Last month, we did something a little different for our family holiday — we went to Bulgaria on a package holiday!
It’s not somewhere we’d ever really thought about before if I’m honest and when we discussed what to do for our Summer holiday with the kids, a package holiday wasn’t our first thought. We usually plan everything ourselves, booking the flights and hotels separately, but this time we fancied something a bit easier as we’d already been lucky enough to do a couple of other very busy holidays this year and for the first time ever, the thought of lazing about on a sunbed with my book sounds like something I’d like to do. 🌞
After much deliberation, we decided to try Jet 2 Holidays and honestly, I couldn’t believe how simple it all was.
The flights, luggage and transfers were all included as standard, which made life so much less stressful.
It was actually the luggage that took me from deliberating on a package holiday to deciding to go for it – 23kg was included for each of us which was tremendous considering if we’d wanted to take that equivalent on an airline we usually book with would have costed us almost £400. Having luggage included made packing so much easier and meant we could take whatever we wanted pretty much. We included some board games, books and other activities as we were convinced the kids would get bored if we were relaxing and not going out and about exploring. How wrong we were haha.
We stayed at the Premier Fort Hotel and had the most amazing two-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen, loads of space, and a lovely balcony.
We were all able to have our own space and it felt like a real home from home with a full kitchen, two double bedrooms, a large living area with a huge sofa bed and two big bathrooms.
The air con was a huge benefit too in the Summer as it was 30 degrees at times and what I loved especially about this was that there were three air con units which were all individually controlled.
The balcony ran the entire length of the apartment and meant that it was easy to sit up and play cards (yes, we’re that exciting) while the kids went to bed and also, because it was accessible from our room, I could sit on there on a morning before everyone else woke up and just relax before the chaos started.
It was full board, so we had breakfast, lunch and tea all included, and the food was genuinely great. I’d normally be hunting out little local cafés and trying to work out where to eat each day within our budget, but having everything there waiting for us made such a difference.
The full board was more expensive but we spent nothing on food the whole time we were away and I’d really recommend looking at all inclusive or full board as to us, it worked out to be the same as what we would have spent on food eating out with the added benefit of being so easy.
We all have different tastes in food and different food needs so having a large buffet to choose from was a huge benefit although some of our plates of food looked very random.
The whole vibe of the holiday was really different to what we’d usually go for. There were daily activities, pool games, and evening entertainment — things we’d normally skip completely — but it actually surprised me how much I enjoyed it all. It felt easy and relaxed, and there was always something to do without needing to plan a thing and who knew, an Elvis impersonator would delight us all as much as it did!
There were three pools and not once did we struggle to get sunbeds around any of the pools which is something I worried about before we went as I NEED to be in the shade if I’m going to be able to relax in the sun. I took this photo around 10am around the smaller pool which was our favourite as it was right near our room.
I parked myself on a sunbed and chilled while everyone else swam, joined in with the animation team’s games and played on the larger slides in the other pool. It really was a holiday with something for everyone!
I wouldn’t call it a frugal or cheap holiday, but I do feel like it’s one to share with you as Jet2’s free child places do make holidays like this more affordable. I think you’ll find that if you have a look into it then you’ll see that free child places really can bring the cost of your holiday down and make it a more affordable option.
If you’re usually the kind of family that likes to do your own thing when it comes to travel, I’d genuinely say it’s worth trying an organised package like this at least once. For us, it was the perfect mix of fun, convenience, and a proper break from the usual planning and juggling.
Bulgaria really surprised us — and in the best way possible 😊
(I don’t usually share our holidays on here but I’m going to start sharing more because, whilst a holiday is a luxury that many can’t afford, they are a huge reason as to why we save money in other areas of our life. It’s not only a huge motivator in why we save money but also something we spend lots of time planning so we can make it work with our budget. I hope to share more information on the other trips we’ve taken so far this year too.)
I’d love you follow me on Twitter and it would be amazing to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram. If you’re interested, you can find out more about me here and while I’ve got your attention, if you’re wondering why some of my posts lately are a little bit less frugal then have a read of this post. 😉
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