Vacations

[Rachel]

Does your family take "real" vacations? If so, how often?

 

By vacation I mean more than a long weekend.

The purpose is not just to visit family.

If it is in conjunction with work, you extend the stay to more than a day or two tacked onto the work trip.

[Rachel]

Growing up all the travel my family did was to go visit my grandparents who were a 24 hour drive from us. We would regularly camp at nearby state parks for the weekend but the only "real" vacation was when I was in high school. We took a 10 day canoe and camping trip to the Boundary Waters in MN. I never felt deprived and I enjoyed visiting family.

 

My husband's one and only vacation was when he was in middle school. His mom had a conference in CA so they stayed longer and turned it into a vacation. It was very memorable for all his family.

 

My husband and I have been married 15 years and have taken two actual vacations. He travels a lot for work and we have siblings in 6 states so we have traveled and our kids have been a lot of places, but it has always been with the purpose of visiting family or work. On work trips we might do one or two fun things in the town but mostly we swim at the hotel or visit a local park.

 

Anyway, I'm just curious. I currently seem to know a lot of people who rent a beach house for a week or go to Disney every year, but it seemed like when I was growing up vacations were a lot more rare and more of a once a decade type thing.

[Pink and Green Mom]

By your definition we take 1 "real" vacation a year.  We also spend a week travelling north to PA to visit my inlaws (I don't consider this a vacation by any stretch of the imagination, LOL) and we take about 1-2 long weekend trips throughout the year. 

 

ETA:  growing up my family took at least a one week vacation trip every summer.  Sometimes it was two weeks (my Dad used to get 4 weeks off from his job and back in the olden days you could actually take those in a row).  We usually went to the Jersey shore (we lived in NJ), or a trip to Disney, or a trip to Lake George, NY.  We also went to Europe a lot because my Dad travelled to Europe just about every other week for work and had 2 million frequent flyer miles.  My husband says his family (very close knit, and well off) went on maybe 3 vacations his entire life.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Pink and Green Mom

[QueenCat]

Yes. We take a full week trip once per year. Some years, twice, if we're lucky. Visiting family does not count for me. I enjoy visiting family but I often work there more than at home, helping out with cleaning, cooking, care for elders so it is not a vacation.

[BarbecueMom]

We've taken one, ever. With no plans to take another any time soon, for many reasons

ETA: Money is actually not on the list of reasons. It was growing up, and I never took a single vacation as a child, except for family visits and band trips.

Edited June 1, 2017 by BarbecueMom

[QueenCat]

Anyway, I'm just curious. I currently seem to know a lot of people who rent a beach house for a week or go to Disney every year, but it seemed like when I was growing up vacations were a lot more rare and more of a once a decade type thing.

 

We went to the beach for a week every year growing up but it wasn't too far of a drive. Maybe 3 hours. We usually rented a condo, never a house, growing up. We ate most meals at the condo, maybe eating dinner out twice during the week. And dad would get donuts most mornings.

[Lady Florida.]

Rarely.

Not often enough for my liking.

We don't go far enough from home.

We don't stay long enough.

 

I grew up going on family vacations, usually for about a week. Before we moved to Florida it was one of our vacation destinations. We also went to other beach towns along the U.S. East Coast (most often Myrtle Beach, SC). 

 

Dh grew up going to Tennessee to visit family, and that's what we ended up doing as a couple and after ds was born. Most of our "vacations" were to go visit Mamaw because "we don't know how much longer she'll be around". She lived to be 103! 

 

A few times we went to St. Augustine because I forced the issue. It's only an hour and a half from home. When we've gone on vacations to other locations that's usually how it was - not far from home and for only a few days. And we went because I insisted. Most recently we went to St. Petersburg for a few days over the holiday weekend (not even the whole weekend). It's two hours from home.

 

Yeah, it's a sore spot with me.  :angry:

Edited June 1, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[DawnM]

Yes, every year.

[Carrie12345]

Kind of.

 

Every few years, we try to rent a house and have a big, extended family vacation.  Usually with a little bit of sight seeing, but mostly just hanging out together.

[gstharr]

We are limited to long weekends for a couple of reasons.  One, self employed. Second, the 6th grader has so many activities on the weekends, including a highly selective university run Math Circle that has very rigid attendance requirements (the waiting list is years long). Then in the summer, he is gone for 6 weeks between CTY, and summer camps.

[bolt.]

Yes, we take extended camping trips in our small pop-up trailer for 3 to 5 weeks most summers. (DH doesn't always join us -- he only has 3 weeks' vacation time.)

