Are upper middle class family gatherings now just luxury travel pissing contests?

[Anonymous]

I wonder if pp is just younger than me. When I was in my twenties and on a budget, I had some colorful stories about people I would encounter. I partied a lot.

I’m now almost 50 and my friends are not sneaking into pools. My teen kids barely want to even go into the pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought travel was a safe topic. I love to travel. I love to hear my friend’s travel stories. I don’t enjoy hearing about boring beach trips to bald island but I love hearing about Asia or Europe. I’m always looking for new places to go with my family.

Talking about cool sites you saw in Asia is fine. "Humble" bragging about your $1k+/night hotel or dropping a reference to (or worse posting a picture of) your lay flat seats is not.

Pp here. I know what you mean when people are trying to show off. We actually do stay at the 1-2k hotels but I don’t talk about the hotel. There are some people who who can appreciate a nice spa or afternoon tea though. Maybe that is what OP is referring to. 95% of the time I would not talk about this but there are those 5% where I actually really enjoy the details of a very nice hotel, especially if the hotel is the destination. We recently went to marina bay sands in Singapore. My kids loved the hotel and the adjacent attractions.

Any comment remotely like this is exactly what OP is talking about.

+1. But I do like that PP distilled how superficial global travel has become: 20+ hour flight each way to be pampered at a luxury hotel. The same experience is available at any nearby Ritz or Four Seasons, but that wouldn’t be “exotic” enough or brag worthy at the next social gathering.

Similar to “low key” braggarts who travel to third world dumps half way around the world so they can boast about hiking there. You can do all the world class hiking you want in West Virginia, but Appalachia isn’t exotic for them, of course.

This nails it. I get so bored of hearing about people's luxury hotel experiences in far flung places.

Now someone who stayed in budget chain hotel but then found a loophole that enabled them to use the pool at the 5 star resort down the street? That sounds like a fun story! Also happy to hear about weird and offbeat AirBnBs or the funky bed and breakfast you stayed in that was great except the hosts ate breakfast with you and you had to make small talk with your high school French to comical effect.

If your travel stories are all "we had lie flat beds on the plane and our suite had it's own lap pool and we ate at these three michelin starred restaurants," you are boring and I don't to talk to you. You may also be rich (or just very deeply in debt or have wealthy parents) but that doesn't make you interesting.

I don’t know anyone who would talk about their first class plane experience as their vacation description. I’m a foodie and love hearing about amazing meals whether they are Michelin restaurants or hole in the walls. You sound like you know crappy people.

I would not want to hear about sneaking into a hotel pool. That doesn’t sound appealing at all. Shrug.

It is extremely common for UMC and wealthy people to recount vacations but describing their flight, their hotel, and then list the expensive restaurants they visited and the designer items they bought. This is literally the premise of this thread. If you don't know people like this then you are not familiar with this demographic. This is how 90% of the parents at my kid's private school talk.

My kid also goes to private school. We go on 2-3 trips per year, including at least one international trip.

We don’t talk that way and don’t know anyone who does.

We went to French Polynesia. Lots of people asked us about it. We talked about the wildlife we saw, the culture, etc. our hotels and plane flight never came up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought travel was a safe topic. I love to travel. I love to hear my friend’s travel stories. I don’t enjoy hearing about boring beach trips to bald island but I love hearing about Asia or Europe. I’m always looking for new places to go with my family.

Talking about cool sites you saw in Asia is fine. "Humble" bragging about your $1k+/night hotel or dropping a reference to (or worse posting a picture of) your lay flat seats is not.

Pp here. I know what you mean when people are trying to show off. We actually do stay at the 1-2k hotels but I don’t talk about the hotel. There are some people who who can appreciate a nice spa or afternoon tea though. Maybe that is what OP is referring to. 95% of the time I would not talk about this but there are those 5% where I actually really enjoy the details of a very nice hotel, especially if the hotel is the destination. We recently went to marina bay sands in Singapore. My kids loved the hotel and the adjacent attractions.

Any comment remotely like this is exactly what OP is talking about.

