Am I the only one not taking a vacation?

[heartosunshine]

I have been trying to plan a vacation for quite a while. It's no easy feat since we can't camp this summer (medical reasons) and we spent most of our saved vacation dollars on unexpected plumbing repairs. I've tried & tried to find something close by and inexpensive but I can't find anything & I'm frustrated. I give up!! :mad:

 

Please tell me that we are not the only family not travelling this year. (That's what my kids will tell me...)

[ElizabethB]

I have been trying to plan a vacation for quite a while. It's no easy feat since we can't camp this summer (medical reasons) and we spent most of our saved vacation dollars on unexpected plumbing repairs. I've tried & tried to find something close by and inexpensive but I can't find anything & I'm frustrated. I give up!! :mad:

 

Please tell me that we are not the only family not travelling this year. (That's what my kids will tell me...)

 

:grouphug:

 

Can you pitch a tent in the living room? Have fun BBQ food, smores, and "tent out" in the living room. (Or backyard if you're really feeling crazy. :lol::lol:)

 

Have a "backwards day," eat dinner for breakfast, breakfast for dinner.

 

Invite a few of their friends over for a water balloon fight and popcorn.

[Koerarmoca]

We went 12 years with out vacationing. You can tell your kids you know of at least 1 family who doesn't vacation yearly. This year is the frist year we have and we are taking 2 to make up for 12 years of none. Both short trips the first one was out of state the 2nd trip is more local.

[hollyandab]

You're not alone! We hardly ever get to go on vacation anymore since we moved away from family. Now any vacation time my husband gets is spent travelling from KY to OH (where my family is) and from KY to SC (where my husband's family moved to) for visits--mostly during the holidays. On top of that, we have multiple animals (including a cockatoo) that I have a hard time sending to a boarding facility. And...my husband is trying to start a hydroponic business on top of his full-time job, so we have to stay home to babysit the lettuce! :glare: So, we're not going anywhere this summer either (unless you count a 7 hr trip up to PA to buy a greenhouse and 7 hrs back the next day :tongue_smilie: which we just got back from--not fun!). It's probably been 5 years since we've gone on a vacation other than visiting family... I'm starting to feel a bit guilty! I guess we have made it to King's Island a few times, since that's just a couple of hours away, but we never spend the night! Gotta get back to all of my babies! (animals) But I can't say I totally regret it though. We thoroughly enjoy our animals and we certainly wouldn't want to go a whole year without visiting family.

 

Hope this helps to know you're not alone! Just being together is the most important thing!

 

Blessings,

 

Holly in KY

Mama to 11yo twin boys

[creekland]

Our vacations are visiting family (mooching here, so very inexpensive) and visiting colleges. Fortunately, some of the colleges are farther away, so there is some vacationing, but they aren't necessarily what most tourists are looking at when they go to our destinations. That said, I've enjoyed it. Our next one is a day trip later next week (Pittsburgh).

[ScoutTN]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

No money for vacation here either. My kids have never seen the ocean....:sad:

 

We try to cultivate thankfulness rather by counting our blessings...often!

But it is hard when everyone else we know goes somewhere fun several times a year!

[gingersmom]

We did not go on vacation for 10 years.

 

We are taking an unexpected trip to Colorado this summer (paid for by family member) that my kids are deliriously happy about.

[....]

We've only taken one vacation since we've been married and it was several years ago (maybe 4 yrs ago?). :sad: You're not the only one.

 

This might be why I am completely off my rocker today. :tongue_smilie: I need a vacation.

[KnitWit]

Of what do you speak? ;)

[ocelotmom]

Within the next 2-3 months, we will probably go visit the town we moved away from a year ago (about a 4 hour drive), and go visit my family whom we haven't seen in years. Some nearby camping may happen, too.

 

While visiting my family will most likely involve a trip to the zoo and beach simply because of where they are, I'm not certain that either trip really counts as a "real" vacation.

[blessedwith7]

We're not taking a vacation. Honestly, I'd rather stay home, anyway. Vacations are too much work. I've just tried to make the summer at home a fun one for the kids. Pool time in our garage sale bargain pool, time for being lazy, time for reading books, working together to organize and clean the house (we actually have fun when we do it together), going to the library for the summer program, etc.

