagine the cost of drinks and food, even the site shop was charging 55p for a chocolate bar. I had to take my son to Great Ormond Street last week, so not a day out, a must do trek into London: 1 adult and 1 child £39 return on the train.
lunch because we were there for the tests all
day £18 (just abowl of pasta each and water)
drinks from hospital shop £7 for 5 bottles
water to see us through day.
Total cost of hospiatal appointment £64 not including loss of days earnings! Rip off Britain, I couldnt agree more!

Sally

mark although i agree with the relative point the total amount of taxable income in the uk is one of the highest in the world with all the stelth taxes etc
thats why turkey as a nation is far happy and friendly than the uk
in the uk we are clock watching and trying to make as much as posssible in a short time as lesiure time in the uk is short compared to other european countries
this is why i only give the uk 6 months a year (thats all its worth in my book )

in the uk we are clock watching and trying to make as much as posssible in a short time as lesiure time in the uk is short compared to other european countries

I agree with you but draw a different conclusion from this than you do. My experience - living in a seaside area in the UK - is that here in the UK we aren't prepared to work the long hours that people in tourist areas elsewhere do. Increasingly, hotels and restaurants in my area are employing Polish staff because they speak excellent English, are willing to work long hours, split shifts etc and still remain unfailingly polite to often very demanding and often rude guests.

In this country working in the catering and hotel industry is not a highly valued job - waiting on table is something you do as a student to make a bit of extra money or the job you take whilst looking for a 'proper' one. And you are expected to put up with some pretty awful behaviour - I did bar work to help pay my way through Uni and couldn't wait to stop because of the way so many drunken customers spoke and behaved to us. Whereas in many European countries working in catering and the hotel trade is a highly regarded job and people take pride in what they do. If staff aren't treated with respect in the first place is it any wonder if tehy behave in a surly manner?

Turkey has had a good press in this thread but one of the reasons why it seems so cheap to us is that compared to the staff who work in the tourist industry we are extremely affluent. There's no getting away from the fact that the cheap holiday destinations for us are those countries with much lower standards of living and very high levels of poverty, especially obnce you get away from the tourist areas. Turkey is very anxious to be able to join the EU because it sees that as one of the way it can raise the living standards of the bulk of the population - but one of the consequences of that increase in living standards for the locals will be that costs will rise for us as tourists as the wage bills etc rise for employers. And which poor third world destination will we all move on to then?

I love going to Cuba and can afford to go on a regular basis but one of the reasons why I can afford it is because doctors are paid less than $100 per month and so many of them are more than happy to take in paying guests like myself who can pay what for us is as little as £15 for bed, breakfast & evening meal in a nice middle class home but to them is huge supplement to their low incomes. As Markj has pointed out, holiday destinations that are cheap for us are cheap because the people living there earn so much less. People doing my job in Cuba (a University lecturer) need the long vacations - far longer than I get incidentally! - so they can moonlight doing other jobs and earn enough to provide their families with a decent standard of living, not so they can go on holiday abroad which is an unimaginable luxury to them.

SM

Perhaps we should start to ask questions?

No, not why it seems so expensive here in the UK. There are some very valid answers to that question.

Perhaps we should be asking ourselves questions.

Would we be happy to work the hours, accept the poor pay, and live in what we in the UK would consider unacceptable conditions?

Polite way of saying poverty.

Many complain that taxation etc here in the UK is more than they are willing to accept, and they are going to live in these countries that they say are better.

So all these ex pats, living in their nice villas on a pension from the UK. The locals who have to live for a month on what the ex pats get for a week. Of course if they get an illness that the insurance does not cover or the local health service cannot treat adequately then back to good old Blightly and the NHS

We do like to think we are superior. The days of Empire live on.

We seem to want everything on the cheap. We expect superior service yet want to pay inferior prices.

Perhaps it can be summed up in that old saying.

"I care not about you Jack I'm doing very nicely"

fwh

im glad to say that i do use a superior service in dental and medical far superior to what i recieved in the uk and its cheap so when i have paid all my tax and insurance should i not use my savings where you get looked after and superior treatment (which i have had )it should not read im doing alright jack but this is how to do it jack and jump aboard

And it can't be said too often, the reason it is cheap to you is because those dentists, doctors and ancillary staff are being paid far less than people in the NHS are here. If the NHS paid wages as low as those in Turkey (and for the majority of ancillary staff they're not necessarily that high at the moment as it is) and/or only treated those who could afford to pay a far greater portion of the costs in relation to average incomes, then it too would be superior to what we have now for those who could afford it but fewer of the population would experience the benefits of it.