+1. But I do like that PP distilled how superficial global travel has become: 20+ hour flight each way to be pampered at a luxury hotel. The same experience is available at any nearby Ritz or Four Seasons, but that wouldn’t be “exotic” enough or brag worthy at the next social gathering.

Similar to “low key” braggarts who travel to third world dumps half way around the world so they can boast about hiking there. You can do all the world class hiking you want in West Virginia, but Appalachia isn’t exotic for them, of course.

This nails it. I get so bored of hearing about people's luxury hotel experiences in far flung places.

Now someone who stayed in budget chain hotel but then found a loophole that enabled them to use the pool at the 5 star resort down the street? That sounds like a fun story! Also happy to hear about weird and offbeat AirBnBs or the funky bed and breakfast you stayed in that was great except the hosts ate breakfast with you and you had to make small talk with your high school French to comical effect.

If your travel stories are all "we had lie flat beds on the plane and our suite had it's own lap pool and we ate at these three michelin starred restaurants," you are boring and I don't to talk to you. You may also be rich (or just very deeply in debt or have wealthy parents) but that doesn't make you interesting.

I don’t know anyone who would talk about their first class plane experience as their vacation description. I’m a foodie and love hearing about amazing meals whether they are Michelin restaurants or hole in the walls. You sound like you know crappy people.

I would not want to hear about sneaking into a hotel pool. That doesn’t sound appealing at all. Shrug.

It is extremely common for UMC and wealthy people to recount vacations but describing their flight, their hotel, and then list the expensive restaurants they visited and the designer items they bought. This is literally the premise of this thread. If you don't know people like this then you are not familiar with this demographic. This is how 90% of the parents at my kid's private school talk.

Pp here. Maybe I don’t notice the details of the flight or hotel unless it is worth remembering. My kids also go to private. We fly first. I do not tell people what luxury items I bought on vacation. I guess my friends may mention the tax they saved but it is so not interesting that I don’t remember that part of the conversation. Most people we know are UMC/UC so the details of how much the trip may cost are not part of the story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought travel was a safe topic. I love to travel. I love to hear my friend’s travel stories. I don’t enjoy hearing about boring beach trips to bald island but I love hearing about Asia or Europe. I’m always looking for new places to go with my family.

Talking about cool sites you saw in Asia is fine. "Humble" bragging about your $1k+/night hotel or dropping a reference to (or worse posting a picture of) your lay flat seats is not.

Pp here. I know what you mean when people are trying to show off. We actually do stay at the 1-2k hotels but I don’t talk about the hotel. There are some people who who can appreciate a nice spa or afternoon tea though. Maybe that is what OP is referring to. 95% of the time I would not talk about this but there are those 5% where I actually really enjoy the details of a very nice hotel, especially if the hotel is the destination. We recently went to marina bay sands in Singapore. My kids loved the hotel and the adjacent attractions.

Any comment remotely like this is exactly what OP is talking about.

+1. But I do like that PP distilled how superficial global travel has become: 20+ hour flight each way to be pampered at a luxury hotel. The same experience is available at any nearby Ritz or Four Seasons, but that wouldn’t be “exotic” enough or brag worthy at the next social gathering.

Similar to “low key” braggarts who travel to third world dumps half way around the world so they can boast about hiking there. You can do all the world class hiking you want in West Virginia, but Appalachia isn’t exotic for them, of course.

This nails it. I get so bored of hearing about people's luxury hotel experiences in far flung places.

Now someone who stayed in budget chain hotel but then found a loophole that enabled them to use the pool at the 5 star resort down the street? That sounds like a fun story! Also happy to hear about weird and offbeat AirBnBs or the funky bed and breakfast you stayed in that was great except the hosts ate breakfast with you and you had to make small talk with your high school French to comical effect.

If your travel stories are all "we had lie flat beds on the plane and our suite had it's own lap pool and we ate at these three michelin starred restaurants," you are boring and I don't to talk to you. You may also be rich (or just very deeply in debt or have wealthy parents) but that doesn't make you interesting.

I don’t know anyone who would talk about their first class plane experience as their vacation description. I’m a foodie and love hearing about amazing meals whether they are Michelin restaurants or hole in the walls. You sound like you know crappy people.