 

We also occasionally do winter vacations to warm destinations (airplanes and hotels, not camping) -- maybe once in 3 years. We've done Mexico and Disneyland.

[2_girls_mommy]

hmm. Your definitions are pretty strict, lol. I think that we take vacations, but I guess they are usually 3-4 days max, so may not count in your definition. And they usually include family. But we go to different family in different states and camp along the way and do fun things there and on the way.   We also often go new places with family. My mom and I like to discover new museums and nature reserves. So we will go together as a family for a couple of days somewhere. And I take the kids camping with other family without dh sometimes. 

 

We go somewhere with no other family involved much more rarely, and not for a week at a time, usually less, but still fun packed, like once every couple of years.  We are planning a long trip next summer because my oldest dd will be about to be a junior. We assume the year before her senior year that she will be working or taking online classes or something, so this may be the last summer we have to do a big trip. 

[Sneezyone]

Every other year has been our pattern in the past but the last two years we've taken 2-3 vacations each year. Usually they're 10 days-two weeks each.

[Selkie]

No. Getting away for longer than a weekend is very difficult for us because of our businesses. 

[Rachel]

hmm. Your definitions are pretty strict, lol. I think that we take vacations, but I guess they are usually 3-4 days max, so may not count in your definition. And they usually include family. But we go to different family in different states and camp along the way and do fun things there and on the way. We also often go new places with family. My mom and I like to discover new museums and nature reserves. So we will go together as a family for a couple of days somewhere. And I take the kids camping with other family without dh sometimes.

 

We go somewhere with no other family involved much more rarely, and not for a week at a time, usually less, but still fun packed, like once every couple of years. We are planning a long trip next summer because my oldest dd will be about to be a junior. We assume the year before her senior year that she will be working or taking online classes or something, so this may be the last summer we have to do a big trip.

Sorry if they are too strict. 😉

 

I was mostly thinking about if you are paying for it yourself. If it's related to work a lot of the expenses are covered that may otherwise make a trip cost prohibitive. In our case the hotel is covered and if we are driving the gas, mileage, all my husband's meals, and some family meals are covered. Visiting family is a vacation for me when it's my family, but it's an obligation for my husband. He definitely doesn't think of it as a vacation.

 

I guess visiting family could technically be a vacation, but it seems like most extended family doesn't live in a fun vacation destinations. My sister lives in Denver and I throughly enjoyed my visit out there, but if she didn't live there I wouldn't have gone.

[Rachel]

We went to the beach for a week every year growing up but it wasn't too far of a drive. Maybe 3 hours. We usually rented a condo, never a house, growing up. We ate most meals at the condo, maybe eating dinner out twice during the week. And dad would get donuts most mornings.

I live much further from the beach, at least 8 hours depending on where you go.

[My4arrows]

Growing up we didn't do much until I hit middle school. Then it was pretty much Disney every year. I'm assuming that's when my dads job paid well. Since getting married we do a vacation either every other year or every two years. Sometimes those are just extended weekends, other times two weeks. It just depends on what's going on in our family, if we have a new baby or what we've saved up. Our kids are still on the younger end and we aren't done adding to our family, so that's determine what we do in the future as with a growing family, it makes vacationing more difficult and expensive.

[tdbates78]

Yes. Every year. DH and I have always loved to travel and its something we hope to pass on to our girls. We plan and budget for it annually. We spent 2.5 weeks in Europe in April, their first trip abroad, and they loved it. Usually our trips are just a week, but we try to go some place new and different each time.

[2_girls_mommy]

Sorry if they are too strict. 😉

 

I was mostly thinking about if you are paying for it yourself. If it's related to work a lot of the expenses are covered that may otherwise make a trip cost prohibitive. In our case the hotel is covered and if we are driving the gas, mileage, all my husband's meals, and some family meals are covered. Visiting family is a vacation for me when it's my family, but it's an obligation for my husband. He definitely doesn't think of it as a vacation.

 

I guess visiting family could technically be a vacation, but it seems like most extended family doesn't live in a fun vacation destinations. My sister lives in Denver and I throughly enjoyed my visit out there, but if she didn't live there I wouldn't have gone.