What is cheap to you as a semi-expat who can offord to live half the year here and half the year in Turkey is going to be far from cheap for the majority of local turkish population - most of whom do not live in cities or tourist resorts but rural farming communities for whom the description 'dirt poor' could have been invented. They are scratching a living on small plots of land and little more. This is why Berlin was once actually the 4th largest 'Turkish' city - only Istambul, Ankara, Izmir had populations exceeding the Turkish population of Berlin. They were prepared to accept rotten housing conditions and villification from many of the locals because depite being employed in low paid jobs that Berliners wouldn't take, they still earned more than at home and could send money back to help support their families.

SM

SM

It certainly is worth thinking about, especially those (who don't frequent these boards by and large) who whinge that prices are not as cheap as they were 15 years ago and where can I get a pint of efes for 50p.

Fact of the matter is though, every one of us who travels to Turkey and spends our money are contributing to keeping those lovely, hard working people in food for the winter.

We have a very good lifestyle here in the UK, we should certainly appreciate it more. I personally see my holidays abroad as a benefit to me and to the resorts I visit.

Mrs Chivas here.

We took our daughter on a daytrip to Rhyl this week for a change of scenery. Both of us had been when we were younger. My gran lived there so I spent many summers there as a kid but hadn't been in over 10 years. I was amazed at how much worse it was than I remembered. The place wasn't as busy as I would have thought. Even the town centre was quieter than my local town.

There was actually very little to do whilst there. The beach looked cleaner than I remembered and was nice to have a walk down looking in the pools of water. Quite a number of the stalls/kiosks on the seafront were closed. Toilets on the seafront were 20p a go and as there is no alternative quite a rip-off. Kids fair on the seafront worked out at £1.50 a ride which is extortionate for a Carousel and some other junk for the under 7 age group. Sky Tower wasn't running for most of the day - when we walked past I heard the one operator moaning to the other that he had to keep pushing it round so it doesn't stop working, hardly enticing! The amusement arcades were dirty, a lot of machines not even switched on. We looked for a pub so we could have some lunch and a drink but to be honest the pubs we could find looked very unappealing all dark and dingy so we ended up at KFC.

I can totally see why people don't holiday in the UK - accomodation costs a fortune, particularly on the campsites with pools and bars, families are not welcome in pubs/restauarants and if they are the food is usually expensive junk and they have to be whisked out at 9pm, prices of ice-creams and drinks by the sea are jacked-up to make a quick buck, lack of basic toilets near the beach, ridiculous parking costs if you have to drive, general low-quality untidy town centres. Most of this is indicative of the over-priced family unfriendly nature of the UK and as more people holiday abroad I can only see seaside towns akin to Rhyl getting more run-down and the local businesses jacking prices up so they can make some money out of a limited tourist market.

Fact of the matter is though, every one of us who travels to Turkey and spends our money are contributing to keeping those lovely, hard working people in food for the winter.

Of course we do and I'm not advocating that we all stop holidaying abroad. I know that my 'homestays' in Cuba make all the dofference to the families I stay with between just 'getting by' and being able to 'put something by' for the leaner times. But the fact also remains that every £ spent abraod is one less spent in this country and that that contirubtes to the decline that Mrs Chivas has remarked on with regard to Rhyl.

The seaside town I live in is very lucky - we have a Championship golf course which is literally, come rain or shine, going to attract an affluent sort of tourist. They have to be because it costs non-residents £90+ for a prime tee time on the course THE Open is played on. Yes, we are cashing in on that but it is a municipal course so residents can get a very reasonably priced season ticket to play on it and yes, the high prices are a way of rationing a scarce commodity as well as generating income which helps pay for other local services. Perhaps some of you think this is a rip-off but I don't. It seems reasonable to me that if you want to be able to go home and boast that you've played on the same course that defeated Tiger Woods (and on a good day be able to say that you got round in less than him!) then it's OK for us to cahrge what the market will bear. If you just want a game of golf that can be had much more cheaply elsewhere and if you're not actually a good golfer then you'll probably enjoy it more on a less testing course anyway. We will always get golf tourists because no matter how cheap golf in Portugal is, they don't have and never will have a course that the R & A will run the Open at.

However, the next little town up the coast isn't so lucky and you can tell, though the new marina, paid for with EU money, has greatly imporived the harbour area and is attracting visitors again. I'm all for the EU, yes it might have put up taxes but it's providing the investment that has helped towns up here keep their head above water as the fishing has declined. And it is that sort of investment that is the reason why turkey is so keen to join.

This thread started because somebody offered the opinion that holidays in Britain were rip-offs and all some of us are pointing out is that you can't compare the UK with Turkey, they simply aren't like for like. In a country like the UK with our living standards and expectations of what constitutes a decent job with a reasonable wage and working conditions, prices will never be as low as they are in Turkey and there's a good chance that they will rise there in the end because Turkey aspires to be like us.