I would not want to hear about sneaking into a hotel pool. That doesn’t sound appealing at all. Shrug.

It is extremely common for UMC and wealthy people to recount vacations but describing their flight, their hotel, and then list the expensive restaurants they visited and the designer items they bought. This is literally the premise of this thread. If you don't know people like this then you are not familiar with this demographic. This is how 90% of the parents at my kid's private school talk.

Pp here. Maybe I don’t notice the details of the flight or hotel unless it is worth remembering. My kids also go to private. We fly first. I do not tell people what luxury items I bought on vacation. I guess my friends may mention the tax they saved but it is so not interesting that I don’t remember that part of the conversation. Most people we know are UMC/UC so the details of how much the trip may cost are not part of the story.

Same. I’ve heard about a lot of people’s vacations. Hotels, shopping, and flights never come up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought travel was a safe topic. I love to travel. I love to hear my friend’s travel stories. I don’t enjoy hearing about boring beach trips to bald island but I love hearing about Asia or Europe. I’m always looking for new places to go with my family.

Talking about cool sites you saw in Asia is fine. "Humble" bragging about your $1k+/night hotel or dropping a reference to (or worse posting a picture of) your lay flat seats is not.

Pp here. I know what you mean when people are trying to show off. We actually do stay at the 1-2k hotels but I don’t talk about the hotel. There are some people who who can appreciate a nice spa or afternoon tea though. Maybe that is what OP is referring to. 95% of the time I would not talk about this but there are those 5% where I actually really enjoy the details of a very nice hotel, especially if the hotel is the destination. We recently went to marina bay sands in Singapore. My kids loved the hotel and the adjacent attractions.

Any comment remotely like this is exactly what OP is talking about.

+1. But I do like that PP distilled how superficial global travel has become: 20+ hour flight each way to be pampered at a luxury hotel. The same experience is available at any nearby Ritz or Four Seasons, but that wouldn’t be “exotic” enough or brag worthy at the next social gathering.

Similar to “low key” braggarts who travel to third world dumps half way around the world so they can boast about hiking there. You can do all the world class hiking you want in West Virginia, but Appalachia isn’t exotic for them, of course.

This nails it. I get so bored of hearing about people's luxury hotel experiences in far flung places.

Now someone who stayed in budget chain hotel but then found a loophole that enabled them to use the pool at the 5 star resort down the street? That sounds like a fun story! Also happy to hear about weird and offbeat AirBnBs or the funky bed and breakfast you stayed in that was great except the hosts ate breakfast with you and you had to make small talk with your high school French to comical effect.

If your travel stories are all "we had lie flat beds on the plane and our suite had it's own lap pool and we ate at these three michelin starred restaurants," you are boring and I don't to talk to you. You may also be rich (or just very deeply in debt or have wealthy parents) but that doesn't make you interesting.

I don’t know anyone who would talk about their first class plane experience as their vacation description. I’m a foodie and love hearing about amazing meals whether they are Michelin restaurants or hole in the walls. You sound like you know crappy people.

I would not want to hear about sneaking into a hotel pool. That doesn’t sound appealing at all. Shrug.

It is extremely common for UMC and wealthy people to recount vacations but describing their flight, their hotel, and then list the expensive restaurants they visited and the designer items they bought. This is literally the premise of this thread. If you don't know people like this then you are not familiar with this demographic. This is how 90% of the parents at my kid's private school talk.

My kid also goes to private school. We go on 2-3 trips per year, including at least one international trip.

We don’t talk that way and don’t know anyone who does.

We went to French Polynesia. Lots of people asked us about it. We talked about the wildlife we saw, the culture, etc. our hotels and plane flight never came up.

I’m so thankful I don’t have to feign interest in your trip to French Polynesia. You are exactly who we are talking about, you just can’t see it.