We pay for it all. That is why they are short and involve camping, lol. But I would rather do frequent short camping trips than no trips at all. And luckily for me, Disney doesn't even appeal to me. I much prefer nature and camping and museums. I guess my whole family is that way which is why we do frequent short adventures to new places with them often. Our big trips are always to see family in other states, but we have a lot of fun doing them. Even when my inlaws were alive, staying with them was not a vacation to me at all, but we made the trip there and back a lot of fun. We did a trip that included a big amusement park and a hotel and no other family but us a couple of years ago. But I also made sure we explored a cave on that trip and did one night of camping. :) 

[Spryte]

Yes. We usually take at least a week long vacation with just our immediate family. Sometimes 2 weeks. Last year we didn't take one, but did several 4-5 day trips instead. That was unusual.

 

We also do vacations to visit family. My mom lives on a very remote farm, and we go see her a minimum of twice a year. But it doesn't feel like a vacation. At all. We'd like to go 4 times a year, but it's just too much work to get there, and I really think DH needs a true vacation.

 

Growing up, DH didn't take many vacations. I don't know why, but it wasn't their family culture. I did. At least yearly, we'd have two weeks at the beach, and usually a camping trip to the mountains. Plus spring break travel to families. My mom, growing up, always went with family to a rented beach house for 6 weeks. She needs to see the ocean every year. :)

 

ETA: when DH and I were newly married, with two incomes and no kids, we bought a timeshare. It's long since paid off, we have modest maintenance fees only, and we use it for travel everywhere. It's really paid off for us.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Spryte

[Gentlemommy]

We take a ton of long weekend/visiting family vacations...I still count them lol.

Last year-

w

We went camping in our RV 4-5 times. 3-5 days at a time, at the lake right close to home. Total vacation for us. Once was with over 50 other people who all belong to a hiking group.

We also went to visit family 3x for a week each time. We stay in a timeshare resort, with pools and fun activities. Our "room" is a two bedroom/two bathroom, full kitchen and laundry apartment, so it's not stressful and cramped like a hotel room would be. Friends and family come to visit and play there daily. Not only that, but our "best friend" family has also gone with us and gotten a room next to ours. Their kids and ours have grown up together and are best friends. And the parents are too.😉 Total vacation.

We took a three day vacation 5-6 times also. For one of our girls birthday we went skiing. For a gymnastics meet, we extended our stay and made it into a mini vacation. We visited friends for a few days. Shot up to NYC for a three day weekend to see the girls cousin in a Broadway show. Those were all a little more stressful than the longer RV/Timeshare weeks, but still a whirlwind of fun.

[J-rap]

We do, and my family growing up always did too.  With my family growing up, it was always to travel across the country to visit relatives, every summer.  We were the only family on the west coast, so we made that trip faithfully every summer for 20 years, and it was how my dad used his vacation days.  But we really thought of it as vacation!  My dad always planned the trip there and back like a vacation in itself.  For years, we took the train across the country to get there.  That was a blast.  (This was in the 60's and early 70's when trains were very nice!)  Some years we drove the whole way, but then we always stopped for a few days at a National Park (Glacier, Yellowstone, etc.).  Once we got to our relatives', the weather was warm and beautiful (much warmer than where we lived south of San Francisco, with lots of lakes just blocks away.  And, we always stayed there for a month or two.  So even though we were staying at my grandma's house and spending every day with my cousins and uncles and aunts, it was the funnest vacation ever for us kids.

 

With our own kids, we don't need to use up vacation time so to see family, because we live quite close and see them often.  So we do try and take a different kind of vacation every year.  When our kids were younger though, it was usually just driving up to the northern part of our state and staying in a cabin (owned by a family member) for a week.  That was all we felt we could afford.  We did that for many years.  It became a very special place to our family and we loved it there.  As our kids got older and we finally paid off all of our school loans (!), and my dh was more settled in his business, we began traveling further and for longer periods, both nationally and internationally.

[ScoutTN]

We manage a week at the beach every few years. No work trips or family to go visit. We are hoping to travel more, but finances are tight.

 

I spent two weeks to a month at the beach every summer as a kid. And a week or two a camp. And we travelled to see family and to fun places all over the East coast. I have been overseas a few times. A little sad that my kids can't do these things too.

[Laura Corin]

We normally go away for a week once a year.  We tend to alternate going somewhere else in Europe (Greece, Portugal) and taking a holiday cottage somewhere in the UK.  This year we are going to the Lake District for a week, so we will drive.

[SamanthaCarter]

No, that's not within the realm of possibility financially. We might be able to if DH did not have expensive bimonthly treatment for Chron's. My kids have seen the beach once in the last 7 years!

[Rachel]

I love hearing how other families do things.

