caravan versus house m.m.m.m.m!

[heathercobbett]

A friend of ours has bought a caravan on the south coast and the rental is £650 a week! (then they have to pay £50 per person to use the pool etc)

I had no idea they were so expensive.And to top it all,when he went down last week,it had not been cleaned properly and the shower head was coming off AND they knew he was coming

So my bargain recommendation is a Florida villa!

[chrisj]

I agree, the rental prices in England are very high, saying that you have to think about the
prices of flights, car, park tickets etc if you go to Florida.

I would always opt for Florida myself, but take into account the costs, some people might
not be able to stretch to it.

[Phil and Mel]

We faced a similar situation this year. After our two weeks in a gorgeous 3 bed villa on Four Corners, (£495 per week) we were then back at work for a week then away again for a week in a caravan in Scotland (£500+). It astounded me when I realised, as we sat in our claustrophobic little (although "Gold" standard) caravan!!

Don't care about the extra cost for flights etc. give me Florida every time [msnwink]

The great thing about going to Florida is there is something for most budgets, we used to have a caravan in North Wales but we sold it last year because the ground rent was going up at a rate of 25% per year, it was daylight robbery, we only rented out occasionally because it got so messed up so we put it on the market and sold in in 4 hours!!!

[heathercobbett]

But why are caravans so expensive to hire? Do they not last long?

Our friends cost around £20000 to buy and his running expenses are not high(they will be even lower if the site owners dont do repairs!)

And thats another big difference;in Florida our manco repairs ,replaces at the drop of a hat! Does keep things in tip-top condition but a bit surprising in a new house

Glad to see you are converts and hope you enjoy many more Florida holidays

[Ray&Sarah]

A few years ago we looked into going to stay in a Caravan on a site in France, it actually worked out more expensive than a package deal to Florida, guess which we opted for![msnsmile2]

[kaysvacationvilla]

What are you referring to as a Caravan? The only thing I can think of is a Dodge Caravan mini van.

[rainyday]

A caravan is like a mobile home on wheels. I think they're called trailers in the US (like the big ones you see on movie sets but much smaller - they typically accommodate 4-8 people.

[fiona]

We used to go camping with Keycamp to France every year while the children were tots, I say camping, it was a huge mobile home with fridge/freezer, bath & loo etc so hardly roughing it! I used to get home and wonder how we had lived in something the size of our kitchen! We all used to have a wonderful time, and then one year we took them to Florida! Well, walking into a villa was like walking into a palace, and our own pool, all that - and Disney too, I think they thought they had died and gone to heaven. The next year we went to Spain and stayed in a villa, cost us more for 2 weeks than 3 weeks in Florida did, and the villa was disgusting and none of it was an experience we enjoyed. I did fondly look back at the keycamp hols and look at doing the same a couple of years ago, was staggered to find it more expensive that going to florida! So 2 guesses where we have been going since then!

[suegooding]

We have come back recently from a caravan (mobile home) holiday. It cost us the earth. I am in a wheelchair so we had no choice of grade caravan as the only suitable ones were the gold grades. It cost £850 for the week and that was with a discount.

When in future people think our villa is exspencive to rent I might just drop it into the conversation how costly it is to rent a caravan. I definitely wounldn't swap our villa for a caravan especially as we had sleepless nights because of it being under an apple tree with apples crashing down all night long.

So cheers to our villa, long may it stand in the awful weather, so far so good, no damage.

[traceya89]

we have a touring caravan and go away in it most weekends and bank holidays. we did think about taking it to europe but the ferry across is very expensive in the summer as they charge by the length you take up and it usually works out about £500 for the ferry, then you have the petrol cost which is expensive as we live in the north east of england and it is quite a way to dover etc. Then you have the camp pitch to pay for, so it is cheaper to go abroad on a plane for a fraction of the cost and then you get a proper bed to sleep in!!! the caravan hire charges are far too expensive and certainly not a good deal when compared with how much you pay for a villa in florida!

[Chloe]

We have a static caravan in Abersoch, and have had one for 16 years. I would'nt be without it. We have never let it out though. The children have over the years had the most marvellous time there with their 'caravan friends' I always say it was the best money we ever spent. Up until the last two or three years they spent 90% of their school holidays there. It is a slightly different picture now they are a bit older 20 18 16. They really don't come so much now, but myself & husband go for some peace and quiet on our own!! Chloe

[jolliffee]

We had a weekend in a caravan & it cost us more than going to Florida. Why does it always cost so much to holiday here?

[Carla]

Supply and demand Dave combined with a very short season. Everyone wants the same few weeks each year. That's why so many companies/individuals who rent out their properties in the UK can get away with providing poor quality at high prices.

[lisi]

Caravan or Florida - Florida every time. The weather for a start - you can always be sure of the warmth in Florida - not so in our English summer. They charge so much too in caravans for what is really a very inferior product mostly (from my experience)- we have had damp bedding in Hastings, faulty cooking equipment etc. You can't wack it - bite the bullet and head for Florida!! :):D

Lisi

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Carla
Supply and demand Dave combined with a very short season. Everyone wants the same few weeks each year. That's why so many companies/individuals who rent out their properties in the UK can get away with providing poor quality at high prices.
[/quote]

Its the same on the Cape Carla.....people get $2000 plus a week for their homes......and they don't even have the grass cut.....

[heathercobbett]

The caravan owning friends who inspired this thread went themselves in september.Most of the holiday they literally could not go out because of high winds and rain.

Also,the caravan was dirty and ill maintaind;on checking with their previous guests they found it had been the same all season!

They had a blissful holiday in our Florida house in Spring and now say they would not go anywhere else.They took their grandchildren with them to Florida and said it was great to see their faces(one of the experiences I look forward to if my kids ever get round to it!)

The season where their caravan is based runs from Easter to oct. half term,with most weeks booked,so not a bad return(unless the value of your caravan plummets)

[brizzle]

Just got back from a wedding in St Ives.
Stayed in a two bedroom holiday cabin, to say it was a little less luxurious than the villa's in Florida is an understatement...
...and on a per day rate it would have been more expensive than a Floridian villa.
Don't even get me started on the facilities and service comparison with our US cousins.

We have had played with the idea to go to the South Coast on family holidays but, and I understand that others may love this type of holiday and it is a lovely picturesque area, I think any idea's for that type of holiday are now binned.

Not helped by the fact it took us 5 1/2 hours to drive back and I only live in Bristol (crash on the M5 and it came to a vitual stand still). It only took us 1 hour 25 minutes more to return from Florida in April for gawds sake...:(

Brizzle.

[MaggieAllan]

1 hour 25 mins - which airline is that?

Couldn't resist - I know you mean from the airport.[msnwink]

Maggie

[brizzle]

No, I did mean 1 hour 25 minutes *more* than the 5 hours 30 minutes it took us to return from St Ives.
It took us 6 hours 55 minutes to fly back in April hence only 1 hour 25 minutes extra for a journey to Florida than to the South West.

Brizzle.

[MaggieAllan]

Sorry - get my reading specks next time[:I]

[jolliffee]

Thats a good point, people forget how long it takes to get anywhere here.[msneek]

[heathercobbett]

We stayed in one of those holiday"sheds"

It was crawling with insects and freezing never again.

I always say to my guests Florida holidays should come with a warning you never want to stay anywhere else! (and the children wouldnt let you!