[Anonymous]

Honestly yes and it is a little nauseating. My family also suffers from the other two brag contests- who knows someone who is more successful/wealthier and who has a bigger circle of friends/more fun with friends

[Anonymous]

At least people don’t show slides of their vacations like they did in the 70s. Back when travel was more rare it was even more a focus of the conversation. People would pull out the projector and make everyone sit through 600 slides of their trip to Rome.
I understand this can be irritating but it’s probably less irritating than people carrying on about politics, their health issues, or the new car they are buying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought travel was a safe topic. I love to travel. I love to hear my friend’s travel stories. I don’t enjoy hearing about boring beach trips to bald island but I love hearing about Asia or Europe. I’m always looking for new places to go with my family.

Talking about cool sites you saw in Asia is fine. "Humble" bragging about your $1k+/night hotel or dropping a reference to (or worse posting a picture of) your lay flat seats is not.

Pp here. I know what you mean when people are trying to show off. We actually do stay at the 1-2k hotels but I don’t talk about the hotel. There are some people who who can appreciate a nice spa or afternoon tea though. Maybe that is what OP is referring to. 95% of the time I would not talk about this but there are those 5% where I actually really enjoy the details of a very nice hotel, especially if the hotel is the destination. We recently went to marina bay sands in Singapore. My kids loved the hotel and the adjacent attractions.

Any comment remotely like this is exactly what OP is talking about.

+1. But I do like that PP distilled how superficial global travel has become: 20+ hour flight each way to be pampered at a luxury hotel. The same experience is available at any nearby Ritz or Four Seasons, but that wouldn’t be “exotic” enough or brag worthy at the next social gathering.

Similar to “low key” braggarts who travel to third world dumps half way around the world so they can boast about hiking there. You can do all the world class hiking you want in West Virginia, but Appalachia isn’t exotic for them, of course.

This nails it. I get so bored of hearing about people's luxury hotel experiences in far flung places.

Now someone who stayed in budget chain hotel but then found a loophole that enabled them to use the pool at the 5 star resort down the street? That sounds like a fun story! Also happy to hear about weird and offbeat AirBnBs or the funky bed and breakfast you stayed in that was great except the hosts ate breakfast with you and you had to make small talk with your high school French to comical effect.

If your travel stories are all "we had lie flat beds on the plane and our suite had it's own lap pool and we ate at these three michelin starred restaurants," you are boring and I don't to talk to you. You may also be rich (or just very deeply in debt or have wealthy parents) but that doesn't make you interesting.

I don’t know anyone who would talk about their first class plane experience as their vacation description. I’m a foodie and love hearing about amazing meals whether they are Michelin restaurants or hole in the walls. You sound like you know crappy people.

I would not want to hear about sneaking into a hotel pool. That doesn’t sound appealing at all. Shrug.

It is extremely common for UMC and wealthy people to recount vacations but describing their flight, their hotel, and then list the expensive restaurants they visited and the designer items they bought. This is literally the premise of this thread. If you don't know people like this then you are not familiar with this demographic. This is how 90% of the parents at my kid's private school talk.

My kid also goes to private school. We go on 2-3 trips per year, including at least one international trip.

We don’t talk that way and don’t know anyone who does.

We went to French Polynesia. Lots of people asked us about it. We talked about the wildlife we saw, the culture, etc. our hotels and plane flight never came up.

I’m so thankful I don’t have to feign interest in your trip to French Polynesia. You are exactly who we are talking about, you just can’t see it.

Oh stop it. People proactively asked about it. We had all shared our summer plans in June.

Then in September, several people asked how our trip was and asked to see pictures. We didn’t bring it up.

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of a family friend of my cousins who asks where I’ve traveled everytime I see her, and then immediately asks what hotel I stayed at. It is so cringe inducing and she looks like such a shallow idiot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought travel was a safe topic. I love to travel. I love to hear my friend’s travel stories. I don’t enjoy hearing about boring beach trips to bald island but I love hearing about Asia or Europe. I’m always looking for new places to go with my family.

Talking about cool sites you saw in Asia is fine. "Humble" bragging about your $1k+/night hotel or dropping a reference to (or worse posting a picture of) your lay flat seats is not.

Pp here. I know what you mean when people are trying to show off. We actually do stay at the 1-2k hotels but I don’t talk about the hotel. There are some people who who can appreciate a nice spa or afternoon tea though. Maybe that is what OP is referring to. 95% of the time I would not talk about this but there are those 5% where I actually really enjoy the details of a very nice hotel, especially if the hotel is the destination. We recently went to marina bay sands in Singapore. My kids loved the hotel and the adjacent attractions.