 

I enjoy finding things to do in new places or exploring where we live. We just haven't ever done an actual vacation as a family. This summer we are turning one work trip and one family trip into a vacation. It's the first time financially we have really been able to do that, I'm pretty excited.

 

I imagine where you live and family culture makes a big difference in how you view vacations. Even if they had financially been able I doubt my parents or my inlaws would have done yearly vacations, that just isn't their style.

 

My great grandma began working at age 14 to support herself and her sister, I don't think she left a 100 mile radius of her home during her working years. When she retired, she traveled all over the US and world.

[Tess in the Burbs]

We grew up visiting family every holiday but we did a week long beach vacation as well.

 

My dh and feel vacation is important. We camp several weekends a year, we do week long trips every year. We do big 10 day trips every other year farther away. Although last year we did a big trip east to visit family, and a big trip this year to another state far away.

 

We enjoy traveling and vacations. I suppose we could save money, but we all love traveling so we do it.

 

We no longer visit family often. They are 3k miles away and only my mom comes here. My dad has the money, he just won't travel. In suggesting mom and just meet halfway in the future.

[teachermom2834]

We take a vacation every 3 or 4 years. Never really feel like we can afford it. So expensive with 4 kids especially once they are off the kids' menu.

 

I have been a bit surprised at how many people in my area take a vacation every summer plus fall and spring breaks. That sounds like a lot to me. But I am just jealous!

[Pam in CT]

This is an area where my husband and I had to work through some... um... divergences of habits and views before we arrived at a satisfactory place.

 

Before we had kids, we both worked at pretty high-powered high-paying jobs with a fair amount of travel, so when we could snatch the time for one of us to tack on to the other's trips and add a day or two to a weekend, we saw a lot of the world.  It was pretty last-minute catch-as-catch-can in terms of advance notice -- definitely opportunistic rather than planned -- but at that stage of our lives it was perfect.

 

Once we had kids, that didn't work anymore.  And after a few years I couldn't keep the pace up, and dialed way back professionally; while he pressed harder and harder.  And I spent a lot of time looking resentfully at the empty chair, while he worked extremely long hours and had immense difficulty committing to the idea of a planned vacation, anywhere, at any price point, because he constantly feared "something would come up" at work.  It was unpleasant.

 

Then my only sibling moved to Singapore, which only exacerbated my wanderlust and also generated great sadness that my kids were growing up without much of a relationship with their uncle.

 

Finally, years later than it should have taken, I had a revelation: I could take the kids places I wanted to go, without my husband.  With my parents or female friends or cousin or sister-in-law.  Or the kids and I could go for a week, and he could join up for the last long weekend.  Over the years I got better at this -- finding family and hiking camps where someone else would do the cooking and logistics, finding off-the-beaten-path global travel that were cheaper and for me more interesting than Disney, working out other work-stranded mothers whose families fit well with mine.

 

And my husband found himself more and more often, in the summer, coming home late to face an empty chair and feeling a bit bereft, my family is off making memories, without me.  And slowly that helped him get to the point where he did not see himself as quite so indispensable that he couldn't commit to taking a week off with sufficient time to plan (that was only ever his demon, anyway; his colleagues managed to plan vacation time in advance).

 

We're better now, though as the kids grow up and aging parents have health problems we have new scheduling issues.  

 

Cherish these days; we do not know how many we have.

[QueenCat]

I live much further from the beach, at least 8 hours depending on where you go.

 

That was growing up.......... most of my adult life, I've been 5-8 hours away.

[marbel]

When I was a kid (before age 10), we camped for 2 weeks every summer.  We didn't travel to visit family; everyone lived in the same area, no more than an hour away.

 

When I was 10 we moved from NY to CA, and vacations changed.  We didn't camp so much, and didn't go as often. 

 

Since marriage and kids, we have had periods when we took a real vacation every year, and periods where we have not. Many vacations were tacked on to my husband's business trips.   Mostly now we go to stay a few days in PA State Park cabins, with the occasional 2-3 day trips someplace else.  Couple of thing have things curtailed our travel: lower income, dog that had to be kenneled and didn't like it, kids with diverging schedules. I think our "big" vacation days might be over, but... I might be wrong.  :-)

[Pawz4me]

We take several vacations a year. We're on the way home from one now. I don't really care for traveling at all but DH does.

 

ETA: This is our second of the year and we have two more already scheduled. I suspect we'll do at least one more than that.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Pawz4me

[Pam in CT]

Right.  Dogs -- love them, wouldn't want to live without them, but they are serious vacation restrictors, lol.  For years when we went somewhere we couldn't take the dog we left ours with my parents, to the great joy of both dog and parents, but now that they've moved we have significantly circumscribed the options at significantly higher expense and hassle.

