The Girls' Mom Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 One maybe every few years? Not often. Less now that the kids are older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Now? One out of town with maybe 1-2 weekends of camping or hiking. My husband has to take time off to avoid losing it each year so we usually have what I guess could be called (but we do not call) a staycation or three. Before I started staying home? 3-4 a year. Nothing pricey 3 in 4 times. Just laid back family time, usually camping or renting a cabin or something. When our income rises again? I expect we will go back to what we used to do. We aren't big travelers but we are big on relaxed family time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Although road trips? Never if I can help it. I hate hate hate driving long distances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 (edited) In recent years, two big (i.e., a week to a month, out of the country or at least a few states away) ones (one just with dh, one with the whole family) and approximately two or so more long-weekend-ish trips with some combination of dh and/or the kids. We work hard, and we play hard. Edited June 21, 2016 by StephanieZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 We're usually away from home over 100 days/year. It's certainly not all vacation, but it's always interesting. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 One trip of up to 10 days, usually at Christmas when dh is on (unpaid) shutdown leave, but possibly at Easter where the Easter public holidays and another Australian holiday sometimes occur near enough together to get a week away with only a few additional days off work (dh is not paid if not actually working). Possibly another long weekend away during the year. For about 18 months we had access to a friends house right opposite the beach in a coastal town and we went there 5 or 6 times over that period. It was wonderful, one of the happiest years. I once took the kids for a week and dh joined us over the weekends either side. I would never do that if paying for accomodation, although we all ended up benefiting from it, so maybe I should rethink that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calihil Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 We've been married almost 10 years and have only been on vacation to the beach about 3 times. We have 4 kids ages 7 and under, it's just not fun to travel much right now. Plus it's so expensive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie~Phlox Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 In 21 years, we've been on 1 real vacation & that was in 2013 when my parents took us on a cruise for their 40th. Next spring we do plan fo go to Florida for spring break. We've just never had extra money to go anywhere. Dh has a different job, with vacation time, so ut should get better, of course our children are almost grown now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 2000 2001 2003 2004 2006 and a big staycation in 2009. In print, I can see that all the away vacations were pre-homeschool. $$$ I've traveled to visit family other times for showers, health troubles, etc., but not with dh and the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zinnia Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 None, we move :lol: . Hubby is on active duty and we move every two years on average. We have never been on a vacation. But how lucky are you to get to move every 2 years? Sounds exciting! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zinnia Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 I love vacations, and I make it a priority to do one every year. In our worst financial times, dh still had vacation time. I think that I remember we opted not to visit his parents that year, just because of the gas costs (his parents were not sympathetic to our financial problems in that season, and they would never have thought of subsidizing us.) He took the week off, and we went to a different park and walked around every day. We had an 11 month old, and neither of us was in good enough shape for what would eventually become our hiking hobby, so slow, easy walks. We splurged on shrimp one night. Bam. Staycation. And last year's Megabus trip was so much awesome. $22 for round trip tickets for the 2 of us. We took snacks, and we splurged on dinner out (Chipotle, I think, big spenders, here!). To me, it's just about doing it, not necessarily what. I remember as a kid thinking about what I wanted in life that would make me feel like I had "made it." :) One was having something good to drink in the house all the time, one was a yearly vacation, and one was eating out after church on Sundays (because it's such a stressful time). We always have coffee. Every.single.day. We vacation every.single.year, even if it's a staycation or two nights camping at the state park, and on Sundays, I budget out for either eating out, take out, or easy to prepare food at home so that my kids don't remember church=frazzled mom. I feel like I've made it in life. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 We're usually away from home over 100 days/year. It's certainly not all vacation, but it's always interesting. This would be my ideal I think. My all time favorite year (so far) was 2006. We had one month in HI in Feb and two months road tripping national parks out west in Aug/Sept. There were shorter trips (mainly to family, but most of those are enjoyable to us) in between and the following Feb (2007) we were in FL for three weeks. Unfortunately, in 2008+ the economy tanked and our travels had to be far more curtailed afterward - followed by college visit trips (still vacations as they were fun). We're just now getting back to doing more, but now my kids have grown up and moved out so it's not the same as our awesome family trips. Now many of our trips involve visiting our kids and doing things with them - still quite fun TBH. It helps that they picked different areas of the country to live (or go to school) in. We also travel a lot with my mom - incredibly fun and helps us split expenses. She (and my nephew) did half that western NP trip with us in 2006 too. Then he had to get back to attend ps in Sept. We started homeschooling that year. :coolgleamA: (For our Feb trip that year we pulled them from school for the month. All were ahead of their peers when they returned. It helped me feel more confident that we could do "that homeschooling thing" and they enjoyed it, so in fall, we took the plunge. Our first day of school was on the Oregon coast!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmseB Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 We do a big road trip every 2-3 years when we move that we turn into some kind of vacation for the family. We've rented a beach house with another family for a week, and it is fun and somewhat relaxing, but there's still a lot of work involved. An actual indulgent, no work for me vacation? Once every 5-6 years or so, but I see that spacing out more since we have more kids and more expenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 This year we've traveled a TON. I'm constantly in packing or unpacking mode it seems lol. 1. Great Wolf for a week 2. Savannah GA for four days-we went for my daughters gym meet, but stayed extra to enjoy the town. 3. NY to visit family and see a cousin in a Broadway show. 4. Florida to visit family. We stayed in our own timeshare and had friends and family come see US, so it truly felt like vacation. We went for one daughters birthday. 5. TN to ski for another daughters birthday. 6. Took the camper out for a week at a time, twice, at the lake. These weeks are my favorite and most relaxing vacations. I was able to read a 730 page book the first week and a 997 page book the next time. 😳 7. Hubs and I are headed to Atlantic City this weekend. Just us! We are going to see a comedy show. We have more camping to do this summer. I'd love to go four more times. In August we may be going to NOLA for a week, since hubs will be working there for six. And in September we will head back down to FL for another week. It's way way more travel than I would ever do on my own, but the kids have had a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 For me, a vacation is a trip with just my family (dh/kids). 15/20 years ago we used to go to the gulf coast for a few days each year, but we haven't done that in a long long time. Some years we are able to manage a week of camping. This year, dh and I went away for a week for our 25th anniversary (first trip with just the two of us since we had kids!) but we won't be taking a "family vacation". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Individually or with the family? Does visiting other family members count? I go to the beach with my girlfriends every year, alone. Occasionally I have another group I go with as well. We typically go to Disney at least one time per year as a family, but this year we did Universal and one trip was with just me and two of our kids. We go see one side of the family usually once per year. My family is 2000 miles away, DH's family is 800 miles away, NOT in the same direction. One is North and one is due West. Other than that, we do trips here and there. Last weekend my best friend flew out from the West Coast and we drove up to a wedding 7 hours North of us and stayed in a hotel. Is that a vacation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 We haven't taken a vacation in years because our financial situation has been rough after a job loss. Hopefully that will change in the near future and we can travel a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 A lot!! I love to travel! Not counting out-of-town tennis tournaments which aren't very fun (2 weekends a month), we typically have 2-3 weeks in Europe (to visit my wife's family), a week in Southern California in February to watch the Indian Wells tennis tournament, a week to visit my family at Christmas, a four day rafting trip each May, and usually about two short camping trips of about 4 days. Both my wife and I have always loved to travel, and while her income allows us to do it easily now, even when we were students or just starting out, we were constantly figuring out ways to travel for cheap and traveling whenever possible. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 and while her income allows us to do it easily now, even when we were students or just starting out, we were constantly figuring out ways to travel for cheap and traveling whenever possible. This was us too. Even in the bad years we figured out how to do what we could. We camp. We stay with family and/or friends. We still cut as much out of the rest of the budget as we can to fund our travel junkie habit. No regrets. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 What's a vacation? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrittanyM Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 We don't go on a lot of long vacations because DH is self-employed so not working = not making money. This year we've traveled more than we have in probably 7 years (since our oldest was a baby). End of December/beginning of Jan was a trip to Texas for BIL's wedding. I wouldn't call this a vacation at all though. We drove from California to east Texas in two days and then back in two days and while we were there we spent the entire time making food and prepping for the wedding. It was an unorganized mess. Late February we flew to Florida for another BIL's weddings and this was actually fun. We spent more than we've ever spent on a vacation before and spent a few days at Universal, visited the Kennedy Space Center and stayed in a hotel instead of sharing a house with family like we did on the Texas trip. We usually try to get away for a weekend every now and then (living in California has its benefits with tons of within a day's drive options) and we bought a tent trailer last year to make that more accessible. We are heading up a church camping trip an hour away from us up the mountain this weekend. And we have two other camping trips in the works, they'll probably be 3 or 4 nights each. Last year the longest trip was a 3 nights stay up at a mountain lake with friends, I think. We also did a one night family vacation with DH's family at the beach, but it wasn't fun. The year before we spent 4 nights at a rented house near the beach with my family and that was really fun. Very relaxing. And we went on a couple of weekend trips. So in general we don't take long vacations often Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 In recent years, we have usually gone on two "working vacations." I never go on a non-working vacation. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 We went to Seattle last summer because my Dd attended a ballet intensive there. It was our first family trip in years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted June 22, 2016 Author Share Posted June 22, 2016 I think it does matter to if you traveled before kids. We didn't really. And I feel like wow that was such a mistake. I wish we had. We haven't really traveled except in the last few years. And now I am hooked. It makes me feel bad that I maybe spending way to much $$$ on travel. I have another trip booked before we go on a trip. I should learn to love camping, but I am just not into it. That would help the bottom line. I like the outdoors in the day, but I want to sleep in a bed and have some meals made. Pre 2014 we went to Wis Dells about 14 times in 2 years and a week at a lake house (years before that it was only a night in Chicago) 2015 was an 18 day road trip after flying to the southwest. We hit 7 national parks, the ocean, disney and then one trip to the Dells 2016 we have done 1 Dells trip and 2 to Cali so far. Headed to Banff soon. And maybe more to come. I love love to travel now. I have so many places I want to go. I kind of hope to keep traveling, but it is so much $$. I wish I had a cheaper addiction. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 We used to manage one every year or two to see my Mom who lives halfway across the country. While it was to visit family we would do many touristy things along the way and so counted it as a vacation. Day trips to visit family a couple of hours away or speech and debate tourneys that last a week don't feel vacationy to me, and are not counted as such. Those vary and do happen several times during the year. We are waaayyy overdue for a true vacation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeking Squirrels Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 (edited) We're taken on a one-week vacation by MIL 1-2 times a year. We do long weekend camping trips (with my parents) a couple times a summer. One long weekend trip to Yellowstone (with MIL). One week-long trip to visit family in my home state (with my parents). We have our first "just the four of us" vacation scheduled for January but it's in danger of being cancelled. So I guess that's roughly 3 week long trips and 3 long weekends. Edited June 22, 2016 by Whovian10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabelen Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 We try to have a vacation once a year. My husband works out of town and travels a lot for work, so he likes to stay home on long weekends. We are also bound by our school district calendar since I work part time there and my 12 year old attends the local middle school. The vacations are not always evenly spaced out but they tend to be during the summer. Summer of 2014 the girls and I visited my family in Spain for 3 weeks. This was not strictly a vacation because the purpose was to spend time with the family. We did manage to spend a long weekend in a little village with my sister and some of her friends and we did some day trips for the girls' benefit. If it hadn't been for family obligations we would have traveled far and wide within Spain, so many places I haven't even been myself, let alone my girls! Last summer we did a staycation, thankfully we live in a great location in Southern California for this. Then last Christmas we traveled to Sri Lanka for a family reunion to celebrate my father in law's birthday. This summer we are taking a week to visit the Californian central coast and that will be it until next summer. I will have to visit my family again in Spain because my sister has ailing health. Although I am aware that many will think we are lucky to have to travel like this, I would honestly prefer to be able to spend that kind of money to truly travel and see new locations. The world is a big place. I would love to have enough funds to afford family visits and true overseas vacations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivey Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 (edited) When our kids were younger, we always took two family vacations every