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Flights versus driving

CaliforniaBen

CaliforniaBen

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We are currently in Spain for 7 days, we purchased our flights less than two weeks ago and they cost us £160 for the two of us to Alicante, we are staying in a very nice Air bnb with swimming pool for less than £55 per per day so this holiday has cost us £545 for the two of us, we did price up driving down in the cali and it was over 4 x that price, why would anyone stay in the UK?
 
CaliforniaBen said:
We are currently in Spain for 7 days, we purchased our flights less than two weeks ago and they cost us £160 for the two of us to Alicante, we are staying in a very nice Air bnb with swimming pool for less than £55 per per day so this holiday has cost us £545 for the two of us, we did price up driving down in the cali and it was over 4 x that price, why would anyone stay in the UK?
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Tell us more !
Which airport, airline, what time flights in & out.
Inland or near the beach with the Air BnB.
Taxi or Uber / bolt or hire a car ?
 
CaliforniaBen said:
We are currently in Spain for 7 days, we purchased our flights less than two weeks ago and they cost us £160 for the two of us to Alicante, we are staying in a very nice Air bnb with swimming pool for less than £55 per per day so this holiday has cost us £545 for the two of us, we did price up driving down in the cali and it was over 4 x that price, why would anyone stay in the UK?
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Did you walk from the airport to the Air bnb? just asking as we normally find the taxi the most expensive bit of the trip.

We use a friends place in Cabo Roig,- in school holidays we are looking at £450 each for return flights x 4, car hire for a fortnight £400 so about £2.2k for four of us just to get there.

The tunnel is about £600 return, Fuel £600, tolls £400 so about £1600 all in.

Its a bit far even for us for a week, At easter we did a week up in the North of Spain by Begur first & then continued on to Cabo Roig, got back in a day and half, just stopped for the night by Le Mans.

I would rather drive than fly & love having the van with us once we are there.
We are looking to buy a place in that area & when we do my attitude might change a bit if I can keep a car down there.

HIs car shelter is a bit tight for the van but it just fits. Cant open the passenger door though because of the steel support.IMG_0381.jpeg
 
CaliforniaBen said:
We are currently in Spain for 7 days, we purchased our flights less than two weeks ago and they cost us £160 for the two of us to Alicante, we are staying in a very nice Air bnb with swimming pool for less than £55 per per day so this holiday has cost us £545 for the two of us, we did price up driving down in the cali and it was over 4 x that price, why would anyone stay in the UK?
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For 1 week it is cheaper. Although hire cars are getting expensive. I have recently returned from a trip of 80days but then I am retired! Only 24 bottles of wine, gin and rum and the 2 folding bikes we took with us plus lots of shopping in van coming home. While there I collected my husband from Alicante airport on a delayed flight due to the weather. Ferry costs are not cheap but it all depends on personal needs of a vehicle on holiday or not.

Years ago when I used to travel though France to Spain by car by myself when my husband was working I costed it out and considered the C02 amounts. For 1 from the point of C02 it was better to fly but for 2 it was similar to drive. Have not recalculated for using the ferry but I think the car/van is better than flying for C02 levels as less fuel used.

I used to fly too often for work and came to dislike airports.

In relation to why stay in UK, this week is just as hot and sunny in my part of England as the Alicante region but not always and UK holidays are more expensive but with a van you can camp. It rained at Alicante airport on Tuesday!
 
If you’d taken your own advice in the post below and stayed in the U.K. you’ve have saved a packet, no rain, 30 degrees C, no exchange rate loss, no airport hanging around, no airport parking fees, pub next door to the Hotel ! :

“We have booked 4 nights at a Premier Inn , in a great location and only £29.99 per night for two of us , much better value than the nearest campsite which was £38 per night. In the Premier Inn I have a king size bed and ensuite so I don't have to walk to the toilet in the rain. No Brainer”

is Camping in a Cali actually your thing ?
 
CaliforniaBen said:
We are currently in Spain for 7 days, we purchased our flights less than two weeks ago and they cost us £160 for the two of us to Alicante, we are staying in a very nice Air bnb with swimming pool for less than £55 per per day so this holiday has cost us £545 for the two of us, we did price up driving down in the cali and it was over 4 x that price, why would anyone stay in the UK?
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Not 100% sure of the point here or comparing a cheap package holiday to a Cali holiday.

Is the point you can get cheap flights and hotels in Spain? Er, yup. For about 30 years now.