[Desert Strawberry]

no. we've never taken more than a few days locally.

[KrissiK]

Well..... not really. Generally, the longest we're away from home is about 4 days. Two years ago we went to the Grand Canyon, this summer we're going to Disneyland. Part of the reason is money. We have 5 kids and it's expensive to go anywhere with all of them. But also, I can't take that much "togetherness". I mean, I love my family very much, but they drive me crazy if I'm with them 24/7 for too long.

[alisoncooks]

We do several vacations a year that are not on our dime. (So thankful for semi-retired parents with an itch to travel with family.)

 

This year is a bit excessive; we just finished a week at Disney, and we have weeklong beach and mountain trips coming up in late-summer and fall.

 

As for trips we pay for, we generally take our girls to the Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of nights for their birthdays (one trip to celebrate both).

[Murphy101]

No. We have never had one of those types of vacations. Ever.

 

About once a year, sometimes every other year, we take a 4 day vacation somewhere within 6-8 hour drive.

 

We've just never had those kinds of funds available.

 

ETA: and also, Dh's work has never been friendly to taking that much vacation time at once. And the last 8 years he has been self-employeed/contracted work, so no work=no pay, taking time off for any reason, hurts the wallet twice.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Murphy101

[Cindy in FL.]

No. We generally only get to go to dh's family reunion, which is 3 days/nights.

[MaeFlowers]

No, we don't. It has been for different reasons over the years. I wish we could, though, and am hoping to start building some trips into our budget. It also helps that they are getting older. I really do not like traveling with kids under 4. It is too exhausting.

 

The dc do vacation regularly with their grandparents. They are at the beach now with one set of my ILs and will go someplace with the other set later this month.

[TechWife]

We go to the beach for seven days every year. We started when ds' was seven.

[catz]

Yes we take vacations regularly.  But the scope, length, and focus vary widely.  We last flew to NYC for 6 days in January.  Family wedding cross country coming up November.  That wedding was already cancelled once and required us to cancel flights and lose money so we may just send DH to that even though everyone will assume we're evil.   Assuming it actually happens - lol. 

 

Last summer boy and I went on an Italy tour with one of his musical groups.  DH and girl went to a music camp in Colorado.  We've done cross country 2-3 week national park adventures a number of times.  We regularly do long weekends "up north".  Heading to one in a few weeks that coincides with a famiy reunion.  My parents and now just my mom go to AZ in the winter, so sometimes we use vacation resources to go there.

[Χά�ων]

Lasting lomger than a ling weekend and not visiting family? Not often I did several shorter trips a year or longer trips visiting family instead.

 

I feel we have reached a point where we have exhausted all driveable destinations of interest for a long weekend and am in the process of figuring out how to balance longer trips in.

[Julie Smith]

my boys never have had a vacation by your definition.

 

Dh and I, when younger (teens or early twenties) each had a Vacation or two.

 

I went to Greece on a highschool field trip. He visited the USA twice (we are Canadian). Other then that we have only had trips related to visiting family. But we have a bunch of family, and aren't big of traveling or vacations so we are fine with it.

 

ETA a few years ago my Dh took his dad to British Colombia. Dh was born in that province but left when he was only, depending on who you ask a few days or a few weeks old. His dad had spent most of his life talking about wanting to go back, but never did anything other than talk. So Dh took him there. He is glad he did because a year or so after that trip my FIL had a stroke and his health, and member took a drastic chance for the worse.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Julie Smith

[Heather in OK]

My Mom and I took one "big" vacation when I was growing up.  A couple other times we went to a friend's lake house one state over.

I don't think my husband's family took many.  They took off once with $500 to their name from NY to FL and somehow came back with more money than they left with.  LOL!!

In our almost 20 years as a family, we have been able to do a couple small trips to Branson and two big vacations.  Our longest trip was about six years ago when we took two weeks to drive to SC, up to DC, and then to TN.  The main reason we were able to swing that was because my ILs had a timeshare and we were able to use some of their points for our stays in SC and TN.  Our last one was this past September when we went to FL for a week.  It was our kids' first experience flying so it was fun to give them that experience!  We saved quite a bit staying at a VRBO.  We did visit family (ILs have retired to FL) but we didn't stay with them and only saw them one day during our week there.