SM

Perhaps this will help people understand why Turkey looks good value for money.

Monthly gross statutory minimum wage rates: 2007

Turkey 302.6 Euros

Equivalent to £205.53

My weekly pension is a lot more than that.

From 1st October 2007 here in the UK the Minimum Wages (based on a 40 hour week) will be £220.80 per week. That equates to a Monthly rate of £956.80 nearly Five times the Turkish monthly rate.

fwh

fwh

I have had many holidays in Turkey over the last few years but I have noticed now that it is becoming less of a bargain as it used to be.I have done all/inc for the last few holidays because it is the best option with teenage lads in tow but we never stay in the hotel we like to go out and about and have the odd meal etc.This year we went to Side and when we ate out for the four of us just a main course and sweet with drinks came to about £50.well if you were to have breakfast /lunch and evening meal with everything else in the day it would be just like being at home but warmer.So I think it is time to look at other holiday places to visit in the future.Another factor to look at is the time of year we go because my lads are at school we can only go in the peak times so thet puts the price up no matter where you go.Any suggestions out there Cheers

If you are going to holiday in the UK, it's best to have some accom you can take with you (caravan!) or have a static like we do

Then you can stay in your own home from home

Me and wife fancied a trip to scotland for a weekend near inverness one January, but the cost of rail fares and hotel fee's for 2 nights cost more than a week in tenerife in a 4 star hotel. We went to tenerife.

I live London, if I went to brighton and bought a mr whippy ice cream would cost at least £2.50 but nearer £3, but in London the £3 ice cream is £1.

To me if it costs the to holiday in this country as abroad I will pick abroad. Spent a £1000 on a holiday here and it rains everyday what a waste of money. Too cold to swim in a out door pool, the british sea is freezing. The only thing for kids to do if it rains all week is spend money on video games.

If the english tourist board wants more of us to spend our holidays in the UK they will have to move the UK to near the canary islands. And what would in this rip off country, the resorts would be 3 times as expensive than they are now.

Next they will be moaning people are going on holiday abroad and adding to global warmimg. Forgot they already do. As if we are stupid enough to believe the global warming lies.

papa charlie

I go in the early part of july or august into the early part of september. Next year we are going 26 august to the 9 september. My daughtes will miss a few days on the return. The reason why I pick these times is its costs over a £1000 less than the peak school holiday time.

Some will say you shouldn't your kids in school time. If the right time is picked it doesn't affect their education. My brother and his wife are teachers and say once july is hit all of the sats and exams are finished and they are just winding down to the summer holidays with no real work being done. My daughters head of year told me it doesn't matter if we go in september because all the teachers will be preparing work for the term and nothing will really happen until october.

I have taken my kids out of school every other year and my eldest daughter left her secondary school with 9 GCSE's A to C grade including 2 A's for spanish and french. She at college studying chemistry, biology, spanish and performing arts at A level. On all of her subjects she gains a (A) nearly all the time on her work. My youngest daughter is at secondary school and is in the gifted and talented group. The times I took my kids on holiday during term time has not affected their education in the slightest.

And papa charlie you can legally take your kids for 10 days out of school in term time to go on holiday.

Myself and young family have had some lovely hols in this country over the past four years having struck lucky with the weather up until this years dreadful summer. Having booked just 7 day holidays up until this year and had really great times (Sandbanks beach,Dorset in 30 degrees, and the thought enters your mind-who needs the Med?). Well this year in my wisdom I booked 2weeks holiday in August in North Devon. It cost us over £1400 for a caravan, lovely as it was, but such a lot of money! I was just thankful I wasn't in a tent! We managed the beach a few times but although the sun was shining between the downpours I still remember my teeth chattering now! Needless to say, August 2008 it's Menorca here we come!

There are some wonderful places in this country but it all comes down to the weather. If you could guarantee the weather I'd happily pay the same as the cost to go abroad.

I don't drive, so the cost of geting anywhere in this country is very prohibitive. There are lots of lovely places I'd like to see in the UK but I'd like to see them in the sunshine without feeling like I've burnt a big hole in my pocket just to shuffle around in the rain Even one day out can cost a fortune, and anywhere you go in "tourist spots" the food and drink are ridiculously priced.
I'll do my weekend city breaks when the kids have grown up, but for now, while they're teenagers and expect sunshine and cheap snacks/drinks, we'll be sticking with the Med

We went to the lake district earlier this year and had a great time, but a huge expense was parking of all things. We were constantly feeding meters and no small amounts either- couldn't even stop on the edge of the road practically without having to pay! It's no small wonder that so many of us would rather head to the sun on an all inclusive deal by the time you top up in total what it will cost to stay here.

Pam