Any comment remotely like this is exactly what OP is talking about.

+1. But I do like that PP distilled how superficial global travel has become: 20+ hour flight each way to be pampered at a luxury hotel. The same experience is available at any nearby Ritz or Four Seasons, but that wouldn’t be “exotic” enough or brag worthy at the next social gathering.

Similar to “low key” braggarts who travel to third world dumps half way around the world so they can boast about hiking there. You can do all the world class hiking you want in West Virginia, but Appalachia isn’t exotic for them, of course.

This nails it. I get so bored of hearing about people's luxury hotel experiences in far flung places.

Now someone who stayed in budget chain hotel but then found a loophole that enabled them to use the pool at the 5 star resort down the street? That sounds like a fun story! Also happy to hear about weird and offbeat AirBnBs or the funky bed and breakfast you stayed in that was great except the hosts ate breakfast with you and you had to make small talk with your high school French to comical effect.

If your travel stories are all "we had lie flat beds on the plane and our suite had it's own lap pool and we ate at these three michelin starred restaurants," you are boring and I don't to talk to you. You may also be rich (or just very deeply in debt or have wealthy parents) but that doesn't make you interesting.

I don’t know anyone who would talk about their first class plane experience as their vacation description. I’m a foodie and love hearing about amazing meals whether they are Michelin restaurants or hole in the walls. You sound like you know crappy people.

I would not want to hear about sneaking into a hotel pool. That doesn’t sound appealing at all. Shrug.

It is extremely common for UMC and wealthy people to recount vacations but describing their flight, their hotel, and then list the expensive restaurants they visited and the designer items they bought. This is literally the premise of this thread. If you don't know people like this then you are not familiar with this demographic. This is how 90% of the parents at my kid's private school talk.

My kid also goes to private school. We go on 2-3 trips per year, including at least one international trip.

We don’t talk that way and don’t know anyone who does.

We went to French Polynesia. Lots of people asked us about it. We talked about the wildlife we saw, the culture, etc. our hotels and plane flight never came up.

I’m so thankful I don’t have to feign interest in your trip to French Polynesia. You are exactly who we are talking about, you just can’t see it.

Oh stop it. People proactively asked about it. We had all shared our summer plans in June.

Then in September, several people asked how our trip was and asked to see pictures. We didn’t bring it up.

Np. Gonna let you in on a secret. No one wants to see those pics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought travel was a safe topic. I love to travel. I love to hear my friend’s travel stories. I don’t enjoy hearing about boring beach trips to bald island but I love hearing about Asia or Europe. I’m always looking for new places to go with my family.

Talking about cool sites you saw in Asia is fine. "Humble" bragging about your $1k+/night hotel or dropping a reference to (or worse posting a picture of) your lay flat seats is not.

Pp here. I know what you mean when people are trying to show off. We actually do stay at the 1-2k hotels but I don’t talk about the hotel. There are some people who who can appreciate a nice spa or afternoon tea though. Maybe that is what OP is referring to. 95% of the time I would not talk about this but there are those 5% where I actually really enjoy the details of a very nice hotel, especially if the hotel is the destination. We recently went to marina bay sands in Singapore. My kids loved the hotel and the adjacent attractions.

Any comment remotely like this is exactly what OP is talking about.

+1. But I do like that PP distilled how superficial global travel has become: 20+ hour flight each way to be pampered at a luxury hotel. The same experience is available at any nearby Ritz or Four Seasons, but that wouldn’t be “exotic” enough or brag worthy at the next social gathering.

Similar to “low key” braggarts who travel to third world dumps half way around the world so they can boast about hiking there. You can do all the world class hiking you want in West Virginia, but Appalachia isn’t exotic for them, of course.

This nails it. I get so bored of hearing about people's luxury hotel experiences in far flung places.

Now someone who stayed in budget chain hotel but then found a loophole that enabled them to use the pool at the 5 star resort down the street? That sounds like a fun story! Also happy to hear about weird and offbeat AirBnBs or the funky bed and breakfast you stayed in that was great except the hosts ate breakfast with you and you had to make small talk with your high school French to comical effect.