I enjoy being able to go on vacation but it's so. much. work. when you have kids.  It's really not a true vacation for Mom at all.  :lol: 

This year hubby and I are going away for a week to celebrate our 20th anniversary!!  I'm soooo excited to actually get a real vacation!  :thumbup:

Edited June 1, 2017 by Heather in OK

[lovinmyboys]

We have traveled a lot (what I consider a lot), but I guess we have never had a vacation according to that definition.

 

We have been to Dallas/San Antonio/Austin, San Diego, Washington DC, and Chicago with dh's work. It might not have been a vacation for him, but the kids and I were totally on vacation.

 

We just got back from 3 months in Europe with dh's work. I wouldn't say the whole time was "vacation" but parts of it were. Dh worked every day mon-fri but we still got to visit 8 different countries.

 

We have been to Disney a few times, but we have family who live there so we have always stayed with them.

 

We have been to family reunions in Gatlinburg, North Carolina, and Minnesota.

 

We have done several weekend trips for kids birthdays (my oldest always picks to go see an MLB game in different cities in our region)

 

We (the kids and I) always go for two weeks to visit my family in the summer.

[creekland]

Like some pp, our definition of vacation and yours differs.  We pay for all of ours (except when my mom joins us, then she pays more than her fair share by choice).

 

We travel a ton, but hubby is self-employed so we also need to keep income coming in.  We'll be gone for a week or a couple of months, but often he'll be taking nights or other "down time" like when others are showering and get some work done.  We see it more as relocating and adjusting hours to explore new areas.  Many times we camp (tent).  Sometimes we splurge - like our month in HI - almost all oceanfront condos except when at Volcanoes NP and staying there.  If we were independently wealthy, we'd likely be on the road (or sea) 24/7 just meandering along (see my avatar).  Since we aren't (independently wealthy) we do the best we can.  There will be whole days off for hubby now and then, but no actual trip is work free if it's at least a week long (our shorter stuff - 2 or 3 days - can be work free).  We try to get away at least once per month.  Some of those are to see family (most are right now due to health issues).  During high school years, many were to see colleges, but we still did other things along the way.  EVERY year since our wedding we've gone on an Anniversary trip, but many of those were short ones.  He knows better than to be working on those.  ;)

 

I grew up with annual vacations at Christmas - to FL to see family, but also stopping at Disney once they opened - and summer (not to family).  I had been to all but three states east of the Mississippi River by the time I went to college (and two Canadian Provinces + a small bit of Mexico).  My own kids had been to 49 of the 50 states (missed Alaska), all of Eastern Canada (except Newfoundland) and a couple of foreign countries before they graduated.  Hubby grew up with a vacation cottage owned by his parents and Airstream camping.  Both of us have travel genes.  We only settled down because we needed something to pay the bills (and wanted our kids to have a "hometown").

[MrsMommy]

We have been on only one "real" family vacation since our eldest was born over 14 years ago. And the only other real vacation dh and I have been on other than that was our honeymoon.

 

We have done some long weekends, all of which were in conjunction with visiting family, but not necessarily staying with them.

[rocassie]

Every couple of years we have been able to take a vacation.  Last year we went to Boston.  We took advantage of my nephew graduating fro Yale to see his graduation and then vacation in Boston. We saved for 4 yrs and didn't take any other vacations other than camping here and there in that 4 yrs.  It will probably be another 3-4yrs until we do another vacation trip.

[Crimson Wife]

Growing up the cost of basics (especially housing, healthcare, and higher education) were much lower relative to incomes so vacations were way more common. My parents had a lower income (in inflation adjusted dollars) but a LOT more disposable cash for things like vacations

 

 

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[mamaraby]

Nope. Dh has fairly generous vacation time, but he has a 24/7 type job on a rotating schedule so a lot of those days get taken up by things that most M-F people have off automatically.

 

Then, you have to submit your vacation day requests by the end of January and vacation days are limited to a certain number of people off per day and on seniority basis. So, even if you ask for a week's worth of time off, if someone more senior wants the day in the middle, they get it. Plus, they close off large swathes of days in the books because it's the government and cutting taxes is the thing to do right now so they have to try and limit OT costs because we all have to make do with less and it's not like you can plan for OT because emergencies that require extra staff by their very nature are emergencies that defy careful planning. Plus there's inservices and special team training, and special events that require extra staffing like the county fair.

 

Just finding a week this year to celebrate a milestone anniversary when dh could take off and someone was available to watch the kids was an exercise in frustration. And even then? Aside from a one night trip to another city, we stayed home cuz whose got money for more than that.

Edited June 1, 2017 by mamaraby