Or is the point that you cannot drive there cheaper because you’re not sharing the fuel cost and farts with another 200 people? Er, yup. Fuel ain't cheap, neither are chunnels or ferries.

Or, is it that you can’t get a decent holiday in the UK (in a Cali) for < 545 quid for a week? Er, nope. Bizarre point. Literally thousands of places to go in a Cali for less than that for a week.

We find the ROI on a Cali has little to do with holiday cost saving, will take a lot of years to pay back that metal.

It’s the freedom to drive to Spain, or Cornwall, or France, or Wales, or the Lakes, or anywhere you like and stop off on the way by taking the slow road to experience life with a big smile on your face.

I guess given all that the Cali is for sale?
 
I’ve got plenty of room in my life for abroad holidays and Cali trips, doesn’t need to be one or the other.
 
Why stay in the UK? Heres why.. compared to a beach in Spain rammed full of tourists I know where I'd rather be. This camp was 8 quid a night so 7 nights 56 quid. Fuel 40. 108 quid .had the weather ,which we don't always have.totally different holidays that don't compare. You wouldn't drive to Spain for a week would you? So my 1 week int lakes compared to your 1 week in Spain? I win, mine was cheaper. And better

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Just came back from Portugal...Flight Ryanair.. £758 each (x4) Villa for 1 week £2.5K

Whitsun Week, Bank Holiday Prices..Kids Holidays...Luckily the above was a present from one of our Friends for something my wife did for them.

Thats why we use the Cali.... Its cheap holidays when you have kids, but you are correct, without kids you can cherry pick and get some bargains..the same flight 1 week later would of been £320 for the 4 of us against £2900
 
Some holiday at 5 star resorts in Barbados. Some camp in a tent . Some have a small campervan.some spend 6 weeks traveling in huge motorhome. Everyone is different with different means. I like 5 star hotels and I like camping. I’ve tried most and they all have their positive and negative points. If money was absolutely no object I wouldn’t feel any different.
 
Ozzy Pete said:
Some holiday at 5 star resorts in Barbados. Some camp in a tent . Some have a small campervan.some spend 6 weeks traveling in huge motorhome. Everyone is different with different means. I like 5 star hotels and I like camping. I’ve tried most and they all have their positive and negative points. If money was absolutely no object I wouldn’t feel any different.
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Totally agree, I like driving my van, the wife & kids like a Villa with a pool add in a few days camping on the way there or back & everyones happy, which at the end of the day is the most important thing.

If someone can sort me the route for driving to a 5* resort in Barbados that fits in with a six week school holiday I'll do that next year.
 
flying banana said:
Why stay in the UK? Heres why.. compared to a beach in Spain rammed full of tourists I know where I'd rather be. This camp was 8 quid a night so 7 nights 56 quid. Fuel 40. 108 quid .had the weather ,which we don't always have.totally different holidays that don't compare. You wouldn't drive to Spain for a week would you? So my 1 week int lakes compared to your 1 week in Spain? I win, mine was cheaper. And better

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You’ve got me stumped. The first one is Buttermere I think. What is the tarn in the last one and the long lake in the distance ? Finally where is the £8 campsite, although I don’t blame you if you keep it to yourself. Fantastic photos by the way
 
the
Mansfieldman750 said:
You’ve got me stumped. The first one is Buttermere I think. What is the tarn in the last one and the long lake in the distance ? Finally where is the £8 campsite, although I don’t blame you if you keep it to yourself. Fantastic photos by the way
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tarn is red tarn,from helvelyn summit. the long dog leg lake is ullswater. the campsite is stonethwaite. correct with buttermere. behind is haystacks and fleetwith pike
 
A hotel with a high turnover rate must change its mattresses at least every three to five years. However, at the same time, a newer hotel or a budget hotel may get away with changing their mattress every ten years.

Riddle me this…..

How many people slept in the bed before you did?

Not to mention bodily fluids or bed bugs!

En suite with a king size bed or a California.
 
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andyinluton said:
Did you walk from the airport to the Air bnb? just asking as we normally find the taxi the most expensive bit of the trip.

We use a friends place in Cabo Roig,- in school holidays we are looking at £450 each for return flights x 4, car hire for a fortnight £400 so about £2.2k for four of us just to get there.

The tunnel is about £600 return, Fuel £600, tolls £400 so about £1600 all in.

Its a bit far even for us for a week, At easter we did a week up in the North of Spain by Begur first & then continued on to Cabo Roig, got back in a day and half, just stopped for the night by Le Mans.

