The cost of going 'home'

[frootbat]

Thanks you're right the accommodation costs are huge and it's the BIGGIE we never considered, neither of our families live in the same county let alone anywhere near where we lived. Space is an issue with siblings having families of their own and parents in downsized retirement places etc. We have a lot of ground to cover travelling around to see respective families and the idea of sleeping on couches was not appealing. Almost all hotels do cheap deals for weekends, but charge the top whack on weekdays and 29 quid a night was not on offer when we booked. Ain't it the truth that you can always find a better deal after the fact, plus the 29 pounds a night doesn't coincide with our dates anyway. Some you win and some you lose.

Believe me I have spent days and days over several months researching best prices and deals for where we needed to be and when. Plus it's quite a relief to have it all finally mapped out, planned and booked so I don't need to keep searching anymore.

It's probably too late for this trip, but would a house swap be a possibility? You could find one as centrally as possible to your friends and family and let them come to you - friends of ours did this on their last trip and said it was a huge success, they weren't running around the whole time and were able to relax and enjoy their stay - after all you've travelled halfway round the world, what's a couple of hours in the car to everyone else? Out of season a holiday let could be reasonably cheap as well.

[Flutterby]

i think thats a very good suggestion.

[Tia Maria]

It's probably too late for this trip, but would a house swap be a possibility? You could find one as centrally as possible to your friends and family and let them come to you - friends of ours did this on their last trip and said it was a huge success, they weren't running around the whole time and were able to relax and enjoy their stay - after all you've travelled halfway round the world, what's a couple of hours in the car to everyone else? Out of season a holiday let could be reasonably cheap as well.

For part of our stay we got a chalet at a Center Parcs, central to all our family, and they could either come rent their own chalets or come as day visitor. Kept the kids busy too while we all got over the jetlag. I agree if you've travelled half way round the world the least they can do is a couple of hours on the motorway!

You can hunt the internet for Center Parcs voucher codes which give you pretty good savings but avoid school holidays.

Cheers

Tia

[Ngeru]

For part of our stay we got a chalet at a Center Parcs, central to all our family, and they could either come rent their own chalets or come as day visitor. Kept the kids busy too while we all got over the jetlag. I agree if you've travelled half way round the world the least they can do is a couple of hours on the motorway!

You can hunt the internet for Center Parcs voucher codes which give you pretty good savings but avoid school holidays.

Cheers

Tia

Yes, we are doing similar for a long weekend which threw up a whole other basket of grief and stress among the family. Biggest mistake of my life in asking THEM to decide where THEY would like to go and then trying to fit in around their availability of leave, logistics and everyone's likes, dislikes and budgets.

Holiday parks are by far not the cheapest option either, as we have found on a per night basis the three nights we have booked are the MOST expensive part and that's largely my own fault for trying to please everybody.

I actually don't believe it is the 'least they can do' to travel to come and see us, I am the one that left and I have no expectations of anyone to fit in with my plans. I don't however think it's particularly fair for example to go and see one parent for three days and then bugger off for the remainder of our time, so I wanted to give them all a second opportunity to catch us before we head off. We could never afford to stay somewhere like Center Parcs for a whole week, I think it was GBP 900 for a two bedroom chalet and we seriously considered a family holiday going en masse on a cheapy deal to Europe for far less, but the logistics proved a step to far.

We're on a whistlestop tour staying in no less than 12 separate locations including stopovers, with two or three days here and there following a circular route from Heathrow Airport and back again. The house swapping might work if we were to stay still in one place for more than a week, but for us it just isn't feasible.

[Kewlest]

I can see it know. Vacations will soon become virtual.