year. One was to visit my family in Canada, and the other was to somewhere we'd never been before. Now, we're at an awkward phase where our schedules make real family vacations nearly impossible. So, we're doing a couple shorter vacations as a family, and longer trips in smaller groups. Edited July 20, 2016 by Ivey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebcoola Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 We do a lot (10 +)of 4 day weekends each year. We usually have one longer trip each year also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 Although I am aware that many will think we are lucky to have to travel like this, I would honestly prefer to be able to spend that kind of money to truly travel and see new locations. The world is a big place. I would love to have enough funds to afford family visits and true overseas vacations. Do you take advantage of stopovers? We always try to get in an extra country for a few days when we travel. So when flying to New Zealand we stopped in Singapore, when we went to Singapore we threw in a few days in Malaysia, and on the way to Europe we're taking a few days in the UAE. It's not quite the same as a full holiday but you can see a lot in a few days if you're motivated! We really only have my mom that we have to see in our home country and we fly her to us rather than us going there. It means we don't see other family, but I can live with that. It seems heart-hearted I suppose, but I agree that family holidays are not the same as 'true overseas holidays' and we've opted for the latter. Our situation is probably unusual though - most people I know have larger family groups they want to maintain contact with, and choose as you do to fly 'home' rather than go on holidays. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 We leave town (usually at least Memorial and Labor Day & 3 day weekends) 2-3 times a year and leave our state every other year. We also camp locally every July. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 None, we don't usually have the money, time, inclination. I'd like to take a cruise, and depending on DH's bonus and what we will owe in taxes next year it may happen, but it will be our first real family vacation. I've gone with my family or friends places but DH usually has to work or just plain out refuses to camp at the beach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeatenpath Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 This year our big 'vacation' is two months in Australia and Japan. Though the month in Australia is mainly visiting family - we are going to try and make it a holiday as much as possible but it won't really be. Frankly the month in Japan is our reward for the family thing. But most years we probably average two weeks where the kid and I go away together and another two weeks where we go away as a family. Travel is important to us. Of course it is easier with just one kid. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 (edited) Before kids and while the older two kids were really young, we were really strapped financially so the only travel we did beyond our honeymoon was to visit family or occasionally attend a church conference out of town. Now our game plan is to take a "big vacation" every two years (10-14 day road trip with some camping and some hotels. The kids and I did use DH's frequent flyer miles to fly for part of our trip last year.). We've done two "big vacations" so far. In the past five or six years we've gotten to take two long weekend trips without our kids, but it is hard to find anyone willing to take on our crazy bunch, so we don't do that as much as we would like. We're way more limited in terms of child care than finances for that sort of thing now. We also take shorter trips that I don't necessarily think of as a "vacation" but some people might - weekend or long weekend camping trips in our state or nearby states (3 weekends per summer or so), travel to adjacent states to visit family for a few days around holidays (2-3 times per year), an out-of-state church conference once every year or two, sometimes a weekend trip to a family lake cabin we can borrow or a hotel weekend away bought with a groupon or something (maybe once a year or less). Edited June 22, 2016 by kirstenhill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J&JMom Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 (edited) We generally take a week long trip to a beach location where my aunt lives as we have for the past 7 years (including this year). We used to stay with her, but after my uncle had his heart attack two years ago we now rent a vacation home for ourselves. We love it! This year we got a great rate on Great Wolf Lodge so spent a night/2 days there. When the kids were younger and the rates better, we would spend several nights in a couple of trips a year. We camp with Scouts a lot, in fact, my boys and I leave Sunday for a week-long summer merit badge camp. Not vacation as some may envision, but I don't have to cook, shop, or clean for a whole week so I'll take it :) This school year I have traveled with Scouts on two other local campouts, while my oldest has left the state twice this year. Occasionally we do something unique - like spend a weekend with other relatives seeing their local sights after a Scout trip in the area last year, or Disney World the year before that, and Sea World before that. All depends on time and budget. Hoping to take an Alaskan cruise for my 50th birthday next year... Edited June 22, 2016 by J&JMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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