[mom4him]

We haven't taken a vacation in. well. maybe. 30yrs? Seriously. When we go somewhere fun for a day my two youngest think we have gone on vacation.:lol::lol::lol: More than once they have asked, "Mom, can we go on vacation to......... again next yr?"

 

We are talking about trying to go to Yellowstone Park next summer/fall but won't happen this yr.

[MamaAkins]

We haven't taken any type of vacation in over 6 years. We haven't even taken a day trip to the beach in that time. We do try to plan fun daily activities during the summer break, but we haven't been able to do any traveling.

[pie]

no... you're not. maybe we will get a turn next year?

[Tap]

What about staying the nights at home, but spending the days traveling like tourists in your area? We have spent entire days at campgrounds without actually sleeping there. Just wandering down the creek bed and taking a picnic lunch to cook over a fire pit.

 

Hiking trails are everywhere here, there are many that are not in common areas but go through interesting parts of the environment. Here there are bird sanctuaries, protected waterways and a myriad of other environmental treasures just waiting to be traveled by foot. Do you have any environmental groups in your area? That may be a good place to start looking.

[Night Elf]

The only vacation we have each year is an annual trip to Wisconsin to visit family. I do not consider that a vacation anymore than the time I drive to see my mom an hour from my house. Traveling costs money and seeing our family is top priority. We don't have the money for 2 big trips per year. When we're in Wisconsin, we don't do anything except sit around at MILs house entertaining various family members who drop in for a visit over the course of the 4 days we're there. We talk, eat, and watch television. It's no different than being at home. In fact, we watch more television at MILs house than we do at home. But at least it's family oriented. We watch game shows and try to beat the contestants. It's funny to hear a room full of DH's family members shouting answers to Jeopardy. :tongue_smilie:

 

Besides, in our family, we can't even agree on where we would take a vacation. What might be fun to 1 or 2 of us, would be miserable for others of us. The beach for instance. eww!! blech! That knocks out a lot of vacation spots right there. DH's idea of a vacation is to Washington DC. Ugh. Boring! I prefer to stay home.

[Audrey]

I have been trying to plan a vacation for quite a while. It's no easy feat since we can't camp this summer (medical reasons) and we spent most of our saved vacation dollars on unexpected plumbing repairs. I've tried & tried to find something close by and inexpensive but I can't find anything & I'm frustrated. I give up!! :mad:

 

Please tell me that we are not the only family not travelling this year. (That's what my kids will tell me...)

 

 

We aren't travelling this year. We don't normally do that anyway. Our normal vacations are along the 'stay-cation' lines. I am going to take a full two weeks off this summer, but I'm not going out-of-province. We may go around the area a bit and see a few sights, maybe the City for the big museum or the zoo again, but that's it.

 

To us, the only reason to travel is to visit family. Since dh's family is very close, and almost all my family is dead, we aren't compelled to travel anywhere.

 

We prefer it that way. I would consider it a waste to spend money on a big vacation. That's just my opinion. I know other people love it, but not us.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

We're not going anywhere either. We took a quick 72 hour run to CO for a wedding but I don't consider that a vacation. The 14 drive was laborious and tiresome. Our 48 hours in CO were spent helping with the last minute wedding preparations; we were busy from sun up till sundown.

 

Our other plans were cancelled and no new plans were made. I am teaching until the end of July and then DS begins public school on Aug 15 so I doubt we will be able to go anywhere.

 

Which is fine, I guess. In our 20 years of marriage we have never taken a family vacation so I am used to it.

[Cheryl in NM]

I have been trying to plan a vacation for quite a while. It's no easy feat since we can't camp this summer (medical reasons) and we spent most of our saved vacation dollars on unexpected plumbing repairs. I've tried & tried to find something close by and inexpensive but I can't find anything & I'm frustrated. I give up!! :mad:

 

Please tell me that we are not the only family not travelling this year. (That's what my kids will tell me...)

 

:grouphug: I know it's hard. For us it's home & vehicle repairs as well as paying off debt instead of going anywhere. We've never done the big fun filled vacations anyway. Usually, we just visit family in Utah, but it's a week long. We will be making a few weekend visits to family in NM.

[JaniceO]

We are not travelling this year either. Between hubby's work schedule and our lack of funds, it's just not possible. We spent the past 3 years living in Italy and travelling all over the place, so a little down time isn't too bad. But I am definitely planning on something for next summer. Money will be a lot better and hubby's schedule will be a lot more predictable.

