The sweet holdiays of yesteryear.

Our trip away (and the way we take short breaks) brings back memories in us both of the holidays we were taken on as children. I remember how exciting a holiday was! My Nan and Pa hired a beach house at Christies Beach each year for many years. It was big enough that Mum, Dad and my brother and I would go plus my aunt Mary and my Uncle Jim. It was a street away from the beach. We had the most wonderful time. Nan ran the kitchen as we still ate family meals mostly and some fish and chips. Pa would take us down to the beach and swing me endlessly in the water. He never tired apparently!

Other holidays included our family staying in a farm house. There was a wood stove and no electricity. We had great adventures during the days, walking to look at Eagle nests, going to the sea near by, padding in a lake that was there. A fire at night and board games, reading and early nights, early mornings.

Andy's family rented a beach shack at Stansbury. This was a couple of hours drive for them. Andy's parents and four kids set of excitedly and the holiday featured lots of fishing everyday. Meals were what they caught! Andy's Nana made giant jars of shortbread glued together with icing and sent these away on these trips. This was so wonderful. (Just as my Nan did.)

The holiday was spent outdoors all day, they collapsed in bed at night exhausted to do it all again the next day!

My Mum and Dad's honeymoon was a trip to the south east of the state with a caravan. I am told Dad looked at cows a great deal as he dreamed of owning cows some day. So their honeymoon pictures are mainly cows :)

Nan and Pa would never have taken a holiday or purchases anything they could not afford. Pa was very mathematical. Every decision was carefully considered. How far away from that are we now? Holidays are routinely paid for on credit and great debts are gone into for them.

My childhood was filled with various holidays and I loved them all! Once we stayed in a shearing quarters and had bonfires in the evening. I never felt deprived that's for sure.

I have noticed something and have been thinking about it. Young people now are told to go see the word and travel extensively. And I can see why to some extent.

But at the same time the dream of owning your own home is becoming a harder to achieve dream. Many are deciding it is impossible. And personal debt levels go up and up.
Is one connected with the other? At least in part?

We decided holidays and breaks are important to us. The way you feel refreshed, revived and things are in perspective,  convinces us of that. And we decided to take breaks we can afford. Nan and Pa had no spare money and they managed it as did Andy's parents.

Helen and her husband have a little caravan. They take mini breaks that they love and do it for very little. I know that some places they stay are only $15 a night! You can see Helen's caravan here... Helen's Caravan.

If it can be afforded then travel is life changing, educational and amazing. I had the chance to take the girls to the US and see Disneyland and Hawaii when they were little. This was a gift from my Dad. It was wonderful! The memories will last forever! What I am saying is we can holiday within our budget. We don't need to risk our security to do it. And wise decisions need to be made about what is it we want? A home? A world trip? To be debt free? To have an emergency fund and plan?

It seems our Grandparents (and possibly our parents) were very thoughtful with their money and they are starting to look wiser and wiser as we look back at that!


The trip we just took might be the only one this year. But we can go to the farm and that can be a mini break in a way. We saved up for this from last October. I knew once Lucy was getting close to due I wouln't want to go anywhere... so I planned March was the latest....

Our long drive was a mobile picnic and crochet fest! When we arrived this was the view from the front doors....  (the tide was out)

I posted about my magazines, op shopping and ways we do this very cheaply on Feather your Nest Friday. Andy loathes flying and I have to say I am feeling the same. So we have no airports and no stress, just a drive. We arrived and felt so relaxed and were eating lasagne and salad on deck chairs looking at this about an hour after arriving.

I slept so well with cool sea breeze blowing over me and only the sound of sea and birds. We made friends with these guys who got to know quickly we would feed them...

Andy could fish right out the front. I could take him a coffee by exerting maximum effort and walking across the lawn lol

I have always wanted a zoom lens camera so I could take photos of birds. But here they pose for photos at a distance you can touch them, pretty much eliminating the need for a fancy lens! If anything it was like "could you back up just a little bit? You are fogging up the lens..."

I found this really good fun and so did Andy who has 101 Seagull portraits! Also here was a decline in front of us before the water which meant the birds would fly down and be really close to our heads....

These guys are HUGE and heavy. They put their feet down (landing gear) in anticipation of hitting the ground, several times a foot like seen below almost touched my head! haha they are really funny!

There is no getting around the fact that nature is wonderful, de stresses you and makes you happy. Nature is free.

After a day of this I realised how much better I felt. And I didn't know I had felt bad. I just felt so much more relaxed and was sleeping so much better. Five nights of sleeping like a log was beautiful!

If you have any chance take a leaf out of our Grandparents books and enjoy a quiet and relaxing break for little. Or pack a picnic and go somewhere beautiful for the day.  Maybe you know someone with a farm? Or like Helen you know of inexpensive cabins or caravan parks... but something that is a change and will not ruin the budget.

We could have gone ANYWHERE and I doubt we would have relaxed any more or enjoyed it any more than this.

What did your family do for holidays when you were little? I would love to hear. I would love ideas. The US ladies would have stories too that I will probably find amazing! What did your Grandparents and Great Grandparents do? There may have been some that never had a holiday. But I hope most had some opportunity sometimes. How do you save money on holidays and manage to get away within your budget?

Lets re assess holiday expectations. Lets not be paying them off for the rest of our lives! 

Now to plan our next one and aim for that. It is fun to have a plan and work towards it even if it is going to take a while! We have picked where we want to go next and this time it is only two hours away and also on the beach. For relaxation I can't beat the beach.

I do notice that vintage caravans are very fashionable. So maybe vintage holidays are making a comeback. I can see why. It makes sense and saves a fortune.