If your travel stories are all "we had lie flat beds on the plane and our suite had it's own lap pool and we ate at these three michelin starred restaurants," you are boring and I don't to talk to you. You may also be rich (or just very deeply in debt or have wealthy parents) but that doesn't make you interesting.

I don’t know anyone who would talk about their first class plane experience as their vacation description. I’m a foodie and love hearing about amazing meals whether they are Michelin restaurants or hole in the walls. You sound like you know crappy people.

I would not want to hear about sneaking into a hotel pool. That doesn’t sound appealing at all. Shrug.

It is extremely common for UMC and wealthy people to recount vacations but describing their flight, their hotel, and then list the expensive restaurants they visited and the designer items they bought. This is literally the premise of this thread. If you don't know people like this then you are not familiar with this demographic. This is how 90% of the parents at my kid's private school talk.

My kid also goes to private school. We go on 2-3 trips per year, including at least one international trip.

We don’t talk that way and don’t know anyone who does.

We went to French Polynesia. Lots of people asked us about it. We talked about the wildlife we saw, the culture, etc. our hotels and plane flight never came up.

I’m so thankful I don’t have to feign interest in your trip to French Polynesia. You are exactly who we are talking about, you just can’t see it.

Oh stop it. People proactively asked about it. We had all shared our summer plans in June.

Then in September, several people asked how our trip was and asked to see pictures. We didn’t bring it up.

Np. Gonna let you in on a secret. No one wants to see those pics

Can you read? They ASKED to see pictures.

[Anonymous]

Middle class Americans are so rich and don’t even know it. Travel overseas used to be such a luxury. Now everyone’s doing it. My parents were immigrants who became citizens (came here in the 60s). Our only overseas trips were very occasional, like 4 times, to visit their native country and my relatives. I was very lucky to do a euro rail trip in my teens with my brother, and that sparked an appreciation for travel. Have been to Europe a handful of times. But now prices are so high, and two kids requiring full price tickets. It’s you much to keep up with the joneses. I think I’ve seen all of Iceland on instagram anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly yes and it is a little nauseating. My family also suffers from the other two brag contests- who knows someone who is more successful/wealthier and who has a bigger circle of friends/more fun with friends

I think it all depends on how much you like the person telling any story and how sensitive you are about yourself.

I am a secure person and I can’t think of anything that may bother me. The 5 min chitchat about where someone went or is going for the holidays or spring break or summer is not triggering to me. This is one of the safest conversations to have with an acquaintance or family.

I have 3 very social kids. I know someone with a teen struggling socially. For her, simply hearing about a kid going to homecoming is triggering and makes her feel bad. To other friends, I may vent that our sat is crazy busy between sports, dance and birthday parties not thinking anything of it but something like this would make the mom with struggling teen feel bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle class Americans are so rich and don’t even know it. Travel overseas used to be such a luxury. Now everyone’s doing it. My parents were immigrants who became citizens (came here in the 60s). Our only overseas trips were very occasional, like 4 times, to visit their native country and my relatives. I was very lucky to do a euro rail trip in my teens with my brother, and that sparked an appreciation for travel. Have been to Europe a handful of times. But now prices are so high, and two kids requiring full price tickets. It’s you much to keep up with the joneses. I think I’ve seen all of Iceland on instagram anyway.

It only seems like bragging to a person who can’t afford it. If you can afford it, it is just an everyday normal conversation.

My kid is on a competitive sports team. Last year, he didn’t make a team. I used to think the parents who had their kid on one of these teams were always bragging about their kid and all the tournaments he had to go to. Now that my kid is on the same team, it feels like nothing. I remember I had a friend who would always be talking about her kids basketball tournaments and it would annoy me. Now my weekends also revolve around basketball tournaments.

[Anonymous]

Bragging and humblebragging in social situations is annoying, yes, but what’s even worse is when someone finishes their amusing anecdote, everyone politely laughs, and then…silence. It’s excruciating. I’m actually relieved when someone immediately fills the dead air with oneupmanship.