[ereks mom]

We know people, including family, who think that a yearly vacation is just how things are done. They go to the beach or to the mountains for at least a week every summer. My family, on the other hand, very, very rarely takes a vacation. Even when we have taken a real vacation, it's never been more than 2 or 3 days/nights away, and we have to watch every penny. We can't afford to eat out more than a couple of times, so we try to get accomodations that include a kitchenette--which means that we have to cook and clean up, just like we do at home. :-/ I wanted to take the kids to Disney when they were little, but that trip has never materialized. I still dream of going, though, and maybe someday we will. :001_smile:

 

We've traveled a pretty good bit because of dh's vocation (he's a minister/writer and has often been invited to travel to speak at churches a few hours' drive from home). We would sometimes be guests in the home of one of the church members, which was awkward at times because for up a week, we would be living with a family we didn't know. Sometimes, the church we were visiting would book a hotel for us, but usually only one room for our whole family. The kids thought that anytime we went somewhere that required a hotel stay it was a vacation--especially if the hotel had a pool! But to dh & me, it was not a vacation at all; there were expectations of our family, including visiting in the homes of people in the church community and then getting dressed up for church services every evening for up to a week.

 

We've also been on mission trips with church groups, but those don't count as vacations either because the purpose is to do a lot of hard work, and there's little to no time to relax. We enjoyed going anyway, and at least we did get to go places that we wouldn't have gotten to visit otherwise.

Edited July 8, 2011 by ereks mom

[FrogMom5]

We have not been on a vacation in several years. 7 yrs. ago we stayed in a cabin in West VA for 3 days for my oldest son's 9th birthday. That was the last time we went on vacation.

 

It's not that bad to skip vacations. Dh takes time off during the year and we do things around town or at home. It can be fun.

Denise

[Dirtroad]

What is a vacation? I can only imagine!

 

Hubby doesn't get much time off. When we do get his "holiday time"... it is spent working on the house OR we go visit relatives.

 

I guess our school field trips are our vacation.:001_huh:

 

You are NOT alone!:grouphug:

[dianachoate]

We are not taking a vacation. But you could be tourists in your own town. Spend a week on vacation at home. If you don't cook on vacation don't cook. If you go see attractions go see them near where you live. It could be fun!

[dianachoate]

When we go somewhere fun for a day my two youngest think we have gone on vacation.:lol::lol::lol:

 

My 8yo DD calls these trips a daycation.

[Jenny in Florida]

We have been travelling this year, but we haven't been able to in years past.

 

For several summers when my kids were littler (and we were broker), they very much looked forward to our "vacation" every year.

 

What we did was to choose a week when my husband was available to take off at least a little bit of time from work. We would find something fun and summery to do each day but come home every night to sleep.

 

So, we would pack a picnic and go to the beach one day, hit a local pool another, go to a movie at the local $1 theatre, spend a whole day playing in a park with a great playground, rent innertubes and swim at a local park with a natural spring-fed pool, do a hike at a nature preserve, go to the science center, etc. We tried to find things that would allow us to bring our own food whenever possible. Usually, one or two of those days, we would splurge and do something a little more expensive, like a theme park. But, because we were coming home every night, we didn't need to pay for hotels for us or to board our cats.

 

Now, we are lucky that we are in the family vacation capitol of the country, Orlando, meaning there is lots to do. And, because my husband has worked both at and for Disney for the last decade or so, we usually have either theme park passes or a friend who can get us at least a couple of free tickets. However, I would think it might be possible to plan something similar in other parts of the country.

 

Honestly, for us, it wasn't so much about what we did during those weeks. It was more about taking the time off to be together and focus on having fun as a family. The expectations for the actual events weren't really high.

 

I hope you can figure out something that works for your family, too!

[unsinkable]

Heartosunshine, I am sorry you are frustrated! :grouphug:

 

Like others have said, there have been many years that vacations for us are the weeks that DH is off work so we see him all day instead of at night!

 

We also do staycations, when we stay home and do day trips. I think I like dianachoate's DD's word -daycations- better. :D

 

Another thought is a "one tank trip." Find a good place to go that would use about one tank of gas. Go early in the am, stay all day and then come home.