I would rather drive than fly & love having the van with us once we are there.
We are looking to buy a place in that area & when we do my attitude might change a bit if I can keep a car down there.

HIs car shelter is a bit tight for the van but it just fits. Cant open the passenger door though because of the steel support.View attachment 109798
Click to expand...
Tunnel £600 return? I just got back today, £160 one wway.
Avoid tolls and save £400.
 
Anthony1 said:
Tunnel £600 return? I just got back today, £160 one wway.
Avoid tolls and save £400.
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We are tied to school holidays so peak fares.
Avoiding tolls - maybe if it’s a planned tour but if we don’t use the tolls it would be adding days to the travel time, with the limited time that we normally have, speed is usually more important than cost.
The novelty of trundling through yet another French village after the first dozen or so quickly wears off, especially when you realise there’s another 500-600 miles to do.
 
I’ve started using Eurotunnel flexi-plus since being tied to school holidays. Priority boarding and free food and drinks. You don’t have to worry about missing a train or if you want to change departure dates etc.
Takes a lot of stress out of the journey , especially when you have the limited time restraints of school holiday timetables.
 
A few years ago a friend’s son had an ear infection and couldn’t fly to go skiing. We considered driving to the Alps but his mum was worried about the carbon footprint, so I worked it out. I recall the six of us could have driven in a diesel suv each and still burnt less than half the CO2 of the flights.

I remind myself of that whenever I worry about the carbon footprint of our van.
 
andyinluton said:
We are tied to school holidays so peak fares.
Avoiding tolls - maybe if it’s a planned tour but if we don’t use the tolls it would be adding days to the travel time, with the limited time that we normally have, speed is usually more important than cost.
The novelty of trundling through yet another French village after the first dozen or so quickly wears off, especially when you realise there’s another 500-600 miles to do.
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True. School holidays are a killer for parental holiday costs. True, again re. trudling through French villages. We returned yesterday from France, and trundling through villages and towns does produce all manner of interesting thinge, ie. forts, castles, basilicas et al. But it can be tedious for sure.
 
flying banana said:
Why stay in the UK? Heres why.. compared to a beach in Spain rammed full of tourists I know where I'd rather be. This camp was 8 quid a night so 7 nights 56 quid. Fuel 40. 108 quid .had the weather ,which we don't always have.totally different holidays that don't compare. You wouldn't drive to Spain for a week would you? So my 1 week int lakes compared to your 1 week in Spain? I win, mine was cheaper. And better

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I agree, we came back last week from 16 nights round the north of Scotland, climbing and walking. Only saw a handful of people when out and cost us £340 between two of us total, fuel, sites etc but not food, we cooked mostly. IMG_0333.jpeg
 
Phillip T said:
I agree, we came back last week from 16 nights round the north of Scotland, climbing and walking. Only saw a handful of people when out and cost us £340 between two of us total, fuel, sites etc but not food, we cooked mostly.
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You have the advantage of living a lot closer to the north of Scotland than we do.

We are situated almost equidistance in travel time & mileage between John O Groats & Bordeaux. Stornaway is same time & distance as Spain....
 
andyinluton said:
You have the advantage of living a lot closer to the north of Scotland than we do.

We are situated almost equidistance in travel time & mileage between John O Groats & Bordeaux. Stornaway is same time & distance as Spain....
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Crikey, we still did 740miles from here too, thats a little over a oneway trip to Cornwall we did once. Theres so much to do in Scotland, just need the weather and being opportunistic is where the cali comes into its own.
Plus we had already been to southern Europe for a trip so hard to justify flying south again.
 
Lambeth Cali said:
A few years ago a friend’s son had an ear infection and couldn’t fly to go skiing. We considered driving to the Alps but his mum was worried about the carbon footprint, so I worked it out. I recall the six of us could have driven in a diesel suv each and still burnt less than half the CO2 of the flights.

I remind myself of that whenever I worry about the carbon footprint of our van.
Click to expand...
Whenever you worry about your carbon foot print, refer to this:
 
flying banana said:
Why stay in the UK? Heres why.. compared to a beach in Spain rammed full of tourists I know where I'd rather be. This camp was 8 quid a night so 7 nights 56 quid. Fuel 40. 108 quid .had the weather ,which we don't always have.totally different holidays that don't compare. You wouldn't drive to Spain for a week would you? So my 1 week int lakes compared to your 1 week in Spain? I win, mine was cheaper. And better

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Superb photos. Where do you pay £8 for camping? Any facilities?
 
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