 

We are lucky b/c there is so much to do around here, esp. in summer. We have all kinds of free concerts, festivals, free Shakespeare plus all the other stuff I've written about ad nauseum (:tongue_smilie:).

 

Do you mind sharing where you live and maybe people could help you plan inexpensive fun things?

Edited July 9, 2011 by unsinkable

[Mona100]

It is just my daughter and I and we rarely go on vacation. We have only went to 3 vacations in her entire 15 years. One trip to Walt Disney World, a week in Gatlinburg and a weekend in Atlanta for her 13th birthday. She talks about that Gatlinburg trip often so, for her 16th birthday we are taking a trip for a week to Gatlinburg. If it wasn't for that, we wouldn't be going anywhere this year. I think a trip to Gatlinburg for the week is cheaper than a car. :001_smile:

[WishboneDawn]

Our vacations generally amount to day trips to local attractions or a few days at my parents house (Only a 2 and 1/2 hour drive away). We were going to go to Disney this year but then I got preggers.

 

I'm not a big fan of expensive, "away" vacations.

[happypamama]

We haven't taken a full vacation (as in, a full week away somewhere) in five years. We've done a couple of small trips in that time, like 3-4 days, but that's all. Haven't had the money, nor the vacation time for DH. This year, even if we had the money, DH is using most of his vacation time for a week after the baby arrives. So no, you're not alone!

[DawnM]

Well. We weren't planning to take one for a year or so. BUT, DH's work is sending him to Orlando in November and I found a homeschool group going then so we are able to get Homeschool priced Disney passes.....so we are GOING! :D

 

His company is paying for our transportation and most of his food and lodging, so it will be a very reasonable cost.

 

Dawn

[HSMom2One]

This is yet another year for us without a vacation. We just can't afford to travel on our limited budget. I'm looking for another part-time job to do at night or a flex hours work-from-home position to help dh more, but it still may be awhile before we can justify the luxury of going very far from home. I'd appreciate a few ideas for relaxation as well.

 

Thanks for the thread!

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[swellmomma]

We aren't taking one anymore. Family bible camp was supposed to kick off a summer of camping, and sightseeing in various places around our area of the province. However, after Hunter got hurt the rest of the plans went out the window. The older kids are still getting their vacation. My oldest is going RVing with my sister's family for a week next week to the huge dinosaur museum here in Alberta(he wants to be a paleontologist and is so excited for this trip). When he gets back both big kids head to their bible camp for a week and sometime after they get back home dd gets to go camping for a week with my sister's family.

 

The rest of us get to stay home, and hang out. We have been doing crafts, watching movies and reading a lot. It is not what I had planned for our summer holidays, but in it's own way it is nice. I have only had my oldest home for 7 days since mid-June and 4 of them were at family camp, which in itself if a huge vacation for me. In fact I have been down to only 2 kids for all but 7 days since mid-June and will likely stay at only 2 kids until nearly the end of July. For me that is a bigger vacation than anything else because I can really relax, recharge and while I am at it, get things done around here.

[MrsMe]

We haven't taken a vacation for over 4 years. And never as a family as we had too many dogs. One always had to stay behind. Before that our vacation consisted of visiting Grandma.

 

DH owns his own business and "stuff" happens when he's gone.

 

So as a whole. We've never taken one. Not even a weekend. (sigh)

[mcconnellboys]

We're not going anywhere until September....

[Tarreymere]

Trying to get DH to even consider coming home early is a challenge. The most he will agree to is a three day weekend at his sister's house or at his dad's place. He works in human services and feels a real concern for his clients. I'm working on getting him to plan a few half days into his schedule. But we live in an area that other people like to vacation in, so it isn't too bad. And we finally got a vehicle.......

[heartosunshine]

Thanks for all your replies! Now I don't feel alone!

 

It just seems like people around me these days are talking about vacations, where they've been, where they're going next, etc. We've had a rough few years & haven't been able to take a "real" vacation. We've gone camping, which we all really enjoy, but doesn't really compare to Hawaii or Europe.

 

A big part of the problem is burnout for all of us; we really just need a break. I like the "daycation" idea! We actually did a half daycation today, with a really nice hike & picnic lunch by a stream. Just being outside really made me feel better about it all.